Anna Göldi was beheaded at Glarus in Switzerland after being convicted of poisoning amid accusations involving supernatural powers. She is commonly described as the last person executed for witchcraft in Europe, although the formal charge avoided the word witchcraft. Her conviction was officially acknowledged as a miscarriage of justice in 2008.

Göldi's case became a symbol of the Enlightenment's incomplete victory over persecution and irrational authority. Novels, plays and historical works about her have reimagined a silenced servant woman caught within systems of class and gender power.