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30/12/2021

The last time someone was convicted of witchcraft was just 75 years ago. Jane Rebecca Yorke was a medium in East London who came on the London police's radar because of her claims that she could talk to people's relatives who died in the war. She was tried for taking advantage of people's wartime grief and was convicted under the Witchcraft Act, a law passed in 1735. However, rather than being burnt at the stake, she was fined £5.

30/12/2021

Witch-related hysteria broke out in Europe between the years 1500 and 1660, and an unimaginable number of innocent people were put to death. An estimated 80,000 suspected witches died during those years, either while being tested and tried or punished and executed. Germany executed the most witches, while Ireland executed the least.

30/12/2021

Along with magic and broomsticks, black cats are one of the most common things associated with witches. And it turns out, this association comes from a 15th-century Puritan Christian belief that witches could turn into black cats at a moment's notice to avoid death.

30/12/2021

Witchcraft had become such a serious concern in the 15th century that in 1484, Pope Innocent VIII issued a papal bull calling for the destruction of the spread of witchcraft in Germany. Following his bull, in 1486, two Dominican priests, Johann Sprenger and Heinrich Kraemer, wrote The Malleus Maleficarum, which included detailed accounts on how to spot, investigate, and punish witches. It was accepted both by Roman Catholics and Protestants alike.

30/12/2021

Dressing as a witch is one of the most popular costumes every Halloween. And if you wanted to earn the Guinness World Record for the "largest gathering of people dressed as witches at one time," then you'd need around 2,000 people. The current record was set on November 16, 2013, in Sort, Lleida, Spain, and included 1,607 costumed participants.

30/12/2021

In the United States, witches are associated with Halloween. But in Sweden, there are Easter witches. According to Time, "Little girls dress up in rags and old clothes, too-big skirts and shawls and go door to door with a copper kettle looking for treats. The tradition is said to come from the old belief that witches would fly to a German mountain … before Easter to cavort with Satan. On their way back, Swedes would light fires to scare them away, a practice honored today by the bonfires and fireworks across the land."

30/12/2021

You might not associate witches with the Bible, but the book of 1 Samuel contains what is believed to be one of the earliest records of a witch. The entry was likely written between 931 B.C. and 721 B.C. According to the History Channel, it "tells the story of when King Saul sought the Witch of Endor to summon the dead prophet Samuel's spirit to help him defeat the Philistine army. The witch roused Samuel, who then prophesied the death of Saul and his sons. The next day, according to the Bible, Saul's sons died in battle, and Saul committed su***de."

30/12/2021

While the exact origin of the witches-ride-broomstricks trope can't quite be pinned down, historians have identified the first known image of a woman on a broomstick. In an illustration that was drawn in the margins of the 1451 edition of French poet Martin Le Franc's Le Champion des Dames (The Defender of Ladies), two women are pictured—one riding a stick and the other riding a broom.

30/12/2021

Early accounts of witches showed them bare-headed with their hair swirling in fire and smoke, according to reporting by Slate. It wasn't until the 1710s that children's books in England began featuring witches in pointy hats.

30/12/2021

The Greek mythological witch goddess Circe inspired what is considered the first ballet, the Ballet Comique de la Reine, which may have been written for a real-life witch. According to The Weiser Field Guide to Witches, "Circe, the beautiful, dangerous, magical femme fatale, has been a crowd-pleaser and the inspiration for much popular entertainment. She was the subject of the very first ballet, staged in 1581 in Paris, possibly as a tribute to French Queen Catherine de Medici, long-rumored sorceress.

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