Still the reality of what happened the night that Janet Cornfoot was lynched in the harbour is hard to grasp as one sits in the harbour of Pittenweem watching the fishing boats unload their catch and the pleasure boats rising with the tide. How could people do this to an old woman? Why was no-one ever brought to justice? And why would anyone defend such a lynching? The task of the historian is to try to make events in the past come alive and seem...

This absorbing volume features wise women, Wiccans and warlocks alongside the history of the human tragedy of the European witch-burning era and the Salem trials, and the heroes who risked torture to speak out against the madness. Sorcerors Morgan le Fay, Melusine and Medea are among the diverse and infamous characters whose stories are told. Less well known are the ordinary victims, mainly women denounced by ignorance and ill-will, but sometimes...