# Did the dunking of witches really happen? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 17, 2020, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-dunking-of-witches-really-happen/848067 "2020-02-17T06:31:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-dunking-of-witches-really-happen/848067/21 "2020-02-18T15:23:21Z")
In Salem, ironically the one way to guarantee you’d survive is to confess. Everyone who refused to confess was executed; everyone who _did_ confess was left alive, because punishing witches was God’s business. This was perfectly sound logic to them. Not that they got off scot-free; there were certainly very harsh social penalties to be paid, but you got to live. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-dunking-of-witches-really-happen/848067/22 "2020-02-18T15:39:26Z")
> [@blindboyard](#): > > King James VI & I wrote a book called Daemonologie about such things, and encourages trial by water. Wow, a CELEBRITY in our midst! A really OLD celebrity! What was he like to work with? Did he let you call him “Jim,” or was it all “Your Majesty” this, and “Your Highness” that? ETA: Dammit, ninja’d. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-dunking-of-witches-really-happen/848067/23 "2020-02-18T15:46:18Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Wow, a CELEBRITY in our midst! > > A really OLD celebrity! > > What was he like to work with? Did he let you call him “Jim,” or was it all “Your Majesty” this, and “Your Highness” that? > > ETA: Dammit, ninja’d. Careful: he’ll turn you into a newt. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-dunking-of-witches-really-happen/848067/24 "2020-02-18T15:47:40Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Careful: he’ll turn you into a newt. I’ma hide behind **Themenin**. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-dunking-of-witches-really-happen/848067/25 "2020-02-18T17:11:36Z")
> [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](#): > > Well, Scotland is far enough north that many of the ponds & rivers would be frozen for part of the year. Almost anybody ‘floats’ when there’s a couple of inches of ice on top of the water! Scotland isn’t really that cold in the winter despite being farer north than say New England. I’ve been there a couple of times in February and it was quite green and was able to play a round of golf. I don’t normally play but hell, it’s Scotland! It was in the upper 40’s / mid-50’s each time I went. I asked the locals and they said this was normal. Also swear I spotted a palm tree on the coast! ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-dunking-of-witches-really-happen/848067/26 "2020-02-18T20:45:40Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > Scotland isn’t really that cold in the winter despite being farer north than say New England. I’ve been there a couple of times in February and it was quite green and was able to play a round of golf. I don’t normally play but hell, it’s Scotland! It was in the upper 40’s / mid-50’s each time I went. I asked the locals and they said this was normal. Also swear I spotted a palm tree on the coast! This. The influence of the Gulf Stream means that Scotland is wet (obviously) but relatively temperate. Inland bodies of water will freeze only for short periods. (And I say that as someone who once walked across the [Lake of Mentieth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_of_Menteith) when it was frozen.) There is however a complication. The major persecutions of witches in Scotland took place during the ‘Little Ice Age’, so the modern climate isn’t exactly comparable. But the more likely explanation for any difference is just that the legal and cultural contexts of the European witchcrazes were highly variable. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-dunking-of-witches-really-happen/848067/27 "2020-02-19T18:35:12Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > No, because the fat-muscle ratios are different, and therefore men are more naturally inclined to sink vs women. No-one in more organized areas, even at the time in question, wanted a test with too many false positives, it seems. See my first link. Yes. Men weigh the same as very small rocks. Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-dunking-of-witches-really-happen/848067/28 "2020-02-19T18:44:00Z")
> [@blindboyard](#): > > King James VI & I wrote a book called Daemonologie about such things, and encourages trial by water. Nice to see someone so precise with terminology. James Stuart was James VI of Scotland and James I of England, and since he was king of Scotland decades before becoming King of England, he is properly called James VI and I (or VI/I). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-dunking-of-witches-really-happen/848067.md?page=1)