The most famous witches in history. A terrible hunt: the most famous witches of the Middle Ages The most famous witches in human history

A witch is one who has witchcraft, knowledge.

We invite you to meet five of the most famous witches in history:

1. Bridget Bishop

This name became famous thanks to one of the most notorious and chilling witch trials of the Witch Hunt period, held in Salem in 1692. That trial crippled the lives of more than a dozen people. The reason for this was the strange illness of two girls, who were the local pastor’s daughter and niece.

Bridget Bishop was one of the first to be suspected of hexing the girls because they named her. At the time, Bishop, née Magnus, owned several taverns in the city. This and her love for flashy red dresses became an additional reason to take the woman into custody. Many residents of Salem subsequently began to accuse Bishop of baiting livestock, the evil eye, and shamanism.

At the trial, Bridget was unable to gain the sympathy of those in power due to her willful behavior. Ultimately, the witch Bishop was sentenced to death by hanging.

Interestingly, ritual dolls were actually found in Bridget’s house.

2. Agnes Sampson

Let's move from Essex to Scotland, where women appeared in court who, according to the prosecution, tried to sink the royal ship with the help of witchcraft - this was the decision of the King of Scotland himself, who was an overly superstitious person.

“Eyewitnesses” gave exhaustive “testimony”, and midwife Agnes Sampson was in the dock. The woman was subjected to terrible torture and, before she was strangled and burned, she “gave in” several more of her “comrades”, who faced the same fate.

They say that Sampson's ghost still wanders the corridors of Holyroodhouse Palace, and those who see him will die.

3. Anna Coldings

One of the women Agnes Sampson called her sister. She was the first whose name was called by the exhausted midwife. Anna was accused of a godless craft, the woman was tortured, and in the end she also confessed to the sinfulness of her essence. Anna Coldings was burned at the stake. She was later nicknamed the Mother of the Devil.

4. Maria Laveau

The "Snake Queen" of New Orleans, the founding mother of the voodoo cult, who kept a giant python in her home, lived to a ripe old age and died of natural causes at the age of 87. Marie Laveau was lucky to live in the “enlightened” 19th century. The church did not approve of Lavoe's activities, but could not do anything about it. Maria herself treated Christianity very respectfully: she added attributes of the Christian religion to voodoo rituals, wanting to prove that magic and faith are not a hindrance to each other.

Interestingly, Maria Laveau was buried according to all the rules of the Catholic Church.

5. Laurie Cabot

Laurie Cabot is our contemporary. This witch is still alive and well, living in Oklahoma. At age 44, Cabot was officially recognized as the witch of Salem.

From early childhood, Laurie frightened and surprised those around her with the predictions that otherworldly spirits told her. In the 60s, Laurie publicly declared herself a real witch. At first, this statement caused healthy skepticism among the public, but as both ordinary citizens and the police increasingly turned to Cabot, the public first stirred up and then accepted the witch.

Despite the gloomy vestment, the unchanging pentacle, Laurie Cabot strives with all her might to show people that witches are not enemies of people, that a witch’s calling is to help a person with her abilities.

Peru Cabot is the author of the book "The Power of Witches", in which she details and destroys established stereotypes about who these witches are.

More materials

Historically, it so happened that some evil witches are known to each of us, while for some reason there is no information about others, while the former, it turns out, were much more bloodthirsty than the latter. There once lived terrible witches and sorceresses, about whom only local residents, that is, a few, know. Today we will talk about such little-known, but extremely cruel witches.

Mika Zarevnaya. The most cruel and young witch in Bulgaria

Mika was born near the Bulgarian city of Haskovo in the village of Dinevo, presumably in 1871, into a family of poor villagers. If you believe the stories of local residents, the Zarevny family was never seen doing anything bad; they were ordinary hard-working villagers. Beginning in 1885, young men began to disappear in the village. Moreover, all the missing guys were once seen in the company of Mika. The guys disappeared one after another for two years. Of course, suspicion fell on Mika, but the girl was only 14-15 years old, how could she kill healthy village boys? The girl got a bad reputation in the village, people began to beware of her, but the young guys continued to disappear.

