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For the early
history of occultism in Scandinavia (see article
Teutons.)
Witchcraft.—In mediaeval times Scandinavian
examples : witchcraft are rare, but in 1669 and
1670 a great outbreak of fanaticism against it
commenced in Sweden in the district of Elfdale.
The villages of Mohra and Elfdale are situated
in the dales of the mountainous districts of the
central parts of Sweden. In the first of the
years above mentioned, a strange report went
abroad that the children of the neighbourhood
were carried away nightly to a place they called
Blockula, where they were received by Satan in
person; and the children themselves, who were
the authors of the report, pointed out to them
numerous women, who, they said were witches and
carried them thither. The alarm and terror in
the district became so great that a report was
at last made to the king, who nominated
commissioners, partly clergy and partly laymen,
to inquire into the extraordinary circumstances
which had been brought under his notice, and
these commissioners arrived in Mohra and
announced their intentions of opening their
proceedings on the 13th of August, 1670.
On the 12th of August, the commissioners met at
the parsonage-house, and heard the complaints of
the minister and several people of the better
class, who told them of the miserable condition
they were in, and prayed that by some means or
other they might be delivered from the calamity.
They gravely told the commissioners that by the
help of witches some hundreds of their children
had been drawn to Satan, who had been seen to go
in a visible shape through the country, and to
appear daily to the people ; the poorer sort of
them, they said, he had seduced by feasting them
with meat and drink.
The commissioners entered upon their duties on
the next day with the utmost diligence, and the
result of their misguided zeal formed one of the
most remarkable examples of cruel and
remorseless persecution that stains the annals
of sorcery. No less than threescore and ten
inhabitants of the village and district of Mohra,
three-and-twenty of whom made confessions, were
condemned and executed. One woman pleaded that
she was with child, and the rest denied their
guilt, and these were sent to Fahluna, where
most of them were afterwards put to death.
Fifteen children were among those who suffered
death, and thirty-six more, of different ages
between nine and sixteen, were forced to run the
gauntlet, and be scourged on the hands at the
church-door every Sunday for one year ; while
twenty more, who had been drawn into these
practices more unwillingly, and were^very young,
were condemned to be scourged with rods upon
their hands for three successive Sundays at the
church-door. The number of the children accused
was about three hundred.
It appears that the commissioners began by
taking the confessions of the children, and then
they confronted them with the witches whom the
children accused as their seducers. The latter,
to use the words of the authorised report,
having " most of them children with them, which
they had either seduced or attempted to seduce,
some seven years of age, nay, from four to
sixteen years," now appeared before the
commissioners. " Some of the children complained
lamentably of the misery and mischief they were
forced sometimes to suffer of the devil and the
witches." Being asked, whether they were sure,
that they were at any time carried away by the
devil ? they all replied in the affirmative. "
Hereupon the witches themselves were asked,
whether the confessions of those children were
true, and admonished to confess the truth, that
they might turn away from the devil unto the
living God. At first, most of them did very
stiffly, and without shedding the least tear,
deny it, though much against their will and
inclination. After this the children were
examined every one by themselves, to see whether
their confessions did agree or no, and the
commissioners found that all of them, except
some very little ones, which could not tell all
the circumstances, did punctually agree in their
confessions of particulars. In the meanwhile,
the commissioners that were of the clergy
examined the witches, but could not bring them
to any confession, all continuing steadfast in
their denials, till at last some of them burst
into tears, and their confession agreed with
what the children said ; and these expressed
their abhorrence of the fact, and begged pardon.
