Witchcraft accusations against children

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Children have been accused of witchcraft, both historically and in contemporary times, in societies that harbor beliefs about the existence of witches and black magic. These accusations have led to punishment, imprisonment, torture, and execution of children. [1]

Contents

Historical

Witch finders and accusers

In sixteenth-century Europe, older children sometimes comprised a special category of witch hunters, bringing accusations of witchcraft against adults. [2] In 1525, the traveling judge in the Navarrese witch hunt utilized two "girl witches" who he felt would be able to identify other witches. He hung about forty of these "witches" based on the testimony of the two girls.

Child witchhunters sometimes accused their family members of being witches. [2] In seventeenth-century Europe, one child, Alison Device, was accused of witchcraft by a young boy who fell into a "fit" after refusing to acquiesce to her requests. Alison, believing that she had inherited her magical powers from her grandmother, who had inadvertently "tainted" the bloodline with her supernatural powers, confessed to using witchcraft against the boy. [2] Her younger siblings, Jennet and James, were used as witnesses in her prosecution. Jennet and James provided testimony against their sister, leading to her eventual execution by hanging. [2] The two siblings were once again questioned following Alison Device's trial and execution about a neighborhood meeting, which resulted in allegations leveled against several more adults and children. By the end of that year, Jennet had accused and seen the executions of several neighborhood adults, her sister, brother, mother, and grandmother. [3]

The most renowned trials caused by child accusations occurred in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. [4] Children were viewed as having an important role in convicting witches, due to their being able to identify people impulsively. [2] Children who made such allegations often directed them at adults with whom they had strained relationships such as teachers or puritanical neighbors. [5]

Child witches

By the start of the seventeenth century, many children were being punished and put in prison for taking part in alleged witchcraft. This usually occurred because of their alleged participation in Sabbats. [2] It was a common belief that witches' children inherited witchcraft from their parents. It was often the practice to charge a whole family of witchcraft, even if only one individual was suspected. Accused witches who confessed often claimed that they learned witchcraft from a parent.

Pierre de Lancre and Francesco Maria Guazzo believed that it was enough proof of a witch's guilt if they had parents who were accused witches. They believed "witch" parents introduced the children to Satan, took the children to Sabbats, married children to demons, inspired the children to have sex with Satan(devil) or had sex with Satan with the child present. Many times the child accused of witchcraft, due to being shunned, became aggressive and threatened community members, thereby enforcing community beliefs that the child was a witch. [6]

The sixteenth century brought forth more prevalent child involvement in witchcraft hunts and accusations, which slowly turned the narrative to the persecution of children themselves as witches. [7] Children admitted to the practice of witchcraft to accuse their teachers and mentors alike, which led to children began to be accused themselves by the seventeenth century. [7]

There are several cases of witchcraft in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries that involved children accused as witches. In Sweden in 1669 a large number of children were included in a witch hunt and in Würzburg as in Salem in 1692, children were the focus of witch hunts. [8] In the early seventeenth century, the territory of Würzburg was a prevalent actor in persecuting children. [7] Over 40 children were executed due to being accused of witchcraft during this time. [7] The late seventeenth century brought forward the child witch accusations in Calw, Germany, though to a lesser extent than in Würzburg. [7]

In Augsburg, beginning in 1723 an investigation into twenty children between the ages of six and sixteen resulted in them being arrested following accusations of witchcraft. Said to have been led on by the Devil, these children were accused of malicious acts through the town. [8] These proposed acts led to the children being imprisoned in filthy conditions, turned in by their own parents. [8] They were held for a year in solitary confinement before being transferred to a hospital. The last child was freed in 1729. [8]

One example of a child-witch narrative in Germany is of a seven-year-old girl named Brigitta Horner. In 1639, Brigitta claimed to be a witch and that she had participated in witch's Sabbats where the Devil was present. Brigitta claimed to have been baptized in the name of the Devil instead of God. The pastor who baptized Brigitta was married to her grandmother who was accused of teaching Brigitta witchcraft. [9]

