Case file · Witch trials
The Islandmagee witch trial
In March 1711, at Carrickfergus, eight women from Islandmagee, County Antrim, were convicted of bewitching 18-year-old Mary Dunbar; a ninth was convicted later that year. It was the last witch trial in Ireland.
1711 CE · 54.81, -5.73 · status: official
The account
Mary Dunbar had fits and vomited pins and buttons while staying in a house said to be haunted. The women were sentenced to a year in prison and four turns in the pillory.
The sceptical view
Dunbar's symptoms match other fraud or hysteria cases; the accused were picked out by her descriptions.