Swiss Town Unveils Memorial for 'Witch' It Executed — 232 Years Later

The Swiss town that ordered Europe’s last execution for witchcraft will unveil a memorial for the woman beheaded more than 200 years ago, accused of bewitching a child.

Servant Anna Goeldi was denounced as a witch after her employer’s eight-year-old daughter fell ill and began spitting up pins during fits of coughing, according to documents in the local archives.

Authorities in Glarus, central Switzerland, became convinced Goeldi was a witch after she later appeared to cure the child using supernatural powers.

After saying under torture that she had been aided by the devil, Goeldi was sentenced to death and beheaded with a sword in 1782, a time when intellectuals were championing reason over tradition and long after witch trials in other countries, such as Britain, had petered out.

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