Witchcraft prosecutions were legal proceedings with surviving evidence: depositions, confessions obtained under pressure, and sentences carried out. The folklore came later, and these pages try to keep the two apart.
Every story in Witchcraft & the occult
- Portland, Oregon · 2003The Dybbuk Box: The Haunted Cabinet That Its Own Seller Says He Made UpThe world's most famous cursed object began as an eBay listing, and in 2021 the man who wrote that listing said plainly that he had invented all of it.
- Lemba · 1976The Woman from Lemb: The Truth About the Goddess of DeathFour aristocratic families are said to have been wiped out by a cursed Cypriot statue. The statue is real. The families are not.
- Place de Grève, Paris · 1680The Poisoner Of The Sun King's CourtBehind Versailles' glittering court, a fortune-teller ran a thriving trade selling poison to desperate noblewomen.
Rotherham, South Yorkshire · 1985The Cursed Painting That Survived House FiresA cheap mass-produced print was blamed for house fires across Britain in 1985 — and the tabloid that raised the panic ended it with a bonfire of its own.
Monroe, Connecticut · 1970The Doll That Refuses To Stay QuietThe world's most famous haunted doll got a new keeper in 2025, a stand-up comedian.
St Louis · 1949The Real Boy Behind The ExorcistThe film is often called the most terrifying ever made — and behind it sits a thirteen-year-old boy, a closely guarded priest's diary, and an investigation that took most of the story apart.
Salem · 1692The Farmer Who Was Pressed To Death For SilenceAn elderly farmer refused to enter a plea and was crushed under stones over two days rather than let his tormentors win.
London · 1857The Jewel Sealed In Seven BoxesA cursed gem terrified its final owner so badly he locked it away with occult charms and a plea to throw it in the sea.- Nantes · 1440The Knight Who Became BluebeardA war hero who rode beside Joan of Arc went home to his castles and became something monstrous.
- Bedburg · 1589The Werewolf Trial Of Peter StumppA wealthy farmer confessed to becoming a wolf and killing his neighbours, and his execution became medieval theatre.
London · 1606Why Actors Refuse To Say MacbethA superstition older than memory still stops professional actors from ever speaking the word Macbeth on stage.
Sardinia · 500 BCThe Poison Plant Behind The Word SardonicAn everyday word for bitter humour traces back to an ancient island poison that twisted its victims' faces into a deadly grin.
Strasbourg · 1518The Plague That Made A City Dance Itself To DeathOne woman started dancing for no reason, and within weeks hundreds joined her, dancing uncontrollably until some dropped dead.
Bamberg · 1628The Mayor's Smuggled Letter From The Witch HouseA respected mayor was tortured into confessing witchcraft, then smuggled out a secret letter revealing every word was a lie.
Edinburgh · 1591The Wise Wife Burned For A King's FearA beloved village healer was accused of witchcraft to satisfy a paranoid young king, and lit a fire that consumed scores more.
Munich · 1600The Beggar Family Tortured Into A Public WarningA duke needed someone to blame for unsolved crimes, so he picked a family of gravediggers and tortured them into confessing everything.
Copenhagen · 1590The Storm That Started A King's War On WitchesA minister blamed a shipwrecking storm on witchcraft to save himself, and the accusation crossed the sea to obsess a king.
Leonberg · 1615The Astronomer Who Raced Home To Save A WitchWhile her son mapped the orbits of planets, a sharp-tongued old herbalist sat in a cell accused of witchcraft.
Rome · 1500Why Left-Handed People Were Called SinisterA trait that's stayed steady in ten percent of humans for hundreds of thousands of years got fossilised into language as evil itself.
Rome · 1233The Papal Decree That Doomed Medieval CatsA papal bull linking cats to satanic ritual gives medieval communities religious cover to hunt, burn and drown them by the thousands.
Glarus · 1782The Last Woman Executed As A Witch In EuropeA poor maid accused of poisoning a child with needles is really being punished for an affair with a powerful man.
Lancaster · 1612The Girl Who Condemned Her Own FamilyA nine-year-old is placed on a table in a Lancashire courtroom, and her testimony sends her own mother toward the gallows.
Mistley · 1645The Self-Appointed Witchfinder GeneralA 25-year-old with no official authority talked terrified communities into executing more witches than the previous century combined.
Salem, Massachusetts · 1692The First to Hang at SalemConvicted on nothing but a dream of her spectre, she was the first person executed in the Salem witch trials.
Salem, Massachusetts · 1692The Killing Ground of SalemA colonial village turned mass hysteria into mass execution, hanging dozens on a single barren ridge.- St Paul's Cathedral, London · 1441The Duchess Who Turned to WitchcraftDesperate for her husband to be king, a duchess conspired with witches to melt a wax effigy of a young king.
- Chelmsford · 1566The First Woman Executed For Witchcraft In EnglandVillagers said her cat spoke in a human voice and drank blood in exchange for killing her enemies.
- Salem · 1692The Enslaved Woman Who Started the Salem Witch TrialsHer confession to save herself named two other women as witches, setting off accusations that would kill twenty people.
- Walkern · 1712The Last Woman Sentenced to Die for Witchcraft in EnglandReprieved from the gallows, she spent the rest of her life hiding from a community that never accepted her acquittal.
- York · 1809The Poisoner Whose Skin Was Sold as CharmsAfter she was hanged for poisoning a client, her skin was tanned into good-luck charms and sold to the public.