Witchcraft beliefs are widespread, highly variable around the world

In new global dataset, witchcraft beliefs are associated with weak institutions, conformist cultures

Peer-Reviewed Publication

PLOS

 

IMAGE: A MAP SHOWING COUNTRY-LEVEL PREVALENCE OF WITCHCRAFT BELIEFS AROUND THE WORLD. view more 

CREDIT: BORIS GERSHMAN, 2022, PLOS ONE, CC-BY 4.0 (HTTPS://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/LICENSES/BY/4.0/)

A newly compiled dataset quantitatively captures witchcraft beliefs in countries around the world, enabling investigation of key factors associated with such beliefs. Boris Gershman of American University in Washington, D.C., presents these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on November 23, 2022.

Numerous prior studies conducted around the world have documented people’s beliefs in witchcraft—the idea that certain individuals have supernatural abilities to inflict harm. Understanding people’s witchcraft beliefs can be important for policymaking and other community engagement efforts. However, due to a lack of data, global-scale statistical analyses of witchcraft beliefs have been lacking.

To deepen understanding of witchcraft beliefs, Gershman compiled a new dataset that captures such beliefs among more than 140,000 people from 95 countries and territories. The data come from face-to-face and telephone surveys conducted by the Pew Research Center and professional survey organizations between 2008 and 2017, which included questions about religious beliefs and belief in witchcraft.

According to the dataset, over 40 percent of survey participants said they believe that "certain people can cast curses or spells that cause bad things to happen to someone.” Witchcraft beliefs appear to exist around the world but vary substantially between countries and within world regions. For instance, 9 percent of participants in Sweden reported belief in witchcraft, compared to 90 percent in Tunisia.

Using this dataset, Gershman then conducted an investigation of various individual-level factors associated with witchcraft beliefs. This analysis suggests that, while beliefs cut across socio-demographic groups, people with higher levels of education and economic security are less likely to believe in witchcraft.

Gershman also combined this dataset with other country-level data, finding that witchcraft beliefs differ between countries according to various cultural, institutional, psychological, and socioeconomic factors. For instance, witchcraft beliefs are linked to weak institutions, low levels of social trust, and low innovation, as well as conformist culture and higher levels of in-group bias—the tendency for people to favor others who are similar to them"

These findings, as well as future research using the new dataset, could be applied to help optimize policies and development projects by accounting for local witchcraft beliefs.

The authors add: “The study documents that witchcraft beliefs are still widespread around the world. Moreover, their prevalence is systematically related to a number of cultural, institutional, psychological, and socioeconomic characteristics.”

#####

In your coverage please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS ONE: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0276872

Citation: Gershman B (2022) Witchcraft beliefs around the world: An exploratory analysis. PLoS ONE 17(11): e0276872. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0276872

Author Countries: USA

Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work.

---

JOURNAL

PLoS ONE

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0276872 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Survey

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Witchcraft beliefs around the world: An exploratory analysis

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

23-Nov-2022

 

Legislation not the ‘silver bullet’ in fight against barbaric practices

Every year thousands of people globally are wrongly accused of witchcraft, often with fatal consequences yet, says new research, legislation designed to stamp out the barbaric practices is rarely used.

Lancaster University

Facebook

X
BlueskyMessageWhatsAppEmail

 

image: 

These women are alleged witches and live in the Northern Region of Ghana. They are picking pebbles and sieving dust mixed with maize, soya bean and other grains gathered from the floor of the town market to clean and make food for themselves and their families living in a witch camp. Witch camps are protected villages where women who have been accused of being witches flee to for their own safety, but where they can become trapped.
 

view more 

Credit: Rural Women & Youth Empowerment for Development Agency - RUWYEDA

Every year thousands of people globally are wrongly accused of witchcraft, often with fatal consequences yet, says new research, legislation designed to stamp out the barbaric practices is rarely used.

Co-authored by researchers from Lancaster University and the Australian National University, the global review found 15 countries had legislation addressing witchcraft in place. Available data from 12 of those countries revealed only nine countries had used the law to prosecute cases.

