Case file · Witch trials
The Szeged witch trials
In 1728, amid drought, famine and epidemic, the city of Szeged tried dozens of people for witchcraft; on 23 July twelve, six men and six women, were burned on an island in the Tisza.
1728 CE · 46.25, 20.14 · status: official
The account
Among them was Dániel Rózsa, an 82-year-old former judge and the richest man in town, accused of leading the witches. Defendants were said to have sold rain to the Turks and caused the drought. It is considered the largest witch-hunt in Hungary; Maria Theresa's reforms after 1756 ended such trials.
The sceptical view
Sources disagree on the exact number killed (12 to 14); the trials reflect a crisis-hunt for scapegoats.