John Stearne (witch-hunter)

John Stearne (c. 1610–1670)[1] was an associate of self-styled "Witchfinder General" Matthew Hopkins, who was active during the English Civil War.

[2] The duo's activities were heavily fictionalized in the 1968 horror film Witchfinder-General (U.S. title: The Conqueror Worm).

[5] Raised in Long Melford, Suffolk,[6] Stearne later became a land owner at Lawshall near Bury St Edmunds.

[7] He met Hopkins, who was 10 years' his junior, in Manningtree and appointed him as his assistant.

[10] Within a year of the death of Matthew Hopkins, John Stearne retired to his farm and wrote A Confirmation and Discovery of Witchcraft.