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I must admit that when I was told that Dave had told a friend that went on the Ghost walk, that wood for the burning of witches were collected at a certain spot on the walk.
I thought to myself. Thats not right. Witches were hung.
Burning at the stake was only for treason, petty treason & herracy.
Witches were burned at the stake in Europe, Scotland & Wales. But in England this was not the case. The prefered way was hanging.
I was also told how he had said that at another spot on the walk that the ducking stool was used on witches at this spot. I thought to myself.
Thats not right. The ducking stool was only used on nagging woman. Never on witches.
The Water Test on witches was as follows.
The right thumb was tied to the left toe & then the left thumb was tied to the right toe. A lenth of rope was tied around the accused waist & then they would have been lowerd into the river. ehter lowered from a bridge or one person went one side of the river & another on the other side of the river.
The rope would have been pulled taunt & then let free. The accused in the middle of the river.
If the accused floated they were guilty of being a witch. As they had not excepted baptizism. If they drowned they were innocent.
In the case of Hopkins. His favourite ploy was to do the water test on woman who wore a flowing dress. More chance of bubbles getting trapped in the folds of the dress & then the accused witch floating. He would then recieve his pay for anouther witch brought to justice.
The water test was a no win situation
The ducking stool
One of the favorite uses of the ducking stool was if a very important person came to town. The most beautiful girl in the town was accused of nagging. She was then brought to justice on the stool for the pleasure of the important person.
The girl was compleatly innocent of the crime. It was her looks only that got her into trouble.
The ducking stool was rarly fatal. Maybe a heart attack from an old person.
However. A person could die a month or so after the ducking. As the river where she had been ducked was full of human toilet waste & the person died of infection.
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