History Main / BurnTheWitch

Also see TheHeretic, who is also a victim of this form of justice, but with a difference: the Witch is sentenced to incineration for deadly supernatural activity, while The Heretic is similarly sentenced to incineration for religious ThoughtCrime. TheWitchHunter is a related trope, although a Witch Hunter is someone who hunts witches professionally, while this trope tends to refer to [[TorchesAndPitchforks an angry mob]]. See also KillItWithFire and related tropes for the logic (such as it is) for this. Often associated with FanaticalFire.

* The passage of Exodus 22:18 from Literature/TheBible (and its quite popular King James variant mentioned as the page quote) was used to justify many a WitchHunt back in the bad old days. It should be noted, however, that the meaning of "witch" or "sorceress" back then primarily referred to someone who used bad and injurious magic, rather than all magic.

* In ''Webcomic/SomethingPositive'', a young woman [[http://somethingpositive.net/sp04242002.shtml boasts of having been burned to death in Salem]] in another life for [[AnachronismStew being a Wiccan]], but that [[HeroicSacrifice she died praising Wicca and the Goddess]]. Davan, of course, [[DeadpanSnarker tears her story apart]]. In three panels.

[[caption-width-right:320:[[Music/AliciaKeys She's just a girl and she's on fire ...]]]]

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urbain_Grandier Urbain Grandier]], a French Catholic priest in Loudun who was accused of a diabolical pact and causing a whole convent of nuns to become possessed. His case is notable in having inspired a book by Aldous Huxley (''The Devils of Loudun''), a film by Ken Russell (''The Devils''), and an opera by Krzysztof Penderecki (''Die Teufel von Loudun'').

* ComicBook/{{Shade|The Changing Man}} and his companions are nearly burnt at the stake when they travel back to Puritan New England, where the natives mistake the Madness for the Devil's own sorcery. It doesn't help when they find out Lenny's last name is Shapiro, calling her [[ValuesDissonance "filthy Jewess."]]

* In the ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' episode "Safe", River incurs the wrath of the settlers of Jiangyin when her [[PsychicPowers mind-reading powers]] are misunderstood as witchcraft. Interestingly, the village elder doesn't believe in witchcraft but he tries to kill her to shut her up, as she finds out that he killed the previous elder. She is about to get burned at the stake along with her brother Simon when the BigDamnHeroes show up in the [[TropeNamers moment that named the trope]]. Amusingly, Mal agrees with the townsfolk that River's a witch. His objection is that she's also [[TrueCompanions part of his crew]].

* In Creator/MarkTwain's ''Literature/{{The Prince and the Pauper}}'', the switched Prince Edward witnesses how two low-class women were executed like this merely for not professing Anglicanism. Their daughters try to self-immolate themselves as well so they won't be orphaned. The epilogue says that Edward, once he's restored to his proper place and made King, had the orphaned girls located and made sure they'd be well looked for.

** UsefulNotes/TheSpanishInquisition actually refused to do this after the late-16th century, and even before then they were rather lax on witchcraft, very rarely ending in true executions. The Grand Inquisitor himself pronounced the tales of mass "sabbats" unlikely and unsupported by any evidence (it was considered much more credible that testimonies of people hosting Satanic meetings in the woods were probably just lustful sinners celebrating regular orgies, sometimes with the help of rudimentary [[HookersAndBlow party drugs]]), and stated that any person claiming to be a witch was either a liar or clinically insane. Even if declared witches, most accused actually survived with only "minor" torture and fairly small official punishment; execution itself was so rare that it [[StreisandEffect caused its few cases to be spectacularly publicized]], which probably contributed to the legend that the Inquisition was having its hands full on the witch-killing topic. The Inquisition was more concerned about Jews and Moors, in particular the remnant population of Muslims in Spain: Castile-Leon had only conquered Granada in 1492, so the region and its Muslim people were something of an ongoing problem for the Christian rulers until the last of them were ethnically cleansed in the early 17th century. That said, this probably didn't stop non-Royal and non-Church town authorities (i.e. about 2/3 of all towns) or angry mobs from holding witch trials and hanging 'witches', despite the Inquisition's efforts to impede it.

* Parodied in the 1979 Disney comedy ''A Spaceman in King Arthur's Court'', wherein the eponymous astronaut is to be burned at the stake. He knows his thermal-insulated spacesuit will protect him, but then the suit's airconditioner is accidentally turned off and he must sweat it out until his bonds burn through.

* Sam is captured and almost burnt on the stake in ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' for no reason other than the possibility that her Gothic appearance looks much like the witch type. Vlad, disguised as a pilgrim, eggs on the crowd, which doesn't help her cause at all.

* Played straight in the [[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 MSTed]] movie ''Film/TouchOfSatan,'' where the heroine's sister is nearly burned at the stake after being accused of witchcraft... in 19th-Century California.

