Trial by ordeal

[laughs]

Okay, so, um, trial by fire was one of many subcategories of the larger concept known as trial by ordeal, and so that word ordeal, you sort of swap out various elements there.

Trial by ordeal was a form of divination that was practiced in many cultures around the world throughout history, and its roots go back to the basic notion that we could turn to the gods for answers when we needed them.

Uh, and then just skipping ahead here, so in trial by fire, to bring that back up, the way that it actually worked in medieval times, a person who was accused of a crime would be forced to walk across burning coals, like, uh, Pam in The Office, right?

There we go.

They used the water.

The water ordeal used in Finnmark, which was also circumstantial evidence.

It was God's judgment, you could see.

So a woman or a man was thrown into water or in the sea.

It's true.

I was far too involved with the evil devil.

This is after the water ordeal, and I think she's led into these confessions by using leading questions from the interrogator.

And then she's coming up with her understanding at this point of the way she had learned witchcraft.