Bess, dressed as a witch, sneaks a Witch Cake into a dog dish.

Witch Cakes

  • 1 cup rye meal
  • 4 Tbsp urine of the afflicted

Mix rye meal and the urine of an afflicted person together and form into a cake. Pinch dough and pull outward to form points.

Bake over fire until golden brown. Remove and cool for 20 minutes.

Feed the cake to a dog to reveal if the afflicted is under the influence of witchcraft. If so, this will pass the enchantment on to the animal.


Reverend Samuel Parris' daughter was acting bonkers and no one could figure out why. While he was out of town a neighbor named Mary Sibley suggested Parris' slaves John Indian and Tituba make a Witch Cake to get to the bottom of it.

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We don't know what the cake fed to the Parris family dog looked like. The only two surviving Witch Cakes are from the 1850s and they look like "spiky bagels" according to Scarborough Museums Trust.

John and Tituba fed the cake to the Parris family dog. Why? Because dogs were thought to be the "animal helpers" of witches. Fido was supposed to eat the cake, trip out, and reveal the name of his evil master.

It didn't work. When Parris found out he got just as pissed as the cake and went bonkers himself trying to find witches in his community.

And that's how the Salem witch trials started. Happy Halloween 🎃!

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