by Jim Ross

Created on: October 22, 2008   Last Updated: October 24, 2008

Matthew Hopkins was a man believed to have been involved with the murder of over 300 women. He was believed to be the son of a minister, who was a failed solicitor because he had no real qualifications. He was drawn into his new vocation after overhearing women discuss certain facts.

With any form of torture at the time made illegal, while civil war raged in the country, he used "sleep deprivation" as the soul source of his evidence to convict, and most of his victims were accused by children.

His prisoners were often kept in chilly windowless cells, they were made to sit on hard wooden stools, for twenty-four hours or more, which were noted as being very uncomfortable, and if a prisoner dozed off from lack of sleep they would be force marched around the cell until they had woken up again.

He used starvation, solitary confinement, and binding of the legs to obtain confessions, none of which, under the law, was considered torture at that time.

Never confirmed, it was rumoured he used tricks to deceive his victims - not knowing what time of day it was, he would often greet his prisoners with a "Good Morning" or "Good Afternoon" at random times.

With the help of two "hand-picked" accomplices John Stearne and Mary Phillips, they would investigate any birth marks, scars, moles, or boils, etc, and use these as a source of fact to ensure prosecution.

These were considered "dead spots" and were assumed never to bleed or cause pain when pricked with retractable knives. In fact, it caused the opposite; women would cry out in agony, and confess to crimes they did not commit. Sometimes women were tied up left thumb to right toe, or right toe to left thumb and then thrown into water.

The idea was, if the woman floated she had been saved by her master, and so was found guilty of refusing the baptismal waters, and therefore she would marched off to be hung by the neck until dead. If she sank and drowned she was innocent, and died without a stain on her character. In an attempt to aid the woman's buoyancy, she would be fitted with loose clothing which would cause air pockets to form around her body when she was literally thrown into water. The natural urge to gasp for air also caused victims to be more buoyant.

"Witches deny their baptisms when they covenant with the Devil, water being the soul element thereof, and therefore saith he, when they be heaved into the water, the water refuseth to receive them unto her bosome"

Matthew Hopkins "The Witchfinder General" of East Anglia between

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>