The witches of Antrim

[icymist]

Shouting, swearing and throwing Bibles — no, not the demonic antics from ‘The Exorcist’, but of a possessed 18-year-old in the 1700s. Declan Cashin recalls Ireland’s last witch trial and explains why the case is being reopened after 300 years.

In March 1711, eight women appeared in court in Carrickfergus, Co Antrim, as part of a sensational trial that found them guilty. They were put in the stocks for the public to rain stones and rotten fruit upon them, before being jailed for a year.

Their crime? The demonic possession of the body, mind and spirit of a teenage girl.

Read more at The Independent

[Chemisse]

1. That's pretty interesting.

I wonder if the researchers ever considered that the girl may have been ill, perhaps poisoned by something in the environment (since the woman who lived there had recently died) or related to occupation (such as Mad Hatter's Disease).