24. A Horrific Tragedy Avoided at the Last Moment
The authorities launched a formal investigation. Although some Lille clergy and citizens were skeptical, most believed that the children’s confessions of witchcraft were valid. It thus followed that all fifty schoolgirls should be burned at the stake as witches to make an example of them. The little girls’ lives were only spared at the last minute, after some skeptical priests, aghast at what was about to happen, insisted that the investigators dig in deeper.
That was when they finally discovered what the school’s headmistress had done to fill the girls’ heads with thoughts of demonic possession. The children were absolved, and the blame shifted to Madam Bourignon. She barely escaped punishment after the authorities, unsure of her sanity and tired of the whole affair, wound down and closed the investigation.
