e statue crush the accused against the knives and nails (Jean Plaidy, The Spanish Inquisition) (2). Men would also brutally attack the breasts and genitals of accused witches if they became sexually aroused around her, because it was thought that the ‘witch’ caused them to be. They attacked the breasts and genitals with pincers, red-hot irons and pliers (2). The Churches not only condoned all method’s of witch torture but some church members would even perform the torture themselves. A bishop of Wurtzburg was proud to claim the lives of 1900 witchcraft accused people in five years (2). “Churchmen portrayed the healing woman as the most evil of all witches. William Perkins declared, ‘The most horrible and detestable monster…is the good witch.’” (2). The Church declared this because they believe that God should be the only one to heal and consequently anyone who was found with herbal oils or ointments could be charged with witchcraft. Midwifes were most often thought to be witches because of their knowledge of herbs to relieve labor pains. The Church thought it was a sin to help ease a women’s labor pains because of God’s sentence upon Eve in which she and all women following her shall be plagued with labor pains (2). Even influential people such as Martin Luther stated his believe about childbirth when he wrote, “If [women] become tired or even did, that does not matter. Let them die in childbirth that is why they are there.” (2). When chloroform was introduced to help decrease labor pains the Church strongly opposed it. A New England minister even went as far as to call chloroform “a decoy of Satan.” (2) The Church made it incredibly easy to accuse people of witchcraft. At first only ugly or deformed old women were suspected of witchcraft but soon anyone who looked or acted different was a prime suspect. One Scottish woman was even convicted of witchcraf...
