The prison for witchcraft in Scotland in the 15th century

St. Mary's Chapel in Scotland used to be a place of detention and trial of those accused of witchcraft in the 15th century.

According to Live Science, the metal ring on the north wall of St. Mary's (St. Mary) Chapel is separate in a corner of St. Mary's Church. Nicholas in Aberdeen, Scotland, has a direct connection to a dark historical period of this city.

St. Chapel Mary was built in the 15th century and served as a prison, a place for detention and trial of 23 women and a man accused of witchcraft during the "Great Witch Hunt" in Aberdeen in 1597. Metal ring about 5cm in diameter, used to chain witches in prison.

The metal ring mounted on the wall of St. St. ChapelMary.(Photo: Kirk Mither Project).

"I think the bracelet has nothing more special than a piece of metal on the wall. It looks very normal. But the city's historical documents have quite a bit of detail showing that the ring is used to detain those who suffer. accused of witchcraft, " Arthur Winfield, head of the restoration and conservation project of St. Church. Nicholas, said.

Chris Croly, a historian at Aberdeen University, said the period of the Great Witch Hunt in Aberdeen was a persecution of witches throughout Scotland, after King James VI passed the Witchcraft Act of 1563. James VI was the king of Scotland, then became King James I of England in 1603.

The wave of persecution of witches began to appear in Europe from the 15th century, to Scotland in the 1590s and continued to spread to the Americas in the 17th century. This led to many famous witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts, USA, in 1692 and 1693. During that time, Protestants and Christians believed that magic was created by the connection between witches and demons.

In 1597, the most famous witch trial in Aberdeen involved two members in the same family. The mother named Jane Wishart was convicted of 18 charges of witchcraft such as making a spell to cause illness among neighbors, causing a mysterious brown dog to attack her son-in-law after the fight, cutting a dead body's limbs. Hanging on the gallows to make magic.

1868 drawing of St. ChapelMary.(Photo: Project Kirk Mithe).

Thomas Leyis, the son of Wishart, was sentenced to lead a witch organization dancing with demons at midnight in the Aberdeen fish market area. Both mother and daughter were then strangled and brought to the funeral pyre.

In 2006–2007, east of St. Church Nicholas was the site of a major archaeological excavation, before the old church was restored to become a community center. Efforts to rebuild the church are included in the "Kirk Mither Project".

Archaeologists did not find the remains of the alleged witches at St. Church. Nicholas. However, they discovered the remains of more than 2,000 people at the grave in the east floor of the church. Most of the bodies were buried before the 1560s, when the Protestant Reformation in Scotland forbade burial inside the church.