NARRATOR:
What are the components of a trial?
The judge. The accuser.
The accused.
Evidence is considered. Witnesses are called. A trial provides the defendant with a chance to prove their innocence.
By this definition, the witches received no trial: they received a condemnation.
They were allowed no defence. Incarcerated in Lancaster Castle, their fate lay in the hands of judges and prosecutors alone.
The evidence: hearsay and gossip, from second and third parties; blame assigned for coincidences; murders of individuals they had not touched.
Extrapolations and lies dooming them to horrific ends.
Some were acquitted. The majority were testified against by loved ones and unfriendly acquaintances and found guilty.
The Pendle Witches were executed.
A rope was looped about their necks and they were hung on the gallows.
Whether or not they practiced witchcraft seems irrelevant.
They were dragged from their homes, imprisoned and abused.
Facing a death they were powerless to prevent.
A sentence decided by a merciless collective, who considered their own fears to be fact.
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