Ramsele witch trial

Ramsele witch trial is the only known Swedish mass-execution of witches before the great witch-mania of 1668-1676.

In the year of 1634 a man and a coupple of women where put on trial in the city of Ramsele in Ångermanland in Norrland in Sweden. This was during a period of starvation, and they where accused of having stolen milk from their neighbors.

The man was said to have stabbed a knife in a wall and during "Terrible prays" milked the wall trough the knife. The women had used little animals, hares and undefined creatures to milk cattle in their neighbors barns.

Unfortunately, few records exist about this trial, but in 1636, the executioner Håkan of Säbrå received payment for "Having burned one warlock and four witches". It is most ligtly that they where beheaded before they where burned, as no known witch in Sweden, with the exception of Malin Matsdotter, where burned alive.

The real witch-hunt came to Sweden late, and didn't break out until 1668. It then reached its peak with the Torsåker witch trials. Witch trials are known in Sweden before 1668, but they are few and often ended with an acquittal or a mild sentence, not execution, such as the case of Stockholm in 1593. This is the only example of a "mass trial" of sorcery in Sweden before the great witch hunt in the 1670s.

Source

Alf Åberg, "Häxorna", (The Witches).

See also

Source