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Journal of the witchfinder general opened up

A 400-year old journal documenting one of England's most notorious witch trials has been "digitised" so that its gory contents can be enjoyed by a wider audience.

The diary - immortalised in the 1968 Vincent Price horror movie The Witchfinder General - tells of how 33 women were branded witches in a trial in the mid-17th century.

The trial was triggered by Matthew Hopkins, an English lawyer appointed by Parliament during the English Civil War to root out sorcery.

Now the journal by 17th century Puritan writer Nehemiah Wallington has been opened up by a team from The University of Manchester's John Rylands Library who are using cutting edge camera technology to photograph and ''digitise'' the diary which is being kept at Tatton Hall in Knutsford, Cheshire.

Wallington was an eloquent and well-read writer who filled 50 notebooks in which he documented his own philosophies on life to keep himself sane. When he died in [1658] he left over 2,500 pages written on himself, religion and politics....

Read entire article at Telegraph (UK)