The Bargarran Witches of GlasgowThe Bargarran Witches are regarded as the last mass execution of witches in Western Europe. Victims of widespread hysteria in Scotland.
In 1697, seven women were found guilty of witchcraft at a trial in Paisley and condemned to death. Those hung and burned were victims of a widespread hysteria in Scotland during the 17th century - fuelled by the fear of Satan and the occult.
The 11-year-old daughter of Bargarran laird John Shaw, Christian Shaw, accused several locals after she began suffering illness, seizures and delirium leading her family, local doctors and ministers to believe she had been bewitched.
Witch Hunters and Witch Prickers
The vast majority of the victims persecuted in Scotland were women, typically those who were regarded as outsiders or of ill-repute by neighbours in their community. The women were believed to have had sex with the Devil, after which he would leave a mark on her body, usually a blemish or insensitive spot, a parody of Christian baptism and a symbol of their pact.
Witch prickers were employed to search for the Devil's Mark on the body of the accused, ten of whom are known to have acted in Scotland. Victims were also tortured to extract confessions of satanic worship in prison, most commonly through sleep deprivation.
Scottish Witch Trials
Among the many volumes in Mitchell Library lies a collection of accounts illustrating the Scottish Witch Trials. Among the items is a manuscript written by Christian Shaw's uncle which details the trials. The Mitchell Library collection also includes a facsimile of Daemonologie, a book on witchcraft lore written by the notoriously superstitious King James VI in 1597 which fuelled the spread of hunts across Britain.
This work was a direct rebuttal to Reginald Scott's sceptical The Discovery of Witchcraft in 1584, which questioned the very existence of witches. The king later ordered every copy of this text to be burned but a "rare and valuable" copy survived and is also held at Mitchell Library.
The trial of the Bargarran witches began after Christian Shaw reportedly saw a servant, Catherine Campbell, stealing milk from their kitchen. In a fit of rage, the servant was believed to have screamed "The Devil harle your soul through hell" three times at Christian Shaw. Shortly after the servant shouted these words at her, she fell ill.
Having visited the esteemed Glasgow physician, Dr Matthew Brisbane, Christian Shaw began accusing people in the village of casting a spell on her. This led to a local crusade, during which around 21 men, women and children were thrown into prison and brought before trial. Seven of them were charged with murder and tormenting people in the community and sentenced to death.
One of the accused men hung himself in his prison cell and was believed to have been 'strangled by the devil', while others were hanged and burned on Gallow Green in Paisley on June 10. The atmosphere in Paisley on that afternoon was described as like a "market day," with a large crowd gathering from far and wide to witness the gruesome spectacle.
Catherine is said to have protested her innocence to the bitter end, screaming and struggling as the rope was hung around her neck. Another accused woman, Agnes Naismith, cursed the townspeople and their descendants before she was hung. Each tragedy which befell Paisley for many years since that fateful day was blamed on "the witch's curse".
The bodies, some of which have been reported to still be moving, were cut down and dragged into an enormous bonfire. One account from the time reported that a villagers walking stick was borrowed and used to push limbs back into the blaze. The villager refused to take back the stick after it had touched the witches.
Accounts of witch hunts should be examined in relativist terms to avoid judging individuals who lived centuries in the past by modern standards. These events happened 400 years ago and people had different beliefs. You can't blame them for what they did, a lot of them firmly believed they could do magic, kill their cows and poison people's foods. We know now that's a lot of nonsense. We've got to look at their actions in a historical context. They believed in superstitions and it was central to their lives.
The people who were accused of witchcraft were scapegoats because someone's crop failed, there was something wrong. Society told them to make sense of their world that way and how they would deal with that. They had different belief systems.
Christian went on to become a successful businesswoman, helping found the thread industry in Paisley after having machine parts brought over from Holland.
