Accused witch: Maren Sigvaldsdatter, mother of Ingeborg & Karen

Maren Sigvaldsdatter appeared as a dove

Maren Sigvaldsdatter was one of those denounced by Dorette Lauritsdatter in the Autumn of 1662. From the same fishing village of Vadsø as Dorette, Maren Sigvaldsdatter was also the mother of two girls, Ingeborg and Karen Iversdatter who were later accused of witchcraft. 

Transported from Vadsø to the island of Vardø, Maren Sigvaldsdatter was incarcerated in the witches' hole before she appeared before the court at Vardøhus on 6th November 1662 accused of practising witchcraft. As in Dorette's case it is highly likely she was subjected to torture before her court appearance, as almost immediately she 'pledged to state the truth to the extent it was known to her, and she was willing to die upon what she said.' The words of a broken woman. 

Maren confessed that Dorette had given her the craft the summer before in some milk she gave her to drink. Dorette made her foreswear God the Almighty. A short time later a small sparrow came to them in the turf hut, running back and forth across the floor. Shortly after, a small black man dressed in black came in and told Maren to serve him. Afterwards she would have anything she wanted and plenty of wealth. 

Olaus Magnus History of the Nordic Peoples

Illustration depicting wind magic with devils & witches

Maren tested her craft on one of her own lambs by spitting on a piece of bread three times, and saying, 'Burst in the name of the Devil!' She fed the lamb the bread, and it died shortly afterwards. 

Maren also admitted that she, Dorette, Ragnild the Sami, and Sølve, practised weather magic, trying to cast a spell on Jens Ottesen's boat. She said that she was shaped as a dove, and the others were an eagle, a swan, and a crow respectively. They left the village of Vadsø on an overturned barrel and flew upon the Domen Mountain. They undid one knot each, saying, 'Wind in the name of the Devil!', and afterwards they flew out to the ship, and Dorette perched on the rudder, trying to wrest it off the ship. 

Alongside Dorette, and Ragnild, Maren Sigvaldsdatter was condemned and sentenced to fire at the stake. Yet her story does not end with her death, for she was posthumously accused of sacrificing her two daughters, Ingeborg and Karen, to the Devil and teaching them the craft. Both girls were to stand accused of the same crime as their mother in the coming months. It is unclear whether Maren Sigvaldsdatter confessed anything of the sort herself. I feel it unlikely since it would have been recorded in the court documents of her own trial. However there were other mothers who were forced to denounce their daughters in later trials.