5. Ruth Osborne died during a witch swimming in 1751
Many accused witches died without leaving a trace, the victims of unrecorded mob violence. Ruth Osborne is an exception: she drowned at the hands of a mob, but we still know her story. Ruth and her husband, John, lived in a Hertfordshire workhouse. One day Ruth begged for some buttermilk from a farmer. He refused and, when his calves fell sick, blamed the Osbornes for bewitching them. Some years later, the farmer was at a pub, and raised a rabble to ‘swim’ the old couple. Ruth drowned during the mob’s test, 39 years after the last execution of an English witch.
