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This is the shocking moment superstitious villagers interrogate an owl for being a witch after seeing their attempts to burn it alive fail.

The bedraggled bird, its feathers scorched like the ground around it, is caged with its feet tethered together as it screeches helplessly at its tormentors.

But its miraculous survival only convinces the women of the village even more they have caught a witch and they demand to know who she is.

The bird's fate is not known.

(Image: CEN)

These haunting scenes could have come from the Middle Ages yet, incredibly, they took place only recently ... and the women were able to upload a video to social media.

In it, they insist the owl turns back into a woman so they know who she is ... and only then will they free her.

Witchcraft is still a potent force in Spanish-speaking countries such as Mexico where these scenes were filmed and, in rural areas, tales are still told of a strange shape-shifting witch known as La Lechusa ... The Owl.

(Image: Google Maps)

This particular incident happened in the town of Durango, in the north-central Mexican state of the same name, where superstitions are rife.

One of them is that women have the power to turn themselves into animals and birds which is why this poor owl found itself on the end of a Spanish Inquisition-style interrogation.

The bird's shrieks are interpreted as an admission of guilt as the women repeatedly ask it to identify itself.

At one stage they are heard reading sections of the Bible in the belief that this will force the owl to turn back to a woman.

They also recount stories of how the owl had been seen looking through the window at the home of one villager and how another claimed that the owl had tried to curse her.

The women apparently decided to upload the video to show how they had captured the witch but it was widely condemned by online commentators who urged authorities to track them down and punish them as a warning to other superstitious people to avoid such foolish beliefs.

One user wrote: "This is just an animal inside a cage and anything would scream if it was threatened by these women in this way."

Another added: "This is just superstitious nonsense and I really wish that authorities could finally do something treat these people like the criminals they are."