15 Bizarre Ways People Tested Witches

One way to spot a witch involved baking a cake with rye and the urine of a witch’s victim.Bake a cake with rye and the urine of a witch’s victim.People had different stories about how witch cake served to identify witches.

If the dog showed symptoms like the victim's, that often signaled witchcraft. The dog then identified the witch.

A ducking stoolA ducking stoolA ducking stool was a medieval torture device. It punished and humiliated women. The device looked like a seesaw with a chair attached to one end. People placed the device at a river's edge; the offender, strapped in the chair, was repeatedly plunged into the cold water.

Witch hunters used this device to force confessions. Accusers later skipped the device, just tossing suspected witches into the water to see if they drowned.

Some accused witches had their hands and feet bound. They then threw them into water. This was probably the final, no-win situation.

If a person was a witch, the water supposedly wouldThey rejected them and spat them back out.But if they were innocent, they woulddrown.

This method forced accused witches to admit guilt. Accusers laid a board on the witches and placed heavy rocks on it until they confessed or were crushed.

Giles Corey.Giles Corey, one of the few men accused, died this way.

Some accused people faced testing by beingVictims scratched the accused witches.Those cursed by a witch gained relief when they scratched the person who caused their trouble.

Victims scratched the witch until blood appeared. If their symptoms improved, they knew they found their witch.

Accused witches were asked to.They recited the Lord’s Prayer.—and say it perfectly. This meantThey needed perfect pronunciation.—no stuttering, no twitching, no shaking.

Real witches could not recite the prayer perfectly—meaning they could not skip words or stutter. Passing this test did not always earn an acquittal. George BurroughsThey executed in 1692.This happened in Salem, Massachusetts, even after passing the Lord's Prayer test.

Some victims had violent fits that made them shake and convulse. To prove innocence, some witches were asked toThey touched their victims..

If the victims left their fit, the accused became a witch. Only the person who cast the spell could remove it. Andover, Massachusetts, used this method only.

Suspected witches were searched for a.Third nipple.. People believed this third nipple fed a witch’s helper or familiar.

Satan supposedly gave witches this mark during their change.This occurred during their transformation..

Suspected witches were examined for things other than a third nipple, including unusual markings.Unusual markings.Moles, scars, and birthmarks often signaled the devil's mark during witch hunts.

Anyone who made a deal with the devil would bear his mark.He or she would bear his mark.Their bodies were examined for markings.

Witches carried a special mark showing they practiced witchcraft. Witch hunters found these marks and used a pin or needle to prick them.Witch hunters used a pin or needle to prick them.If the suspected witch felt no pain, the hunter declared her a witch.

Some witch hunters would...use the dull end of their toolsthis way the accused would not feel pain.

This process was called "charging" or "incantations".Some people on trial for witchcraft were forced to verbally summon the devil, asking him to "stop" possessing someone during a seizure or fit.

In this test, the witch could not win. If the fit stopped, she clearly worked with the devil and needed punishment. If it continued, she failed at summoning the devil.

This test required a suspected witch to...They were weighed against a stack of Bibles.They were weighed against a stack of Bibles.

If the accused weighed more than the Bibles, she was innocent. But if she weighed less, she was a witch and faced punishment.

This test is cruel and strange. It turns a possible mental illness into proof of witchcraft. If you could watch a...potential witch talking to herself.She was muttering under her breath in some way—she was probably a witch.doing incantations.Watch for this sign of witchcraft. Any good citizen should be ready to act on this.

Sarah Good was observed to see if she muttered to herself., a woman killed during the Salem witch trials, was well known for talking to herself.

For some women, just being older was enough for the public to call them a witch.

According to John Gaule, if they looked old and 'witch-like,' that was enough to condemn them.John Gaule said if they looked old and 'witch-like,' that was enough to condemn them.an English Puritan cleric, an English Puritan cleric, an English Puritan cleric.an English Puritan cleric.During the peak of the witch trials, "Every old woman with a wrinkled face, a furr'd brow, a hairy lip, a gobber tooth, a squint eye, a squeaking voice, or a scolding tongue... a dog or cat by her side, is not only suspected but pronounced for a witch."

Spectral evidence locked a witch up.refers to a witness saying the accused person's ghostly shape appeared to them in a dream. This was an accepted accusation during theSpectral evidence locked a witch up in the Salem witch trials..

If a neighbor claimed a woman appeared in a dream with bad intent, that condemned her for witchcraft.