Townley Jordan - Woman Accused of Witchcraft Burned Alive

A woman in Peru was accused of witchcraft and burned in a huge bonfire. She lived in an indigenous area of the Amazon rainforest. 73-year-old Rosa Villar Jarionca was sentenced to death by members of the Shiringamazu Alto community, who claimed that she was making people sick through witchcraft. The burning is said to have taken place in late September, but the world is just now finding out due to the isolation of this part of the world. The prosecutor says he was given a video by a witness showing Rosa tied up amongst piles of wood. A man pours gasoline all over her and the wood, then lights a match. You can hear her cries of pain. The prosecutor told the press, "The woman was burned alive because the people accused her of being a witch.” He said that the villagers burned the body for three days in order to leave no trace, but authorities were able to find bones. They also found records in a log book telling of the plan to deal with her, which was voted on and signed by community authorities, stating that the burning would serve, "as an example to the community and other communities against this kind of damage,"

The article, published by Fox News Latino, takes an informative approach to what has happened in a more isolated part of Peru. This is shown by the way that there was a two week gap between when the event took place, and when it was written about in the news. In a time of instant communication with most parts of the world, this is rather unusual. For example, when Kim Kardashian was robbed at gunpoint in her hotel room, we all knew about that nearly instantly. This article also goes to show, that as much as we ignore it and downplay it, there are still parts of the world that are much less developed than the ease of life we experience in America. This article relates to the Salem Witch Trials in colonial Massachusetts. They took place in the late 1600s, and resulted in the deaths of twenty so-called “witches”.

woman accused of witchcraft burned alive