The Mass Killing Of Witches During The Torsåker Witch Trials
Public DomainA depiction of witch trials in Sweden, which ramped up in the 17th century.
On a spring day in 1675, thick billowing smoke choked the streets of Torsåker, a parish in Sweden. There, an astounding 71 accused witches were beheaded and burned at the stake on the same day. As HISTORY notes, the Torsåker witch trials stand as one of the largest mass killings of witches in history and the largest witch hunt in Swedish history.
Paranoia about witches gripped Sweden during the 17th century. This frightful period is referred to as Det Stora Oväsendet or “the Great Noise” and resulted in the deaths of 400 people.
This “noise” reached a roar in Torsåker in 1674 when a minister named Laurentius Christophori Hornæus of Ytterlännäs received instructions to investigate witchcraft in his parish. He enlisted two boys to identify women with hidden “devil’s marks” and quickly put together a list of possible witches.
Public DomainA memorial stone marks the spot where 71 accused witches were buried after their mass execution during the Torsåker witch trials.
Like elsewhere, people accused of witchcraft were tortured until they confessed. In Torsåker, victims were whipped and forced into frozen lakes. Their interrogators also allegedly threatened to bake their children in the oven if they didn’t confess. So, of course, many did.
In 1675, 71 accused witches — 65 women and six men — were beheaded and burned at the stake. That wiped out a jaw-dropping one-fifth of all women in Torsåker. They were buried under a local hilltop, which now bears the inscription: “In 1675 witches’ pyres burnt here. Women died, men judged. The belief of the time befalls man.”
The Torsåker witch trials, and the others we’ve covered so far, happened hundreds of years ago and seem to be relics of another age. But witch hunts continue even in our modern era.
