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inquisitions and first began to appear in the late 1400’s. A History Channel special on witches aired on October 29, 2004, 1 identified the following common characteristics about how these “witch trials” were conducted: 2

1. Historical foundations of the public outcry against witchcraft: 3 1.1. The peak of the witch trials occurred in the late 1600’s. The period from the late 1400’s to the late 1600s were 4 known as the “Burning Times” because witch hunts and executions were so prevalent during this period. The 5 most common places for witch trials were in the rural villages of France and Germany, but they also occurred in 6 America in the late 1600’s. 7 1.2. The basis for the persecution of witches had a primarily “religious” foundation. The Bible forbids witchcraft in 8 Deut. 19:10. Witches were believed to have a covenant with the devil and worship the devil and to be involved in 9 harmful activities that were a threat to society as a whole. 10 1.3. The practice of witchcraft was viewed as the worst type of religious heresy and was punishable by death by 11 execution. The reason it had this status was because the practice of witchcraft was made to appear as a threat not 12 just to the church, but to the whole society. Activities of accused “witches” were viewed as a competing 13 “religion” and the worship of the devil. Witchcraft was also viewed as a threat to the predominantly Christian 14 religion and evidence of possession by the “devil”. 15 2. Social status of witches: 16 2.1. Hatred against and fear of witchcraft was most prevalent among uneducated or under-informed people, who are 17 most susceptible to false belief, presumption, government propaganda, and superstition. 18 2.2. Mobilizing the public against witchcraft was done by encouraging and exploiting intense fear and hatred towards 19 immoral or harmful activities and by associating witches with such immoral and harmful activities. This was 20 done by exploiting the ignorance, presumptions, and prejudices of the people by religious and political leaders. 21 2.3. The people who were accused of witchcraft, in fact, were most often those who were accomplishing most to help 22 their community. These people were often the most prominent political targets and opponents and accusing them 23 of witchcraft was a way to retaliate politically against them. Most were older, single, or widowed and therefore 24 didn’t fit the mold that most other women did. They did deviant things like use herbs and folk remedies to heal 25 people magically. They had fewer friends and therefore were more vulnerable to false accusations and 26 persecution, because they did not have a social network of friends who could help defend them. 27 3. How criminal charges of witchcraft were initiated: 28 3.1. Search for the witch began when a person was observed to have psychological fits and delirium and the society 29 could not explain the cause of the fits. Observers then would assume it was a supernatural possession by the 30 devil (rather than simply a psychological illness) and would then begin searching for supernatural phenomenon 31 and “witches” to explain the possession. 32 3.2. Witch trials were often initiated at the request of an upstanding citizen or someone having deliriums who wanted 33 to politically retaliate against an opponent. Most of the accusations of witchcraft came from people who only 34 superficially knew the accused “witches” and therefore were suspicious and fearful of them. An even larger 35 number of accusations came from those accused of witchcraft themselves and who were under torture to make a 36 confession. 37 3.3. The government fomented and facilitated the witch trials. There was a lot of political propaganda that was 38 intended to smear and denigrate suspected “witches” by associating them with the following harmful activities: 39 3.3.1. Immoral activity. 40 3.3.2. The taking of hallucinogenic drugs. 41 3.3.3. Promiscuous sex, sometimes with the devil. 42 3.3.4. Murder and cannibalism of innocent infants. 43 3.3.5. Nocturnal worship of the devil as a deity. This worship was called either the “Witch’s Sabbath” or the 44 “Black Sabbath”. 45 3.3.6. Secret invisible societies that created fear, suspicion, and insecurity in the people. 46 4. How witches were identified, arrested, convicted and punished: 47 4.1. The basis for determining who was a witch was described in an early book called the Malleus Maleficarum , 48 which is translated to mean “The hammer against witches”. The book was published in 1486 by two Dominican 49 monks in Germany named Jacob Springer and Heinrich Kramer. The book described women as the most 50 vulnerable to becoming witches. It described the source of all witchcraft as the carnal lust of women, which it 51 said was insatiable. The book was second in popularity only to the Bible, and served as the equivalent of a bible 52 for witch hunters for over 200 years. Witches were described in the book as being: 53 4.1.1. Evil. 54 4.1.2. Lecherous 55 4.1.3. Vain 56

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Copyright Sovereignty Education and Defense Ministry, http://sedm.org Form 05.003, Rev. 7-23-2013

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