THE dark silhouettes could be seen on the surface of the sea.

The eerie shapes were witches, speeding across the waves in floating sieves.

They were headed for North Berwick, to meet at the Auld Kirk for a party.

These days, people eat at a restaurant and visit the Seabird Centre at this place, and the Auld Kirk is a small ruin.

But this party was in 1590. It was a party with evil intent, for the host was the Devil himself and he had a cunning plan to destroy his greatest enemy, the King of Scots, James VI!

Somehow, the sleeping residents of the town didn’t hear the cackling and laughter of the witches as they arrived, laden with wine and other witchy goodies.

The party was raucous. Dead bodies were dug up from the kirkyard, their parts used for various devilish spells, overseen by Agnes Sampson from Nether Keith, near Humbie, who was well known for her knowledge in how to cure people.

There was singing and laughter, and one of the young witches called Geillis Duncan, from Tranent, played the Jew’s Harp, a small instrument held between her teeth and plucked skilfully with her fingers. Her music made her sister witches dance with wicked joy.

The Devil himself joined in and the witches all lined up to willingly kiss his grotesque posterior.

Then the solemn part began. A dead cat was brought to the Devil, who mockingly baptised it. Devilish incantations were then said and the cat, smeared in the remains of body parts, was thrown into the sea.

Spells were said and the witches stared at the sea. The storm was planted.

Soon it began to swell with undulating waves and the skies darkened with a brewing ferocity. The witches, spurred on by the Devil, used chants and spells to spin the storm, to make it stronger and wilder, for they knew the king and his young wife were on a ship crossing the sea, heading for Scotland. The king was the Devil’s opponent and they intended to sink the ship.

The storm raged and the king feared for his life and the life of his young bride. But thanks to the intervention of God, they managed to reach the safety of Scotland.

The Devil’s plans had been thwarted, but those involved would pay a terrible price. There would be vengeance against those who had used dark magic to try and kill the king, the one blessed by God to rule over them.

Agnes Sampson and Geillis Duncan would be tortured and executed. Many others would suffer the same fate. But the king, the saviour of the kingdom, would be safe from their evil intentions and the Devil would have to retreat to lick his wounds and plan for another day.

My question is, do you believe this really happened? Of course, it sounds utterly ridiculous and made up, and it is. Both Agnes and Geillis were innocent, as were the other 70 or so victims of what became known as the North Berwick Witch Trials.

In this day and age, it seems incredulous that people would believe this stuff, that a dead cat was used to whip up a storm to kill the king. Thankfully we live in an age of reason, where such superstition and belief in outlandish conspiracies no longer holds any sway.

Well, I used to think that, until Storm Milton.

Millions of people have been convinced that the storm which hit Florida was conjured up by dark forces rather than being a force of nature. Many have been made to believe it was created and directed deliberately for political reasons; that dark forces threaten the God-blessed saviour of the nation, and these dark forces actually eat cats and dogs.

And vengeance is being called for. Just as in the North Berwick trials, innocent people could be the victims of this. Already, meteorologists and weather forecasters in the US have had death threats. They are being blamed for the storm, just as Agnes and Geillis were in the 16th century.

It feels like an alternative reality. But it’s happening and, although it may seem like it’s far away across the Atlantic, it isn’t. It’s here too, the conspiracists are weaving their tapestry of fear and finger-pointing, of hatred and division, in my community too. They are sowing the seeds of a modern witch hunt against the innocent.

I’m a student of history, so I know this is nothing new. But what is new is the strength of it, controlled by oligarchs who have an interest in division and the demise of democracy. And so I feel the need to speak out about it because it’s not about my future but my kids’.

So let us empower ourselves with history. Look at history, it will help you understand what’s going on today. None of this is new, fascism isn’t new; although it does change its clothes, it’s still easily recognisable.

Agnes Sampson and Geillis Duncan were innocent women, victims of a brutal misogynist ideology, blamed for something that was clearly not their fault. They did not conjure up a storm using dark magic and a dead cat, and King James wasn’t a God-blessed saviour of the nation, he was an absolute ruler with immunity from the law.

I honestly thought that these days such follies would be obvious and would never be repeated. I still hope this is the case. The truth is, when good people do nothing, real evil Trumps.

Let’s do our best to not let that happen here.