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Mighty_Emperor Divine Wind
Joined: 18 Aug 2002 Total posts: 19943 Location: Mongo Age: 42 Gender: Male |
 Posted: 16-11-2005 17:34 Post subject: |
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| Mighty_Emperor wrote: | | Quote: | 41 'witches' murdered in 4 years in Orissa village
By Bibhuti Mishra in Bhubaneswar
Monday, 27 September , 2004, 09:36
The tribal-dominated Sundargarh district of Orissa has been consistently reporting murder of persons suspected to be 'witches'.
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http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=13575783 |
More witch attacks there although it does sound like some people are using it as an exucse:
| Quote: | Posted on 15 Nov 2005 # ANI
Four women forced to consume human excreta in Orissa
Uparkhandadhar (Orissa), Nov.14 : In a revolting incident of superstition some villagers in Uparkhandadhar village of Sundergarh district in Orissa allegedly forced four women accused of being witches to eat human excreta under the disguise of witches. The police have arrested eight persons, including two women for this heinous action.
These four women were locked in a room for three days by six men and two women. They were allegedly forced to pay a fine of 500 rupees each and forced to consume human excreta.
“They beat us with a bible and said we were lying and that we are practicing witchcraft. They also fined us for it and forced us to consume human excreta,” said Kapri, one of the victim.
According to police, the four women were tortured as they were accused of practicing sorcery and spreading disease in the village.
“Our police team rushed to the spot and rescued the four women. We also filed cases against the two women and eight men accused of branding four women as witches. We also filed a Court challan against them,” said Bibudhendu Ku Aich, Officer In Charge, Lahunipara.
The Government of Orissa has a law against aiding and abetting witchcraft.
In 1999, the Government also passed an act against witchcraft, “Witch Prohibition Act-1999”, according to which six months imprisonment and a fine of 2,000 rupees can be imposed on a person found guilty of torturing innocent women.
Surprisingly, in most cases the practitioners of witchcraft as well as their victims are women.
While cases of women practicing the occult is known, in most cases it is innocent women who are branded as witches and subjected to torture and even death. |
www.newkerala.com/news.php?action=fullnews&id=52672 |
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| Mighty_Emperor Divine Wind
Joined: 18 Aug 2002 Total posts: 19943 Location: Mongo Age: 42 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 19-03-2006 18:51 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Indian 'witchcraft' family killed
A family of five has been beheaded in Sonitpur district, north-east India, by a mob who accused them of witchcraft.
The tea plantation worker and his four children had been blamed for causing a disease which killed two other workers and made many unwell in Assam state.
About 200 villagers tried and sentenced the family in an unofficial court, then publicly beheaded them with machetes.
They then marched to a police station with the heads, chanting slogans denouncing witchcraft and black magic.
'Pregnant wife fled'
The incident occurred at the Sadharu tea plantation near the town of Biswanath Charali, about 300 km (190 miles) north of Guwahati, Assam's main city.
Sixty-year-old Amir Munda, who was killed alongside his two daughters and two sons, was reportedly a traditional healer.
After two plantation workers died and many others became ill from mysterious illness, other members of the Adivasi Santhal community accused him and his family of being the cause.
"A trial was held to prove if Munda and his family were involved in casting evil spells in the tea garden that led to a bout of epidemics in the area," police officer D Das said. "They said the killings would appease the gods.
"Munda's pregnant wife and her three young children managed to escape before the mob killed the other members of the family," A Hazarika, a local police official, told AFP.
Six people were arrested for the killings, Mr Hazarika said.
According to police records, some 200 people have been killed in Assam in the past five years for allegedly practicing witchcraft.
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Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/south_asia/4822750.stm
Published: 2006/03/19 14:42:56 GMT
© BBC MMVI |
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| Mighty_Emperor Divine Wind
Joined: 18 Aug 2002 Total posts: 19943 Location: Mongo Age: 42 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 27-04-2006 00:38 Post subject: Re: Cornwall "satanic murder" arest made...dont se |
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| sidecar_jon~ wrote: | "A woman has appeared before magistrates in Truro charged with the murder of parish councillor Peter Solheim.
Margaret James from Porthoustock near St Keverne, is charged with murdering Mr Solheim with a person or persons unknown, and conspiracy to murder.
