Welcome to the Witching Hour Part 3: A History of Terror

In 1487, Heinrich Kramer wrote one of the best selling books in Europe. Thank's in large part to Gutenberg's printing press, this book became the second bestseller (the Bible being number one) for nearly 200 years. That book was called Malleus Maleficarum or Hammer of Witches.

Famous for kicking off one of the most terrifying chapters of modern human history, Malleus Maleficarum was the spark of a moral a panic among the Christian people of Europe. It raised the crime of witchcraft and sorcery to the level of heresy, which allowed for the torture and eventual death sentence by burning at the stake for any who were accused.

It was also condemned by many Church officials shortly after it's publication for it's unethical and illegal procedures. 

That, of course, didn't stop it's popularity and soon "witch hysteria" was it's own type of plague on the people of Europe. Between the 16th and 18th centuries anywhere from 40,000 to 60,000 people were burned at the stake for witchcraft in Europe. The hysteria peaked during Europe's religious wars of 1580 to 1630, when many Protestant and Catholic communities were pitted against each other on their interpretation of Christianity. In 1735, Britain would pass the Witchcraft Act, finally putting an end to the hysteria in Europe (though there is at least one report of an execution as late as 1782).

Once accused of being a witch, there was little a person could do to refute the charges. Torture was an acceptable form of interrogation and anything a person said while being tortured was admissible in court. They'd be asked over and over again to name others who were also witches and to end the pain they would name anyone who came to mind. Finally, the accused would be burned at the stake.

Not only could the accused be tortured for information, they could be put through "tests" that were pretty much set up for people to fail. Several famous ones included looking for witch marks (moles, birthmarks, or scars) that would indicate a pact with the Devil had been made, being stuck with pins to see if a person would bleed (in theory witches wouldn't bleed if stuck with a pin in certain places), and the ever infamous "swimming test" where a person was bound, sometimes with a Bible tied around the victim's neck, to see if a body of water would reject the victim. If the person drowned during the "swimming test" then they weren't a witch. They were still dead, but at least they weren't a witch. Those who floated during the test were immediately found to be a witch and sentenced to death.

An example of the weight test where a witch was weighed against a Bible

It's fairly safe to assume that once a person was accused of being a witch during this hysteria, it was a death sentence.

Like any point in time when people are at their most vulnerable, there were those who took advantage of the hysteria to make a little profit. Witch hunters would go to a town and offer to rid the villagers of the evil witches who were causing all sorts of unfortunate things to happen, for a small fee of course. Their victims were usually people whom the other villagers weren't fond of. Beggars, the disabled, mid-wives, the elderly, and people who were generally seen as non-conformist were all prime targets to be accused of witchcraft. For each person "caught" by the Witch Hunter, the village would pay them a finder's fee.

Needless to say, the people who were accused of witchcraft were no more witches than I am from the planet Jupiter.

This is the history of witchcraft and witch hysteria that I am most familiar with. It's the narrative that pops up on most documentaries that come out around Halloween and has shaped a lot of my culture's understanding of what a witch is.

However, witchcraft, sorcery, shamanism, and magick (or magik - spelled with a "k" at the end) has existed in one form or another since humans started telling stories. Many pre-Christian religions incorporated types of shamanism and magick into their practices (including Europe). Examples can be found in Greek and Roman mythology, old Norse and Druid religious practices, and most folklore found throughout the world (again I am most familiar with western history and ideas on the subject).

Furthermore, some practices of "witchcraft", folk magic, and magick were incorporated into Christian practices, such as the Pennsylvania Dutch tradition of Powwowing (a word co-opted from the Native American tribes originally from the area, but has nothing to do with Native American Religious practice) or Voodoo, which was brought over by slaves from Africa and has been known to be incorporated into Catholic practices in the Caribbean islands and southern regions of the United States.

To put it bluntly, there's a lot for me to write about on the subject of witches, especially in the United States. 

For the most part, witches and witchcraft are placed firmly in the categories of evil, other, and dangerous. Witches, from the point of view of Christians, are to be feared. They are in league with the Devil and want to bring about ruin and destruction. Even today some people immediately associate witches with the worst parts of humanity. They are perversions of how a person should behave.

It is irksome to try correcting and educating people who spout these claims. It doesn't help that Hollywood loves to exaggerate and misrepresent the culture and practices surrounding modern witchcraft and magick (see pretty much any movie featuring Voodoo in the early 20th century as an example), though there have been changes since the 1990s.

There is one key item that I haven't gone into in this post.

When we think of witches, what is the image that comes to mind?

Usually I picture a woman, dressed in all black, with a pointed hat, and a broomstick. There might be a cat or a raven around too, but it's that image of a woman that really takes center stage. In fact, who are some of our most famous witches in pop culture? There's Sabrina the Teenage Witch, the Halliwell sisters, the Sanderson sisters, Sam from Bewitched, and Harry Potter. Only one of the aforementioned characters is a guy, the rest are women.

Women have historically been the disproportionate victims of witch hysteria.

Burning the witches.

But I think I want to save that historical dive for my next post in two weeks time (next weekend is a holiday for me so no updates). Get ready for it guys!

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