The Devil's Mark

Disclaimer

This is NOT a page about Wiccans or neo-pagans, and I do not advocate the belief that Wiccans are Satan-worshippers and/or baby-killers. I am well aware that they are not. This is a starting point for historical research into the great witch craze of 1100-1700 AD. And please, don't ask me for spells.

The Devil's Mark

It was widely believed that most witches sported a mark on their body which was placed there by the Devil. The Witches' mark, Devil's Mark, or Witches' teat was the seal of the Devil, given to witches upon initiation. This mark could be a scar, a mole, a birthmark, or superfluous nipple. The Devil's Mark was a nipple through which the witch nourished her or his familiar.

However, even if a person had no mark, it did not mean she or he was not a witch. Some witch-hunters believed that a witches' mark was only put on the bodies of witches that the Devil thought he could not trust. If a witch had no mark, it meant that she or he was especially devout to Satan.

Suspected witches were stripped, shaved, and strapped into a chair for interrogation. The Inquisitors would then wait and watch. If a mouse, rat, or beetle entered the cell and approach the victim, the accused was proven guilty. It did not matter that prisons were vermin-infested. The witches were obviously conversing with familiars.

The witch's body was then painstakingly searched. In men, the mark "may often be seen under the eyelids, under the lips, under the armpits, on the shoulder, on the fundament; in women, moreover, on the breast or on the pudenda" (Summers 71). Particular scrutiny was paid to the genitalia, for it was the most hidden part of the body.

When a Devil's mark was found, the Inquisitor would prick the spot with a needle or blade. If the mark did not bleed and the pricking did not cause pain, the spot was surely placed there by the Devil.

Many witch-hunters and Inquisitors used pricking knives with retractable blades. Matthew Hopkins and John Bain were two such hunters. When the Devil's mark was speared, the blade would retract, so the victim felt no pain, and no blood appeared (Farrington 58).

Lost?

The Devil's Mark copyright 1997-1998 to Shantell Powell.