Five other women were accused of witchcraft on the same day as Catarina Bure, the 3^rd of March 1675. These five women were Brita Lorents Guldsmed, Brita Canons, Lisbeth Erik Pederssons, Kierstin, mother-in-law of one of the guards at Gävle castle, and Anna Snifs.

19 children, who claimed that Brita Lorents Guldsmed had taken them all to the Brocken, accused her of being a witch. One girl told the court that Brita had beaten her really bad in the Brocken and thereafter, the girl couldn’t walk anymore. The Royal Witchcraft Commission, which was in Gävle during the trials, believed the children’s stories and established that Brita was "a witch of the worst kind". The court found it proved that Brita Canons had been in the Brocken with some children. She was also accused of creating hard weather in order to hurt the people in Gävle. Lisbeth Erik Pederssons and Kierstin were also accused of witch craft and bringing children to the Brocken. All these four women pleaded not guilty, but the court didn’t believe them. They saw the children’s testimonies as enough evidence to sentence the women to death by beheading. Their bodies would then be burnt at the stake.

The fifth woman accused of witchcraft, Anna Snifs, had taken a girl to the Brocken each night and there treated her so badly that she died. It was the dead girl’s mother who accused Anna. Anna also pleaded not guilty and at that point she didn’t cry. But she later changed her mind and confessed the crimes she was accused of, and then she cried. The court said that Anna’s tears proved that she had had an alliance with the Devil and that alliance was broken now. She couldn’t cry before because crying is impossible for a witch. Anna’s confession didn’t help her; she was sentenced to death anyway. But her body wouldn’t be burnt at the stake like the other women’s bodies. It was buried in the graveyard. This may seem quite stupid to many people today. I mean, she was dead, why does it matter whether her body was buried or not? But to these people who lived in a time when everybody was Christian, it was very important. If you weren’t buried in a churchyard, you couldn’t go to heaven. Anna knew that and I’m sure she believed that God would forgive her sins so that she could live forever in his paradise. The other women who didn’t confess knew that their bodies wouldn’t be buried. I think they were very brave when they refused to confess all the things they were accuse of, but innocent too. They dared to stand up against the entire society.

The executions took place on the 6^th of March 1675 at Vallbacken in the south part of Gävle, at a place which at this time was known as "Helvites gröpper" ("pits of hell"). It was one of the meeting-places for witches in Gävle; others were Sätrabacken and the belltower of the Heliga Trefaldighet church. The witches scratched metal from the church-bells to use in their magic rituals.

The Royal Witchcraft Commission left Gävle after these trials but the witch hunting continued. During the following two months at least 13 women were accused of witchcraft and sentenced to death. One of these women was a widow named Grijs Carin. An 8-year-old girl claimed that she had heard Carin say the magic formula "Vipp nu courazie till helvetis" ("Go, broom, to hell") to get her broom up in the air. Other children told similar stories and even Carin’s own daughter, Margareta, pointed out her mother as a witch. During the interrogations Carin suddenly confessed another crime. She had had an extra-marital relation ship when her husband was still alive. Carin was sentenced to death for both witchcraft and adultery on the 20^th of April 1675, but no one knows if she ever was executed.

Carin had a 12-year-old son, Johan Johansson Grijs. He had been a witness in many trials but not against his mother. He was sent to relatives in Stockholm when his mother was accused of witchcraft. His relatives lived at Södermalm, near the Katarina church, and there Johan would make himself famous as "the Gävle boy".

There hadn’t been any witch trials in Stockholm when Johan got there. They had heard of the trials in the rest of the country and used to pray a special "witch prayer" every Sunday, but as I said, there hadn’t been any trials yet. Johan’s relatives had heard that the boy had been in the Brocken many times together with witches from Gävle and they were eager to hear about what happened at Satan’s parties. Johan was happy to tell them and all their neighbors who came to listen to his stories. He said, among many other things, that he had been married twice in the Brocken, with Ve Mig and Ta Mig, and he had drunk beer from Satan’s ass. Her also said that he could see which women were witches and which children they used to bring to the Brocken. To prove it, he pointed out some women and children. The children, who all had been listening to his stories many times, started to make up stories of their own and witnessed against the accused women. If a child denied that it had been to the Brocken, Johan recommended the parents to beat the child until it confessed to get it away from Satan’s power.

The parents in the quarters around the Katarina church started to gather the children during the nights to protect them from the witches. "The Gävle boy" was specially invited as the expert on witches. He told the terrified children that the witches were on their way in order to take the children and bring them to the Brocken. It’s not easy for a scared and tired child to distinguish between fantasy and truth.

The witch hysteria spread and trials started against several women. Johan was the main witness but suddenly he confessed in front of the court that he was a witch himself! He told the court that the Devil’s power had come to him after the execution of his mother and after that, he could transform himself into a witch whenever he wanted to. (Johan’s mother, Grijs Carin, was still alive at this time, but the court in Stockholm didn’t know that.) The court sentenced Johan to death but his execution was postponed. The court wanted to wait until the witch hysteria had calmed down. All the women accused of witchcraft were released.

No more witch trials were held in Stockholm during 1675 but the rumors started again in the beginning of 1676, when the Swedish government decided that it was time to put an end to Satan’s power in the country. All women who were suspected for witchcraft had to stand up in front of the court. Twelve women in Stockholm were executed during that year.

Johan Johansson Grijs would be executed together with the other witches. A few days before his execution, Erik Noraelius, a priest and member of the of the Witchcraft Commission, came to visit him. Noraelius, who had begun to doubt the children’s stories, cross-examined the boy who contradicted himself all the time. Finally, Johan confessed that all his stories were lies.

Then Margareta Staffansdotter, the wife of Captain Jakob Remmer, was accused of witchcraft. But she had the money and the power to defend herself against the accusations and the children couldn’t even describe how she looked. One by one, they confessed that they had been lying. That was the end of the witch trials in Stockholm. The last woman who was executed as a witch was Malin Mattsdotter. Moreover, she was burnt alive (the only one known in Sweden) after a request by Urban Hjärne, who is known as the one who put an end to the Swedish witch trials.

All the adult witches who were waiting for execution were released, but instead the court sentenced four of the children to death. The first one up for execution was Johan Johansson Grijs from Gävle. He was hanged in November 1676 at Hötorget, 13 years old.

Why did Johan make up all these stories? I don’t know, it’s hard to understand, but think it’s important to remember that he was just a little boy, a little orphan boy. He had been a witness in many trials back in Gävle, when he was even younger. He was into all these witch stories already. Then he saw his mother in front of the court and heard that she would be executed. How can anyone expect a child to act rationally after something like that? He didn’t know anyone when he came to Stockholm (he walked all the way from Gävle to Stockholm, 200 kilometers) but when he came there, everybody was looking forward to seeing him because of his witch experiences. It isn’t strange that he made up stories during these circumstances.

But why did he say that he was a witch? I think he hardly knew what was true or lies anymore. He was confused and maybe he realised that some people had begun to doubt his stories. And it was his stories that made him important, that made him someone. I think that was very important to him. In fact, his reputation was all he had. I think the scariest thing is that he was executed. He had sent many innocent women to death, but he was only a child. In the report of the proceedings, it’s written that Johan was executed because he didn’t regret anything and moreover, he didn’t live like a Christian person in prison. The spectators celebrated when he was hanged.

By: Lina Bergström, SP3I