The study also found a global trend for countries to criminalise witchcraft practices actually sent out ‘confusing messages’ in the fight to rid the world of the accusations of witchcraft which so often leave weak and vulnerable marginalised groups, including widowed and divorced women, children and those living with disabilities and albinism, at risk of torture, mutilation, banishment and death.

Harmful practices related to accusations of witchcraft and ritual attacks are a form of extreme human rights abuse occurring across many parts of the world today

The report, ‘Legislative Approaches to Addressing Harmful Practices Related To Witchcraft Accusations and Ritual Attacks: A Global Review’, is launched this evening (June 30) at Doughty Street Chambers in London.

In 2021 the UN Human Rights Council passed Resolution 47/8 to explicitly target the elimination of harmful practices related to accusations of witchcraft and ritual attacks.

As a result, some countries reviewed their legislative frameworks and introduced new laws aimed at prosecuting and preventing such harmful practices. In some countries, that included repealing older, often colonial-era, laws deemed no longer fit for purpose.

The new research examines where, how and to what extent new legislation is being used.

On a positive note, the study found:

• Fifteen countries have enacted specific legislation to address harmful practices related to accusations of witchcraft and ritual attacks.
• Many countries are using general criminal laws to prosecute harmful practices related to witchcraft accusations and ritual attacks.
• Some countries have enacted legislation designed to prevent the activities of individuals who create fear around witchcraft, such as diviners, or who exploit people’s belief in witchcraft for financial gain, such as so-called ‘witch doctors’.

On a negative note:

• In general, the specific legislation has not been widely used in practice to prosecute harmful practices related to witchcraft accusations and ritual attacks. This, says the report, suggests that enactment of legislation alone is not sufficient to address the problem.
• Courts (and the justice system and media) often do not reference belief in witchcraft as a feature of the case, as they are subsumed under general categories such as ‘murder’, making tracking of cases difficult.
• Some countries problematically continue to treat belief in witchcraft as a mitigating factor in relation to the commission of criminal offences.

And, adds the report, rather than addressing the violence and social dynamics behind harmful practices related to accusations of witchcraft and ritual attacks, some countries are actively doing the opposite and prosecuting alleged witches through state courts.

This report makes clear that the enactment of legislation and use of the criminal law can be a critical component in the fight against human rights abuses flowing from harmful practices related to accusations of witchcraft and ritual attacks.

“However, legislation is not the silver bullet many hope for,” says the report. “Enacting new laws, or repealing outdated or harmful ones, is not, on its own, sufficient to bring about changes in attitudes and everyday practices.”

The report advocates the development of comprehensive, victim-centric, and rights-based legal frameworks and implementation packages specifically targeting harmful practices related to accusations of witchcraft and ritual attacks.

These reforms, says the report, should include stringent punishment (excluding the death penalty), provision for rehabilitation, judicial and police training, measures for ensuring the accountability of police and local officials, and proactive educational initiatives at the community level.

“Achieving this will require both strong political commitment and adequate resourcing. Without these complementary efforts, legislation alone is unlikely to deter violence or offer real protection to those at risk, and the current cycle of impunity around witchcraft-belief related harm will likely persist.”

Charlotte Baker, a Professor of French and Critical Disability Studies at Lancaster University’s new School of Global Affairs and who co-authored the report and a key campaigner in the bid to get the UN Resolution passed, said: “Our report underlines the important role of legislation and criminal law in combatting human rights abuses linked to witchcraft accusations and ritual attacks.

“However, our research also shows that laws alone are not enough to change attitudes and behaviours, and so we call for a comprehensive, victim-focused legal framework to tackle this violence, which often affects the most vulnerable members of our societies.”

Hosts and speakers at the launch: International human rights barrister Kirsty Brimelow KC, UN Independent Expert on Albinism Muluka-Anne Miti-Drummond, Professor Charlotte Baker, Lancaster University and Mardoche Yembi, a survivor of witchcraft accusation. Guests will include: representatives from the United Nations Human Rights Council, barristers, members of the House of Lords, MPs, APPGs, policing bodies, NGOs, charities and academics.

 

Kirsty Brimelow, Charlotte Baker and the former UN Independent Expert on Albinism Ikponwosa Ero were key members of the small group who successfully took the Resolution to the UN in Geneva.

