Halloween is all about candy, monsters, and magic—which means witches get a good deal of the spotlight. But where did the notion of witches first come from? And how did beliefs in them lead to witch hunts? John Putnam Demos, professor emeritus of history at Yale University and the author of two books on witches, witchcraft, and witch hunts shared his expertise with Futurity.
First, he explained, the origins of witchcraft is fairly complex. “The belief in witchcraft and witch-hunting has been present in cultures all around the world, and there are many where it is still present today,” he explained.
It’s also an ancient idea; Circe, a witch, is a character in the Odyssey, which is around 2800 years old. Hekate, the Greek goddess of witchcraft, is an even older concept. And where there were witches, witch hunts seemed to inevitably follow: “There was witch-hunting in classical times in ancient Greece and Rome,” said Putnam Demos.
The hunts, however, only seemed to amplify over time.
“In the late middle ages and early modern times in Europe there was a very large ramping-up of witch hunting. That time period was what most historians refer to now as the European witch craze of early modern times. More witch-hunting took place during that time than ever before and on a much wider scale.”
Thank our heritage for witchcraft in America
“Almost all of the New Englanders were themselves English people so they brought with them all of their beliefs, including their beliefs in witchcraft,” he said. “If you compare trial records from this side of the ocean to trial records from the same time in England you would find very little difference. It was a pretty direct cultural transfer.”
In fact, according to Putnam Demos, the notion of witchcraft was a dominating cultural aspect of life in New England, tying into religion and community life. “If you stopped people on the street in New Haven in 1660, everyone would have things to say—and stories to tell—about witchcraft. It was a part of everyday life, no more and no less,” he explained.
At the time, witchcraft was viewed as a supernatural tool stemming from the devil that was used to causing harm, and those accused when the witch hunts began in earnest were often those who fit less comfortably into the society of the time.
“About 80 percent of accused witches were women… By far, the largest demographic category of accused witches were middle-aged women,” said Putnam Demos.
“This has something to do with the position of women in the community past their childbearing years, in that it was a difficult time of transition for them. Women who were unusually assertive and aggressive with their relationships with other people in the community and women who did not behave according to the peaceful standards of those communities also were especially likely to be targeted in witch-hunts.”
But witch-hunts did not end there; according to Putnam Demos, they merely mutated form, like the fear of communism in the McCarthy era.
“It would be hard to find any moment in the history of the whole world where there was not some kind of impulse toward witch-hunting,” he added.
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Feature Image: Rachel.Adams/Flickr
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