Vardø witch trials (1662–1663)

The witch trials of Vardø were held in Vardø in Finnmark in Northern Norway in the winter of 1662–1663 and were one of the biggest in Scandinavia. Thirty women were put on trial, accused of sorcery and making pacts with the Devil. One was sentenced to a work house, two tortured to death, and eighteen were burned alive at the stake.

It was the third of the three big mass trials of Northern Norway, preceded by the Vardø witch trials (1621) and the Vardø witch trials (1651–1653), and one of the biggest witch trials in Norway. It was the peak of the witch hunt which had intensified in Northern Norway since the first mass trial in 1621. Vardø was the center of Norwegian Nordkalotten.