The truth was revealed completely by accident. Far in the forest, several village men came across a clearing, it was clear that there were graves here - 32 in total. The bodies of the missing guys lay in them. The most amazing thing is that each of these men was killed in an incomprehensible way; no injuries or signs of strangulation were found on their bodies, they seemed to have fallen dead. In each grave, along with the corpse, lay a candle and a piece of paper with several words in an unknown language. Of course, the residents of Dinevo decided that occult rituals were carried out here. On the same day, a crowd of angry villagers burst into the Zarevnys’ house, grabbed Mika and searched the entire house, where occult books and objects were found, but the worst thing was a sheet of paper with a list of all the missing guys. The execution of the girl was cruel - she was buried alive in the clearing where the missing men were found.

Suzanne Lowes. The most terrible witch in Spain

Suzanne Lowes lived in southern Spain near what is now Frailes in the mid-1700s. From early childhood, the girl became interested in the occult and satanic rituals; she did not go to church under any pretext. The Lowes family was aristocratic, they lived in a separate castle, the parents, for unknown reasons, did not oppose Suzanne’s interests, and the Inquisition no longer existed at that time. Every year the girl became more and more interested in the occult, and performed obligatory rituals on the full moon and all holidays. As she grew older, these rituals became sexual in nature. Each ritual for the girl was accompanied by obligatory sexual contact with one of the local, necessarily unmarried, guys. Of course, the young and lustful boys gladly made contact with the young and beautiful Suzy, they did not think about Satanism and rituals, they only needed one thing...

After some time, strange things began to happen in the area: one after another, deformed children were born. If you believe the legends, newborns had blue skin, like the dead, and red eyes, and they screamed during birth, as if they were not human children, but wild animals. All these children died within one week. And, by the way, this information is documented - there are only 162 such newborns, but it is possible that there were more. The most interesting thing was that every single man from whom these children were born entered into sexual contact with Suzanne Lowes. Notoriety spread, and the witch, of course, began to be avoided. Lowes died at a very old age and had no children of her own. Of course, the locals tried to take revenge on her, but it was impossible to get close to the impregnable Lowes Castle.

Maria Stupalu. The most terrible witch of Romania

Maria lived all her life in a small village near the city of Resita in western Romania. Maria was born in the 1620s, the date of her death is unknown. Maria Stupalu was considered a healer in her village; people constantly came to her for help and treated the woman with great respect. However, in an instant, life in the village changed, or, more precisely, stopped.

Memoirs of eyewitnesses

“We were traveling from Resici on a cart to buy corn, meat and milk in that village. Approaching the village, we noticed the ominous silence; as we drove closer, the ominous silence was added by an equally ominous smell. All the people in the village were dead, the animals were dead, and birds that had fallen from the sky lay on the ground.”

All the people and animals died on the same day, as if they had dropped dead while going about their daily business. When people began to be buried, one resident was missing - Maria Stupala. Moreover, her house was empty. It turned out that the witch knew that something terrible would happen and left the village with her things. However, local people are sure that she killed the village. Maria was never seen again. The total number of deaths is 401 people.

Of course, it cannot be said that there were no witches in the world and that everyone was dragged to the stake indiscriminately. Among them there were also real, not imaginary, witches possessing supernatural powers, which did not always go for the good of man.

“Oh times, oh morals!” - one can only exclaim when it comes to the dark Middle Ages. Let’s say it was easier for a simple passer-by to point a finger at a beautiful girl and publicly declare her a witch, but then stern inquisitors in cassocks appeared as if from underground and dragged the poor creature into their dungeons. Sophisticated torture and bullying made the victim docile, and she confessed that she turned into a black cat at night in order to take revenge on decent people and damage them. If a woman or girl stood her ground and did not intend to admit that she was an evil spirit, a “witch’s bridle” was used. A steel mask with a spiked gag was placed over the face of the alleged witch. Bright beauty, red hair or, conversely, ugliness of a woman became the subject of suspicion and persecution. Under this pretext, representatives of the fairer sex were drowned, their heads were chopped off, and they were burned at the stake as witches, with whom, they say, the streets of medieval cities were literally swarming.

According to some estimates, the inquisitors brought several million girls and women to the grave. It would seem that in our enlightened age everything should be over with superstitions, and science, figuratively speaking, has come “on the tail” of any mystification associated with the other world. However, the facts indicate the opposite: for example, over the past two decades, about 5 thousand witches and sorcerers have been executed in India. They became victims of lynching by residents who believed that they were to blame for crop failures and disease epidemics that claimed many lives.

