witch trials

most of us have heard or read about the Salem witch trial of 1692. but are you aware of the two dozen witches tried and executed in the colonies before Salem. Or of the estimated 40-80 thousand men and women accused and executed of witchcraft. in the " old world" from the 12 th century through the 18th.
first case, that of Joan cason, a poor woman in Kent, England accused of bewitching a thee year old child to death, in 1577. there were eight of her neighbors who testified against her. she denied the bewitching charge, but did admit to having a reddish mouse haunting her house. she was able to convince the jury of her innocence of bewitching. But was found guilty of invocating evil spirits. she was hung 4 days later.
please post a reply if you are interested in more witch trials

i am doing a research paper on witch hunts for school

thanks a ton Wicca1955, Hope there are more to come. This was an awesome post

We are going over a similar topic in my history and systems of psychology class. I'm very interested in hearing more, as it would help add to my knowledge of the topic. I've done some research myself but still didn't know of the trials, excluding the Salem trials, that you spoke of.

Something which might be of interest is the trial of Theoris of Lemnos, a young Greek woman in 4th century BCE who was burned at the stake for being a "pharmakis" or witch.(1)

Also it is interesting to note that the priesthoods of the pre-Christian pagan gods generally depised witches, presumably as rivals to their established power. (2)


References:

1) Echoes of the Goddess: Simon Brighton and Terry Welbourn

2) Towards the Wiccan Circle: Sorita d'Este