Since 1654 Jón Magnusson, a priest from Skutulfjörður (present-day Ísafjörður, Iceland) felt terribly ill. Sweating and shaking, he remained in bed for weeks and had strange hallucinations. With time he became convinced that the reason of his illness was magic used by two of his neighbors, a father and a son, both named Jón Jónsson. Local authorities took up the case rather reluctantly, but the clergyman was inflexible: under his pressure the farmers were tried and confessed their alleged crimes. Jón the elder said that he owned a magic book, which he had used against his accuser. Jón’s son also admitted that the priest’s illness was a result of his malefaction and said that he had used magic symbols and fretrúnir (farting-runes) against a girl. In 1656 both farmers were found guilty and burnt at the stake at Kirkjuból. After the execution, a large part of their property went to the priest as a compensation, but he did not feel satisfied. Moreover, his illness now returned. He accused of witchcraft a female member of the same family, daughter to Jón the elder and sister to Jón the younger. This time the case was brought to Thingvellir (the assembly, which had supreme judicial authority in Iceland) and the woman was let free. Subsequently, Jón Magnusson wrote a book entitled Píslarsaga, in which he endeavored to justify his accusations. The work describes his hallucinations and other effects of his illness.
Photo courtesy treehouse1977. Used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic Licence.