Mary Bateman

The “Yorkshire Witch” began her journey as a fortuneteller (she never considered herself a witch!) with petty theft and fraud. She knew how to deceive any victim. Moreover, Mary did not hesitate to talk about her connections with the other world, which gave her unprecedented abilities. She did not give up deceiving people even after marriage. In Leeds, Mary met John Bateman, who soon became her husband. She quickly settled into the city, and after a while the locals pronounced her name with slight fear and respect.

Declaring herself a soothsayer, Mary prepared potions that supposedly saved sinful souls from any evil spirits and helped cure diseases. And everything went like clockwork: money flowed in a generous stream into Mary Bateman’s pocket. Until something happened that put an end to her business and her reputation as an unsurpassed healer.

One day, Mary took on the treatment of Rebecca Perigo, who complained of chest pain. The husband believed that someone’s evil curse was to blame for everything, and turned to Bateman for help. For several months he fed his wife puddings, into which the “healing” potion of a fortune teller from Leeds was mixed. And only when Rebecca died did suspicion creep into the soul of the unfortunate husband. Which he hastened to report to the police. Servants of the law immediately discovered poison not only in the potion, but also in the personal belongings of the Perigo spouses. In March 1809, Mary Bateman was tried in York. A large audience gathered near the building shouted: “Witch!” - and demanded severe punishment. Mary did not admit her guilt and even invented pregnancy to save herself from the gallows. But all her attempts were in vain. In memory of the “Yorkshire Witch,” the true-to-life Englishmen placed her skeleton in the Thackray Museum in Leeds. Mary Bateman's leather wallet was also put on public display...

Angela de la Barthe

The fate of this woman of noble birth changed from the moment when one of the clergy of the Catholic Church looked askance at her. The noblewoman's unusual behavior and extravagance seemed extremely suspicious to him. He immediately informed the inquisitors, who did not know a single hour of rest in their hunt for witches, and they without hesitation grabbed the poor woman and dragged her to the basement in order to, with the help of sophisticated torture, extract a confession of evil witchcraft. And unfortunate Angela confessed to all the mortal sins that she had never suspected before! They say she was a mentally ill woman. And her only sin was that she preached Gnostic Christianity, which the Catholic Church regarded with great distrust. Having labeled Angela as a witch possessing demonic spells, she was also accused of having sexual relations with incubi, and the unfortunate woman was credited with giving birth to a demonic wolf-snake and abducting children. And Angela, who had completely lost her mind, was solemnly burned at the stake...

Tasmin Blythe

In Cornwall (England) she was called the “Witch of the Hedge,” famous in the 19th century for her skills as a healer and sorceress. As a true representative of evil spirits, she lived with her husband, magician and magician James Thomas, in solitude. It cannot be said that the residents of local villages were happy with such a neighborhood. Separated from everyone else by hedges, the witch terrified them slightly. Tasmin, in a way known only to her, communicated with parallel worlds and, by the way, knew how to accurately predict a person’s future. This was not the notorious tea leaves fortune-telling, because the witch rarely missed her predictions. In essence, Tasmin Blythe did not harm anyone. But if someone tried to anger her, he would pay bitterly even for a careless word.

One day, a shoemaker in one of the villages experienced the curse of the Hedge Witch. To some extent, he was right: the sorceress remained indebted to him for her previous work, but she did not want to fork out any money. The dispute went so far that Tasmin promised the shoemaker that none of the residents of the area would come to him with an order. No sooner said than done. And soon the witchcraft vibes dispersed all the clients of the unlucky shoemaker. Perhaps the witch’s business would have flourished further: for her skill, she tore three skins from poor villagers. However, the faithful ruined everything: a desperate drunkard tarnished his wife’s reputation with his scandalous behavior. And one day people discovered that she was not such a skilled person if she could not cope with her husband and set him on the right path. And if you once sow doubt, then expect complete disappointment over time.