Report Authors:

Miranda Forsyth is a Director of the International Network Against Witchcraft Accusations and Ritual Attacks and a professor in the School of Regulation and Global Governance at the Australian National University. Biobele Danagogo is a Research Assistant for the International Network Against Witchcraft Accusations and Ritual Attacks and a PhD student in the School of Law at Lancaster University. Charlotte Baker is a Director of the International Network Against Witchcraft Accusations and Ritual Attacks and a professor in the School of Global Affairs at Lancaster University.

 

• The Witch: A History of Fear, from Ancient Times to the Present by Ronald Hutton (review)

• Julia M. Gossard
• Mediterranean Studies
• Penn State University Press
• Volume 27, Number 1, 2019
• pp. 111-113
• Review
• View Citation
• Additional Information

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Reviewed by:

• Julia M. Gossard

Ronald Hutton. The Witch: A History of Fear, from Ancient Times to the Present. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2017. Pp. 376. $30.00. ISBN 978-0300229042.

One of the most recognizable stereotypes of a woman in early modern Europe is that of a witch. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries a "witchcraft craze" took hold across Europe and parts of North America, capturing everyone's imaginations and anxieties. Witches, with their demonic familiars, were seen as the embodiment of the Devil on earth. Historians have estimated that during the height of this witchcraft craze, anywhere between a quarter million and nine million people were accused of and tried for witchcraft. Whether in Britain, the Holy Roman Empire, Italy, or even the Massachusetts Bay Colony, witchcraft was a chief concern for religious and secular authorities, hell-bent on eliminating heresy and recalcitrant individuals, usually women, from society. Past studies of witchcraft trials have often claimed that the obsession with witchcraft was a European anomaly. Ronald Hutton's The Witch: A History of Fear, from Ancient Times to the Present counters that vein of research. This book seeks to provide additional historical and ethnographic context to the famed early modern witch trials by delving deep into the beliefs of the ancient world and the medieval era and culminating with early modern Britain. Although the belief in and the responses to witchcraft take different forms in different societies, Hutton convincingly argues that witchcraft has played a central role from the ancient world to the modern period in a variety of non-European as well as European contexts.

In order to provide this longue durée–esque examination of belief in witchcraft, sorcery, and the supernatural, Hutton divides The Witch into three distinct parts: "Deep Perspectives," "Continental Perspectives," and "British Perspectives." [End Page 111] These parts are further subdivided into thematic chapters, progressively moving from more broad-ranging topics to narrower themes.

As someone who teaches courses on gender in early modern Europe and spends a great deal of time on the witchcraft craze, I found the first part of the book, "Deep Perspectives," to be helpful in thinking more globally about witchcraft. Hutton begins the section with a review of the five basic characteristics that early modern Europe used to identify a witch: her decision to intentionally harm others (maleficium); her threat to a community's well-being and stability; her active and conscious role in a long tradition of witchcraft practices; her inherent evilness; and efforts to effectively resist or thwart her advances. Hutton argues that all these characteristics are not exclusive to Europe but can "be found around the globe" (41). For example, zooming in on the issue of maleficium, Hutton draws upon Robin Briggs and Peter Geschiere to posit that the fear of someone purposely causing harm "by uncanny means" could be "inherent in humanity" (10). In addition to early modern Europe, this fear can be found in New Guinea, the Fijian Islands of the Pacific, the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, and the modern state of Cameroon, to name just a few. This wider purview provides a rich global context to witchcraft sentiment, helping to explain the long and complex history of religious and folklore belief in witches. Although this section is helpful to the researcher and teacher wanting a broader perspective, the section does leave readers to wonder why the responses to witches vary so drastically from region to region and intensify at particular moments.

"Continental Perspectives" and "British Perspectives" confirm much of what has been argued about witchcraft on the European continent but adds anthropological perspectives to the discussion. It contains a thorough and generous examination of extant historiography on witchcraft, folklore, and superstition, bringing in the medieval era as much as the early modern. Scholars of early modern Europe, Britain, and the Mediterranean will greatly benefit from the synthesis and analysis that Hutton gives. With that, it should be noted that The Witch is a prodigious book in both scope and size. The notes section alone clocks in at a staggering fifty-one pages, demonstrating...

