# Europe's last witch-hunt



## Allegra (Sep 21, 2007)

BBC NEWS | Programmes | From Our Own Correspondent | Europe's last witch-hunt



> *Fear and superstition fuelled witch-hunts all over Europe in the Middle Ages and caused the deaths of many innocent women. The last execution for witchcraft took place little more than 200 years ago but campaigners in Switzerland claim it may be time to clear Anna Goeldi's name.*
> ......
> Fritz Schiesser has tabled a motion in parliament calling for Anna Goeldi's exoneration. This weekend a museum will open in Glarus dedicated to her. It is ironic really. When Anna Goeldi was executed, the people of Glarus tried to hush it up, afraid of what the rest of the world would think. Two hundred and twenty five years later, her story has come back to haunt them.


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## j d worthington (Sep 22, 2007)

Fascinating story, Allegra. Frankly, I think it's foolish to not go ahead and officially clear her name, and it reflects poorly on the country that they won't take a symbolic step of that sort at this late date. Yes, it's an old story, but to take that step can be seen as a positive symbol of how far we've come since then -- it can be seen as a reason for pride rather than disgrace.

As for this being the last such conviction in Europe... I'm not so sure about that. I faintly recall a case or two of someone being convicted of witchcraft in the early nineteenth century in England, though I can't recall the specifics (it's been 20 years or better since I came across the reference); though I don't believe they were executed -- fined, as I recall.

And over here, there have been even more recent cases, just as we had cases in New England of bodies being dug up and staked, or their hearts burned, as late as the 1890s, for fear they were vampires (they had died of tuberculosis, and others in their families or communities began suffering from the same)... and some cases of this in the 19th century were _officially_ supported, as I recall!

While in general we have left much of that behind us, there is only a veneer between modern societies and the superstitions we've so painfully overcome... and under stress we fall back into them so very, very easily....


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