In 1712, in the small village of Walkern, Hertfordshire, an elderly woman named Jane Wenham was accused of practicing witchcraft. Tensions flared after local residents blamed her for a series of strange illnesses, unexplained fits among young women, and dead livestock. The situation escalated until Wenham was arrested and brought before Sir John Powell, a High Court judge at the Hertford Assizes.
Local witnesses offered outrageous testimony, including assertions that they had seen Wenham soaring through the sky using demonic powers. Undeterred by the hysteria, Judge Powell maintained a sharp, skeptical wit throughout the proceedings. When a witness swore on oath that the defendant could fly, Powell dryly responded that flying was not an offense under English law, famously remarking that there was no law against flying and inviting the accused to fly away if she wished.
Despite the jury convicting Wenham and sentencing her to hang under the 1604 Witchcraft Act, Powell refused to let the execution proceed. He used his judicial power to secure a reprieve from Queen Anne and ensured Wenham was granted a royal pardon. Wenham lived out the remainder of her life quietly under the protection of sympathetic benefactors.
Powell’s bold skepticism exposed the deep absurdities of the legal framework governing witch trials in England. Her trial became the last formal conviction for witchcraft in English legal history, directly paving the way for Parliament to pass the Witchcraft Act of 1735, which decriminalized the practice of witchcraft and replaced it with penalties for pretended fraud.