Book Actions

Book Information

The Witch: A History of Fear, from Ancient Times to the Present

By Ronald Hutton

695 pages

Description

This “magisterial account” explores the fear of witchcraft across the globe from the ancient world to the notorious witch trials of early modern Europe (The Guardian, UK).

The witch came to prominence—and often a painful death—in early modern Europe, yet her origins are much more geographically diverse and historically deep. In The Witch, historian Ronald Hutton sets the European witch trials in the widest and deepest possible perspective and traces the major historiographical developments of witchcraft.
 
Hutton, a renowned expert on ancient, medieval, and modern paganism and witchcraft beliefs, combines Anglo-American and continental scholarly approaches to examine attitudes on witchcraft and the treatment of suspected witches across the world…

Read More

New Book - The Witch: A History of Fear, from Ancient ... - H-Net

networks.h-net.org › node › pdf

Jun 30, 2017 - Author: Ronald Hutton Title: The Witch: A History of Fear, from Ancient Times to the Present Publisher: Yale University Press Publication Date: ...

The Witch : Ronald Hutton (author) : 9780300231243 ...

blackwells.co.uk › bookshop › product › The-Witch-by-Ronald-Hutton-au...

In this landmark book, Ronald Hutton traces witchcraft from the ancient world to the early-modern stake. This book ... Instant Download - PDF (with DRM), EPub.

View of Ronald Hutton, The Witch: A History of Fear, from ...

journal.equinoxpub.com › POM › article › view

by CS Clifton - ‎2019

Return to Article Details Ronald Hutton, The Witch: A History of Fear, from Ancient Times to the Present Download Download PDF. Thumbnails Document ...

The notorious witches of Yorkshire and their tragic and chilling stories

Some witches were sought for advice but many perished during 'witchhunts'


By Andrew Robinson
 9 AUG 2021

A carving of Mother Shipton at the Knaresborough cave which bears her name 

(Image: Wikipedia)

Around 2,000 people, most of them women, were put before the English courts for witchcraft between 1560 and 1706.

The majority were cleared but around 300 were executed.

Incredibly, around 40,000 to 60,000 people were put to death for witchcraft at the epicentre of witch-hunting fever, an area that took in Germany, Switzerland and parts of northern France.

In Yorkshire, belief in witchcraft was once widespread and accusations flew in all directions in response to bad harvests, sickness and sudden deaths.

In Medieval times, many people were happy to get help from herbalists/witches, and not all were seen as evildoers.

Amelia Sceats, a Huddersfield University graduate, has carried out research on witches in Yorkshire and says many local people believed in 'covens'.

At Halloween people dress up as witches and ghosts

"On the surface, Yorkshire did not have a witchhunt, even though the Pendle witch trials of 1612 took place nearby," she said in 2016.

However, she discovered that there seemed to be a greater propensity in Yorkshire than other regions to believe in the existence of organised groups - covens - of witches.

One such believer was Edward Fairfax, a cultivated man who lived in Knaresbrough, who believed a group of six women had bewitched his daughters. He accused them of witchcraft but they were cleared at York Assizes.

Many people from Yorkshire who were unfairly accused of witchcraft won compensation after they sued for defamation.

Here are some Yorkshire people whose names have been associated with witchcraft.
Mary Bateman

The likes of Mary Bateman have given witchcraft a bad name.

Born Mary Harker in around 1768, she graduated from a common thief and trickster to Yorkshire's only known female serial killer.

Her ruthlessness, greed and claims to have supernatural powers earned her the nickname 'The Yorkshire Witch'.

An illustration from 1809 of serial killer Mary Bateman mixing poison. Outside the window, you can see a woman - presumably Bateman later on - hanging from a gallows. (Image: J Dean, London)

Bateman conned vulnerable people out of their money and possessions with false prophecies, quack potions and worse.

She eventually 'graduated' to killing people in order to enrich herself.

Aged 40, Bateman was hanged at York Castle on March 20, 1809, in front of 5,000 people, some of whom still believed she had superpowers and would be saved by divine intervention.

