Agnes Sampson: Women and Witch?
16th October 2025 by | Uncategorized
At this hour, when the candle burns low and the shadows of my desk creep further into the room, I think of the voices once forced to speak in darkness. Some whispered in fear, others cried out in agony.
So it was in Scotland in 1591, when Agnes Sampson, the Wise Wife of Keith, was accused of witchcraft. A healer and midwife, she was said to have raised storms against the very King himself, James VI of Scotland.
Dragged before the monarch, her head shaved, her body bound, she was tortured until she confessed to impossible crimes. To the astonishment of those present, she repeated to the King the very words he had once spoken to his new bride in the intimacy of their chamber. Terrified, James declared her guilt certain.
Agnes Sampson was strangled and burned upon Castle Hill in Edinburgh, her name forever entwined with fear and superstition.
If you would like to read a more detailed account of these horrid trials, see my blog at: www.murderinthetower.london
Gemma
The past is never silent.