Josh

Oseth witch trials began, Elizabeth I assembled a group of magistrates and justices of the peace to reprimand them for not doing enough to prosecute witches.

So by the time Ursula was imprisoned, local officials were eager to pursue witchcraft cases as aggressively as possible, likely as a way to make a name for themselves and advance their political careers.

Magistrate Brian Darcy also questioned Ursula's 8-year-old son Thomas, and he admitted to Darcy that his mother was in fact a witch.

He also told him that she had four familiars, two cats named Jack and Tiffin, a black toad named Pigan, and a white lamb named Titty.

Thomas also claimed to have witnessed all of them drink blood.

from his mother's arms.

After Ursula was imprisoned, her son was abandoned and his fate is unknown, which is just extremely cruel that there was no care for her child whatsoever.

During Ursula's next round of interrogations at the cage, Brian Darcy offered Ursula clemency in exchange for a full confession.

and she confirmed everything Thomas had said was true and even elaborated further.

She claimed her familiars were also used to cause bouts of lameness, harm farmers' cattle, and inflict pain on people.

She even said she sent her cat Jack to torture her own sister-in-law.

after her sister-in-law called Ursula a witch and a whore.

Worst of all, she confessed to commanding her white lamb to kill Grace Thurlow's infant daughter.

After this massive confession, Brian Darcy brought Grace Thurlow and Agnes Leatherdale to the cage to confront her with their accusations.

Ursula fell to her knees and begged for their forgiveness, but her pleas were ignored and she was left to rot in the cage.

The next time Brian Darcy returned to question her, Ursula began accusing other women of witchcraft, most likely in a desperate attempt to free herself.

The first woman Ursula accused was Alice Newman, who she claimed had used spells and spirits to torture children.

She claimed that Alice Newman also assisted in killing Grace Thurlow's baby, and Ursula also named Elizabeth Bennett and Alice Hunt as witches.

When Alice Hunt was questioned, she confessed and also said that her own sister, Marjorie Salmon, was also a witch.

Some of the specific details about their imprisonments have been lost to time, but many believe that all five women were being held in a single room inside of the cage.