Exodus 22:18 Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.
The criteria back in the day for deciding who was a witch is wholly nonsensical. There was the “swimming test,” where the accused were stripped and tossed into a body of water to see if they would sink or float. Floating and or swimming being proof positive they were a witch.
There was a prayer test, where witches were thought to be incapable of reciting scripture aloud. If they could, but made a mistake… “WITCHHH!”
Weighing someone against a bible, checking for suspicious marks on the suspects body, the touch test and so on.
Laws against witchcraft in the UK were passed in 1542 and lasted until they were repealed in 1736.
Unfortunately, despite these laws being repealed nearly two years prior, an old widow by the name of Jane Plane was brutally murdered in Faversham, England in 1738 for refusing an extra helping of wheat. Which of course is proof positive she was a witch, since witches are incapable of accepting more of anything than what was originally offered.
At least that’s what her murderer Stephen Diaper thought.
Jane Plane had made her way to the place where a local gentleman, Mr. James Bunce, was giving wheat to the poor women of the area as an act of charity on St. Thomas’s Day. It was there that Stephen Diaper who was helping distribute the wheat, saw Mrs. Plane, assumed her to be a witch and tested his notion by offering “heap measure” of the wheat.
The Derby Mercury, Saturday, January 4, 1738
Stephen Diaper was sentenced to death. There was a notice in subsequent papers although I seem to have misplaced that clipping. If I find it again I’ll add it here.