BURNING A “WITCH.”
SUPERSTITIOUS PEASANTS,
Berlin, September 10,
The astounding fact of an attempt, which was very nearly successful, to burn alive as a witch an old beggar woman who had somehow aroused the suspicions of the neighbourhood in which she lived, is reported from Ungvar, in Slovakia.
The superstitious fantasies of the local peasants had become so inflamed that several of them actually believed that they had seen her in conversation with the devil. Stories to this effect- so worked on ! the minds of a party of young men that one night they raided the hut of the poor woman, who is over 70 years of age, dragged her off into the forest, tied her fast to a tree, built up a bonfire round her and ,set light to it. Only the chance presence in that portion of the wood of a hunting party saved her life. Her pitiful screams of fear and pain were heard, and help reached her just in the nick of time to prevent her from being burnt to death.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MH19270929.2.38
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Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3697, 29 September 1927, Page 4
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175BURNING A “WITCH.” Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3697, 29 September 1927, Page 4
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