Norway was also home to child witch accusations in the seventeenth century, following the rest of Europe in the witch craze. [10] A specific narrative includes a group of children in the Northern district of Finnmark that were accused of witchcraft. [10] This group was made up of six girls, accused in the mid-seventeenth century. [10] These girls were Ingeborg Iversdatter, Maren Olsdatter, Karen Olsdatter, Karen Nilsdatter, Kirsten Sørensdatter, and Sigri Pedersdatter. [10] Ingeborg Iversdatter was the first child to be accused of witchcraft, having been reported by an adult. [10] Many of these children had family connections to others accused as witches. [10]

Contemporary belief in child witchcraft

UK

In the United Kingdom, research by Dr Leo Ruickbie showed that the problem of child witchcraft accusations was spreading from Africa to countries with African immigrant populations. In some cases this has led to ritualized abuse and even murder. This was evident in the high-profile case of Kristy Bamu in 2010. [11]

In 2000, a young girl, Victoria Climbie, was sent by her parents to live with her great-aunt Marie-Thérèse Kouao to attend school and receive a better education. [12] Doctors and social workers suspected Kouao to be physically abusing and neglecting Victoria following two suspicious hospitalizations - although Victoria was discharged in her great-aunt's care in both instances. [13] Kouao turned to pastors and churches, stating that Victoria was suffering from demonic possession, and eventually authorized a deliverance ritual to be performed on her by the pastor of the church she attended. [12] Subsequently, Victoria's condition continued to deteriorate from the prolonged abuse, neglect, and torture, eventually leading to her admission to the North Middlesex Hospital. She died on February 25, 2000, from heart, lung, and kidney failure. Kouao and her boyfriend were both convicted of murder following Victoria's life, both receiving a life sentence. [13]

In 2005, three adults were charged and convicted of cruelty to a child. The eight-year-old girl was entrusted to one of the three adults who was reportedly a distant relative of the child's mother. [12] The young girl was eventually accused of witchcraft by another child within the household. She suffered severe abuse by the adults in their attempt to force the devil from her body; including, starvation, beatings, and cuts to her chest. At one time, she was intentionally drowned and only saved for fear of the British Police suspecting the adults in the home of her murder and maltreatment. [12]

In the year 2005, alone, there were eighteen separate allegations of abuse against children following an accusation of witchcraft or possession of a demonic entity. [12]

Africa

In Africa, there have been numerous cases of children being targeted in witch hunts in the past couple decades. [14]

In Bangui, the capital city of the Central African Republic, witchcraft accusations against children still occur. In the Central African Republic, as well as in other neighboring countries, witchcraft allegations against children have increased alongside the Christian revivalist churches. Christian pastors and "traditional healers" have sprayed children with gasoline, locked them in churches, at times without access to food, performed exorcisms, and forced the children to drink poison, according to The United Nations Children's Fund, also known as UNICEF. [15]

In Congo, it is estimated that there are 25,000 homeless children living on the streets of the capital city. Of these, 60% were expelled from their homes because of allegations of witchcraft. Accusations of witchcraft is the only justifiable reason for the refusal to house a family member, no matter how distant the relation. [16]

In Gambia, about 1,000 people accused of being witches were locked in detention centers in March 2009. They were forced to drink a dangerous hallucinogenic potion, according to Amnesty International. [17]

In Ghana between 1994 and 2009 there were multiple counts of child witch hunts still happening. [14]

In Malawi, specifically the Southern region, has also been home to child witchcraft accusations. [18] With beliefs of child witches running prevalent in modern day, children and their teachers alike are still faced with the public's want for harsh punishments, including beatings and even executions. [18] Present day beliefs still harbor negative connotations against children believed to be involved in witchcraft, and abuse and murder of said children are still prevalent as of 2013. [18] This hatred for the children has also been linked to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, with child witchcraft being one blame for parents dying of AIDS, therefore leading to the child being punished and abandoned by family. [18]

