The Fear of Witchcraft

In and around the town of North Barrick on the east coast of Scotland, about seventy people were accused of conjuring storms that had battered the king's fleet. James actually presided over the interrogation of one of the accused witches named Agnes Sampson; her forced confession also led to her execution. Shortly after the trials, James commissioned a pamphlet called News from Scotland that detailed the accusations against the witches. The old distinction between good witches and bad witches gradually disappeared as witchcraft was increasingly seen as the sole domain of those who were allied with the devil.