Adding that the devil, whom they called Locyta,
had stopped the mouths of some of them, so loath
was he to part with his prey, and had stopped
the ears of others. And being now gone from
them, they could no longer conceal it; for they
had now perceived his treachery." The witches
asserted that, the journey to Blockula was not
always made with the same land of conveyance ;
they commonly used men, beasts, even spits and
posts, according as they had opportunity. They
preferred, however, riding upon goats, and if
they had more children with them than the animal
could conveniently carry, they elongated its
back by means of a spit anointed with their
magical ointment. It was further stated, that if
the children did at any time name the names of
those, either man or woman, that had been with
them, and had carried them away, they were again
carried by force, either to Blockula or the
cross-way, and there beaten, insomuch that some
of them died of it; " and this some of the
witches confessed, and added, that now they were
exceedingly troubled and tortured in their minds
for it." One thing was wanting to confirm this
circumstance of their confession. The marks of
the whip could not be found on the 'persons of
the victims, except on one boy, who had some
wounds and holes in his back, that were given
him with thorns; but the witches said they would
quickly vanish.
The account they gave of Blockula was, that it
was situated in a large meadow, like a plain
sea, " wherein you can see no end." The house
they met at had a great gate painted with many
divers colours. Through this gate they went into
a little meadow distinct from the other, and
here they turned their animals to graze. When
they had made use of men for their beasts of
burden, they set them up against the wall in a
state of helpless slumber, and there they
remained till wanted for the homeward flight. In
a very large room of this house, stood a long
table, at which the witches sat down; and
adjoining to this room was another chamber,
where there were " lovely and delicate beds."
As soon as they arrived at Blockula, the
visitors were required to deny their baptism,
and devote themselves body and soul to Satan,
whom they promised to serve faithfully. Hereupon
he cut their fingers, and they wrote their name
with blood in his book. He then caused them to
be biptized anew, by priests appointed for that
purpose. Upon this tha devil gave them a purse,
wherein there were filings of clocks, with a big
stone tied to it, which they threw into the
water, and said, " As these filings of the clock
do never return to the clock, from which they
were taken, so may my soul never return to
heaven ! " Another difficulty arose in verifying
this statement, that few of the children had any
marks on their fingers to show where they had
been cut. But here again the story was helped by
a girl who had her finger much hurt, and who
declared, that because she would not stretch out
her finger, the devil in anger had thus wounded
it.
VVhen these ceremonies were completed, the
witches sat down at the table, those whom the
fiend esteemed most being placed nearest to him
; but the children were made to stand at the
door, where he himself gave them meat and drink.
Perhaps we may look for the origin of this part
of the story in the pages of Pierre de Lancre.
The food with which the visitors .to Blockula
were regaled, consisted of broth, with coleworts
and bacon in it; oatmeal bread spread with
butter, milk and cheese. Sometimes they said, it
tasted very well, and sometimes very ill. After
meals they went to dancing, and it was one
peculiarity of these northern witches' sabbaths,
that the dance was usually followed by fighting.
Those of Elfdale confessed that the devil used
to play upon a harp before them. Another
peculiarity of these northern witches was, that
children resulted from their intercourse with
Satan, and these children having married
together became the parents of toads and
serpents. The witches of Sweden appear to have
been less noxious
than those of most other countries, for,
whatever they acknowledged themselves, there
seems to have been &? evidence of mischief done
by them. They confessed thi: they were obliged
to promise Satan that they would do ^ kinds of
mischief, and that the devil taught them to miii
which was after this manner. They used to stick
a knu? in the wall, and hang a kind of label on
it, which they dre-and streaked ; and as long as
this lasted, the persons they had power over
were miserably plagued, and the beasts were
milked that way, till'sometimes they died of it.