In Nigeria, some African Pentecostal pastors like Helen Ukpabio have incorporated African witchcraft beliefs into their brands of Christianity resulting in a campaign of violence against young Nigerians. Children and babies branded as evil are being mistreated, abandoned, and even murdered. The preachers make money out of the fear by providing costly exorcism services of their parents and their communities. [19]

In the Nigerian states of Akwa Ibom and Cross River about 15,000 children were branded as witches and most of them end up abandoned and abused on the streets. [17] A documentary aired on Channel 4 and BBC, Saving Africa's Witch Children , shows the work of Gary Foxcroft and Stepping Stones Nigeria (now Safe Child Africa) in addressing these abuses.

According to a disputable empiric construction, in Sierra Leone sick infants tend to have better survival-rates due to witchhunts: "the effect of the witch cleansing probably lasts for years in the sense that mothers are predisposed to tend their babies with more hopefulness and real concern. Therefore many babies who, before the arrival of the witchfinder, might have been saved if the mothers had had the heart and will to stop at nothing to tend their babies, will now survive precisely because they will receive the best attention, as the mothers now believe that the remaining children are free of witchcraft. So there is a reduction in the infant mortality rate in the years immediately following the witchcleansing movement". [20]

While crisis is generally accepted as a factor in the DRC and Nigeria, its impact and ramifications are in discussion by African and European scholars. According to Riedel, two major Nollywood films depicting children as witches don't show any economic stress and play in a middle-class environment. [21] [22]

See also

Related Research Articles

Witchcraft, as most commonly understood in both historical and present-day communities, is the use of alleged supernatural powers of magic. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic or supernatural powers to inflict harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meaning. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, "Witchcraft thus defined exists more in the imagination of contemporaries than in any objective reality. Yet this stereotype has a long history and has constituted for many cultures a viable explanation of evil in the world". The belief in witchcraft has been found in a great number of societies worldwide. Anthropologists have applied the English term "witchcraft" to similar beliefs in occult practices in many different cultures, and societies that have adopted the English language have often internalised the term.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Witch-hunt</span> Search for witchcraft or subversive activity

A witch-hunt, or a witch purge, is a search for people who have been labeled witches or a search for evidence of witchcraft. Practicing evil spells or incantations was proscribed and punishable in early human civilizations in the Middle East. In medieval Europe, witch-hunts often arose in connection to charges of heresy from Christianity. An intensive period of witch-hunts occurring in Early Modern Europe and to a smaller extent Colonial America, took place about 1450 to 1750, spanning the upheavals of the Counter Reformation and the Thirty Years' War, resulting in an estimated 35,000 to 50,000 executions. The last executions of people convicted as witches in Europe took place in the 18th century. In other regions, like Africa and Asia, contemporary witch-hunts have been reported from sub-Saharan Africa and Papua New Guinea, and official legislation against witchcraft is still found in Saudi Arabia and Cameroon today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Witches' Sabbath</span> Gathering of those believed to practice witchcraft

A Witches' Sabbath is a purported gathering of those believed to practice witchcraft and other rituals. The phrase became especially popular in the 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">European witchcraft</span> Belief in witchcraft in Europe

European witchcraft is a multifaceted historical and cultural phenomenon that unfolded over centuries, leaving a mark on the continent's social, religious, and legal landscapes. The roots of European witchcraft trace back to classical antiquity when concepts of magic and religion were closely related, and society closely integrated magic and supernatural beliefs. Ancient Rome, then a pagan society, had laws against harmful magic. In the Middle Ages, accusations of heresy and devil worship grew more prevalent. By the early modern period, major witch hunts began to take place, partly fueled by religious tensions, societal anxieties, and economic upheaval. Witches were often viewed as dangerous sorceresses or sorcerers in a pact with the Devil, capable of causing harm through black magic. A feminist interpretation of the witch trials is that misogynist views of women led to the association of women and malevolent witchcraft.

