Possessed By the Devil: The History of the Islandmagee Witch Trials, 1711 New Edition

Research output: Book/ReportBookpeer-review

Abstract

County Antrim, Ireland, 1711: Eight women were put on trial accused of bewitching and demonically possessing young Mary Dunbar, amid an attack by evil spirits on the local community and after the supernatural murder of a clergyman’s wife. Mary Dunbar was the star witness in this trial, and the women were, by the standards of the time, believable witches – they dabbled in magic, they smoked, they drank, they had disabilities. A second trial targeted a final male ‘witch’ and head of the Sellor ‘witch family’.

With echoes of the Salem witch-hunt, this is a story of murder, of a community in crisis and of how the witchhunts that claimed over 50,000 lives in Europe played out on Irish shores. It plunges the reader into a world where magic was real and the power of the Devil felt, with disastrous consequences.
Original languageEnglish
PublisherHistory Press
Number of pages256
ISBN (Print)978-1803992709
Publication statusPublished (in print/issue) - 2 Dec 2024

Bibliographical note

New expanded and revised edition

Keywords

  • New edition
  • witchcraft
  • Islandmagee Witches
  • magic
  • history
  • Ireland
  • County Antrim
  • demonic possession

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Possessed By the Devil: The History of the Islandmagee Witch Trials, 1711 New Edition'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this