The 56 year old, who was Mr Solheim's long term partner, spoke only to confirm her name, age and address and was remanded in custody until 4 March"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/4297007.stm |
This one has rattled on for ages and finally draws to a close - it all seems so petty in the end doesn't it?
| Quote: | Pagan gran occult 'killer'
By JOHN COLES
A WOMAN drugged, mutilated and killed her Pagan lover at sea to stop him marrying his mistress, a jury heard yesterday.
Jealous Margaret James, 57, shared an interest in the occult, magic and sex with wealthy parish councillor Peter Solheim.
But the slightly-built gran plotted to harm him for years because of love rival Jean Knowles, who Mr Solheim met three times a month for sex.
James asked about hiring a hitman and studied books about potions and poisons then drew up a list of their effects.
Prosecutor Sarah Munro QC told jurors at Truro Crown Court, Cornwall: “Do not be fooled by this diminutive lady in the dock. We submit she has a heart of stone.”
James lured her lover to sea in his boat where she gave him a powerful sedative and then smashed or cut off parts of his body, the court heard.
She ripped her lover’s ring off his finger and replaced it with her own before dumping him overboard five miles off The Lizard in Cornwall.
A jury heard that James must have had help but no one else has been charged.
Mr Solheim’s dinghy Izzwizz was found adrift and James planned to make his death look like a boating accident but his body was found by a trawler called Clairvoyant.
Miss Munro said Mr Solheim, 56, suffered “a gruesome death” in June 2004.
She said: “Having been sedated by a stupefying drug named Lorazepam, his head and the joints of several of his limbs were targeted with blunt and sharp weapons either when he was dead or on the brink of death.
“His mutilated body was then dumped miles out at sea.”
Mr Solheim, a retired printer who dealt in antique weapons and pornography, was held captive at a mystery location for two days before his death.
James sent texts from his mobile to make it look like he was on a fishing trip in France or Spain.
But phone records showed his mobile was still at home in Carnkie, Cornwall.
The couple met through a lonely hearts column eight or nine years before and were virtually living together at Mr Solheim’s home, called Valhalla after the Viking resting place.
Miss Munro said: “They shared interests in paganism and magic and sex.
“They liked to watch sunsets together and go to beaches together and they shared an interest in pills and potions and also an interest in cash.”
*
But they spied on each other as Mr Solheim juggled his two lovers. On one occasion he sent Mrs Knowles, 63, a text saying he was doing DIY when he was on a seven-hour boat and beach romp with James.
Afterwards he noted in his calendar: “Boating. Sh*g on beach. Rosemullion.”
The court heard James stole a large amount of cash from her lover. After his death £900 was found under her mattress with a note saying “what goes around comes around.” Police also allegedly found £24,000 in cash at the home of James’ mother.
Miss Munro told the court: “Her motives were a combination of hatred, jealousy, revenge and a desire to get her hands on his money.”
James, of Porthoustock, Cornwall, denies murder and conspiracy to murder. Trial continues. |
www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006190263,00.html |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17931 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 26-02-2007 18:24 Post subject: Kenya: Leaders Condemn Killing of 'Witches' |
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| Quote: | Kenya: Leaders Condemn Killing of 'Witches'
The East African Standard (Nairobi)
February 25, 2007
Posted to the web February 26, 2007
Philip Mbaji And Elizabeth Awuor
Nairobi
Religious leaders from Coast Province on Sunday condemned the killing of suspected witches and called on residents to desist from the act.
As the religious leaders called on the Mijikenda to discard outdated cultural practices, tension in the area remained high.
Panic gripped people, especially the elderly, who feared being fingered by witchdoctors - who are calling themselves 'ghost busters' - as being witches.
The Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK), the Catholic Church and the Council of Imam and Preachers of Kenya (CIPK) have raised concerns over the increasing cases of lynching of suspected witches in the province.
Mombasa Diocese's Bishop Julius Kalu condemned the practice, saying it was against the biblical teaching and even the Mijikenda traditions to 'kill someone over witchcraft suspicion'.
"It is against the principle of peaceful co-existence to lynch someone for suspecting them of witchcraft," Kalu said.
Kalu of ACK made the remarks at Mombasa's Memorial Cathedral Church as CIPK's national secretary general, Sheikh Mohammed Dor, urged residents to refer suspects to religious leaders and council of elders.
Said Dor: "This is an unfortunate trend that has its remedy on the residents referring suspected witches to religious leaders or council of elders for arbitration instead of killing them."
