Mora witch trial

The Mora witch trial, which took place in Mora, Sweden, in 1669, is the most internationally famous Swedish witch trial. Reports of the trial spread throughout Europe, and a provocative German illustration of the execution is considered to have had some influence on the Salem witch trials. It was the first mass execution during the great Swedish witch hunt of 1668–1676.

After the trial against Märet Jonsdotter in Härjedalen in 1668, rumours began to spread throughout the country that witches abducted children to the Witches' Sabbath of Satan in Blockula. This caused an hysteria among parents and a series of witch trials around the country, where children pointed out adults for having abducted them to take to Satan riding on cattle taken from the barns of wealthy farmers. In Älvdalen, thirty people were put on trial and eighteen sentenced to death: the national court revoked eleven death sentences and executed six women and one man 19 May 1669. These people were executed on the testimonies of children, which was to be common during this witch hunt.

In March 1669, the hysteria reached Mora. The bailiff informed the governor: In Älvdalen and Mora, children and teenagers are being seduced by old witches unto the Devil. In June, distressed parents forced the governor to send a list of 35 children, claimed to have been abducted to Satan, to the capital with an appeal to send a commission to Mora to deal with the problem, because if: the old is not dealt with as it should, there is a risk that will become much worse than anyone can imagine. In May 1669, King Charles XI created a commission with instructions to use prayer to redeem the accused, rather than torture or imprisonment.

The commission, half of whose members consisted of priests, arrived at Mora on August 12, 1669 and, in front of three thousand spectators, convened a hearing on August 13. Over five days, 60 accused adults and numerous children were interrogated. The suffering children were examined and questioned one by one apart and it is said they all gave the same story. The witches claimed a devil called Locyta stopped them from confessing, but he left and allowed the witches to confess. The witches confessed to many things and declared they used Enchanted Tools. When the judges asked to see some of their tricks, but the witches could no longer do any magic, and the judges declared that since the witches had confessed they could no longer practice witchcraft. The witches said the Devil was threatening them with an iron fork, and was going to throw them into a burning pit if they continued with their confessions. The official responsible for recording their statements openly admitted he did not bother writing down many of them, as they were all so similar. There were so many accused that the trials were conducted at two different locations in the village.

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