MAGIC, witchcraft, wizardry – in modern popular culture, casting spells and concocting potions is more commonly associated with children's Halloween parties.

But hundreds of years ago, facing accusations of witchcraft or practising magic was deadly serious, and Colchester Castle became notorious as a grim prison where women accused of witchcraft were held before they were executed – at least, if they survived that long.

When the Wicked Spirits: Witchcraft and Magic exhibition opens in Colchester Castle in July, Colchester’s association with trying suspected witches will be laid bare as never before.

Sorcery and magic became something of an obsession throughout Britain in the Middle Ages and Renaissance eras. In Essex, Colchester Castle was one of the most prominent prisons in the county as communities took to making accusations as easily as witches took to broomsticks.

Ben Paites, who is one of the main curators at Colchester Museums, has been a key figure in bringing the Wicket Spirits exhibition to Colchester.

Due to open on Saturday, July 16, the exhibition has been brought together largely off the back of crowdfunding, with over £15,000 raised through voluntary donations.

Mr Paites, who is 31 and has been based in Colchester as a curator for the past seven years, said the securing of the exhibition, which lasts until January 2023, is the culmination of a lot of work.

He said: “This is something we’ve been wanting to do for a long time – Colchester Castle has a prison area, but it’s sort of tucked away because a lot of spaces are protected by heritage laws.”

Colchester’s association with trying witches is not untrodden ground. The prison cells in Colchester Castle have a heavy focus on Matthew Hopkins, who was a well-known witch hunter in Essex throughout the 1640s.

But Mr Paites is keen to stress the Wicked Spirits exhibition moves beyond what we already know about Mr Hopkins, who infamously dubbed himself the Witchfinder General.

Instead, it is hoped the exhibition will explore in greater depth the experiences of those who were accused of witchcraft.

“We wanted to bring those stories out of the prison and bring the focus away from Matthew Hopkins – we wanted to tell the stories of the people who lost their lives and the people over the centuries who had been persecuted.”

The exhibition is run in partnership with The Museum of Witchcraft and Magic, as well as the University of Essex, which has lent a centuries old copy of what was perhaps one of the most well-known books on witchcraft in the Middle Ages, the Malleus Maleficarum.

Literally translated as the Hammer of Witches, the book was used as a guide on how to root out anyone who was practising magic although the victims of such persecution were almost always women.

Suspected witches were often sentenced in Chelmsford, but they would await trial in the squalid conditions of Colchester Castle and, as Mr Paites explains, imprisonment there was often a death sentence in itself with many prisoners dying long before they faced judgement.

“The castle was a jail, so people would be imprisoned awaiting their trials and it was known to be a horrible prison.

“If you couldn’t afford food, you would starve.”

There was often a flurry of accusations made in a short period of time during periods of social, religious and political unrest, or after a bad harvest – during the Little Ice Age of the 1650s, for example, witchcraft accusations shot up because of failing crops.

Colchester Castle was, therefore, a well-used prison, simply because of its capacity.

Better known than the number of executions – there are believed to be very few, if any, at the castle – is the approximate number of people who were imprisoned in Colchester over the years accused of witchcraft.

The number sits at about 200, which accounts for a fifth of the total number of suspected witches imprisoned in Essex throughout the Middle Ages and early Renaissance.

As many people as possible will be able to learn about this dark period of history in which Colchester certainly played its par Extra efforts have been made to ensure those with wheelchair access or other special needs can access the exhibition.

Mr Paites said: "Once the exhibition is in, we are creating audio described tours for people with visual impairments. People with all kinds of accessibility needs can be catered for as well."

Museum curators are hoping the exhibition will be well attended thanks to the new perspective it will provide on Colchester’s tumultuous association with witchcraft centuries ago.

“We are hoping the exhibition will be popular and draw in people who wouldn’t normally have visited," Mr Paites said.

“There have been quite a few television series about witch trials; we want to attract people watching those shows to come in and see objects that tell those stories of witchcraft in Colchester.”