True or False Quiz - 10 Facts About Real-Life Witches
- Imagining History
- Oct 27
- 5 min read
Between the 15th and 18th century, hundreds of thousands of people were accused of witchcraft and put on trial across Europe and America. Nowadays, we know these false accusations were often down to superstition, prejudice and other factors. But back in the "Witch Craze", many people were executed for witchcraft. Unsurprisingly, the fear of witches, and the fear of being accused of being a witch, was very real.
Check out our true or false quiz below to see how much you know about the witch hunting era:
You can find the answers at the end of the article.
True or False Quiz - 10 Facts About Real-Life Witches
True or False
Witches were burned at the stake in England.
True or False
There was a best-selling handbook that gave you all the information you needed on how to successfully hunt witches.
True or False
Once someone had been accused of witchcraft, there was no way they could prove their innocence.
True or False
You could be accused of witchcraft just because you had a weird mole on your bum!
True or False
A man called Matthew Hopkins, along with his pals, executed more people for witchcraft than all of England’s other witch-hunters over the previous 160 years combined.
True or False
Witchcraft was made illegal by King James VI/I, who was also known as the witch-hunter king.
True or False
People believed hedgehogs were actually demons that were sent by witches to do their evil bidding.
True or False
The people accused of witchcraft were all women.
True or False
You could be accused of witchcraft even if you were a child.
True or False
Millions of people were executed during the European witch trials.
True or False Quiz - Answers
Satisfied with your answers? You can find out how many you got right below:
Witches were burned at the stake in England.
False
Scotland was the only English-speaking country where the bodies of people accused of witchcraft were burned at the stake (though it’s worth pointing out, they were already dead when this happened). Witchcraft was considered a religious crime in Scotland and the punishment for this was burning. In England and America though, people accused of witchcraft were hanged.
There was a best-selling handbook that gave you all the information you needed on how to successfully hunt witches.
True
In 1486, a German monk by the name of Heinrich Kramer published a handy witch-finding guide called Malleus Maleficarum (which meant “Hammer of Witches”). This book gave lots of helpful tips on how to spot a witch and more importantly, how to get rid of a witch. For the next 200 years, Malleus Maleficarum outsold all other books in Europe except for one, the Bible.
Kramer's book, the Malleus Maleficarum on display Once someone had been accused of witchcraft, there was no way they could prove their innocence.
False
Actually, only around a quarter of people who were accused of witchcraft in England were found guilty and executed. For most of witch trials, like the Samlesbury witch trials, those doing the accusing eventually saw sense. Even if you take into account that a small percentage of people died in custody because the conditions in their cells were so grimy (like Demdike in the Pendle witch trials) the majority of people accused were found innocent and released.
You could be accused of witchcraft just because you had a weird mole on your bum!
True
People could be accused of witchcraft because they had what was described as a “witches’ mark”. Some witches’ marks were as extreme as having an extra toe! But others could be as simple as a wart on your nose, a hairy mole or a weird-shaped birthmark. In some countries, those accused would have to strip naked and let the authorities inspect every inch of their body for a witches’ mark. If one was found, you were almost certainly guilty!
A man called Matthew Hopkins, along with his pals, executed more people for witchcraft than all of England’s other witch-hunters over the previous 160 years combined.
True
Matthew Hopkins called himself the “witch-finder general”. In 1645, he was paid to rid towns in East Anglia of witches. And he took his task very seriously. In just 14 months, he sent around 300 women to be executed for witchcraft.
Drama unfolds in the meeting house with the trials of the Salem Witches in America Witchcraft was made illegal by King James VI/I, who was also known as the witch-hunter king.
False
Witchcraft was actually made illegal much earlier than King James VI/I’s reign. In 1542, Henry VIII was the first royal to ban witchcraft. Under Henry’s law, using witchcraft to injure others or commit murder was a crime punishable by death. But when King James VI/I came to rule, he didn’t think Henry’s law was anywhere near harsh enough. In 1605, James created the Witchcraft Act where any act of witchcraft would lead to your execution, even if you hadn’t caused any harm to other people.
People believed hedgehogs were actually demons that were sent by witches to do their evil bidding.
True
People believed that witches had animal companions called familiars. These creatures were sometimes thought of as demons sent by witches to spy on people and get up to no good. Others believed that the witches themselves transformed into these creatures then roamed around the land in animal form. Familiars could be a range of animals including cats, dogs, toads and yes, even adorable snuffly hedgehogs.
The people accused of witchcraft were all women.
False
During the witch trials in England, women made up a large portion of those accused. But that didn’t mean that men were safe. Across Europe, around 6000 men were executed for witchcraft, like James Device during the Pendle witch trials. That means around 10-15% of the total number of people killed were men. In some Scandinavian countries, the split of men to women accused was more 50/50.
The North Berwick witches in Scotland are put on trial. You could be accused of witchcraft even if you were a child.
True
In some cases, entire families of people were accused of witchcraft. In the Salem witch trials in America, Dorothy Good was only four or five years old when she was arrested and put in jail with her mother. Being so young, she probably had no idea what was going on, but she ended up confessing to crimes of witchcraft.
Millions of people were executed during the European witch trials.
False
In Europe’s witch-hunting craze between 1450 and 1750, between 30,000 and 60,000 people were found guilty and executed for witchcraft. Overall, around 500 people are thought to have been executed in England. Scotland makes up a larger portion of the numbers, with anywhere between 3,000 and 4,000 people killed.
