14. The dreadful Witchfinder General, Matthew Hopkins, started his career by hanging a one-legged woman of 80
Matthew Hopkins, the self-appointed Witchfinder General, is easily the most cynical and ruthless figure in the history of witchcraft. Between 1645 and 1647, he condemned a staggering 200 people to death as witches, collecting money for every investigation. His first victim was Elizabeth Clarke, a one-legged woman of 80, accused by a local tailor she’d quarreled with. After depriving her of sleep for several nights, Clarke broke, and confessed. She also identified other members of her coven – all of whom represented a tidy profit for Hopkins. In 1645, Clarke and 19 of the women she named and shamed were hanged.
