Random People Who Were Actually Killed For Being 'Witches' (13 items)

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  (#10) Bridget Bishop

  • Dec. at 60 (1632-1692)

  When thinking about people who have been killed for being witches, the 1692 Salem witch trials inevitably come to mind. Around 72 people were accused of being witches with 20 actually being executed for it, the first of whom was Bridget Bishop. She was a rather flamboyant woman for her day, and other women took notice. Eventually, women accused Bishop of being a witch, claiming that her shape would haunt or threaten people, and during the trial they screamed and flailed, claiming she was hurting them even then. Men also stepped forward, saying that she had tormented them and even poisoned them after disputes. Her previous, now deceased husbands were even brought up. 

  This was enough to seal her fate, and despite the fact that she claimed to be innocent, Bishop was sentenced to death and was hanged. 
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  (#4) Stedelen

  When a village's harvest fails, it can easy to blame it on witchcraft. Unfortunately, this was what caused the demise of Stedelen, a man who lived in the late 1300s in Switzerland and happened to make a very powerful enemy one day. Peter von Greyerz, a judge during that time, firmly believed that the occult was alive and well in Switzerland. He claimed that miscarriages, crop failures, marital disputes, storms, and more could all be linked to dark magic. Specifically, Greyerz accused Stedelen of sacrificing a black rooster on the Sabbath and of placing a lizard under a doorway. You know, usual witchcrafty stuff.

  The thing is that Stedelen actually admitted it - after being tortured of course. He admitted that he'd made a pact with demons and was promptly burned at the stake. After his death, Greyerz went on searching for other members of satanic cults and continued persecuting people for years. Women were tortured, men were killed, and it all began with this one incident.
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  (#2) Agnes Waterhouse

  • Dec. at 63 (1503-1566)

  The first woman to be executed for witchcraft in England was Agnes Waterhouse, also called Mother Waterhouse. She was known for having a cat that answered to the name Satan, for possibly killing men, and for being labeled a witch when she was as young as twelve. The cat supposedly spoke to her in a dark tongue, telling her to kill children and certain people that she saw. It demanded to be fed blood and milk and had supposedly tormented her sister with these demands as well. Waterhouse also claimed to have had relations with demons who threatened to harm her if she did not do their bidding.

  Once she was convicted, she was sentenced to death. At first, she stood strong and proud, acting unafraid; however, eventually, she began to plead for her life, saying that she believed and trusted in God. It was not enough, and she was put to death in 1566.
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  (#9) Bridget Cleary

  • Dec. at 25 (1870-1895)

  In 1895, a man in Ballyvadlea, Ireland, was tried and eventually convicted for killing his wife. This may sound dark, but not terribly unusual - except that Michael Cleary claimed to have done it because his wife was actually a witch or changeling. You see, Bridget Cleary had gone missing, and when investigators eventually questioned her husband, he claimed that his wife had been taken by fairies and replaced by some sort of magical, evil creature. When he realized this, Michael did the only logical thing there was to do - burn his wife to death.

  It's still not clear if he burned her body before or after her death, but it's pretty clear that he was the one who killed her. The trial was a long and arduous one, and Michael was imprisoned for 15 years for his crime. To this day, there's still an Irish nursery rhyme that goes:

  Are you a witch, or are you a fairy,

  Or are you the wife of Michael Cleary?
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  (#8) Rebecca Lemp

  Salem isn't the only place to have had a witch hunt. In the late 1590s, Nördlingen, Germany, was hit with a swath of witch accusations and executions. In all, 32 women were convicted of witchcraft, one of them a woman by the name of Rebecca Lemp. Rebecca was the mother of six children, but that didn't stop local lawyers and Burgomasters from arresting and torturing her. She was tortured on at least five different occasions and, eventually, she confessed to witchcraft. Unfortunately, things didn't end there.

  In order to make her appear more guilty, Rebecca was forced to write a letter to her husband, who was away on business, and children in which she admitted to being a witch. Although her husband didn't believe it, there was nothing he could do. She was tortured a bit longer and then burned at the stake. Many other women followed her down this path of torture and death.
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  (#7) Leatherlips

  • Dec. at 78 (1732-1810)

  Native Americans have their own version of witches, and they are often viewed with no less malice. Leatherlips, a Wyandot Indian in the 1800s in Ohio, is perhaps best known for having signed the Treaty of Greenville and for encouraging peace and cohabitation with European settlers. However, this didn't sit well with many other chiefs and some began to conspire against him. In 1810, Roundhead ordered that he be put to death for witchcraft. Settlers who were living with him at the time pleaded for his life, but to no avail. He went back with the other tribal leaders without a fight.

  Once there, he prayed, ate, and drank with his people. He then dressed up in his very best clothing, gave a ceremonial death chant, and was promptly killed by a tomahawk blow. There is now a statue in his memory in Dublin, OH. 

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