The Witch Trials in Sweden

April 5, 2025

The witch trials cast a dark shadow over Sweden. In connection with the major exhibition "Witches" at the Swedish History Museum in Stockholm, the names of those condemned were read aloud and their verdicts symbolically overturned.

Photo: Pompe Hedengren (image from the Swedish History Museum, "Witches" exhibition)

The state museum was behind this initiative. Work is now underway to have the verdicts legally overturned as well. The major witch trials in Sweden took place later than in many continental European countries. Approximately 300 people were executed for sorcery in Sweden during the witch hunt of 1668-1676. This era is commonly known as "The Great Noise" (Det stora oväsendet). The last witch sentenced to death in Sweden was an 80-year-old woman in Eskilstuna. The woman was beheaded in 1704.

It was not until 1779 that the penalty for sorcery was abolished in the law book. The witch trials in Sweden were linked to the great power of the church and the surveillance society that existed at the time. Those accused of witchcraft were brought before a commission on sorcery (a type of court). In the trials, children and adults testified about how certain accused women, and sometimes men, had become possessed by the devil. A common narrative was that the accused had taken children to Blåkulla, where they had stayed with the devil and experienced various horrors. A child's testimony and a visible bruise (which could be interpreted as a witch's mark) could be enough to sentence a person to death for witchcraft.

Örtfabriken has previously written about the herb garden in memory of Malin Matsdotter in Södermalm, Stockholm. Malin was one of the victims of the witch trials. The herb garden is an initiative to remember and create awareness about this part of history and to provide redress for the victims. This is what the initiator Hella Nathorst-Böös says about why she considered this memorial to be important:

"I noticed how little knowledge people have about the city's witch trials, and wanted to give redress to those affected by the witch trials through a memorial. Since then, more and more people have joined the process, and the ideas about the memorial and its location have varied. When we came up with the idea that the memorial should be an herb garden, and submitted a citizens' proposal for it, all the pieces fell into place. The district council in Södermalm – where Stockholm's witch trials took place and those involved lived – were unanimous when they granted the citizens' proposal and agreed to partially finance it."

In northern Sweden, there is another fine initiative to remember and honor the victims of the witch trials, the Witch Museum. With its exhibition "The Belief of the Time Affects Man," the museum aims to illustrate how faith led to hysteria and how 79 people were beheaded and executed in Torsåker, Ångermanland, in 1675.

What does history tell us about where we are today? For me, the witch trials have pinpointed a deep sorrow within me. What was oppressed and murdered then is something we still miss and long for now. What was beheaded and humiliated then is something that is still disregarded and scorned today. By bringing this part of history to the surface, I, at least, have opened my eyes to it. And by opening my eyes to this, I can understand what it is that I have not had access to. And then I can begin to find my way back to it and reconcile.

Would you like to know more about the witch trials and history? Listen to Swedish Radio's interesting podcast about the Witch Murders.