Norway’s witch trials: the woman killed for a fatal storm

Else Knutsdatter, one of 91, mainly women, executed, was burned to death in fishing community of Vardo

Exactly 400 years ago, a violent storm proved deadly to a woman who did not even witness it. This was the outcome of one of the biggest witch trials in Scandinavian history, in the Norwegian fishing community of Vardo.

A sudden storm in December 1617 sank many boats and drowned 40 men. Previously, a famous trial had been held of people accused of raising a storm to sink King James I's ship, and there was a growing belief that witches could cause storms.