Cold Water Witch Trials
When a woman was accused of being a witch, there are different techniques in each culture that were used to test her guilt or innocence. There was a belief that river water was pure, and it would reject a witch if she were to be dunked underwater. A woman was tied up, and thrown into the river. If she was a witch, she would float to the top. If she was innocent, however, the woman would sink. Clearly, there was one huge flaw to this trial, because if a woman drowned, it meant she was exonerated, but she was dead. If she floated, they would take her out of the water and burn her at the stake. Either way, this trial ended up in death.
In order to address the issue, they invented a device called “the ducking stool”, where a woman was tied to a chair that was attached to a large wooden log. She was then dunked into the water and held underwater. This was repeated multiple times. In some cases, this was done to women who were considered to be too loud and outspoken, the elderly, or to a woman who was accused of committing adultery. Basically any woman that was seem as a troublemaker was put through cold water torture.