The Witchcraft Trials in Finnmark Northern Norway by Liv Helene Willumsen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This a beautiful, cloth-covered hardcover oversized presentation of witchcraft trials from the district of Finnmark in Northern Norway. The populace perceived severe witchcraft persecution during the 17th century, as had been popularly imaginged across Europe and in North America in the preceding centuries. In this area with no more than 3,000 inhabitants, 135 people were accused of witchcraft: 91 of them were executed. This book contains the court records of the original trials. Very little commentary bookends the original documents in Norwegian, side by side with the English translation. So, the mass of this book is depositions and court declamations of shape-shifting (often into the form of a duck), beer-inspired fighting with apparent malevolent influence, trials by ordeal (floating indicates guilt), and torture-borne confessions of weather control, broomstick riding and more. It is both chilling and sadly funny at the same time. It turns out that the Holy Grail witch scene was about documentary material.
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