Laurie Cabot

The Witch of Salem is famous not only in Massachusetts. The fame of the most advanced sorceress spread throughout America, which was witnessed by the governor himself, showing honor and respect to her. Already at the age of six, Laurie heard voices that told the girl that there were strange worlds that the average person was unaware of. In the late 60s of the last century, Laurie made a rather bold act: she declared herself a real witch. The pentacle, black robes and ritual jewelry are what began to distinguish her from other people. In Salem, Laurie Cabot opened tarot card reading courses. And in the interval between classes she turned into “Miss Marple” - the famous character of Agatha Christie. The clairvoyant helped the police unravel the most difficult criminal cases. And seasoned criminals were amazed when they learned that they had been identified by the “witch of Salem.” Lori could also use a person's aura to diagnose illness. Note that for the first time in the history of witches, she convinced the public of the need for the profession of a witch. By the way, no one even tried to ridicule Laurie Cabot's opinion. And she continued her activities and soon founded the League for the Public Recognition of Witches.

Anna Göldi

An ordinary maid in the house of Johann Jacob Tschudi overnight turned into a horror story for all respectable Switzerland. She was declared a witch and was intent on fleeing Glarus, whose authorities had offered a large cash prize for her capture. The poor woman’s whole fault was that in October 1781, Johann Tschudi’s youngest daughter, Anna Maria, who was ill, allegedly began throwing pins out of herself. The owner of the house did not think twice and immediately fired her. He claimed in all seriousness that Anna Göldi regularly mixed pins into her daughter’s food in order to bring her to the grave. Fortunately, Chudi’s daughter did not die and was successfully healed from an unknown illness. According to some rumors, the owner of the house himself was involved in this whole rather murky story, who seduced the maid and, having learned about her pregnancy, decided to get rid of all subsequent problems. As a result, Anna was captured and shackled. The trial was short: the alleged witch was sentenced to beheading. Anna was rehabilitated only in 2008: the Swiss parliament recognized all the charges as groundless and far-fetched...

Bridget Bishop

In 1692, the small English town of Salem was rocked by terrible events that led to massacres of local witches. It all started with a strange incident: two girls - Betty and Abigail - seemed to be possessed by demons. They fell to the floor, fought in hysterics and shouted some kind of gibberish. The frightened father, city pastor Sumuel Parris, tried to cure his daughters with the help of prayers. But they only writhed in convulsions and screamed so shrilly that they terrified the neighbors. And then, out of good intentions, the maid Tituba decided to try the method that her ancestors used. She doused a piece of meat, roughly speaking, with the girls’ urine, fried it and threw it to the dog. But it was all in vain. Moreover, in an unconscious state, one of the sisters called the name of the maid. And then off we go! In convulsions and writhings, the sisters announced a whole list of Salem women.

Maria Laveau

The "Snake Queen" was famous in New Orleans for founding a voodoo cult there. The huge python Zombie, which she had instead of a domestic cat and obediently obeyed her owner, seemed to confirm with its presence the seriousness of Marie Laveau’s intentions. The local Catholic clergy became furious when the witch claimed that there was no contradiction between Christianity and the cult of voodoo. And letting the rooster bleed, organizing a small coven, a little like the orgies of African shamans, will not hurt anyone. The priests did not risk entering into open battle with the “Snake Queen”. They say that the witchcraft of Marie Laveau decided everything: she once cured the mayor’s daughter of epilepsy. And the patronage of the authorities, as we know, is worth a lot. Maria Laveau became especially famous for her ability to prepare a love potion. And it is not surprising that numerous clients of the “Snake Queen” were girls and young women. By the way, Marie Laveau died at the age of 87, held in high esteem and respect by the people of New Orleans.

Witch hunters are tired of putting suspects behind bars. After a short trial, Bridget Bishop was the first to ascend the scaffold. A wealthy woman, the owner of several taverns, did not attract the attention of the town’s residents due to her passion for the red dresses in which she paraded through the streets. She was immediately accused of hexing the girls. Like, Bridget did all this with the help of dolls, setting fire to their heels and sticking needles, not forgetting to name the victims on whom her witchcraft was directed. Let us note that at the trial Bishop behaved boldly, not admitting her guilt one iota. However, this did not save her from the gallows. Strangely, after her death, wax dolls were discovered in Bridget's house.

