You can helpexpand this article with text translated fromthe corresponding article in Swedish. (April 2021)Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the Swedish article. Machine translation, likeDeepL orGoogle Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. Youmust providecopyright attribution in theedit summary accompanying your translation by providing aninterlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary isContent in this edit is translated from the existing Swedish Wikipedia article at [[:sv:Häxprocessen på Kastelholm]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template{{Translated|sv|Häxprocessen på Kastelholm}} to thetalk page. For more guidance, seeWikipedia:Translation.

TheKastelholm witch trials werewitch trials held inKastelholm,Åland between 1665 and 1668, the witch trials were the biggest witch trials in the history ofFinland. It was also almost unique in its character for Finland, where witch trials were normally small, with a single and often male defendant accused of sorcery. In contrast, the Kastelholm witch trials were a mass trial where several women were accused of attending aWitches' Sabbath and making a pact with the Devil in the manner of contemporary continental witchcraft demonology, and in both instances it was almost unique for Finland, where only theOstrobothnia witch trials of 1674-1678 were similar to it.^[1] It resulted in the execution of six women.

The witch trials were conducted by the new governorNils Psilander, who was educated inTartu and who investigatedwitchcraft on theisland in accordance with the witchcraft demonology he had been taught at the German university of Dorpat, where witchcraft demonology was an important subject at that point. After having received a normal case about sorcery, which had customarily not been associated with the Devil and resolved with fines, he chose to conduct it according to the way such cases were conducted inGermany, taking the accused toKastelholm Castle and forcing them to confess to attending Witches' Sabbath and making a pact with theDevil and subjected totorture to point out their accomplices. This spiraled into a witch trial of a kind which was new to Åland and Finland and resulted in the execution of six women before dying out in 1668.

The trial is the subject of the 2016 filmDevil's Bride, directed bySaara Cantell.^[2]

• Witch trials in Finland
• 1665 in law
• 1668 in law
• 17th century in Finland
• History of Åland

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• Biography articles needing translation from Swedish Wikipedia