25. King James VI of Scotland tried, condemned and executed the folk-healer Agnes Sampson
When a terrible storm at sea delayed James VI of Scotland’s marriage to Anne of Denmark, he suspected witches. Soon evidence of a coven in Edinburgh was discovered. A terrified servant girl accused of illicit nocturnal behavior tried to save her life by implicating others. One of the accused, Agnes Sampson, eventually confessed to being a witch under torture. James questioned her himself, and Sampson admitted to trying to kill the king and his wife by raising the storm. Satisfied, James overruled the skeptical jury at her trial and burned Sampson and two other ‘witches’ in 1591.