Bell Family Witch

She was considered the most terrible and evil ghost of the early 19th century. Her name has long been pronounced in America with a sense of fear. And there was someone to be afraid of! In 1817, John Bell, a wealthy planter from Adams (Tennessee), had to experience the influence of otherworldly forces. Ghost dogs and huge phantom birds began to appear to him at every step. Unable to bear these horrors, he was forced to fire his gun, hoping to hit one of the creatures. But John did no harm to anyone. On the contrary, from that moment on, for a year, the ghost began to literally terrorize the farmer’s large family. Not a single night went by without this creature appearing and making noise. The evil spirit pulled children by the hair and gave spankings to adults. The rumor about the family's torment reached the President of America. And one day Andrew Jackson himself came to the Bell farm, taking with him a specialist in demons. The master of fighting evil spirits hastily fled from the farm after he tried to kill an invisible witch with a silver bullet from a gun. She gave him a heavy slap in the face, not at all afraid of the presence of the president of the country. There is probably no point in talking about the subsequent misadventures of John Bell. The old witch finally finished off the poor farmer and somehow replaced the bottle of medicine with poison. But even after John's death, Bella continued to haunt his family. True, not with such zeal. This story could well look like a fictional horror story, if not for the eyewitness accounts of the tragic events, of which there were many.

In 2005, Hollywood filmed the film The Phantom of the Red River, based on the terrible events that happened to the Bell family.

Sorcerers

Since Ancient times, history has thousands of figures who possessed supernatural abilities. We are talking about both great prophets who followed the instructions of the Higher Powers and leading adepts, and about predictors of the future. In almost every corner of the globe there was at least one person whose stories have been passed down for many years.

Gifted people

Even from biblical stories, we all remember people who possessed, on the one hand, unprecedented wisdom, and on the other hand, some kind of magic. For example, King Solomon, who could judge any dispute fairly. Samson, who did not have human physical strength, and, unfortunately, lost his strength after his hair was cut off. The same applies to ancient “magicians”, for example Hermes Trismegistus.

In addition, many cultural figures from different countries were also considered visionaries of some kind. Dante in his work “The Divine Comedy” so skillfully described the circles of Hell. Bulgakov, in the famous novel “The Master and Margarita,” imbued with mysticism, showed readers interesting details of our life, from the perspective of a person who notices certain deviations from the norm.

What can we say about Gogol? His works “Evenings on a farm near Dikanka”, “Dead Souls”, “Viy”, was all this really just a figment of the writer’s imagination? Or did he see more than ordinary people of that time?

What is the secret of magicians and seers?

There are countless such figures in history. However, there are people whose actions have glorified them throughout the world and left no doubt that a person can have some kind of gift from above. For example, Vanga. Each of us is familiar with the story of this poor woman, who helped those in need and did not demand countless amounts of money from them.

On the other hand, Hitler's achievements on the world stage during the war are also attributed to his gift in the field of the occult sciences. The history of the life and development of the abilities of such gifted people is described in this section of the site. Messing, the Queen of Sheba, Hans Herbiger, John Dee, Cagliostro, Saint Germain and many other magicians lived at different times and taught the population to believe in miracles and change the existing reality.

Will we be able to follow their path? Is the information that comes to us in various legends and tales reliable? To answer questions like these, check out the articles presented in the “Great Magicians and Seers” section.

The manic witch hunts that spread across northern Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries were the result of a mixture of natural superstitions and religious zeal with political motives and fears. Peasants, as well as nobles, looked for supernatural causes of storms and diseases, but at the same time they considered the court a way to cling to position or wealth, destroying their rivals. Convicted witches and warlocks were accused of horrific crimes such as copulation with the devil and murder of infants. The nervous atmosphere prevailing in Europe at that time led to the fact that the accused were convicted more often than they were acquitted.

10. Agnes Sampson

On All Hallows' Eve in 1590, Agnes Sampson, a midwife living in the Scottish county of East Lothian, was accused of attending a gathering of witches hosted by Satan himself. It took place in the gloomy little church of Old Kirk Green in North Berwick, Scotland. The evil plan behind these gatherings was to cause a supernatural storm that would sink the caravel on which King James IV's young Danish bride, the newly anointed Queen Anne, was en route to Scotland from Copenhagen. And indeed, during Anna’s journey, a storm occurred, forcing her and her escort to stop in Norway.