Isabella Billington

The precise details are often lost in the mists of time, or tied up with folklore, but the story goes that Isabella was hanged for witchcraft in York in 1649 after crucifying her own mother in some kind of satanic ritual.

James I (1566-1625) of England and VI of Scotland examining the North Berwick Witches in 1591 (Image: Getty Images)

One record said that Isabella, 32, "was sentenced to death for crucifying her mother, at Pocklington, on the 5th of January, 1649, and offering a calf and a cockerel as a burnt sacrifice."

Her husband was also found guilty of assisting in the crime.
Mary Pannal

A witch so infamous that she has her own Wikipedia entry.

Pannal's story, often embellished, is that she was accused of witchcraft following the death of William Witham in 1593.

It is said that Pannal had given William a herbal mixture. She was executed - either by hanging or burnt at the stake - at York, or possibly Castleford.

Witches prepare themselves for a journey by broomstick to the Black Mountain, circa 1650. From a 17th century Dutch copperplate by Adrianus Hubertus. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Her ghost is said to haunt woodland near Pannal Hill, near Castleford. If you see her ghost, someone close will die.

Pannal is now described as an English herbalist and 'cunning woman' and her legacy lives on thanks to her gruesome end and the claims of witchcraft.
Ursula Southeil (Mother Shipton)

Mother Shipton was reportedly born in a cave in 1488 and grew up around Knaresborough.

Her prophecies, which became known throughout England, foretold the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 and the Great Fire of London in 1666.

She made her living telling the future and warning those who asked of what was to come.

A carving of Mother Shipton at the Knaresborough cave which bears her name (Image: Wikipedia)

Sources from the 1660s and 1680s - a good number of years after Shipton was born (1488) - suggested that she was born during a thunderstorm and was "deformed and ugly".

She was said to have a hunchback and bulging eyes. She cackled instead of crying.

Mother Shipton has sometimes been referred to as a witch as well as a soothsayer and prophetess.


People would reportedly travel miles to see her and receive her potions.

Mother Shipton's Cave in Knaresborough and the nearby 'petrifying well' are among the country's oldest tourist attractions.
Peggy Flounders

Flounders from Marske in the old North Riding, was said to have a 'strange, unprepossessing appearance' - and later developed a beard.

An illustration of the fifteen 'witches' being hanged on the Town Moor, 1650. Courtesy of Newcastle Libraries (Image: Newcastle Chronicle)

No doubt her looks, and bad temper, helped earn her a reputation for being a witch. A local farmer blamed her for various ills including lame cows and claims that a demon had visited the property.

Skye woman 'murdered' for being a witch 12 years after persecution outlawed

A powerful clan figure was accused of binding and burning a woman to death after accusing her of being a witch – more than a decade after the persecution was outlawed in Scotland.

By Alison Campsie
Sunday, 21st February 2021, 7:23 am

The former home of tacksman Ruaridh McDonald at Camuscross in the south of Skye where Katherine MacKinnon is said to have been fatally tortured. PIC: Skye and Lochalsh Archive Centre.

Katherine MacKinnon died in 1747 after being attacked at house in Camuscross with Ruaridh Mac Iain McDonald, a tacksman of Clan Macdonald of Armadale, accused in court documents of her “barbarous and cruel murder”.

His “cruel” treatment of Ms MacKinnon - an “old beggar woman” who had gone to his house for help - was set out in court papers at Inverness in August 1754.

According to papers, MacKinnon’s hands were bound behind her back with ropes with the soles of her feet held to the fire as McDonald sought to extort a confession of witchcraft from her.

She lost some of her toes given her “miserable torture” and crawled from McDonald’s house to find refuge, dying at a property in Duisdale Beg, where she had “languished” in great pain, around 12 days later.

It is the first known legal case relating to allegations of witchcraft on Skye.

Catherine MacPhee, trainee archivist at Skye and Lochalsh Archive Centre, came across documents show which set out the torture and murder of Ms MacKinnon, with a little note written in pencil at the side – “as a witch”.

After tracking down more papers relating to the case, she said she was “shocked” at the allegations.