A womai confessed that the devil gave her a
wooden knife, wherewith, going into houses, she
had power to kill anything sit touched with it;
yet there were few that could confess that they
had hurt any man or woman. Being askec whether
they had murdered any children, they confessec
that they had indeed tormented many, but did not
kno••»• whether any of them died of these
plagues, although the/said that the devil had
showed them several places whesie he had power
to do mischief. The minister of Elfdale
declared, that one night these witches were, to
his thinking, on the crown of his head, and that
from thence he had a long continued pain of the
head. And upon this one of the witches confessed
that the devil had sent her to torment that
minister, and that she was ordered to use a
nail, and strike it into his head, but his skull
was so hard that the nail wou«d not pentrate it,
and merely produced that headache. The
hard-headed minister said further, that one
night he fete a pain as if he were torn with an
instrument used for combing flax, and when he
awoke he heard somebody scratching and scraping
at the window, but could see nobody ; and one of
the witches confessed, that she was the person
that had thus disturbed him. The minister at
Mohra declared also, that one night one of these
witches came into his house, and did so
violently take him by toe throat, that he
thought he should have been choked, and awaking,
he saw the person that did it, but could not
know her ; and that for some weeks he was not
able to speak, or perform divine service. An old
woman of Elfdale confessed that the devil had
helped her to make a nail, which she stuck into
a boy's knee, of which stroke the boy remained
lame a long time. And she added, that, before
she was burned or executed by the hand of
justice, the boy would recover.
Another circumstance confessed by these witches
was, that the devil gave them a beast, about the
shape and bigness of a cat, which they called a
carrier ; and a bird as big as a raven, but
white; and these they could send anywhere, and
wherever they came they took away aS sorts of
victuals, such as butter, cheese, milk, bacon,
and ail sorts of seeds, and carried them to the
witch. What the bird brought they kept for
themselves, but what the carrier brought they
took to Blockula, where the arch-fiend gave them
as much of it as he thought good. The carriers,
they said, filled themselves so full oftentimes,
that they were forced to disgorge it by the way,
and what they thus rendered fell to the ground,
and is found in several gardens where coleworts
grow, and far from the houses of the witches. It
was of a,yellow colour like gold, and was called
witches' butter.
Such are the details, as far as 'they can now be
obtained, of this extraordinary delusion, the
only one of a similar kind that we know to have
occurred in the northern pan of Europe during
the age of witchcraft." In other countries we
can generally trace some particular cause which
gave rise to great persecutions of this kind,
but here, as the story is told, we see none, for
it is hardly likely that such a strange series
of accusations should have beea the mere inv>luntary
creation of a party of little children.
Suspicion is excited by the peculiar part which
the two clergymen of Elfdale and Mohra acted in
it, that they were not altogether strangers to
the fabrication. They seem to have been weak
superstitious men, and perhaps they had been
reading the witchcraft books of the south till
they imagined the country round them to be
over-run with these noxious beings. The
proceedings at Mohra caused so much alarm
throughout Sweden, that prayers were ordered in
all the churches for delivery from the snares of
Satan, who was believed to have been let loose
in that kingdom. On a sudden a new edict of the
king put a stop to the whole process, and the
matter was brought to a close rather
mysteriously. It is said that the witch
prosecution was increasing so much in intensity,
that accusations began to be made against people
of a higher class in society, and then a
complaint was made to the king, and they were
stopped.
Perhaps the two clergymen themselves became
alarmed, but one thing seems certain, that the
moment the commission was revoked, and the
persecution ceased, no more •witches were heard
of.
Spiritualism.—In 1843 an epidemic of preaching
occurred in Southern Sweden, which provides
Ennemoser, with material for an interesting
passage in his History of Magic. The
manifestation of this was so similar in
character to those described elsewhere, that it
is unnecessary to allude to it in detail. A
writer in the London Medium and Day-
••reak of 1878 says : " It is about a year and a
half since I changed my abode from Stockholm to
this place, and izring that period it is
wonderful how Spiritualism has rimed ground in
Sweden. The leading papers, that used in
••: time to refuse to publish any article on
Spiritualism excepting such as ridiculed the
doctrine, have of late ::.rown their columns
wide open to the serious discussion of :Jie
matter. Many a Spiritualist in secret, has thus
been T:;ouraged to give publicity to his
opinions without stand-j:; any longer in awe of
that demon, public ridicule, which intimidates
so many of our brethren. Several of Allan
Kardec's works have been translated into
Swedish, among which I may mention his Evangile
selon le Spiritisme as particularly
well-rendered in Swedish by Walter Jochnick. A
spiritual Library was opened in Stockholm on the
ist of April last, which will no doubt greatly
contribute to the spreading of the blessed
doctrine. The visit of Mr. Eglin-toa to
Stockholm was of the greatest benefit to the
cause. Let us hope that the stay of Mrs.
Esperance in the south of Sweden may have an
equally beneficial effect. Notwithstanding all
this progress of the cause in the neighbouring
country, Spiritualism is looked upon here as
something akin to madness, but even here there
are thin, very thin rays, and
•nery wide apart, struggling to pierce the
darkness. In Sofway, spiritualism as known to
modern Europe, did not seem to have become
existent until about 1880. A writer
• a number of the Dawn of-Light published in
that year airs : " Spiritualism is just
commencing to give a sign of its existence here
in Norway. The newspapers have Begun to attack
it as a delusion and the ' expose ' of Mrs. C,
which recently took place at 38, Great Russell
Street, London, has made the round through all
the papers in Stvtdinavia. After all, it must
sooner or later take root as it all other parts
of the world. Mr. Eglinton, the English swdium,
has done a good work in Stockholm, showing some
«f the great savants a new world ; and a couple
of years ago Mr. Slade visited Copenhagen. The
works of Mr. IsBner, the great astronomer of
Leipzig, have been men-aaaed in the papers and
caused a good deal of sensation. " Of mediums
there are several here, but all, as yet, afraid
;peak out. One writes with both hands ; a
gentleman . :?veloping as a drawing medium. A
peasant, who died .. :•: :t five years ago, and
lived not far from here, was an
•- :;.lent healing medium ; his name was Knud,
and the
• T- pie had given him the nickname of Vise Knud
(the wise
Knud); directly when he touched a patient he
knew if the same could be cured or not, and
often, in severe cases, the pains of the sick
person went through his own body. He was also an
auditive medium, startling the people many times
by telling them what was going to happen in the
future ; but the poor fellow suffered much from
the ignorance and fanaticism around him, and was
several times put in prison.
" I am doing all I can to make people acquainted
with our grand cause."
A second and more hopeful letter of 1881,
addressed to the editor of the Revue Spirits, is
as follows :—
" My dear Brothers,—Here our science advances
without noise. An excellent writing medium has
been developed among us, one who writes
simultaneously with both hands ; while we have
music in a room where there are no musical
instruments; and where there is a piano it plays
itself. At Bergen, where I have recently been, I
found mediums, who in the dark, made
sketches—were dessinateurs— using also both
hands. I have seen, also, with pleasure that
several men of letters and of science have begun
to investigate our science spirite. The pastor
Eckhoff, of Bergen, has for the second time
preached against Spiritualism, ' this instrument
of the devil, this psychographie'; and to give
more of eclat to his sermon he has had the
goodness to have it printed ; so we see that the
spirits are working. The suit against the
medium, Mme. R, in London, is going the rounds
of the papers of Christiania; these journals
opening their columns, when occasion offers, to
ridicule Spiritualism. We are, however, friends
of the truth, but there are scabby sheep.among
us of a different temperament. From Stockholm
they write me that a library of spiritual works
has been opened there, and that they are to have
a 'medium from Newcastle, with whom seances are
to be held."
In the London Spiritual Magazine of May, 1885,
is a long and interesting paper on Swedish
Spiritualism, by William Howitt, in which he
gives quite a notable collection of narratives
concerning Phenomenal Spiritual Manifestations
in Sweden, most of which were furnished by an
eminent and learned Swedish gentleman—Count
Piper. The public have become so thoroughly
sated with tales of hauntings, apparitions,
prevision, etc., that Count Piper's narrations
would present few, if any features of interest,
save in justification of one assertion, that
Spiritualism is rife in human experience
everywhere, even though it may not take the same
form as a public movement, that it has done in
America and England.
As early as 1864, a number of excellent leading
articles commending the belief in Spiritual
ministry, and the study of such phenomena as
would promote communion between the " two
worlds," appeared in the columns of the Aflon
Blad, one of the most popular journals
circulated in Sweden.
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