7 Deadly Witch Trials That Didn’t Take Place In Salem

Published October 24, 2023
Updated October 26, 2023

How Witch Trials Spread In Gambia

Gambia Witch Hunt Victim

ZUMA Press, Inc./Alamy Stock PhotoA victim of the Gambia witch hunt.

In 2009, Amnesty International announced a shocking revelation: some 1,000 people had been kidnapped by “witch doctors” in Gambia, taken to detention centers, and forced to drink a burning liquid.

This modern-day witch hunt was ordered by the country’s president, Yahya Jammeh. Like King James VI, Jammeh allegedly believed that witches had targeted his family. He suspected that witchcraft had been behind the death of his aunt and thus invited witch doctors into the country to eradicate the threat between 2009 and 2016, when he lost power.

In the village of Sintet, The New York Times found that soldiers descended, told the villagers that they were all witches, and started loading people into vans. One woman later testified that they stripped her naked and forced her to say she was a witch.

Victims Of Gambia Witch Hunt

ZUMA Press, Inc./Alamy Stock PhotoVictims of the Gambia witch hunt, like Fatou Dibba (left), were forced to drink a liquid that made them hallucinate.

Elsewhere, people were taken to detention centers and forced to drink hallucinogenic concoctions. Many of them were then severely beaten. Some suffered from long-term health effects from the drink, including kidney and vision problems.

“A lot of these people who were forced to drink these poisonous herbs developed instant diarrhea and vomiting whilst they lay helpless,” one eyewitness said. “I stayed there for five days. I experienced and witnessed such abuse and humiliation. I can not believe that this type of treatment is taking place in Gambia. It is from the dark ages.”

As such, witch trials are hardly a thing of the past. Though they certainly reached their peak hundreds of years ago, fear of witches hasn’t lost its potency — and neither has the desire for control and punishment.


After reading about some of history’s most notorious witch trials that didn’t take place in Salem, discover the surprising story of Tituba, the enslaved woman who may have used the Salem witch trials to win her own freedom. Or, learn how Giles Corey was crushed to death after he was accused of being a witch in Salem.

author
Kaleena Fraga
author
A senior staff writer for All That's Interesting since 2021 and co-host of the History Uncovered Podcast, Kaleena Fraga graduated with a dual degree in American History and French Language and Literature from Oberlin College. She previously ran the presidential history blog History First, and has had work published in The Washington Post, Gastro Obscura, and elsewhere. She has published more than 1,200 pieces on topics including history and archaeology. She is based in Brooklyn, New York.
editor
Jaclyn Anglis
editor
Based in Brooklyn, New York, Jaclyn Anglis is the senior managing editor at All That's Interesting, where she has worked since 2019. She holds a Master's degree in journalism from the City University of New York and a dual Bachelor's degree in English writing and history from DePauw University. In a career that spans 11 years, she has also worked with the New York Daily News, Bustle, and Bauer Xcel Media. Her interests include American history, true crime, modern history, and science.
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Fraga, Kaleena. "7 Deadly Witch Trials That Didn’t Take Place In Salem." AllThatsInteresting.com, October 24, 2023, https://allthatsinteresting.com/witch-trials. Accessed July 26, 2025.