Ms MacPhee said: “This is the first recorded case of a witch on Skye that we have. There is much about witches in oral history – the Cuillins were formed by witches in one story – but this is the first record.”

McDonald claimed the woman had earlier poisoned his men and sought to “cause mischief” after arriving at his property.


The tacksman claimed that the allegations against him were “false and malicious” with it understood he was not convicted of the murder.

The MacKinnon case came almost two decades after The Witchcraft Act of 1735 made it illegal to accuse someone of possessing magical powers or practising witchcraft.

A known 3,837 people were accused of witchcraft in Scotland between 1563 to 1736 with Janet Horne, of Dornoch, the last known person to be executed legally for witchcraft in the British Isles in 1727.

Ms MacPhee said that the lack of records relating to witch trials and persecution on Skye could be down to a “different relationship” with the otherworld given the folklore of the islands.

She said : "Gifts, such as second sight were viewed as a gift from your ancestors, a privilege – something not to fear.”

Ms MacPhee described McDonald as a “man of power” who had responsibility to his tenants.

He is described in records as a “quarrelsome and mischievous” person with a string of allegations made against him, including a bloody assault on a family member, Alan McDonald of Knock.

He was also charged with wearing Highland dress and carrying arms, as well as treasonous behaviour.

Ms MacPhee said she hoped an event could be held in Skye to honour Katherine MacKinnon.

Meanwhile, the Scottish Parliament has been asked to "right a terrible miscarriage of justice" against those those accused, convicted and executed for witchcraft with a campaign led by Claire Mitchell QC and author Zoe Venditozzi

Read MoreScottish Parliament asked to right 'terrible miscarriage of justice' by pardonin...

Study to dive into stories of nurses and midwives accused of witchcraft

23 FEBRUARY, 2021 BY TOM DE CASTELLA

Edinburgh Napier University's Sighthill Campus
Source: Wikimedia


Researchers are to investigate the folk-healer nurses and midwives in early modern Scotland who were accused of – and often executed for – the crime of witchcraft.

The team of researchers at Edinburgh Napier University has won funding from the RCN Foundation to investigate more than 100 folk healers and midwives who are listed on the Survey of Scottish Witchcraft online database.

"I am delighted we have been awarded funding from the RCN Foundation to investigate this over-looked part of nursing history"
Nicola Ring

The foundation, which is an independent charity, awarded a Monica Baly Education Grant to the researchers as part of its programme to mark the extended International Year of the Nurse and Midwife.

Dr Nicola Ring, Nessa McHugh and Rachel Davidson-Welch, from the nursing and midwifery subject groups in the university’s school of health and social care, will look at the stories of these nurses and midwives and reflect on their practices from today's healthcare perspective.

Scotland’s Witchcraft Act was introduced in 1563 and remained law until 1736. During that time nearly 4,000 people, mainly women, were accused of witchcraft, according to the Survey of Scottish Witchcraft.

The accused were imprisoned and brutally tortured until they confessed their guilt – often naming other ‘witches’ in their confessions.


Most of those accused are thought to have been executed as witches, being strangled and then burned at the stake, leaving no body for burial.

People were accused of being witches for many reasons- some were mentally ill, some had land and money others wanted.


“This work shedding a light on this tragic history is important"
Claire Mitchell

However, the researchers argue that many of those accused and executed for being ‘witches’ were guilty of nothing more than helping to care for others during sickness and childbirth – making them early practitioners of midwifery and nursing.

Dr Ring said: "I am delighted we have been awarded funding from the RCN Foundation to investigate this over-looked part of nursing history.

“Telling the stories of these Scottish women and men cruelly and unfairly accused and punished for helping the sick and women in childbirth highlights the injustices these people faced."


She said the project backs Claire Mitchell QC and Zoe Venditozzi in their ‘Witches of Scotland’ campaign.

The campaign seeks posthumous justice – a pardon for those convicted of witchcraft, an apology for all those accused, and a national memorial dedicated to their memory.

Deepa Korea, director of the RCN Foundation, said: "We are very pleased to fund this project as part of our programme of work to mark the International Year of the Nurse and Midwife.

