The witch trials that were deadlier than Salem's

Today, dressing up as a witch is just a bit of Halloween fun, but in the past there was a real belief in magic, and sorcery accusations could result in brutality and death.

"There were more than five times as many witchcraft trials and executions in Essex as there were in Salem and we just don't talk about them at all," said Emma Wardall, the founder of the Essex Witch Museum.

Wardall said 107 people were executed and 47 died in prison in Essex between 1542 and 1736; during the infamous Salem witch trials (1692-93) in Massachusetts, US, 19 victims were hanged.

So, why did the "witch county" produce so many victims?

In 1645, 15 women were tried and executed in Chelmsford for the crime of witchcraft.

This was a year when the self-appointed Witchfinder General, Matthew Hopkins, was active, receiving payments from towns for bringing witches to trial.

"A lot of people have heard of Matthew Hopkins, but they haven't heard of his victims or realised that he was only a three-year aspect of a 200-year history," said Wardall.

Wardall said the Essex Witch Museum, which does not yet have a permanent space, wants to give "identities back to people that were accused and executed for witchcraft".

The museum hosted a pop-up event over half-term in Chelmsford, organised by the non-profit organisation Chelmsford For You.

Eventually more than 800 people would be charged with witchcraft in Essex over a two-century period

Alison Rowlands, a professor of history at the University of Essex and an expert on witch trials and witchcraft in Germany and England, said: "Everyone refers to it as the witch county... I think there's various reasons."

These included its dense population, the way new legislation was taken up "eagerly and quickly" and that the county's cases were published in popular pamphlets.

Historians also know more about what happened in Essex due to the large number of surviving records from the assizes, a type of court presided over by travelling judges.

"A lot of the source material is missing for many parts of England, but for the home county circuits of the assizes, if we compare Essex to others such as Kent, Sussex and so on, Essex has far and away the most witch trials," she said.

The museum has volunteers who go through the archives held by the Essex Record Office to unearth the stories of people persecuted for witchcraft and to build up accurate statistics on the victims.

Belief in witchcraft was widespread at this time, with many people thinking it offered a convincing explanation for sudden illnesses or deaths that modern medicine would be now able to explain.

Rowlands said: "It can be very depressing when one reads of people being accused of things which we know nowadays couldn't really have happened because we don't believe in magic."

The first Witchcraft Act of 1542 was repealed, but the Witchcraft Act of 1562 opened the floodgates to accusations.

Its first victim was Elizabeth Lowys, from the Essex village of Great Waltham who was convicted and executed the following year.

Other high-profile victims included 14 women from St Osyth, near Clacton-on-Sea, who were accused of being witches in 1582.

The most famous of them, Ursula Kemp, was hanged, alongside Elizabeth Bennett.

In the 16th Century, witch hunts became almost an obsession across many parts of Europe, not just England.

This was spurred on by the popularity of a late 15th Century book on how to detect witches called Malleus Maleficarum.

Trials often relied on accusations by local people, with cases fuelled by fear, superstition and social tensions.

Wardall said: "At least 80% of the accused were women, which is quite normal across Europe at the time; disliked for whatever reason, whether that was because they were disabled, they were single mothers, perhaps they were queer.

"They stood out, they were different, they rose their heads above the crowd and they were persecuted because of it."

In Scotland, James VI took a keen interest in persecuting witches and an estimated 2,500 victims, 84% women, were found guilty and executed during his reign.

He brought that enthusiasm with him when he became King of England in 1603, tightening up the Witchcraft Act.

Another reason women were far more likely to be accused than men could be due to the sort of work open to them: healthcare, childcare, dairy production or livestock work.

At a time when infections could rapidly lead to death and food spoiled easily causing illness, they were more likely to be blamed for any fatalities, a Cambridge University study suggested.

"When it comes to the herbalists or women attending childbirth, I think of how many lives they must have saved; but then things went wrong, especially in childbirth, or with illnesses not diagnosed until 100 years ago, and they were more susceptible to accusations," said John Worland.

The former police inspector helped secure a permanent memorial to the more than 200 women and men held at Colchester Castle on witchcraft charges.

He first came across their stories more than 20 years ago, shortly after his retirement.

"I looked at the evidence - or lack of it - and thought, 'How can this have happened?' and that got me fired up," he said.

He has since helped make documentaries on some of the victims elsewhere in the county, including Ursula Kemp, helping to discover what may be her skeleton.

Since the Colchester memorial was unveiled in 2022, another one has been set up in Chelmsford, while the Tendring Witch Heritage Trail was created last year.

"It's this brutal period of our history that is largely forgotten and it deserves to be remembered," said Wardall.

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