Jonka Dynneis, also spelled Dyneis, lived at Aith in Aithsting about 1606 and later in Fetlar, according to the Shetland Museum summary. She was one of three people executed after the 1616 trials, strangled and burned at Houll hill.
Black and Thomas print part of the record. Offended by a man called Olave, she is said to have cursed him, saying within a few days his bones would be raking about the banks, and he perished at sea. Her words to his mother were that as her son Ola had died, she would get another, and fourteen days later another son perished at sea. Another charge says her husband was fishing at Walls, six miles from Aith, and in peril. She was found and seen standing at her house wall in a trance that same hour, and when asked why she was so moved, she answered that if the boat were not lost it was in great danger. The record adds that the fact was proved.
An earlier charge says the women of Hildiswick were asked to churn after Jonka quarrelled with a neighbour, and no butter came. These are the court's allegations. The details are of interest because the trance at the wall reads like a second sight tale told as evidence of witchcraft.
Comments