“This is an important project which will not only document the experiences of these early nurses and midwives and the injustices they faced but provide a fresh look at the early role and perceptions of nursing and midwifery, prior to the accepted Victorian archetype."

Ms Mitchell said: "We know from our research that some of the women and men were healers – involved in folk medicine and early midwifery – prosecuted for witchcraft and paid with their life.

“This work shedding a light on this tragic history is important."

Historically Speaking: 1684 witch scare in Norwich ended less tragically than one in Salem
Dayne Rugh, For The Bulletin


In this season of spooky nights and haunted history, you likely won’t find a town in New England that capitalizes more in the month of October than Salem, Massachusetts. However when we dive deeper into the witchcraft craze throughout 17th-century New England, we find that the first documented trials and executions involving suspected witchcraft happened in none other than Connecticut.

The concept of witchcraft was nothing new to those living in Connecticut during the 17th century and was officially designated as a capital crime in 1642. Between 1647 and 1663, records show, that there were upwards of 40 documented cases of witchcraft in Connecticut, which resulted in more than a dozen executions. Alse Young of Hartford and Mary Johnson of Wethersfield were among the first executed in 1647 and 1650, respectively.

For almost 40 years after its 1659 founding, the small town of Norwich was relatively unaffected by the witchcraft hysteria and saw no recorded incidents of witchcraft until 1684, eight years before the Salem Witch Trials.

The case is not widely known and has been briefly mentioned by a few secondary resources; however a recent rediscovery of a letter written on July 1, 1684, gives us some rich insight into how this incident unfolded. The letter was written by one of Norwich’s founders and spiritual leader, the Rev. James Fitch. Fitch wrote the letter in question to the Rev. Increase Mather of Boston, president of Harvard College and father of famous minister Cotton Mather.

In his letter, the Rev. Fitch recounts a frightening experience he witnessed that year involving a young Norwich girl whom he does not name. Fitch states that the girl “was most violently assaulted & vexed with diabolical suggestions in a most blasphemous manner … I thought she was near to a being possessed.” He continued his letter recounting how the girl was so viscerally disturbed that she felt an absence of “saving grace” and was resolved that her torment would be unending; Fitch thought otherwise.

The girl’s behavior evidently caused quite a stir in the community and the Rev. Fitch called upon the Church to collectively pray and fast in her name. On the day before fasting and prayers began, he called upon the girl to his home so that he could speak with her one more time. Fitch appealed to the girl’s inner spirit, saying that any sins and words of blasphemy would be forgiven by God and that he would help rid this affliction from her. Miraculously, the Rev. Fitch then stated, “Her heart was melted — the flood-gate of Godly sorrow opened — she wept bitterly & plentifully.” What was described as a near demonic possession had suddenly faded and her condition improved from that day forward. Towards the end of his letter, the Rev. Fitch stated, “I have thought that if I ever see the rod of Christ’s strength in my chamber, I had some vision of it at this time.”

This small yet powerful experience between the Rev. Fitch and this anonymous Norwich girl is a great symbol of how reason and restraint can prevail over fear. What could have been resulted in violence and hysteria was instead solved through strength and compassion.

Historically Speaking, which appears on Mondays, presents short historical stories. Dayne Rugh is the director of education for the Slater Memorial Museum and the president of the Society of the Founders of Norwich.

Justice For Alleged Child Witches In Ogun State

By Leo Igwe
15.10.2020  FEATURE ARTICLE

Listen to article https://www.modernghana.com/news/1035883/justice-for-alleged-child-witches-in-ogun-state.html

It is not often that victims of witch persecution get justice. Abuses linked to witchcraft beliefs are usually perpetrated by the powerful against those in weaker sociocultural positions-the poor, women, elderly persons, or people living with disabilities.

Even in situations where the avenues to seek redress are there, victims seldom utilize them. Some of these avenues expose alleged witches to further victimization and exploitation. In response, survivors of witch persecution resign to their fate, or as they say in Nigeria, they hand the matter over to God.

The Advocacy for Alleged Witches (AFAW) campaigns to end this culture of silence and resignation. AFAW adopts a proactive approach. It supports alleged witches and empowers them to defend themselves and tackle their accusers and abusers.