They spoke barely two days after police officers, a DC, DOs and chiefs narrowly escaped lynching by irate villagers in Malindi while on a mission to rescue suspected witches from a ghost buster.
Kalu, expressed fear that tension would build up in the area should the so-called ghost busters be allowed to continue operating in the area.
Bishop Boniface Lele of the Mombasa Catholic Diocese condemned the attacks and advised the villagers to face their problems and accept suffering as part of life.
Speaking to The Standard, Lele asked villagers to report suspects to the police and later have them questioned in court instead of lynching them.
"Nobody should lynch another because the whole thing is suspicion and the best way to handle the issue is to report such matters to the police," he said.
He advised villagers to look for solutions to their problems instead of blaming others on grounds of witchcraft.
"People should accept that suffering is part of life and not necessarily caused by witches," he added.
A ghost buster popularly known as Beba Beba was holding 25 elderly men and women in Malindi suspected to be witches when the DC attempted to rescue them.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200702260396.html |
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| synchronicity Resistance is futile!
Great Old One Joined: 05 Aug 2005 Total posts: 173 Location: out of my mind, thank you! Age: 58 Gender: Female |
| Posted: 22-04-2007 06:34 Post subject: |
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Has anyone else noticed that in the entire sorry history of killing witches/exorcising the possessed etc it is always the "good guys" who do the killing---not the so-called possessed, witches, or devil worshippers???
Something is seriously wrong with this picture!!!   |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17931 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 06-09-2007 12:14 Post subject: |
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Police are following a positive line of inquiry... I wonder if will ever be charged with, let alone convicted of these murders.
| Quote: | SA pupils burn 'witches' to death
Two South African women have been burned to death after a group of students accused them of bewitching their high school with evil spirits.
Msaba Zungu and Thabitha Thusi, both 60, were seized from their homes near Manguzi in KwaZulu-Natal province.
Students and adults dragged them to a sports field where they were doused with petrol and set alight on Sunday.
Manhlenga High School pupils accused the women of being witches after they began to suffer strange crying fits.
Investigators said Ms Zungu died at the scene and Ms Thusi succumbed to her burns injuries on Monday.
Police captain Jabulani Mdletshe told the BBC News website: "On 17 August, the students at the mixed high school began to cry randomly and they did not know why.
"The students held a couple of meetings and allegedly decided the problem was these two women were witches who had cast a bad muthi (spell) on the school.
"At 8pm on Sunday, some students and community members allegedly took the women from their homes to a football field and set them on fire."
No arrests have been made but police are following a positive line of inquiry, said Capt Mdletshe.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6980439.stm
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17931 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 09-01-2009 13:02 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Papua New Guinea Officials Report Another Murder Following Accusations Of Witchcraft, Spreading HIV
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/134893.php
09 Jan 2009
Officials in Papua New Guinea on Wednesday reported that a woman had been burnt alive at the stake after reportedly being accused of witchcraft, which often is linked to AIDS-related deaths in the country, AFP/Arab Times reports (AFP/Arab Times, 1/7). Papua New Guinea's Post Courier reports that there was speculation the woman was practicing sorcery or adultery, or had transmitted HIV to one of the suspects (Muri, Post Courier, 1/7). According to AFP/Arab Times, reports in recent years of women being tortured and killed after being accused of witchcraft have been linked with increasing AIDS-related deaths in the country. Witchcraft often is cited as the cause of death among some young people that village residents "have seen as otherwise inexplicable," AFP/Arab Times reports (AFP/Arab Times, 1/7).
Researchers with the Australian Center for Independent Studies in 2007 released a report that found that many women were being accused of practicing witchcraft to cause AIDS-related deaths among young people and, as a result, the women were tortured or murdered. The report estimated that there had been 500 such attacks in the previous year. According to a 2007 United Nations report, Papua New Guinea accounts for 90% of HIV cases in the Oceania region. High levels of sexual violence against women and inadequate access to sex education has contributed to the spread of the virus, according to the U.N. report. An estimated 60,000 people in the country were living with HIV in 2005 (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 7/25/07).
According to Reuters, women in Papua New Guinea's Highlands often are blamed for spreading HIV, killed for having extramarital affairs and accused of practicing sorcery. Witnesses reported that the woman was between ages 16 and 20 (Perry, Reuters, 1/6). |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17931 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 13-01-2009 19:12 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | PNG to act on 'sorcery murders'
Policing tight-knit traditional communities can be difficult
Authorities in Papua New Guinea say they will toughen laws against murders blamed on sorcery, after a surge of them during the past year.
