Pardon granted to executed witches
October 31, 2004, sydney morning herald
A coven of "witches" executed centuries ago were officially pardoned in one of the last acts of ancient baronial powers held by a small community in Scotland. The 81 were killed in the 16th and 17th century - when people were condemned to death as witches on as flimsy evidence as owning a black cat or brewing home-made remedies. But this Halloween a gathering at Prestonpans in East Lothian has used ancient feudal powers, due to be abolished within weeks, to pardon the witches - and their cats. In a muted ceremony at the Prestoungrange Gothenburg pub, around 32 descendants, namesakes and supporters came together to mark the occasion, which they hope will become an annual Witches' Remembrance Day to be held in the town each Halloween.
The Barons Courts of Prestoungrange & Dolphinstoun granted the pardons in the last session of the courts, which is due to be abolished on November 28. The court declared pardon to all those convicted "as well as to the cats concerned". Local historian Roy Pugh, who helped secure the pardons by presenting evidence to the court, led the "gentle and dignified" ceremony. He said: "It is too late to apologise for what happened 400 years ago - it was a symbolic gesture. "It was not celebrating witches or witchcraft - as some people think - but making some amends for the unjustness, prejudice, hysteria and paranoia that led to those deaths." Mr Pugh, whose book The Deil's Ain caused controversy in 2001 for its strong criticism of the Church of Scotland in persecuting many supposed witches, expressed hope other communities would use Halloween to commemorate the "persecution".
He went on: "Halloween today is a day of fun and games for children but there is a dark side to it and I do not mean witchcraft and the black arts, but a dreadful period of Scottish history when between 3,500 and 4,000 people were executed for nothing." More than 3,500 Scots, mainly women and children, and their cats were killed in witch hunts at a time of political intrigue and religious excess, with Prestonpans recording one of the largest numbers of witch executions in all of Scotland. Fifteen local descendants of executed witches were invited to attend the ceremony and among those who attended were Rena Thomson, who had six ancestors killed, and Helen Cowan. The last execution for witchcraft in Scotland was in 1727. Such cases were outlawed by the Witchcraft Act of 1735, which made it a crime only to pretend to be a witch.
© 2004 AAP