Hearing this news, the king himself went to her aid, and when they tried to cross the North Sea again, another terrible storm overtook them, but this time they successfully arrived in Scotland. Shortly after his return, the king personally questioned Agnes and others at Holyroodhouse Palace in Edinburgh. This marked the beginning of the North Berwick witch trials, which led to 70 executions. To extract a confession from Agnes, the executioners put on her an iron device called a “witch’s bridle,” invented in Scotland. After Agnes confessed, she was taken to Castlehill and strangled with a garrote before being burned at a stake. It was rumored that her ghost had been seen floating through the austere halls of Holyroodhouse Palace.

9. Anna Coldings

Anne Coldings, known to her contemporaries as the "Devil's Mother", was a Danish witch who was also accused of causing the storm to destroy Queen Anne's ship, described above. She met with the others at Weaver Karen's house, where they cast spells against the queen. Witch hunts became popular in Denmark in the early 16th century after the country converted to Protestantism. While some were motivated by their sincere religious beliefs, high-ranking officials used the witch hunts to further their political interests.

The Danish finance minister, who was suspected of not adequately supplying the royal ships for King James VI and Queen Anne's voyage across the North Sea, voiced his suspicions about Karen to deflect blame. During the investigation, Karen pointed out several people, including Anna Coldings. After Anna was arrested and tortured, she finally confessed and gave five more names, one of which was the name of the mayor's wife. Along with twelve other women, Anna was burned at a stake in Kronborg, the beautiful green-roofed castle where Shakespeare's Hamlet was set.

8. Bridget Bishop

Bridget Bishop was the first woman executed as a result of the Salem Witch Trials in 1692. Bishop was a successful woman who was much talked about. She owned several taverns and was known for wearing provocative red dresses. The townspeople of Salem made many different accusations against her that would lead to her death. She allegedly bewitched five girls, poisoned a pig, and attacked sleeping men (the latter probably due to natural causes, sleep paralysis).

Bridget was also accused of using dolls for witchcraft purposes. A local man named Samuel Shattuck testified that she asked him to dye lace for her that he believed she was going to use for a doll. This doll, like Voodoo dolls, served to ensure that any harm done to the doll would be transferred to the person it represented. Salem residents John and William Bly later discovered such dolls in Bishop's house. During the trial, she behaved provocatively, which ultimately led to her execution, followed by the execution of 71 other witches.

7. Merga Bean

Merga Bean, a wealthy German heiress, confessed to killing her second husband and his children through witchcraft, and to attending the Witches' Sabbat. The witch hunter Balthasar von Dernbach, prince and abbot of the city of Fulda, conducted a series of witch trials after his return from exile in 1602.

Merga Bean was one of the first women he arrested and imprisoned. Although she was pregnant, Merga was not released from execution, as the law dictated, because she was forced to confess that the father of her unborn child was the devil. In the fall she was executed by burning. Fulda witch trials. As a result, the execution of 250 people continued, and ended only after the death of Dernbach in 1605.

6. Katarina Henot

The first German female postmaster was tried for witchcraft in Cologne in 1627. In the middle of one of the cold Cologne winters, a nun from a local monastery accused Katharina of causing illness and death among the nuns, and the archbishop arrested Henot based on the nun's suspicions. During her imprisonment, Henot was tortured, but did not confess to anything.

Despite her brother's attempts to prove her innocence, she was sentenced to be burned alive in May. She was rehabilitated only this year. On June 28, 2012, the Cologne municipal council cleared Henot, as well as other victims of the Cologne witch trials, because they believed that the executions were the result of political conspiracies.

5. Karin Svensdotter

The maid Karin Svensdotter, who lived in a small town located in a wooded and swampy part of Sweden, stated that the father of her seven children was the Fairy King. This led to her being tried in 1656 due to her own voluntary confession. In 17th century Sweden, communicating with fairies was a real crime, which was usually punished in the same way as sodomy and bestiality.

In previous cases, such as meetings between men and nymphs, the matter sometimes ended in execution. However, the Svensdotter case became an early example of compassion for the insane. Church officials told the judge handling her case that Satan had deprived her of her mind. Instead of punishment, the judge ordered the church to pray for her. She later confirmed that she did not see any more fairies.