The Reasons for Torture

This past weekend’s chapter in Witchcraft in Europe had some of the most interesting documents. Yet, what stood out to me the most was not in a document itself but in the preface of document 48 “The Prosecutions in Scotland”. It is here that Kors and Peters point out that in Scotland, there is the “denunciation of one alleged witch extracted under torture from another accused witch” (318). This is further seen in the reading as it does not talk about trying to get names of other witches from those that were accused. Instead, every event of torture is coupled with interrogations on how they were set into a contract with a devil and how or what magic they have performed in their lives. This idea of not being able to use accusations that precipitate from torturing was shocking as it is against what I had always thought of. My viewpoint of witch trials was that those interrogating the witches were looking for the other witches in the community. They did not care why or how they got into witchcraft as they were already thought to be guilty. To them, they saw witches as knowing each other and the easiest way to find others without them causing harm to the innocent. Perhaps this was an idea unique to Scotland but still interesting as it leads me to the question of if you can question others accused by a "witch" if there was no torture inflicted upon him/her.