Thousands of Scots convicted of witchcraft could be posthumously pardoned if a new bill proposed by the ICJ becomes law.
Natalie Don, SNP MSP for North and West Renfrewshire, has launched a consultation on a member’s bill to “correct the historical error of witchcraft sentences” and pardon those convicted nearly 300 years ago.
This comes after First Minister Nicholas Sturgeon apologized on International Women’s Day in March to those convicted, denigrated or executed under the Witchcraft Act of 1563.
It is estimated that about 4,000 Scots were charged with the crime, which was legal until 1736, with about 85% of those convicted being women.
Campaigners are struggling to secure a legal pardon for about 200 years for approximately 2,500 people convicted of violating the law.
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- Janet Douglas, Lady Glamis Accused of witchcraft by her brother King James V, as part of a vendetta against his family, she was arrested on trumped-up charges. People close to her were tortured to obtain “evidence” and on July 17, 1537, Janet was burned alive at Castle Hill, Edinburgh, and her young son was forced to watch.
- Helen Duncan (1897-1956) The last Scotswoman to be tried under the Witchcraft Act of 1735, Duncan was known as a schoolgirl with her gloomy forebodings. She later claimed that she could summon ghosts by emitting ectoplasm from her mouth, but was exposed and convicted of fraud. In 1941, Duncan held a session in which a dead sailor told her that HMS Barham had been sunk. As this information was not made public, Duncan was arrested and imprisoned for falsely claiming to be procuring ghosts.
- The Bo’ness Witches In 1679, Annabel Thomson, Margaret Pringle, Margaret Hamilton, William Crowe, Bessie Jicar and others, Margaret Hamilton, were detained at the Borrowstounness toll booth on charges of witchcraft. It is said that they all renounced their baptism and ate, drank, danced and committed fornication with the devil many times. They were all found guilty and strangled at the stake.
- Janet Horn Accused of being a witch in 1727, Janet Horn is the last man in the British Isles to be executed for witchcraft. When Horn and her daughter were arrested in Dornoch after their neighbors were accused of being witches, she showed signs of senility. After a speedy trial, both were found guilty. While her daughter managed to escape, the old woman was stripped naked, smeared with tar, marched through the city in a barrel and burned alive.
- Isobel Gaudi In 1662, Isobel Gaudi, housewife of Lochloy, Nairn, was executed after freely admitting – without being tortured, which is common for the time being – that she was part of a clan of 13 feasting with the Queen of Fairies and also have the ability to transform into animals. She also claims to have killed a man with elven arrows and to have been raped and beaten by the devil. Gaudi’s testimony is considered the most remarkable ever given by a witch suspect in Britain.
- The Witches of Macbeth “Double, Double Labor and Trouble; / Fire Burns and Boiler Bubble”. Shakespeare’s witches predict Macbeth’s rise to king and his eventual fall. Probably based on a British chronicle written in 1587, in which Macbeth and Banco meet “three women in strange and wild clothes” who are believed to be Strange Sisters, “goddesses of fate”.
Ms Don said: “The recent official apology from the first minister on International Women’s Day was welcomed by campaign activists in Scotland and recognized worldwide as a statement of intent.
“This was a powerful and incredibly important first step in correcting the historical error of the accusations of” witchcraft “, arrests and executions.
“I hope that my member’s bill will be the next step in this, and if passed, it will become clear that people convicted of witchcraft before all these years have never had to face the injustice of being labeled criminals. .
“By issuing a formal pardon to all those convicted of witchcraft, we will send a strong message to the wider world – parts of which women are still facing prosecution on witchcraft charges – that Scotland recognizes what happened to these people as a deplorable miscarriage of justice.
“It is also about influencing gender and patriarchal attitudes, which, unfortunately, still exist in our society today – and making it clear that Scotland does not tolerate discrimination in any way.”
The Scottish Witch Campaign said: “We are absolutely happy to see Natalie Don’s bill reach this stage and we hope that it will lead to some posthumous justice for the thousands of people who were executed by the state during the hunt. witches.
“It will also signal to other countries around the world, where accusations of witchcraft are a very real and pressing issue, that this is not acceptable today.
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