The chairman of the Constitutional Review and Law Reform Commission said defendants were using accusations of witchcraft as an excuse to kill people.
Police say at least 50 people were killed last year across the country.
In the latest suspected incident, a young woman accused of being a witch was burnt at the stake last week.
Correspondents say deaths and mysterious illnesses are sometimes blamed on evil curses and suspected sorcerers are often blamed and then killed.
Prosecuting those who kill these so-called magic makers within tight-knit communities is problematic, they add, and rural courts often acquit those who are made to stand trial.
"It's the easy way out for someone to kill somebody else, and use sorcery as an excuse," the head of the law reform commission, Joe Mek Teine, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
"And you would find that the victim is totally innocent."
Mr Mek Teine told local media that the new legislation would force rural courts to charge those accused of sorcery-related killings with premeditated murder.
"It is a problem that has been existing in the country before the arrival of Western influence, and it's deeply rooted," he told the Post-Courier newspaper last week.
"The churches have done a lot to improve it but it's getting worse every time," he added.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7825511.stm
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| rynner2 What a Cad!
Great Old One Joined: 13 Dec 2008 Total posts: 21365 Location: Under the moon Gender: Male |
| Posted: 11-02-2009 09:11 Post subject: |
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New leads in councillor's murder
Police investigating the murder of a 56-year-old Cornish man whose body was found by fishermen five years ago are following up new lines of inquiry.
The mutilated body of Peter Solheim, a parish councillor from Carnkie, was found five miles off-shore in 2004.
His ex-lover, Margaret James, 58, from Porthoustock, was found guilty of conspiring to murder him and jailed for 20 years in 2006.
Police say they believe other people were involved in Mr Solheim's murder.
A reward offered by Crimestoppers for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone responsible for his murder has been doubled to £10,000.
Mr Solheim's body was found floating in the sea south east of Black Head, on the Lizard, on 18 June 2004. He had last been seen alive two days earlier .
The father-of-two, who was a pagan and member of the druid community, had been drugged and mutilated with a machete or axe before he died from drowning.
During an 11 week trial at Truro Crown Court the prosecution said that Margaret James, who had embarked on a nine year relationship with Mr Solheim after meeting through a lonely hearts column, feared he was about to leave her.
A spokesman for Devon and Cornwall Police said that several new leads had been identified following a detailed review of the evidence which would be investigated over the coming weeks.
Detective Inspector Stuart Ellis said: "It has always been our case that there were other people involved in the murder of Mr Solheim and they have not yet been brought to justice.
"There are still unresolved issues in this case and, following a review of all the evidence, we are actively pursuing positive new lines of enquiry.
"We are very keen to speak to anyone who may be able to help us with this investigation either directly or through Crimestoppers in the strictest confidence."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/7882153.stm |
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| rynner2 What a Cad!
Great Old One Joined: 13 Dec 2008 Total posts: 21365 Location: Under the moon Gender: Male |
| Posted: 11-05-2009 21:36 Post subject: |
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Two arrests in councillor murder
Two people have been arrested by police investigating the murder of a 56-year-old parish councillor whose body was found by fishermen five years ago.
The body of Peter Solheim, from Carnkie, Cornwall, was found five miles off-shore in 2004.
Two men, both 38 and from the area, were arrested on suspicion of murder as part of ongoing investigations into the death, police said.
A woman was found guilty of conspiring to murder Mr Solheim in 2006.
Mr Solheim's body was found floating in the sea, south east of Black Head, on the Lizard, on 18 June 2004. He had last been seen alive two days earlier.
The father-of-two, who was a pagan and member of the druid community, had been drugged and mutilated with a machete or axe before he died from drowning.
Mr Solheim's ex-lover, Margaret James, 58, from Porthoustock, was jailed for 20 years in 2006 for her part in his death.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/8044308.stm |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17931 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 27-11-2010 19:26 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Shock in Ghana over gruesome death of 'witch'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11848536
Related stories
* 'Ritual killing' rescue in Ghana
* Is witchcraft alive in Africa?
There has been widespread shock in Ghana over the death of a 72-year-old woman accused of being a witch.
The woman, who lived in the port city of Tema, near Accra, was allegedly set on fire by a group of five adults, one of whom is believed to be a pastor.
The suspects say her death was an accident, and deny committing any crime.
