False Hag Operation

at

17thc+stocks

Six young Irish women.

Convicted of witchcraft and assorted sorcery in the 17th century.

A wicked miscarriage of justice.

Or was it?

In what is believed to have been the last witch trials in the British Isles, the women were convicted in a Carrickfergus court over 300 years ago and spent a year in prison, as well as being put in the public stocks.

Renowned Irish novelist Martina Devlin has penned a new book on the subject, and she also requested that Larne Borough Council erect a small memorial to the women.

….But TUV Alderman Jack McKee has decried the proposal as “anti-God” and said he could not support it.

According to minutes of a council meeting in January, Ald McKee said he “could not tell whether or not the women had been rightly or wrongly convicted as he didn’t have the facts and was not going to support devil worship”.

*lights pitchfork phones Legal Coffee Drinker*

Council row over Islandmagee ‘devil worship’ plaque (LarneTimes)

The Islandmagee Witches

Islandmagee

Sponsored Link

43 thoughts on “False Hag Operation

      1. Mr. T.

        I didn’t sense any rage from Ultach there. I did however see your self righteous reply. Why don’t you stand up for God Save the Queen while you’re at it.

        1. Unexploded Ordnance Survey

          3 minutes from time of post, first commenter, completely ignores the substance of the post to highlight his misunderstanding a resolved debate, about a geographical label most right-thinking individuals just gloss over, yep, that’s armchair republican outrage alright.

          I take it you’re outside of the aforementioned “British Isles”, Mr T?

          1. Ultach

            UOS, aren’t you the perceptive one? I’d say you would say that, but I have the evidence that you say that you would say so. And thanks for the close surveillance of when I posted. Can’t stay, I’m off to lay in wait for something else to be enraged by (snarl). Keep up the good work.

  1. Jock

    Come on, being detained for a small while and having things thrown at you is only a minor convience and perfectly reasonable protest tactics.

    1. (Off-Duty) Legal Coffee Drinker

      One of them lost an eye from having raw vegetables thrown at her in the stocks, not that funny tbh.

    2. Mani

      That excuse may have flown with the Gardai but the Ukrainian escort you chained to your radiator still has nightmares about you.

  2. Starina

    so basically he’s saying that he still thinks it’s just for witches to be burnt. a tolerant fellow.

  3. jeremy kyle

    “I could not support the proposal because I believe it to be anti-God.”

    Rationalised argument.

    1. Sinabhfuil

      It would only be anti-God if the women were actually witches, which presumably they weren’t, poor things, since witches don’t, like, exist.

  4. Kolmo

    The North = The twilight zone. I heard Richard Dawkins on BBC Olster talking about his book a few years ago, jay and sus, the amount of fundamentalist fruitbat callers ringing in to berate the book, (most not having read it..) it was embarrassing for everyone concerned

    1. Ultach

      Practically a mandatory qualification for Unionist parties. But I expect Unexploded Ordnance Survey will temper my rage vis this with cold hard links to some text written by someone of a different opinion.

  5. (Off-Duty) Legal Coffee Drinker

    Account of the trial here. It was a disgrace. They were convicted on the sole testimony of the visionary images of the victim, Mary Dunbar, a spoilt, pretty, rich young girl. Dunbar later made witch accusations against other women, which were unsuccessful. The accused were not devil worshippers, but regular church attendees. Appalling stuff.

    http://www.libraryireland.com/articles/CarrickfergusDPJ1-47/

    1. Odis

      Stop trying to defame the late Mary Dunbar RIP. What proof do you have that these women were not in league with the devil?

  6. Mikier

    Yeah, sometimes I reflect on these things and I am thankful for not living in such an age. Then I remember a Jordanian pilot was burned alive, in a cage.

      1. Mikier

        Despite all my rage. Actually listened to that song on the way to work this morning, for the first time in oooo, 5 years. Strange.

    1. C Sharp

      The good alderman could be a handy candidate to lead a troop of neo-crusaders on a recon mission to Mosul.

  7. Mr. T.

    Women were mainly accused of witchery by members of the Protestant faith in Scotland and parts of England. Catholics didn’t go in for it much. Because it’s bolloks.

    1. Mark Dennehy

      Women were mainly accused of witchery by members of the Protestant faith in Scotland and parts of England. Catholics didn’t go in for it much.

      If the last witchcraft trial was in 1711 and the first one (Alice Kytler) was in 1324; and Luther only nailed his precepts to the door in 1517; who was accusing women of witchcraft for the first two centuries?

  8. Mani

    Yes, we’ve no time for that bollocks
    *reads history of Catholicism*
    O hang on. No. You’re full of sh1t as usual.

Comments are closed.

Sponsored Link
Broadsheet.ie