Great Britain prosecuted many women for witchcraft under the Witchcraft Act of 1735. That act was actually a reformed version of earlier laws, making a claim of magical powers punishable by prison instead of death. Still, you'd think that witchcraft trials would have died out long ago, but Helen Duncan was charged under the act in 1944! Duncan was a well-known Scottish medium who held seances and claimed to communicate with the dead. During these seances, she produced "ectoplasm" from her nose and mouth. In the image above you can see that the "ectoplasm" looks a lot like cheesecloth and the apparition appears to be a papier-mâché puppet.
It was in 1941 that Duncan really got into trouble, when she "saw" the sinking of a British warship before officials knew about it. Was Duncan a charlatan, a spy, or just a security risk? British officials weren't taking any chances, and charged her under the Vagrancy Act, which covered fraud. But under that law, she might have very well escaped any prison time, so prosecutors pulled out the Witchcraft Act as well in order to ensure Duncan could be jailed for the remainder of the war. Prime Minister Winston Churchill was furious at the charge of witchcraft, and demanded to know how much much would be spent on this "obsolete tomfoolery." Read about Helen Duncan and her World War II witch trial at the Daily Mail. -via Strange Company
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