“During the Early Modern era - 1450 to 1750 - tens of thousands of women were executed as ‘witches’ across the continent.”
The “tens of thousands” is from the book “Witch Hunts in the Western World”, by Brian Pavlac. The general consensus among historians is more like 12K-15K killed. Of those, 70% were women. Mostly widows, elderly, poor.
“Recent studies have revealed that traumatic events can alter a person’s genetic make-up.”
Gotta call BS on this one. The person is referring to “epigenetics” where, theoretically, parts of a person’s DNA sequencing can be turned on or off due to external factors. There are pseudo-science SJWs that claim that trauma can be passed on between generations via “epigenetics”.
Yes. The kooks have really latched on to epigenetics.
As for number of witch executions. 15000 over 300 years would be 50 a year across all of “the continent”.
“The “tens of thousands” is from the book “Witch Hunts in the Western World”,”
That number and author are footnoted in the wiki article on witch hunts. I bet the article writer didn’t read the book, just took the numbers from Wiki.
The definitive treatment of witches in early modern Europe remains Monty Python's.
I would doubt those number too.