In the 17th century during early European settlement of the northeast of the Untited States and Canada did any of the settlements of other countries experience similar witch panics or live in fear of the devil/demons as New England is purported to have?
###Speaking of witch panic, here below follows the story of how a little girl‘s lively imagination and her meeting with a village vicar ended up with the deaths of hundreds of innocent lives.
SWEDEN. Gertrud Svensdotter’s lively imagination and evidently good ability to tell stories would become the cause of death for more than 300 people. This is true. Every beheading and burning at the stake has been documented in great detail. Thus the after-world came to convict her harshly, describing her as “deliberately evil.” Despite this one can defend her if so be. Given the fact that she was a mere child when drawn into the unforeseeable nightmare that soon would enfold, the accusation of her “deliberate evilness” is in itself utterly meaningless.
Although born in Härjedalen Gertrud was sent away to live with her grandfather’s sister in Dalälven, which probably was neither better nor worse than living in Härjedalen. But it’s likely that her father wanted to get rid of her, at least temporarily, due to some mishaps within the family. Her mother had passed away during child-birth and her father soon after began pondering whether or not to wed a 19-year-old local girl named Märit Jonsdotter. This she couldn’t accept, which is why her father sent her away in the first place.
Although this in itself wasn’t considered an “eyebrow raising” kind of decision, it would, however, eventually spark a heap of witch accusations to be made against Märit —— swiftly sentenced to death and shortly thereafter escorted to a large bonfire where she with her hands tied behind her back was burned alive whilst her chilling screams drowned by and fading into the overwhelming curious onlookers’ cheer and applause.
Embedded into this rural culture, children’s chores was to either assist within the family home or assist in various things within its vicinity. Boys and girls could also give each other a helping hand. As boys became youngsters their assistance in taking care of the livestock was narrowed down to solely take care of their families’ horses and as girls grew older they could during summertime produce cheese and butter, a work of great economical and socially prestigious value.
In autumn 1667, at some point between the end of September and early October, 11-year-old Gertrud was out and about herding a few dozen goats near a river in Hommansäng. She was on this day not merely responsible for the goats, but also for a 9-year-old boy named Mats Nilsson. At some point during the day they began to bicker and fight over a piece of bread whereas Gertrud won, fair and square. Later during sunset they noticed that a dozen or so goats had managed to cross the river and settled down on a small islet. But there had during summer been a lot of rain, which now seemed to strengthen the water flow, which, even though it wasn’t an all that far distance, is why Mats didn’t dare to cross the river to reach the islet. Thus Gertrud had to cross over and whilst herding them all back, just to be safe, she firmly gripped onto a set of goat horns.
This is all that happened, at least how the after-world can interpret and understand it, and nothing else. But since Mats, being a boy, felt ashamed for losing the fight with Gertrud and for that he didn’t dare to cross the river to retrieve the goats. Later that day he told his father all about what had happened, spicing it all up by providing a most supernatural explanation as to how Gertrud and not he himself could cross the river. His father, who now comforted him, didn’t take his son’s words to heart. Not immediately anyway. But after a short while he himself spiced it all up even further by improving bits and pieces of his son’s story whilst he in a neighboring village met up with a friend of his named Olof Matsson, a juryman.
Matsson, in turn, improved the drama of the story whilst retelling it to countryside vicar Lars Elvius, and in doing so the Devil was unleashed. The version that Matsson told Elvius involved things such as that Gertrud had gained the ability to walk on water as Jesus Christ himself. According to Elvius this “miracle” undoubtedly had an underlying evil explanation: Gertrud must’ve summoned the Devil and pleaded for his aid, which he gladly bestowed upon her. But not only had the Devil showed up in person, he had also lubricated Gertrud’s legs and feet with a magical ointment. Thus she, instead of Mats, could retrieve the goats. He immediately began pondering on the matter most seriously and decided to call her over to the local church.
Elvius put her through a long series of interrogations. Sadly, though, we know nothing about them since he unfortunately didn’t keep any records. But what we do know is that that his interrogations lasted for several months and rested solely on that she were to confess of having made a pact with the Devil. She persistently refused for months on end, which when considering her young age is quite impressive, right up until after New Year 1667–1668 when a 15-year-old boy named Erich Erichsson came to Elvius’ aid. The boy somehow knew about Gertrud and had oftentimes witnessed how she flew to Blåkulla, and of how she’d brought one of his little sisters and some other children along with her.
That Elvius put her through this ordeal was no secret on the countryside and since he took the matter most seriously he also came to affect his parishioners in various ways during preaching service and spiritual care. As such one witness after another began to come forth to give their “witness statements,” which formed an unsustainable situation for her as it for her part, ironic as it may be, now became wise to confess as much as was expected. She was after all not adequately versed in Christian theology and I think that Elvius, as seemingly conscientious the man was, should’ve made a considerable effort to explain the matter.
Isn’t it so that a Christian can solely by confession receive forgiveness by God and man, and that those who deny, such as 11-year-old Gertrud, and thus persist in sin am causing further offend against God and man? The very meaning of this is easy enough to understand and it’s in a theological sense fully logical:
“Confess and all shall be forgiven!”
However, the problem of confessing to something that isn’t true is that a growing demand for clarification evolves:
“If you fly to Blåkulla, an accusation to which you confess and one which witnesses proclaim, who has taught you this dark art? Who amongst your neighbors have you witnessed as to being present there? Keep in mind, little girl, that not until you fully and earnestly ease your heart will you be free of sin!”
Gertrud’s bewildering confessions began to spread and more children came forth —— sometimes voluntarily, sometimes pulled by their ears by their parents ——, oftentimes giving enthusiastic and vivid depictions. Not even during these “witness statements” did the children understand what truly horrific consequences their stories would bring about and as these were later revealed it was far too late for them to retract what they said.
At a hearing in September 1668, just under a year after the event with the goats by the river, Gertrud mentioned the names of 19 people, of which eight were adults, that had flown to Blåkulla. The one she named as her tutor in this dark art was none other than Märit, the 19-year-old girl who her father intended to wed.
Soon thereafter bonfires were raised, and the story of Gertrud and a dozen goats on an islet, despite its apparent insignificance, sparked the start of one of the most darkest chapters in Swedish legal history. Panic soon spread across large parts of the country and after just under a decade later, as the bonfires turned cold, more than 300 innocent people had been executed.
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