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How history's brutal witch trials resonate now

12 85
17.05.2025

A new book How to Kill a Witch brings a dark period of history back to grisly life – and an official tartan is being released to memorialise some of those who were tortured and killed.

When King James was returning by sea to Scotland with his new wife Anne of Denmark, the voyage was plagued by bad weather – not unusual, for the famously choppy North Sea. But the king was convinced that the devil and his agents – the witches – had a hand in the storm. It was this belief of the king's that sparked the 1563 Scottish Witchcraft Act, and subsequent witch hunts.

This article contains violent details some readers may find upsetting.

From the 1560s to the 1700s, witch-hunts ripped through Scotland, with at least 4,000 accused, and the executions of thousands of people. Along the way there was unspeakable torture, involving "pilliwinks" (thumbscrews), leg-crushing boots and the "witches' bridle", among other vicious and brutal methods.

In Norway and the US – where witch hunts and trials of a similar scale took place during the same period – those who were executed have been memorialised. Now, in Scotland a new official tartan – which will be incorporated into kilts and other garments – has been released to honour the victims of the Witchcraft Act.

Meanwhile, all things aesthetically "witchy" have been gaining popularity around the world and across generations for several years – WitchTok gains increasing followers and hashtags; the WitchCore look is still attracting fans; witch romance fiction is a growing branch of the romantasy genre. In film and TV Practical Magic 2 is in production for release next year, and TV witch drama Domino Day has been a hit. All of which reflects the fact that neopagans and modern witches are actually on the rise. A modern witch may incorporate nature worship, tarot, magic and rituals with herbs and crystals into their spiritual practise. Involvement ranges from self-care and empowerment to participation in religious groups like Wicca.

The pattern of the Witches of Scotland tartan is a "living memorial" full of symbolism, according to the Scottish Register of Tartans – "the black and grey represent the dark times of this period and the ashes of those burned, the red represents the victims' blood, and the pink symbolises the legal tapes used to bind papers both during that time and now".

It's the result of a five-year-long campaign by activists and founders of the Witches of Scotland podcast Zoe Venditozzi and Claire Mitchell, who have now authored a book How to Kill a Witch: A Guide for the Patriarchy, an account of the Scottish witch trials – out this week in the UK, and in the autumn in the US. The book outlines how, as Venditozzi tells the BBC, "the belief system and social anxiety of the time created a perfect storm to find scapegoats and deal with them harshly".

In 2022 the pair achieved one of their goals when Scotland's then first minister Nicola Sturgeon issued a formal apology to the Scots who were persecuted under the law in a "colossal injustice". Some female Ministers in the Church of Scotland have since also issued an apology.

The subject of the witch trials is currently piquing the imaginations of fiction writers too. Hex by Jenni Fagan tells the tale of "one of the most turbulent moments in Scotland's history: the North Berwick Witch Trials". The novel Bright I Burn by Molly Aitken is a fictionalised account of the first woman in Ireland accused of........

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