At the end of the 17th century, the biggest massacre in Swedish witch history took place.
The church’s priests led the witch trials where around 300 people, mainly women, were executed.
Now the Church of Sweden in Härnösand has erected memorial stones to honor the victims.
– The women were accused of selling the children’s souls to the devil, says guide Håkan Sjöberg.
TV4 News has visited Häxberget in Torsåker in Ångermanland. Here 71 people were executed in 1675. They were beheaded and burned, and the pyre on the mountain would be seen from afar. A memorial was erected on the site in 1975, where you can read “Women died, men condemned, the faith of the time affects man”.
– They were accused of traveling to Blåkulla. They had stolen seed and butter, and the worst part was that they took the children with them and sold their souls to the devil. And they had sex with the evil one under the table, says Håkan Sjöberg, who has guided up the mountain for 18 years.
The children were part of the witch trials
The children were part of the witch trials, they testified that their mother, aunt, aunt, sister was a witch. And there were women who were labeled as witches but who escaped being burned at the stake if they identified other women.
– If they did this legal job, they received a milder punishment, i.e. they were decapitated and spared being burned at the stake, and could then be buried in consecrated ground. It was important to save the soul from eternal perdition, says Håkan.
Håkan is a descendant of one of those who were accused of being a witch and there are many descendants of those who were executed. I myself have recently learned that my grandmother’s, grandmother’s, grandmother’s, grandfather’s grandmother Sara was accused of witchcraft and burned at the stake.
“We have to learn from this”
The priests were driving forces during the witch trials and now three stones have been erected in Härnösand in memory of the victims – more stones will be erected in Kramfors.
– I think it is important that we learn from history because humanity makes the same mistakes over and over again, says the dean of Härnösand diocese, Kent Nordin, and continues:
– There is so much happening in our world today, polarization, it is black and white, women’s rights are curtailed in many places – are there similar driving forces now as in the 17th century? We have to learn from this and see what is it that we need to stop today? What do we need to do to strengthen human dignity and human value? he says.