Something Wicked

Six years ago, the English writer Sara Pascoe launched an online petition to clear the name of Anne West, who was hanged for witchcraft in Manningtree, Essex. In the two busy years between 1644 and 1646, West and some 300 other women were tried by the famed witchfinder general Matthew Hopkins (played with camp delight by Vincent Price in a 1968 film). Several disgruntled neighbours stepped forward to give their testimonies, including Anne’s teenage daughter, who also confessed to having “carnall copulation with the Divell.” One witness said that West’s dirty looks had caused her pregnancy to end in a miscarriage. For Pascoe, it was an unjust case of community paranoia and delusion and a familiar hunt for a scapegoat. What’s more, Hopkins’s own motivations were dubious (a witchfinder general is not much without witches).

Centuries later, Eric Pickles, an Essex member of Parliament, stood behind the online petition. “Since the majority of the Matthew Hopkins trials...