Which is witch

Published date05 March 2022
Publication titleDaily Star (England)
MAGIC new TV comedy The Witchfinder conjures up a comic take on the work of 17th century investigators who roamed the land in search of evil sorcerers

The BBC show, set in 1647, sees Alan Partridge star Tim Key play failing fictional witchfinder Gideon Bannister and This Country's

Daisy May Cooper as foul-mouthed suspect Thomasine Gooch.

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While the series is destined to have plenty of laughs, the real-life witch hunters were a seriously frightening breed. Here JAMES MOORE reveals 15 spellbinding facts…

1

There had been executions in the past, but the 17th century saw a witch-finding frenzy grip England, fuelled by King James I who wrote a book about witchcraft and tightened laws.

2

During the English Civil War of the 1640s obsessive investigators like self-styled "Witchfinder General" Matthew Hopkins (played by Reece Shearsmith in the show) searched for suspects.

3

The puritanical would-be lawyer began his campaign of terror in 1644 when he moved to Manningtree, Essex, and apparently overheard women discussing meetings with the Devil.

4

The first witch that Hopkins identified was 80-year-old Elizabeth Clarke, who was executed for cursing and killing a tailor's wife.

5

Others were accused of using "sorcery" to kill children, or even pressured into admitting they'd had sex with Satan.

636 women were accused of witchcraft, with 19 convicted at Chelmsford and hanged.

Witches weren't usually burned at the stake.

7

Over the next three years Hopkins and associates like John Stearne stalked East Anglia and beyond in search of more people practicing the black arts.

8

They used sleep deprivation to extract confessions from suspects or searched their bodies for "Devil's marks" - like blemishes or extra nipples.

9

Another method included cutting the arm of a suspect with a blunt...

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