Sizzling news: Elane Engeler of the Associated Press writes, “The last witch beheaded in Europe should be exonerated because she was a victim of ‘judicial murder’ more than 200 years ago, said the government of the Swiss canton (state) of Glarus.”

 

This is interesting when you consider the timeline.

 

Her head was chopped off in Switzerland in 1782.

 

This is seven years after the Declaration of Independence and only five years before the United States Constitution was adopted by the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. In other words, this woman was decapitated during the so-called “Age of Enlightenment.” The Age of Enlightenment, you may recall from your high school history class, refers to the 18th Century philosophy where reason was considered the primary source of authority, as opposed to the arbitrary authority of the aristocracy or the church.

 

In contrast, the Salem Witch trials in America were conducted much earlier, in 1692 to be exact, during “The Age of Heavy Footed Villagers Afraid of Thick Forests.”

 

Moreover, the Swiss are only now, in 2008, moving to exonerate her?

 

In 1711, about 70 years before the Swiss chopped the head off of this poor woman, during “The Age of What Were We Thinking?”, the Massachusetts colony passed a legislative act restoring the rights and good names of those accused of witchcraft during the Salem Witch trials and granted 600 pounds in restitution to their heirs.

 

It seems the Swiss are a very cautious people, not prone to impulsive decisions.