While the surroundings of Scotland invite you to breathe in fresh air and relax, it’s also worth remembering that these same hills, glens and villages were once home to darker – yet deeply human – stories. Among them are the tales of the accused witches of Scotland…

From the 1560s, authorities in Scotland began to seek out and accuse people of performing witchcraft and worshipping the Devil. Around 2,500 people, mostly women, were executed as witches. Why did this happen?

A Dark Chapter in Scottish History

Between 1563 and 1736, under the law of the Witchcraft Act 1563, accusations of witchcraft became a tragic part of everyday life in Scotland. There were 3,837 people known to have been accused of witchcraft in Scotland during that period – 3,212 of them are named.

Roughly 305 trials have a known sentence, and of those 205 ended in execution. Other sources place the number of executed at around 2,500. And though records are incomplete, it’s widely accepted that the vast majority of those accused, approximately 85%, were women.

Accusations often followed illness, crop failure, or misfortune – neighbours blamed each other, suspicion grew, and the accused were tried. Many interrogations included torture methods such as sleep-deprivation and “witch-pricking” of the body. Once convicted, many were strangled then burned – a grim process that left little dignified trace.

Why Here? Why Then?

What made Scotland particularly harsh for the accused? Several factors combined: the upheaval of the Reformation, changing church and state rules, a society fearful of devils, spirits, and misfortune, and the local systems of kirk sessions and secular courts that together pursued suspected witches.

It’s hard to identify a single reason Scotland became so devoted to prosecuting vulnerable women as witches. A mix of influences likely played a part including the rise of the Reformation competing with Catholic traditions; and the deep-rooted belief in the supernatural, where folklore, faeries, and everyday superstition challenged the authority of God and the Church.

Many historians believe that it was driven by the deeply embedded belief that women were spiritually weaker, more fragile, and more easily tempted by the Devil. Behind the accusations lay a simple, damaging idea: women were inferior to men, and therefore more susceptible to evil.

Under the Scottish Witchcraft Act 1563 both the practice of witchcraft and consulting with witches were capital offences. This Act stayed on Scottish statute books until repealed as a result of a House of Lords amendment to the bill for the post-union Witchcraft Act 1735.