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The trial of the Pendle Witches is one of the most famous Witch Trial s in the History of England . On August 20 , 1612 , ten people were hanged at Lancaster Castle for the murder by Witchcraft of seventeen people in the Pendle area of Lancashire . Those hanged were Jane Bulcock, John Bulcock, Alizon Device, Elizabeth Device, James Device, Katherine Hewitt, Alice Nutter, Anne Redfern, Isobel Robey, and Anne Whittle (aka Chattox). Additionally, Margaret Pearson was found guilty of witchcraft but not murder and was sentenced to one year in prison. Jennet Preston, who lived across the border, was hanged at York , and Elizabeth Southerns died in prison while awaiting trial. EVIDENCE USED IN THE TRIALS Some of the accused made their confessions quite voluntarily, without any threat of torture. Alizon Device gave her first damning account of witchcraft quite voluntarily and seems to have genuinely believed in her own guilt and that of her family. A brief extract from her confession: (The word 'examinate' here refers to the one being examined, i.e. Alizon Device).
Some of the suspected witches protested their innocence to the end; some were acquitted when evidence against them was found to have been fabricated. Questions are still being raised by these well-recorded tragic events in Lancashire all those years ago. Certain component parts of the witches' confessions appear suspiciously similar to what a psychiatrist would now recognise as being symptoms of a psychotic illness, possibly Schizophrenia with its associated Delusions and Hallucinations . It has also been suggested that the alleged witches were innocent dupes, sacrificed by ambitious, powerful Lancastrian political figures in order to impress and curry favor with the reigning monarch King James I who is known to have attended the North Berwick Witch Trial in 1590, in which several people were convicted of having used witchcraft to create a storm in an attempt to sink the very ship on which he had been travelling. This made him very concerned about the threat that witches and witchcraft were posing to himself and the country. During this period, he wrote a huge treatise on demonology, sorcery and witchcraft. As a result, hundreds of women in Scotland were put to death for witchcraft. A passage from his work on witchcraft sounds remarkably familiar: : LOCAL POPULAR CULTURE Pendle Hill , which dominates the landscape of the area, continues to be associated with witchcraft. Every Halloween , large numbers of visitors climb it. Several local Corporate bodies and businesses use a 'flying witch' Logo to link themselves to the area, somewhat to the distaste of some local people who claim the area could be identified by other events and groups. Pendle College at Lancaster University also has its logo of a witch on a broom wearing the college scarf. Until fairly recently, it was possible to give great offence by calling an East Lancashire local 'Chattox' or 'Demdike'. SEE ALSO
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