Case file · Witch trials
Poala-Ánde and his drum
In February 1692, the Sámi noaidi Anders Paulsen (Poala-Ánde) explained the use of his confiscated drum at a trial in Vadsø; he was killed by his guard before sentence.
1692 CE · 70.07, 29.75 · status: official
The account
His drum had been taken by force on 7 December 1691 during the Christianisation of the Sámi. He was tried under the witchcraft law, and the court asked Copenhagen how to proceed. The drum went into the Danish royal collections; it was returned to the Sámi in 2023. His testimony is one of the few first-hand accounts of a noaidi's drum.
The sceptical view
Sámi scholars stress that this was religious persecution of an Indigenous tradition, not a 'witch' case in any meaningful sense.