As Hysteria Reached a Fever Pitch, People Began to Falsely Accuse Themselves
More tragic was the case of a pharmacist who was accused of conspiracy with the Devil when he was found with unknown potions. He was tortured and stretched on the rack, until he changed his protestations of innocence to a confession of guilt, and repeated whatever his torturers wanted to hear in order to end the pain. He admitted that he was in league with Satan and foreigners to poison the city, and named other accomplices who in reality were innocent of any crime. They in turn were arrested and tortured. To end the pain, they named yet more innocents. Wash, rinse, and repeat, as more and more were tortured to make false confessions, and implicate more innocents who were tortured to confess and implicate yet more innocents.
All were tried, convicted based on the confessions extracted under torture, and executed. As the mass panic and widespread public insanity tightened its grip on the fevered city, many Milanese stepped forward to accuse… themselves. They voluntarily went to the magistrates, and confessed to dark deeds of the supernatural. Imaginary meetings with the Devil, witches, sorcerers, and sundry practitioners of black magic, were described, in which they plotted to poison city. As reported, “The number of persons who confessed that they were employed by the Devil to distribute poison is almost incredible“. Many were executed based on their voluntary false confessions.
