Crime, Punishment and Witchcraft

A Halloween history talk by The Witches of Scotland on Scotland's witch trials, accusations and punishments between 1563 and 1736.

Claire Mitchell KC and Zoe Venditozzi, authors of To Kill a Witch, present a talk examining Scotland's witch trials, in which almost 4,000 people were accused, tried and punished between 1563 and 1736, many of them women. The talk explores how suspicion became accusation and crime, covering interrogations, trials and brutal punishments, and builds on themes of folklore, belief and storytelling from The Inverness Castle Experience. It closes with the question of whether such events could happen again.