Needle sample

The needle test (also known as stigma test) was a witch test that was used in the early modern period as part of the witch hunt .

After a witch's mark had been searched for and found on a defendant - usually in connection with the use of torture - this conspicuous part of the body was subjected to the needle test. Here, the idea comes into play that the devil imposes a sign on his allies as a sign of solidarity. The part of the body on which the devil burned his mark should be insensitive to pain, and it was said that blood could never flow from such a place. Therefore, it was only logical that appropriately drawn people can neither feel it when a needle is stuck into such a witch's mark, nor that it could lead to the usual flow of blood.

The needle test was carried out by the executioner ( executioner ) who was also responsible for carrying out the ordeal .

Tools are still preserved that were used to find the witch's mark. These include those that were clearly used to cheat the victims, because with them the needle recedes into the shaft when pressure is applied, so that neither pain nor blood flow could arise.

Web links

Wikisource: Vehmgerichte and witch trials in Germany / Third section. Water sample and needle sample

literature

• Peter Arnold Heuser: The needle test (stigma test) in the cologne witch trials. Studies on the controversy between Peter Ostermann and Johannes Jordanaeus (1629–1630) , in: Westfälische Zeitschrift 166 (2016)
• Michael Siefener: Witchcraft as reflected in legal theory. The crimen magiae in literature from 1574 to 1608 Verlag P. Lang 1993, ISBN 978-3631444-535