September 20, 2007
The last "witch" executed in Western Europe
The last execution for witchcraft took place little more than 200 years ago but campaigners in Switzerland claim it may be time to clear Anna Goeldi's name. . .From the BBC. This was also written up back in February in the Telegraph.Mr Hauser calls Anna's trial and execution "judicial murder". "Educated people here did not believe in witchcraft in 1782," he insists. "Anna Goeldi was a threat to powerful people. They wanted her out of the way, accusing her of being a witch. It was a legal way to kill her."
Anna Goeldi's ordeal remains, in meticulous detail, in the Glarus archives.
Posted by David on September 20, 2007 4:37 PM
A book review in the Sunday Telegraph at the weekend said that a witch was burned in France in 1825.
Posted by: dearieme on September 20, 2007 11:05 PM
Not surprised. I did do a little digging for the original post, and found that the "last" label is pretty hard to pin down. Most articles seem to be looking only at judicial executions, and I suspect the French example would have been closer to a lynching, given the date (anti-witchcraft laws were taken off the books in most Western European countries by c. 1800, I believe). It also appears that witches were being tried and executed by the Church in South America into the 1820s, however.
Posted by: David on September 21, 2007 10:31 AM
Correction: I should have said 1835.
Posted by: dearieme on September 23, 2007 4:46 PM
cronaca.com