The BBC's David Amanor in Accra says belief in witches is common among both educated and uneducated Ghanaians.
Three women and two men have been arrested, aged between 37 and 55.
Police say the suspects tortured the woman, Ama Hemmah, until she confessed to being a witch, before dousing her with kerosene and setting her on fire.
She died from her injuries the following day.
According to reports, the suspects say that they poured anointing oil on the woman which caught fire as they were trying to drive out an evil spirit.
Our correspondent says newspaper pictures showing the woman's injuries have caused revulsion in Ghana, and the incident has been condemned by human rights and women's activists.
Our correspondent says there have been other cases of violence against women accused of being witches, and a government-backed commission has urged religious and civil society groups to help tackle the problem. |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17931 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 10-01-2011 20:59 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Indian shaman 'poisons women in witchcraft test'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-12149785
An Indian shaman who allegedly forced women to drink a potion to prove they were not witches has been arrested.
Nearly 30 women fell ill after they were rounded up in Shivni village in central Chhattisgarh state on Sunday and made to drink the herbal brew.
A senior police officer told the BBC that six villagers had also been arrested.
Witch hunts targeting women are common in east and central India, and a number of accused are killed every year.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote
The witch doctor said that after drinking the brew, the real witch would voluntarily confess”
End Quote Rajesh Joshi Police spokesman
Most of the cases take place in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar.
Police spokesman Rajesh Joshi told the BBC that an 18-year-old villager was accused of witchcraft because she had been unwell.
"Her father Sitaram Rathod and other villagers suspected that it [her illness] could be due to an evil spell cast by a witch," Mr Joshi said.
"They [the villagers] called for an ojha [witch doctor] to ward off the spell."
Authorities said the shaman, named as Bhagwan Deen, had been helped by a few other residents as he rounded up nearly all the adult women in the centre of the village.
He concocted the potion test after conducting rituals which failed to expose the alleged witch.
"The shaman then forced the women to consume a drink that he had made out of a local poisonous herb," Mr Joshi said. "He said that after drinking the brew, the real witch would voluntarily confess."
Of the nearly 30 women taken to hospital after the incident, around 25 women have since been discharged.
But police said five remained in hospital, including a 70-year-old woman who was in a serious condition. |
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| emina Great Old One Joined: 06 Mar 2010 Total posts: 120 Location: Good Question Gender: Male |
| Posted: 14-02-2011 20:02 Post subject: |
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A bit of a local history riddle here. Sorry if this is a bit long:
| Quote: |
THE MYSTERY OF THE WITCH'S GRAVE
This speculative piece about Dunning's most famous monument was written by freelance writer Steve McGrail and originally appeared in 'The Highlander' magazine, U.S.A., August, 1995
The old stone cross rises up, almost twenty feet high. It stands beside the road, the land behind it slipping sharply down to rolling fields. Looking at it from a distance, a visitor stranger used to Scotland might guess that it is some sort of battle memorial. Right enough, Sheriffmuir is not too far away, the nearby village of Dunning was burned by the Jacobites in 1716 and the ancient battlefield of Duncrub is close by. But the cross marks none of those.Something to do with the Covenanters, then? Again no, even though this part of Perthshire was once a hotbed of religious fervour. What, then? Seen close up, the monument quickly tells its story. Roughly painted on the stones are the chilling words 'Maggie Wall burnt here 1657 as a Witch' There is no official plaque from Historic Scotland or the National Trust. Somehow, they make it all the more moving for this is a place of sadness where a dreadful thing happened hundreds of years ago. In the name of....well, in the name of what? A woman was burned at the stake here. If she were lucky she was strangled first. If not, then she died in agony on a pyre of heat and coal doused with tar, perhaps still crying her innocence as the flames around her roared and spat. People who see the cross shudder. Some have felt the tears coming. It is a sad place indeed.
But it is a place of many mysteries too. For a start who was Maggie Wall? And when over 4,000 women were executed in Scotland for witchcraft in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, why commemorate her alone? It is not because, as the Perthshire tourist map says, she was the last to be burned at the stake. She was not. There were many more.
