Posted on 10/21/2019 8:14:57 PM PDT by hapnHal
In January 1692, a group of young girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts became consumed by disturbing fits accompanied by seizures, violent contortions and bloodcurdling screams.
A doctor diagnosed the children as being victims of black magic, and over the next several months, allegations of witchcraft spread like a virus through the small Puritan settlement.
Twenty people were eventually executed as witches, but contrary to popular belief, none of the condemned was burned at the stake. In accordance with English law, 19 of the victims of the Salem Witch Trials were instead taken to the infamous Gallows Hill to die by hanging. The elderly Giles Corey, meanwhile, was pressed to death with heavy stones after he refused to enter an innocent or guilty plea. Still more accused sorcerers died in jail while awaiting trial.
The myth of burnings at the stake in Salem is most likely inspired by European witch trials, where execution by fire was a disturbingly common practice.
(Excerpt) Read more at history.com ...
They are everywhere! Self identifying amostly mostly into Wicca. Some a lot more serious. I used to work in Security at a University and it seemed at one stage I was surrounded by them. Mainly women but some men also. The men were the really creepy ones. Most of the women had been abused as young kids and at least half of those were also lesbians. It seems like it gives them a sense of power or control over their lives
Or any back street in Petionville, Haiti, were the chanting and drums go on all night.
Yes...saw a play last week in Beverly (adjacent city) about witch histeria.Now Salem capitalize$ on it—traffic in October is massive gridlock.
Interesting thing... a series of podcasts under the title UNOBSCURED dives deeply into the possible causes of the young girls’ behavior. Ergot poisoning was discounted because many of the known symptoms were not recorded as evident in the “victims”. One researcher did note that many of the girls were transplants from northern areas where brutal Indian attacks had wiped out their families. These traumatized survivors were brought to Salem Village and placed in houses of relatives and sometimes strangers where they worked as servants. The suggestion is that post traumatic stress played a large part in the unreasonable behavior of the young women.
Not in this country. But some were burned in England, as were Catholics.
Modern day Witches?
How about AOC, Pelosi and Maxine
But I have always wondered which witch is which?
How then do you explain the burnings in Switzerland, Scotland and The Netherlands in the 1600s?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.