In Gilbert Geis’ and Ivan Bunn’s A Trial of Witches, the authors present us with yet another factual case of two people who were hanged because judicial officials actually believed they were guilty of being witches. This case involves Amy Denny and Rose Cullender, both of who were hanged to death in Bury St. Edmunds as a result of the trial. Known as the Lowestoft Trial (where Rose Cullender lived), this trial was so significant that it would be used as evidence of witches at the Salem Witch Trials three decades later. Yet, the authors do more than merely relate the account of the shocking trial, for they also give us an analysis of the culture and period. In this way, we are able to see how social, cultural, and political institutions of the time allowed for officials to come to the wrong conclusions that were the result of the Lowenstoft trial. For example, because of the mysterious and grave afflictions inhabitants of the area were experiencing, the authors argue that fear, scape-goating, and social anxiety helped the Court come to its erroneous conclusions “That people need to lay the blame on someone in order to reduce their own anxieties lies at the heart of scape-goating, a process that is critical to an understanding of the Lowestoft witch case” (Geis and Bunn 111).
The above kind of social anxiety is exactly the kind of fear that gripped the American public during the 1950s at the peak of the Cold War, resulting the wrongful persecution of many individuals by the House Un-American Activities Committee who were suspected as Communists. Thus, this exploration and analysis of the Lowestoft case not only tells us a great deal about the culture and society of the era, but also that we are still prone in contemporary society to many of the same ills. Another example we get of how these two women were wrongly sentenced to die has to do with political inadequacy and cl
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