The questions come thick and fast, but not the answers. Maybe this is inevitable when so little is known about her. There are local stories, of course. It is said that the site of her cottage has even been found. Was she old, was she young? Was she an outsider, perhaps? 'Wall' is a name from Orkney, a corruption of Wallace, or from the Borders. It is common in Ireland too. But her name does not appear in the records at all, which is odd. Witch trials were often carefully recorded. Diligent clerks even put down grim details such as the cost of the peat used for the fire and the rope needed by the executioner. But there is nothing mentioned about poor Maggie. A hundred years ago, Dunning's minister actually claimed that the story was a hoax, why build a monument using such huge boulders and square cut stones? Perhaps Dr. Wilson was just plain embarrassed about what one of his predecessors must have been involved in so he decided Maggie was a myth. Someone still seems to think that the Church had blood on its hands, however. Historican Archie McKerracher in his book on Perthshire says that a wreath is left at the cairn each year, with a card saying 'In memory of Maggie Wall, Burnt by the Church in the Name of Christianity'.
Sketch by Kenny Laing
Nobody knows what her 'crime' was. Perhaps somebody's cow took sick and died and Maggie got the blame. Maybe she just knew too much for her own good about the special properties of herbs and flowers. There again, perhaps the 'Witch Pricker' was called in to look for the 'Devil's Mark' on her body, and found it. This was a patch of skin stained red, brown or blue where his three-inch blade gave no pain when he pushed it in.
The truth is blacker. Probably it has more to do with politics than spells, for Maggie Wall lived and died in troubled times. She also had the bad luck to live in an area with a terrible reputation for persecuting witches. Six more were executed in Dunning in 1663, in a wood on the other side of the village. That number is terrifying for a village of perhaps a few hundred souls. Fear and hysteria were in the air and no woman was safe.
Oliver Cromwell who was governing the country when she died had actually tried to rein back the burnings. For some reason, however, there was an outbreak in 1657 and 1658. Things calmed down but flared up again when Charles II took over in 1660. The persecution was savage. It began to seem as if certain people were making up for lost time. Maggie Wall was one more victim. But why her? It could be that her death had something to do with an event that had happened in Dunning just five years before.
Scotland was torn apart by religious passions, fiery and furious debates. People came to blows and often died for their beliefs. Some preachers were treated like stars, the crowds hanging on their every word as they called down hellfire on their rivals, or cast out devils, or denounced adulterers and lechers. It seems that Dunning had one of these, the Rev.George Muschet.
Local people might have admired their minister's preaching, but the Church authorities in Perth did not. He was upsetting their ideas of God's truth and they tried to stop him. They argued with him, they threatened him, but he ignored them. So, in 1652, a group from the Presbytery of Perth set out for Dunning to hold a Synod to discipline him. The Reverend was going to be sorted out once and for all.
They never made it. A crowd of 120 women led by the wife of the minister of Auchterarder (who was also in trouble) met the group as they tried to get into the Dunning church, St. Serf's. They set on them and attacked them with sticks. To the women, George Muschet was their pastor and that was how it was going to stay! In the riot, the brethren lost their horses, their cloaks were ripped off their backs, the Synod Clerk was held hostage and beaten 'until he foreswore his office'. Bruised and battered, they fled in disarray. Four miles outside the village they regrouped, seething with rage. There they made solemn pronouncement that 'this village should never more have a Synod kept in it but be accursed; and that although in the years 1638 and 1639 the godly women were called up for stoning the bishops, yet now the whole sex should be esteemed wicked'.
Was it this pronouncement that sealed Maggie Wall's fate? had she herself been involved in the disturbances as a leader? But now, the village was 'accursed', her sex 'wicked'. Did she become a scapegoat for what had happened, was her death someone's frightful revenge for the humiliation that was suffered? Did someone plot and brood, was a neighbour's chance remark or spiteful accusation the spark needed to light the final ghastly inferno? It is very tempting to think so.
But the trail quickly goes cold. Nothing in writing links the riot to the burning. Reverend Muschet was finally deposed and replaced by the third son of Lord Andrew Rollo, the local landowner. If that were just a coincidence, it must surely have suited somebody nicely. The former minister carried on preaching, however. When he died in 1663, his will described him very firmly as 'Preacher of God's Word'. He must still have had influence locally, at least. As he lay dying, did he think about Maggie Wall, did he see himself as at all responsible? We will never know the answer.
There is another puzzle. In the same year that Maggie died, a warlock lived in Dunning. He was described as 'Johnnie Gothrie, charmer'. As with the Reverend Muschet, the Presbytery of Perth came to try his case. He was banned from taking the Sacrament and local people were warned not to talk to him. He survived, while Maggie Wall died. Why? True enough, not many warlocks were killed as compared with witches. Even so, he was lucky. Perhaps he had influential supporters. A local story hints that she might have had one friend or at least someone who had once been an enemy but who had changed his mind, too late to save her.
