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Jake Heintz

    Jake Heintz

    While discussing the nature of witches and witchcraft trials, one may find that an extraordinary amount of those accused of engaging in witchcraft are executed, typically following a confession. In particular, those cases tried, in... more
    While discussing the nature of witches and witchcraft trials, one may find that an extraordinary amount of those accused of engaging in witchcraft are executed, typically following a confession. In particular, those cases tried, in Scotland, by local authorities, yielded a ninety-percent execution. If an individual were to be accused of witchcraft, according to these statistics, the accused would have a ten-percent chance of being acquitted and permitted to live. A witchcraft accusation is essentially a death sentence in places like Scotland during this time. Given these excessively high numbers of convictions and executions, one can only begin to question the reasons behind the convictions themselves. Interestingly enough, in many of these cases, and potentially more often than is able to be understood from the sources remaining today, the accused is tortured upon their arrest, often illegally. The use of torture, resulting in numerous false confessions, played a crucial, primary role in the conviction of such a high number of those accused of having engaged in witchcraft. This applies even more so to those individuals who may have been tortured on more than one occasion in an attempt to extract a confession.
    Research Interests:
    Research Interests: