American children learn about the Salem Witch Trials, in which 25 people killed, but in Europe, between 40,000 and 60,000 people were executed for witchcraft in a 350-year period. A striking number of these trials happened in Finnmark, a rural Norwegian county in the Arctic circle with a population of only 3,000 people. Between 1620 and 1693, 91 people were executed for witchcraft in Finnmark, which was about a third of all those executed for witchcraft in all of Norway's history.
It all began with a sudden storm on Christmas Eve in 1617 that killed 40 fishermen, the majority of the men of the village of Vardø. Witchcraft was the only explanation for the storm. King Christian IV of Denmark and Norway was a zealous witch hunter, and the people of the far north were already suspected of demonic tendencies. The first accused were the indigenous Sami, but suspicions quickly spread. Accused witches were tortured into confession, and into naming other witches. The trials took place at Vardøhus Fortress, shown above, where the accused could be held -and tortured- for months before execution. Only ten of 111 accused escaped being burned at the stake. Read about the Finnmark Witch Trials at Smithsonian.
(Image credit: Timo Noko)