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The Horrifying Profession of Christian Caldwell
She disguised herself as a man, to hunt and torture other women.
Little is known of Christian Caldwell, until her appearance as a contractor to the county of Moray (then known as Elginshire) in Scotland in March of 1662, under the alias John Dickson. She’d signed a contract with the county for a year, to be paid six shillings a day to hunt out local witches, with a six pound bonus every time one was identified.
The 1650s in England and Scotland saw a resurgence in anti-witch hysteria, a result of the unsettling effects of wars, and political and economic unrest. The countryside was rife with a poor, uneducated and superstitious populace, ready to blame their misfortune on others, particularly the vulnerable single and widowed women in their communities. Although some men were accused of witchcraft, around 80 percent of those charged were women.
One could be accused of being a witch for any number of reasons, all leading to almost certain death, either as a result of the battery of torturous tests used to determine guilt or innocence, or as punishment once found guilty.
When this happened, all property belonging to the ‘witch’ would be seized and shared out among members of the community. Not surprisingly, wealthy widows became the frequent targets of these kinds of accusations, but so…