* Maybe not a witch per se, but ''VideoGame/BaldursGateII: Shadows of Amn'' features a mob threatening to burn Viconia at the stake in the middle of Athkatla. As the protagonist, you can choose either to save her (incurring the ire of the mob in the process), or to be a jerk and let her die.
** It was originally part of an initial decision for Viconia to be infected with Lycanthropy, but they still went with it after they scrapped the werewolf idea. Since she's still a [[EvilCounterpart drow]] elf and a priestess of very nasty goddess Shar, they have a pretty natural reason to try to burn her.

* An achievement in ''[[VideoGame/BanjoKazooie Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts]]'' called "Burn the Witch" involves shooting the antagonist Gruntilda in the town square with the laser you get near the end of the game. Naturally, [[ContractualImmortality since you have to fight her later]], the laser doesn't do anything except irritate her.

** When a similar fate struck a woman named Rosaly, Hector was inspired to seek revenge in ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaCurseOfDarkness Curse of Darkness]]''.
*** Julia from the same game was a witch in hiding.

** In some other areas they follow the advice in the ''Maganevatio Obtusis'' (''Witch-hunting for Dumb People'') and drown them... after supplying them with soup, a [[SpotOfTea nice cuppa]], and a good night's sleep, since the book says all these things will render them powerless. The book was written by traveling witch (and strong swimmer) Miss Tick.

* Agatha Harkness, babysitter for the ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' and the most powerful member of a WitchSpecies, has this happen. It's only a minor inconvenience, though, and she goes around as a ghost for a while before eventually resurrecting herself.

* {{Invoked|Trope}} in the BBC/Starz series ''Series/TheWhiteQueen'', when Margaret Beaufort refers to the fact that Queen Elizabeth (Elizabeth Woodville, not the more famous daughter of Henry VIII) had so far produced only daughters for King Edward IV: "That one produces only more witches for burning." This seems rather cruel since she's hoping for the deaths by fire of three adorable little girls. Of course, in the series, the [[WitchSpecies Woodville women]] ''[[WitchSpecies are]]'' [[WitchSpecies all witches]], although none of them are ever burnt for it. In RealLife, Elizabeth and her mother were both accused of witchcraft at different times, but the accusations were of course not actually true, nor were either of them or Elizabeth's daughters ever burnt to death.

* The ''TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}}'' zigzags this trope. In general, practitioners of arcane magic are feared and shunned in all save a few of the most "enlightened" Domains, such as the comparatively high-magic land of Darkon, but people actually being dragged to the stake and burned by a lynch mob generally doesn't happen without a lot of provocation or unless you're in one of the more backwater regions. Played straight with the domain of Tepest, which is based on a combination of Witch Trials Salem and Grimm Fairy Tales -- their Darklord is even a coven of [[WitchSpecies hags]] called the Sisters Mindefisk. Unusually, their ire is directed less at magic-users and more at [[TheFairFolk fey]], whom they live in terror of; "witches" are people who are willingly in league with the fey, although they're so backwards that they can't identify that MagicAIsMagicA and so anyone who practices non-clerical magic is a "witch" in their eyes. Burning them is justified because the [[EvilVersusEvil malevolent inquisition]] steadily amassing political power has its roots in the domain's worship of a sun god named Belenus. Tepest is regarded as one of the most backwards and primitive domains in the Demiplane of Dread.

* In the Disney movie, ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame|Disney}}'', Esmeralda almost suffers this fate at the hands of Frollo after she refuses to submit to him. (She is not accused of being a witch in [[Literature/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame the original book]]). [[note]] Well, if you want to get picky, she ''was'' accused by a young woman of being a witch, but she was ''charged'' with (and hanged for) being a murderer. [[spoiler:She is, of course, neither.]][[/note]]

For the band, see Music/BurningWitches. For the Creator/TiteKubo manga, see [[Manga/BurnTheWitch BURN THE WITCH]] here.

For the band, see Music/BurningWitches. For the Creator/TiteKubo manga, see Manga/BurnTheWitch

For the band, see Music/BurningWitches.

* In the Disney movie, ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'', Esmeralda almost suffers this fate at the hands of Frollo after she refuses to submit to him. (She is not accused of being a witch in [[Literature/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame the original book]]). [[note]] Well, if you want to get picky, she ''was'' accused by a young woman of being a witch, but she was ''charged'' with (and hanged for) being a murderer. [[spoiler:She is, of course, neither.]][[/note]]

When a community with a superstitious mindset suspects someone in their midst of magical or otherwise unusual powers, especially if unexplained stuff such as kids disappearing has been happening, their response will usually be to root the person out to take the blame and some burning at the stake.

* Parodied in an old Disney movie, ''Film/AnAstronautInKingArthursCourt'', wherein the eponymous astronaut is to be burned at the stake. His space suit protects him, but the heater is accidentally turned on and he must sweat it out until his bonds burn through.

* The Fanatic from the Crimson Court DLC of ''VideoGame/DarkestDungeon'' will do this to anyone afflicted with the Crimson Curse, no matter how they got it or what they do with it. He'll also do this to anyone who so much as associates with someone who's cursed. The only way to stop him from trying to burn your heroes at the stake is to destroy his pyre, but [[BerserkButton that just]] [[TurnsRed makes him even madder]].