Trials in the Middle Ages were incredibly weird. These people seemed to be obsessed with witches, magic, and most of all – people who got a little too romantic with animals.
The Salem witch trials are famous of course, but there are some details that often go overlooked, and they really shouldn’t. There was also the risk back in the day of animals looking too much like certain people, which proved to be a huge problem for one guy in Connecticut. It gets weirder and weirder.
There was a man accused of being intimate with a magical mountain fairy, a Pope’s corpse that was put on trial, and many more insane, hilarious stories that a lawyer probably wouldn’t touch today.
1
In 1662, New Haven resident William Porter was hanged for laying with a dog and a cow. The community feared offspring if he continued to live.
2
In 1457 France, some piglets were hunted down for allegedly killing a five-year-old boy. Their mother was given a full criminal trial and sentenced to death.
3
In 1640, Irish Bishop John Atherton was hanged for engaging in coitus with a cow. In reality, his political opponents made it up, but him and the cow died anyway.
4
In 897, Pope Formosus had been dead for eight years. He the next Pope accused him of crimes, so had his body dug up and put on trial. The former Pope was sent to a (second) death.
5
In 1629, a Jamestown Virginia court could not decide if Thomas (or Thomasine) Hall was a man or a woman. They were ordered to wear both men and women’s clothing at all times.
6
In 1690 Sven Andersson, a Swedish farmer, was seen emerging from the woods pale and exhausted. He was accused of having sex with a bergsra - a magical female mountain nymph, and sentenced to death.
7
During the famous 1692 Salem Witch trails, one method of proving witchery was by making a witch cake. This was a cake that contained all of the accused girls urine. The cake was then fed to a dog. This didn’t wield any results in the trial.
8
In 1647, New Haven colonist Thomas Hogg was accused of beastiality with a pig. She had given birth to piglets that apparently looked too much like Hogg. He never confessed, but both him and his alleged pig lover were sentenced to death.
