Quotes / Burn the Witch!

Sir Bedevere: Tell me, what do you do with witches?
(Crowd yells various things to the effect of "Burn them!")
Sir Bedevere: And what do you burn apart from witches?
Villager: More witches!

— Monty Python and the Holy Grail

My mother was a witch, she was burned alive
Thankless little bitch, for the tears I cried
Take her down now, don't wanna see her face
All blistered and burned, can't hide my disgrace

— Diamond Head, "Am I Evil?"

"Burn the witch
Burn to ash and bone"

— Queens of the Stone Age, "Burn the Witch"

"Choose me or your pyre!
Be mine or you will burn!"

— Judge Claude Frollo, "Hellfire," The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Sweden: I can't wait to dance around the maypole! It's so beautiful this year!
Norway: Indeed. Only one thing is missing. (lights the maypole on fire) FIRE!!!
Denmark: Don't forget the witch!

— Scandinavia and the World

Coming to get you yeah, I'm coming to take you away
You witches are evil, you worship the Devil, so listen to what I say!
Peacefully come out your huts or I'll have you witches flayed
Must destroy you, play inside you, watch you wither away
Who's coming to get you, coming to take you away?
I find you guilty, witch-woman, 'cause I'm the Witchfinder-General!

—"Witchfinder General", Witchfinder General

A cart rolled through the town
And people all around
Gathered for the burning of the witch
They grit their teeth in anger
They raise their arms in fear
The burning stake was ready for that bitch
Singing "Burn her!
Burn her!
Burn her to the ground!"
Singing "Burn her sins!
Burn her pride!
Burn her till she dies!"

—"Burning A Sinner", Witchfinder General

I'm a fantasy role-playing gamer
I play whenever I can
I play Dungeons & Dragons, Runequest and Shadowlands
I've played as kings and vikings,
Wizards, elves and more
Until a bunch of fundies came and kicked down my front door
They stole my dice and gamebook
They called it a book of spells
They said I was conjuring demons
And things too weird to tell
They burned my books and papers
They almost burned me, too
They really believe in magic
They thought that stuff was true!

— Leslie Fish, "Gamers" (AKA "This Game is Real")

Arcane knowledge handed down, unwritten and obscure
Coven prosecuted but no begging for remorse
One by one they're taken as the bell rings its chime
Blasphemy against the church was her only crime
Tie her up!
Set the fire!
Burning in torment alive
For her crimes
For her sins
The bitch will be burnt at the stake!

— Toxic Holocaust, "Bitch"

The torches. The mob. The intent to frighten away, warped by the compiling misunderstandings. The roar of fire out of control. The screams of a woman. The shocked silence of a mob that sees hell reflected in the flames.

Guilt distills into stories until it is palatable. A story formed in every mouth by the time the fire died. "House was already on fire when we got there, and she was at the window, cackling," mumbles a man over his drink. The city council arranged a quick funeral. No mourners showed. Carrie Killian was cremated and buried beneath a cheap gravestone.

The Black House still stands. No one wants to tear it down. No one wants to pick at the scab of their guilt. They cover it up with stories of wicked witchcaft. We listen as the sweet children sing the name Carrie Killian in their jump rope rhymes, the way they used to sing about the Black Plague.

Ashes. Ashes. We all fall down.

—The Buzzing, The Secret World

Hans: Princess Anna is...dead. She was killed by Queen Elsa. At least we got to say our marriage vows...before she died in my arms.
Duke of Weselton: There can be no doubt now; Queen Elsa is a monster and we are all in grave danger.
Spanish Dignitary: Prince Hans, Arendelle looks to you.
Hans: With a heavy heart, I charge Queen Elsa of Arendelle with treason and sentence her to death.

—Frozen (2013)

In the days of my youth, a whore's cast-off like Nysander would have gone unschooled. If he were lucky he might have ended up as a village weather-caller or soothsayer. More likely, he would have unwittingly killed someone and been stoned as a witch. Only the Lightbearer knows how many god-touched children were lost before the advent of the Third Orëska.

— The Bone Doll's Twin

They were tortured precisely because of the belief that is presented in the Harry Potter books: the witch finders thought they had to inflict serious pain on the 'witch' because otherwise the Devil's charm would prevent her from being hurt. So many studies show that these real women died horrible deaths after enduring unbelievable torture that I find it astonishing that, even in fiction, their deaths can be so lightly written off. Many of the women designated as witches were perceived as dangerous outsiders or in some way different from the society in which they lived. I quarrel with JK Rowling's sweeping rewrite of their history which once again denies these women their voice and gives us, the reader, an easy way out from observing their pain. Because after all the women didn't get hurt, they weren't caught up in power struggles and they didn't die. Tell that to Joan of Arc!

— BBC radio commenter, criticizing J. K. Rowling's approach to this trope, who also ignores how many of the Real Life cases were men.

Christabella: Burn her as a witch! Burn her!
Rose Da Silva: Burn me? That's your answer... Burn anything you're afraid of. Burn anything you can't control.

—Silent Hill

Bender: If there's one thing we've learned from the twenty seven X-Men films, it's that prejudice is wrong, whether it's against Mutants, robots, or Mutant robots.
Villager: What are you saying, Bender?
Bender: That I, Bender, am a robot, and so is Samantha. Now let us join together in song!
(cut to Bender and Samantha the robot tied to a stake, on fire)
Angry mob: Burn the robots! Burn the robots!
Bender: You know, that's really more of a chant...
Samantha: Oh, will you shut up?!

—Futurama

---