Elizabeth Stile
When Elizabeth Stile was accused of witchcraft, she was 65 years old, widowed, and living in Windsor. She and her associates were accused of murdering several people and injuring many more with the assistance of their familiars: a rat, a black cat, and a toad. All of the accused women were impoverished, and it was alleged that the victims were said to have been targeted because they refused to give out charity or were responsible for some other minor injustice against these already marginalised women. In most cases, alleged witches were simply scapegoats, chosen because they were already vulnerable, to explain misfortunes that had no other explanation. Surprisingly, Stile appears to have believed in her own magical abilities. While imprisoned in Reading, she confessed all of her crimes and repented of her association with the devil, incriminating the three other women with whom she was eventually hanged. Her confession served as the basis for a 1579 pamphlet, A Rehearsal Both Str...