witch trial
Heresy court proceeding
A witch trial is a legal proceeding to determine whether someone has practiced witchcraft, most associated with early modern Europe and colonial America when thousands were prosecuted and executed.
The term now often appears figuratively for any proceeding where guilt seems presumed and evidence is flimsy or hysterical: The hearing felt more like a witch trial than a fair investigation.
- SalemCity or name
- burningCombustion in progress
- burning at the stakeExecution by public immolation
- stakeSharpened post or share
- accusationClaim someone did wrong
heresy · inquisition · confession · torture · false confession · drowning · water test · ducking stool · spectral · spectral evidence · Puritan · hysteria · mass hysteria · testimony · gallows · condemned · innocent · pyre
- witchcraftspell, spellwork, spells, hex, hexes
- trialsretrial, mistrial, dry run, practice test, pilot test
- Joan of ArcJoan of Arc, French heroine, martyr, saint, heroine
- medieval justiceordeal, inquisition, execution, torture, pillory
- Monty PythonMonty Python, Eric Idle, Holy Grail, John Cleese, Life of Brian
- witch huntsaccusations, burning at stake, Tituba, inquisition, Malleus Maleficarum
witch trialfair trial
Impartial judicial proceeding
due process · fair hearing · trial by jury · rule of law · judicial review
witch trialscientific inquiry
Systematic investigation of phenomena
forensic investigation · fact-finding mission · peer review · truth commission · logical analysis
witch trialexoneration
Official clearing of blame
vindication · acquittal · amnesty · presumption of innocence · absolution
witch, trial, witches, witchcraft, witchy, bewitched, bewitch, bewitching, trials