In the early modern period, from about 1400 to 1775, about 100,000 people were prosecuted for witchcraft in Europe and British America. Between 40,000 and 60,000 were executed. The witch-hunts were particularly severe in parts of the Holy Roman Empire. Prosecutions for witchcraft reached a high point from 1560 to 1630, during the Counter-Reformation and the European wars of religion. Among the lower classes, accusations of witchcraft were usually made by neighbors, and women made formal accusations as much as men did. Magical healers or 'cunning folk' were sometimes prosecuted for witchcraft, but seem to have made up a minority of the accused. Roughly 80% of those convicted were women, most of them over the age of 40. In some regions, convicted witches were burnt at the stake.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pendle witches</span> English witch hunt and trial in 1612

The trials of the Pendle witches in 1612 are among the most famous witch trials in English history, and some of the best recorded of the 17th century. The twelve accused lived in the area surrounding Pendle Hill in Lancashire, and were charged with the murders of ten people by the use of witchcraft. All but two were tried at Lancaster Assizes on 18–19 August 1612, along with the Samlesbury witches and others, in a series of trials that have become known as the Lancashire witch trials. One was tried at York Assizes on 27 July 1612, and another died in prison. Of the eleven who went to trial – nine women and two men – ten were found guilty and executed by hanging; one was found not guilty.

Helen Ukpabio is the founder and head of African Evangelical franchise Liberty Foundation Gospel Ministries based in Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria. She is widely accused of causing large-scale harassment and violence against children accused of witchcraft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samlesbury witches</span> 17th-century English women accused of witchcraft

The Samlesbury witches were three women from the Lancashire village of Samlesbury – Jane Southworth, Jennet Bierley, and Ellen Bierley – accused by a 14-year-old girl, Grace Sowerbutts, of practising witchcraft. Their trial at Lancaster Assizes in England on 19 August 1612 was one in a series of witch trials held there over two days, among the most infamous in English history. The trials were unusual for England at that time in two respects: Thomas Potts, the clerk to the court, published the proceedings in his The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Lancaster; and the number of the accused found guilty and hanged was unusually high, ten at Lancaster and another at York. All three of the Samlesbury women were acquitted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mora witch trial</span> Swedish witch trial

The Mora witch trial, which took place in Mora, Sweden, in 1669, is the most internationally famous Swedish witch trial. Reports of the trial spread throughout Europe, and a provocative German illustration of the execution is considered to have had some influence on the Salem witch trials. It was the first mass execution during the great Swedish witch hunt of 1668–1676.

Throughout the era of the European witch trials in the Early Modern period, from the 15th to the 18th century, there were protests against both the belief in witches and the trials. Even those protestors who believed in witchcraft were typically sceptical about its actual occurrence.

Witchcraft accusations against children in Africa have received increasing international attention in the first decade of the 21st century.

<i>Europes Inner Demons</i>

Europe's Inner Demons: An Enquiry Inspired by the Great Witch-Hunt is a historical study of the beliefs regarding European witchcraft in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe, with particular reference to the development of the witches' sabbat and its influence on the witch trials in the Early Modern period. It was written by the English historian Norman Cohn, then of the University of Sussex, and first published by Sussex University Press in association with Heinemann Educational Books in 1975. It was released as a part of a series of academic books entitled 'Studies in the Dynamics of Persecution and Extermination' that were funded by the Columbus Centre and edited by Cohn himself.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leo Igwe</span> Nigerian human rights activist (born 1970)

