![]() ![]() ![]() It’s known as “the cave of the witches” and once was the spot for nearby residents to enjoy parties, bonfires, rituals, and orgies-and also supposedly create storms and shape-shift into cats. Originally sliced into the earth by the Orabidea River’s path, this natural tunnel was the epicenter of suspected witchcraft in Zugarramurdi. Those looking to honor that legacy can visit these three sites in Zugarramurdi, Spain. It shows what can go wrong if we choose the wrong leaders.” Eleven people died, most likely for false accusations. It’s important we remember not to make the same mistakes. “Even though someone tried to eradicate them, they survived until today. “We cannot deny the importance of local beliefs,” he notes. The Basque region still holds tight to folklore and mythology, says Sanchez-and that’s part of the reason studying the witch trials is integral to understanding current times. He, in turn, ruled in 1614 that all cases be dismissed, bringing an end to the biggest witch trial in history. When the majority of the confessed retracted their statements, the matter was sent on to the Inquisitor General. But he was skeptical, as he had seen no solid evidence of witchcraft while there. He collected 1,802 confessions (which named about 5,000 more people in them) from the “witches” of Zugarramurdi. ![]() In 1611, an inquisitor named Alonso Salazar Frías traveled through the Basque countryside in and around Zugarramurdi in order to collect confessions and pardon witches who renounced evil. The result? Increased fear of the witches who supposedly populated the region. The push to maintain Catholic orthodoxy butted up against the strong sense of mountain folklore in the area. In response, local authorities ordered witch trials, calling in the Spanish Inquisition for help. Terrified residents fled across the border to Spain’s Basque region, which caused widespread panic. Then, in 1609, about 600 people were tried in France and up to 100 were executed. Local accusations pop up in history back to the 1400s, but those are isolated cases. Prior to the trials, Basque country had long been at risk of cries of witchcraft. ![]() “It wasn’t so much about misogyny but about the eradication of heresy,” says Sanchez. And while Salem mostly targeted women, the Basque trials were equal opportunity-aristocrats, men, clerics, and children were among the accused. To put it in perspective, although 20 people were executed during the Salem witch trials, only about 200 people were investigated. Six were burned at the stake and five were tortured to death in prison, but officials made sure to burn symbolic effigies of the ones who died in jail. At least 2,000 of those accused were investigated and tortured, and 11 died. Fueled by suspicion from the Spanish Inquisition and, Sanchez says, “a combination of sociopolitical conditions”-like men leaving for months at a time to work (which led to adultery claims), a strong folkloric belief, and the arrival of gypsies in the Basque country, women were called witches in unprecedented numbers. But between 16, up to 7,000 people were accused of witchcraft in Basque Spain. Witch trials were not new in Europe, where they'd been occurring sporadically since the 1400s-and they became so popular that they continued through the late 1700s. When she moved to Spain, she continued with her defense of the Basque language, Sanchez said, making her a clear target-again-for the accusers. She was tortured when she was arrested in France and had a clear physical handicap as a result of her time in prison. ”Īccording to Sanchez, Gaxen defended use of the Basque language and was an independent woman in France, which made authorities suspicious of her. But then she moved to the Basque country and she was accused of witchcraft again there. She went to trial and was pardoned by the Catholic Church. “She was first accused of witchcraft in France. “The poor woman had to go through a trial twice,” Jorge Abril Sanchez, a researcher at the University of New Hampshire specializing in Basque culture and demonology, tells. After she escaped the witch trials in France, she fled to Spain and fell victim to them again in the Basque country, during what would become history's biggest witch hunt. ![]()
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