The National Lottery chose Halloween as the date to announce that a share of £31 million would go to help preserving the landscape of Pendle Hill in Lancashire.
It was an appropriate day to honour that dark, brooding countryside because Pendle will forever be associated with the trials that convicted 10 people of witchcraft in 1612.
Here at Strange, Spooky, Weird, we’re using it as an excuse to look at five of history’s most infamous witch trials.
Often taking place in short time periods, witch trials are now viewed as psychological aberrations. Outbreaks of mass hysteria, that may even have been inspired by a powerful fungal hallucinogen called ergot.
Read on to see our selection of the most infamous witch trials.