This story concerns the cairn itself. There is no other memorial like it in Scotland to a witch. Only a very powerful person could have risked building it, while putting a Christian symbol on top of it was like defying the Church. Ordinary folk would not usually dare to show sympathy to a witch, dead or alive. Who knew where the accusing finger would point next? Local historian Kenny Laing thinks that it was Lord Rollo himself who ordered the monument to be built, on his estate where the burning took place. As a landowner he would have sat in judgment over Maggie. Along with others he would have signed the documents and he would have heard the minister, his own son Andrew, utter the fatal words sentencing her to death. In his bitter shame, thinks Kenny, Lord Andrew had the memorial built soon after the execution. A local legend says it was done when Lady Rollo was away, as she disapproved of the scheme. Again, there is the whiff of local politics and hints of strife among the aristocracy themselves over the affair.
Whatever the truth of this, there stands Maggie Wall's memorial to this day. But it does not give up its secrets easily. It has another. Who paints the inscription on the stones?
People in the area say they genuinely do not know, but they have their suspicions. Whoever does it, does it regularly. The tradition seems to go back a long way. A photograph taken perhaps a hundred years ago shows the lettering already there, just as it is now. The modern artist simply follows the original outlines. But why? Is the task handed down in some local family? Is it done by the same person who lays the wreath? And above all, why does a poor woman who died so long ago matter so much to someone today?
Because matter she surely does, and to many people. Perhaps more come to her grave than come to see Dunning's other well-known monument, the 12th century church of St. Serf's. Among visitors in the past have been the infamous 'Moors Murderers' Ian Brady and Myra Hindley. A photograph of their holiday in Scotland clearly shows them at the cairn. As visitors, they are fortunately an exception, although of course a few people bring ghoulish fantasies. Locals are pretty matter of fact about the whole business of the grave. Says Kenny Laing 'We used to play near the cairn when I was a youngster; it never bothered us. There were trees around it then, Maggie Wall's Wood it was called. We weren't scared or anything like that. Ghost stories? No, I've never heard any about Maggie Wall'.
People visit the site for all sorts of reasons. Scotland's dark and bloody history fascinates some. Perhaps others come to pity, bringing flowers bought from a shop, or taken from the hedgerows. Some try to understand the superstitiions of the past. Many simply wonder at human cruelty. But whatever they think about what happened here, the witch's grave keeps its mysteries.
Steve McGrail, Dunblane, 1995
Editor's note: The last woman burnt as a witch in Scotland was Janet Horne, in Dornoch in 1722.
http://www.dunning.uk.net/maggie.html
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So, unanswered questions:
Why commemorate her? (the only one witch out of 4000 executed)
Why's there no record of a trial or execution? (there is for all the others in the area)
Why's the monument christian?
Who build it? (must have had permission, can't have been a secret)
Who continues to maintain the inscription to this day?
And as if that isn't enough, there's a pub in Glasgow that claims to have the skull in a case!
http://www.saracenhead.com/#/maggie-wall-last-witch-burne/4533726863[/quote] |
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| amester Great Old One Joined: 29 May 2004 Total posts: 214 Location: Earth Gender: Female |
| Posted: 25-02-2011 05:53 Post subject: |
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| There are a lot of historical atrocities that make me want to get into a time machine armed with a baseball bat. But the "witch" persecutions and "Burning Times" in particular just really anger me more than almost anything else. Is it wrong to hope that the people who burned other people at the stake ended up dying themselves in some horrible way later on? I guess it's no better when people act just as evil in the 21st century but at least you'd think we would know better by now. |
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| AsamiYamazaki I was Dora Suarez
Great Old One Joined: 09 Sep 2004 Total posts: 466 Location: In the aeroplane over the sea Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 27-02-2011 00:36 Post subject: |
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It's pretty likely that one of my rellies was put to death as a witch back in 1629 - I think all the Orkney Rendalls are related, and a Jonet Rendall was found guilty and executed then.
| Quote: | | The case of Jonet Rendall, accused of witchcraft and 'devilrie' in Orkney in 1629, affords another example of the bleeding corpse. According to her dittay when she was brought into the presence of her victim, 'the cors having lyin ane guid space and not having bled any, immediatelie bled mutch bluid as ane suir token' that she was the author of his death. |
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