Leo Igwe is a Nigerian human rights advocate and humanist. Igwe is a former Western and Southern African representative of the International Humanist and Ethical Union, and has specialized in campaigning against and documenting the impacts of child witchcraft accusations. He holds a Ph.D. from the Bayreuth International School of African Studies at the University of Bayreuth in Germany, having earned a graduate degree in philosophy from the University of Calabar, in Nigeria. Igwe's human rights advocacy has brought him into conflict with high-profile witchcraft believers, such as Liberty Foundation Gospel Ministries, because of his criticism of what he describes as their role in the violence and child abandonment that sometimes result from accusations of witchcraft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Witch trials in early modern Scotland</span>

In early modern Scotland, in between the early 16th century and the mid-18th century, judicial proceedings concerned with the crimes of witchcraft took place as part of a series of witch trials in Early Modern Europe. In the late middle age there were a handful of prosecutions for harm done through witchcraft, but the passing of the Witchcraft Act 1563 made witchcraft, or consulting with witches, capital crimes. The first major issue of trials under the new act were the North Berwick witch trials, beginning in 1590, in which King James VI played a major part as "victim" and investigator. He became interested in witchcraft and published a defence of witch-hunting in the Daemonologie in 1597, but he appears to have become increasingly sceptical and eventually took steps to limit prosecutions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Scottish witch hunt of 1649–50</span>

The great Scottish witch hunt of 1649–50 was a series of witch trials in Scotland. It is one of five major hunts identified in early modern Scotland and it probably saw the most executions in a single year.

Witch-hunts are a contemporary phenomenon occurring globally, with notable occurrences in Sub-Saharan Africa, India, Nepal, and Papua New Guinea. Modern witch-hunts surpass the body counts of early-modern witch-hunting. Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, and Nigeria, experiences a high prevalence of witch-hunting. In Cameroon, accusations have resurfaced in courts, often involving child-witchcraft scares. Gambia witnessed government-sponsored witch hunts, leading to abductions, forced confessions, and deaths.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bute witches</span>

The Bute witches were six Scottish women accused of witchcraft and interrogated in the parish of Rothesay on Bute during the Great Scottish Witch Hunt of 1661–62. The Privy Council granted a Commission of Justiciary for a local trial to be held and four of the women – believed by historians to be Margaret McLevin, Margaret McWilliam, Janet Morrison and Isobell McNicoll – were executed in 1662; a fifth may have died while incarcerated. One woman, Jonet NcNicoll, escaped from prison before she could be executed but when she returned to the island in 1673 the sentence was implemented.

The witch trials in Connecticut, also sometimes referred to as the Hartford witch trials, occurred from 1647 to 1663. They were the first large-scale witch trials in the American colonies, predating the Salem Witch Trials by nearly thirty years. John M. Taylor lists a total of 37 cases, 11 of which resulted in executions. The execution of Alse Young of Windsor in the spring of 1647 was the beginning of the witch panic in the area, which would not come to an end until 1670 with the release of Katherine Harrison.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Witch trials in Virginia</span> Virginia witch trials

During a 104-year period from 1626 to 1730, there are documented Virginia Witch Trials, hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in Colonial Virginia. More than two dozen people are documented having been accused, including two men. Virginia was the first colony to have a formal accusation of witchcraft in 1626, and the first formal witch trial in 1641.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Witchcraft in Africa</span> Supernatural practices in the African continent

In Africa, witchcraft refers to various beliefs and practices. These beliefs often play a significant role in shaping social dynamics and can influence how communities address challenges and seek spiritual assistance. However much of what witchcraft represents in Africa has been susceptible to misunderstandings and confusion, thanks in no small part to a tendency among western scholars since the time of Margaret Murray to approach the subject through a comparative lens vis-a-vis European witchcraft. The definition of witchcraft differs between Africans and Europeans which causes misunderstandings of African conjure practices among Europeans. While some colonialists tried to eradicate witch hunting by introducing legislation to prohibit accusations of witchcraft, some of the countries where this was the case have formally recognized the existence of witchcraft via the law. This has produced an environment that encourages persecution of suspected witches.

