The Crazy Story Of The Great Noise, Sweden's Largest Witch Trial

Publish date: 2024-05-08

It came to a head in August 1676. Malin Matsdotter's daughters accused her of being a witch, says the Humanist Centre. Not of performing sorcery, but of taking their children — her grandchildren — to the Sabbath of Satan. Five other women had been similarly accused, then executed. But for Matsdotter, there was a significant difference: She refused to cop a plea. She refused to plead guilty. And at least verbally, she fought back. She cursed her daughters for their lies. When it was all over, she refused to shake their hands, refused to say farewell. And because she refused to plead guilty, she was sentenced to be burned alive, without first being beheaded.

The story isn't completely dark. After her hands and feet were chained in place for execution, a sack of gunpowder was tied around her neck. She repeated her statements of innocence. When one of the daughters called out for her to recant, "She gave her daughter into the hands of the devil and cursed her for eternity," says the Humanist Centre. Matsdotter died without screams, without pleas, without admitting what she said wasn't true. She was the last Swede executed for witchcraft during The Great Noise. "Witnesses" broke down and admitted their lies; the remaining accused were freed from prison. In 1677 church leaders were ordered to inform their congregations that all witches — presumably, good or bad — had been expelled from the country.

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