In this era, there was a distinction between a “black witch” and a “white witch”. Those who knew the secrets of healing herbs and beneficial spells and helped others were called the White Witches. On the other hand, the “Black Witches” were the people who insisted on harming others through their knowledge.

The first Witch trials were conducted in the Elizabethan Era in a place called Essex. 64 people were accused and the judges found 53 of them guilty. Most of the people just confessed to the fact that they practiced witchcraft. The first woman to be hanged was Agnes Waterhouse. Elizabeth Frances confessed that she had a cat and had the intention of harming others. She was hanged at the conclusion of a second trial in Chelmsford. The Windsor witch trials and the second Chelmsford witch trials took place in 1579. Three women were hanged during the third trial in 1589.

During the years 1589 to 1593, Alice Samuel and her family were accused of being witches and eventually executed. They were servants in a house and Epileptic fits on a child were believed to be the result of their witchcraft work.

This story where a child’s imagination and fantasy gets out of hand when parents react with ignorance and hatred repeats continuously over the next century and spreads into Americas as people start to suspect anything and everything they cannot understand. Unfortunately, the accusation invariably led to witchcraft trials followed by more executions.

Hopefully, this history will not repeat itself. Each of us has to be aware that somewhere in the world, people are being harassed for situations that are beyond their control.

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
Then they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
Then they came for the witches,
I did not speak out;
I was not a witch.
Then they came for the Jews,
I did not speak out;
I was not a Jew.
When they came for me,there was no one left to speak out for me.

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