As a child, deeply affected by stories of vampires and suchlike, I once tapped the wisdom of my father on the question of which was the most terrifying of all horror films. Not hesitating, he told me it was Witchfinder General, the 1968 cult movie that recounts the awful deeds, in the 17th century, of Matthew Hopkins. It was disturbing, he explained, because it was based loosely on fact – an instructive and early lesson on man’s inhumanity to man.
The same lesson can be drawn from the equally appalling events of the preceding century, recalled vividly by Virginia Rounding in her new book The Burning Time (Macmillan, £20). It focuses on the true stories of the men and women burned to death at Smithfield, London, during the Reformation and it is the stuff of nightmares. It is unremittingly gory, sparing no detail in how some victims were deliberately burned slowly to inflict maximum pain.