References

  1. ↑ Secker, Emilie (2012-12-12). "Witchcraft stigmatization in Nigeria: Challenges and successes in the implementation of child rights". International Social Work. 56 (1): 22–36. doi:10.1177/0020872812459065. ISSN   0020-8728. S2CID   143707973.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Golden, Richard M. Encyclopedia of Witchcraft: The Western Tradition s.v. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2006.
  3. ↑ Poole, Robert (June 2012). "Witchcraft, history and children: interpreting England's biggest witch trial, 1612". Teaching History. 147: 36–37 – via JStor.
  4. ↑ Bailey, Michael D. Historical Dictionary of Witchcraft (Historical Dictionaries of Religions, Philosophies and Movements). Lanham, Maryland: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2003.
  5. ↑ Cf. John Crewdson. By Silence Betrayed: Sexual Abuse of Children in America. (Boston: Little, Brown, 1988), 170.
  6. ↑ Burns, William E. Witch Hunts in Europe and America: An Encyclopedia. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2003.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Walinski-Kiehl, Robert S. (August 1996). "The devil's children: child witch-trials in early modern Germany". Continuity and Change. 11 (2): 171–189. doi:10.1017/S0268416000003301. ISSN   1469-218X. S2CID   145158797.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Roper, Lyndal (2000). "'Evil Imaginings and Fantasies': Child-Witches and the End of the Witch Craze". Past & Present. 167 (167): 107–139. doi:10.1093/past/167.1.107. ISSN   0031-2746. JSTOR   651255.
  9. ↑ Rowlands, Alison. The 'Little Witch Girl' of Rothenburg. History Review, 42(Mar 2002)27.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Willumsen, Liv Helene (2013-02-01). "Children accused of witchcraft in 17th-century Finnmark". Scandinavian Journal of History. 38 (1): 18–41. doi:10.1080/03468755.2012.741450. ISSN   0346-8755. S2CID   96469672.
  11. ↑ Ruickbie, Leo. Child Witches: From Imaginary Cannibalism to Ritual Abuse. Paranthropology, 3.3 (July 2012), pp. 13-21.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 Fontaine, Jean La (2009). The Devil's Children (1st ed.). Routledge. ISBN   9781315615479.
  13. 1 2 Laming, Lord (2001). The Victoria Climbie Inquiry. COI Communications. pp. 37–50.
  14. 1 2 Adinkrah, Mensah (2011-09-01). "Child witch hunts in contemporary Ghana". Child Abuse & Neglect. 35 (9): 741–752. doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2011.05.011. ISSN   0145-2134. PMID   21943497.
  15. ↑ Joselow, Gabe (October 15, 2012). "Children Accused of Witchcraft Left Vulnerable in Central African Republic". Voice of American News / FIND– via ProQuest.
  16. ↑ CONGO RELATIVES ACCUSING KIDS OF WITCHCRAFT :[ALL Edition]. (2006, August 30). The Augusta Chronicle , p. A11. Retrieved December 1, 2008, from ProQuest NewsStand database. (Document ID: 1116345621).
  17. 1 2 Faith Karimi. "Abuse of child 'witches' on rise, aid group says". CNN.
  18. 1 2 3 4 Van Der Meer, Erwin (June 2013). "Child witchcraft accusations in Southern Malawi". Australasian Review of African Studies, the. 34 (1): 129.
  19. ↑ Children are targets of Nigerian witch hunt. (The Observer, 9 December 2007)
  20. ↑ STUDIA INSTITUTI ANTHROPOS, Vol. 41 Anthony J. Gittins : Mende Religion. Steyler Verlag, Nettetal, 1987. p. 200
  21. ↑ "Felix Riedel: Children in African Witch-Hunts – An introduction for Scientists and Social Workers". whrin.org.
  22. ↑ Riedel, Felix (2012). "Children in African Witch-Hunts - An Introduction for Scientists and Social Workers" (PDF).
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