I love folk-horror; in fact, I considered writing a series of folk-horror novels – and may still come back to it, one day – before I hit upon the concept of the Pepys Mysteries, which excited me even more.

Having promised book recommendations, here’s another – Malcolm Gaskill’s excellent Witchfinders: A Seventeenth-Century English Tragedy – which I devoured. (Check out my old-school handwritten research notes!)

Gaskill’s “Tragedy” is well-chosen. The God-fearing folk of the 17th century truly believed in witchcraft. The death of a relative, a failed harvest, a lame horse… all could be attributed to witchery. The first Witchcraft Act of 1542 defined witchcraft as a crime punishable by death. Later Acts in 1562 and 1604 moved the trials of witches from ecclesiastical courts to ordinary assizes.

In south-east England alone, where the trials were rife, 513 ‘witches’ were put on the stand between 1560 and 1700, resulting in 112 executions. As scepticism spread, belief in witchcraft dimmed and the last known execution took place in 1685, in Devon.

It was a tough case to defend, and the verdict could depend heavily upon the credulity of the magistrate hearing the evidence. Because, of course, old, impoverished women – who bore the brunt of the accusations – did not possess magical powers. Some were mere ‘cunning women’, who dabbled in herbal medicines. Often, the accusations could be traced back to a simmering feud between the two parties.

Want rid of an irksome neighbour? Accuse them of being a witch.

Aware that scepticism was growing as the 17th century wore on, witchfinders like Matthew Hopkins used torture to extract their confessions. He employed ‘Searchers’, who would inspect the bodies of the accused for ‘teats’, with which they were supposed to suckle their demon imps. Moles and similar imperfections were readily viewed as such.

And he employed ‘Watchers’, who would join him while the accused were deprived of sleep for days and nights, waiting for the ‘witches’ to summon their imps – the demonic animal familiars whom they used to carry out their evil-doings.

In these enlightened times, it’s hard to take ‘genuine witchcraft’ seriously – but back then it was deadly serious.

Here’s today’s rabbit-hole link, a bitesize YouTube documentary concerning one of the most notorious of England’s witch trials: The Pendle Witch Trials.