SCOTLAND'S SEASON OF THE WITCH

In 16th and 17th-century Scotland, many hundreds of 'witches' were put to death - 10 times the proportion executed in England. Martha McGill asks what drove the killings

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In November 1590, a servant named Geillis Duncan from East Lothian was interrogated by her employer, David Seton. According to Newes from Scotland, a 1591 pamphlet that included a report of the case, Geillis used to sneak out of her master’s house at night. She also “took in hand to help all such as were troubled or grieved with any kind of sickness or infirmity” and performed “many matters most miraculous”.

Suspicions aroused, Seton questioned Duncan about how she worked her cures. When she gave no answer, he tortured her with thumbscrews and by “binding or wrenching her head with a cord or rope”. Still she remained silent. Finally, Seton and others searched her for a ‘devil’s mark’ - a blemish or insensitive spot created by Satan - and found one on her throat. She broke down and confessed “that all her doings were done by the wicked allurements and enticements of the devil, and that she did them by witchcraft”.

Witchcraft had been criminalised in 1563, and there had been a handful of prosecutions since. But Duncan's confession kicked off something new — Scotland’s first large-scale witch-hunt. What's striking about this panic over supposed black magic is just how much more intense and lethal it was than witchhunting in other European countries — perhaps most notably England.

Following her interrogation (involving torture), Geillis Duncan claimed to have participated in a night-time witches’ gathering, also known asa sabbat, at North Berwick kirk. She alleged that other locals were present, and as many as 70 people were ultimately accused. Their confessions detailed bizarre and alarming practices. Supposedly they had sailed across the sea in sieves, meeting at the kirk to dance and sing. The devil had preached from the pulpit, and they had kissed his buttocks. Some of the accused also claimed to have attacked King James VI, casting spells to harm him or raising storms to sink his ships.