In the spectrum of victims and victimhood, children are most affected. Children are the most vulnerable, the most victimized because they cannot defend themselves or seek redress anywhere. Unlike adult victims, alleged child witches have little or no knowledge of witchcraft or occult harm. Adult torture and coerce them to confess to witchcraft. Family members often abuse children.

Those who are supposed to show children love and care, those who should protect them- parents, brothers, sisters, and other relatives are their persecutors. Witch believing family members torture and abuse children suspected of witchcraft as a form of duty; as a way of disciplining or correcting them.

More importantly, relatives maltreat alleged child witches as a way of protecting themselves and thwarting some impending occult schemes. So situations, where child witch victims get justice, are rare. That is why AFAW commends the police in Ogun state- especially the Divisional Police Officer in Awa Ijebu for the diligent work; for ensuring the successful prosecution of child witch abusers.

In July, AFAW reported how the combined efforts of the police, the social welfare department, and the ministry of justice brought an end to the abuse of suspected child witches in Ogun state. The police arrested the couple and charged them in court.

In August, the Divisional Police Officer of the station at Awa Ijebu called to informed me that the magistrate had ruled on the case; that the court had convicted them. He tried giving me the details on phone, but I told him that I would visit and possibly have a copy of the judgment. The plan was to visit the station and interact with the police officers and then go to the orphanage to see the victims.

The DPO told me that I could visit at my convenience. On October 9, I confirmed via a text message that I would be at the station. The DPO explained the outcome of the trial. The court convicted the man on all the four-count charges, including conspiracy, failure to provide necessary, assault occasioning harm, and causing grievous harm.

The court fined the wife and subsequently discharged her. According to the DPO, no option of the fine was given to the man for causing grievous harm. So he was sentenced to two years in prison. The conviction of this couple for violations linked to witchcraft beliefs is a welcome development. It confirms that there are existing mechanisms to seek redress under the law in the country.

AFAW commends the Ogun state police command for the diligent prosecution of the case. If the police in other parts of the country respond to complaints of witch persecution in this manner, there would have been significant progress in tackling and containing the menace.

However, I noticed that something was missing in the charges as recounted by the DPO. There was no mention of witchcraft accusations among the offenses that the couple committed. Look, section 210(b) of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act states that any person who " accuses or threatens to accuse any person with being a witch or with having the power of witchcraft" is guilty of a misdemeanor and is liable for two years imprisonment. Now I wondered: if witchcraft accusation is an offense under the Nigerian law, why was it omitted in the count charges against the couple? And this omission is common in the prosecution of witchcraft-related offenses.

In my conversation with some police officers at Awa Ijebu, they made it clear that witchcraft allegation informed and motivated the harm and abuse of the children. So I expected witchcraft allegation to feature on the list. But witchcraft accusation was not mentioned on the charge sheet.

It was not included. Why? To root out witch persecution, perpetrators must be prosecuted for the crime of witchcraft accusation as provided by the law. The offense of witchcraft accusation must feature in the hearing. By omitting witchcraft accusations in the prosecution of witch hunters, the police and the court are not helping efforts to stamp out and eradicate this social disease.

After a brief meeting with the DPO, I went to see the children at the orphanage. The children have enrolled in a school, and the injuries have healed. The Advocacy for Alleged Witches donated some money towards the education and general upkeep of the children.

While AFAW welcomes the outcome of the child witch persecution case in Ogun state, it urges the government to do more to enforce the law and help deter witch hunters and witch persecutors of children and adults in other parts of the country.



Leo Igwe, © 2020

The author has 332 publications published on Modern Ghana.Column: LeoIgwe
Disclaimer: "The views/contents expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author(s) and do not neccessarily reflect those of Modern Ghana. Modern Ghana will not be responsible or liable for any inaccurate or incorrect statements contained in this article."

• 

  Child Witches In Ghana

• 

  Witchcraft And African Football

• 

  Gnani: A Witch Camp And Its Wizards In Ghana

• 

  Pastor Adeboye, Rccg And Homophobia In The Pacific

• 

  Duncan-Williams: Prophecy And Panic Over Ebola In Ghana

• 

  Witch Hunt In Ghana

• 

  Meningitis Outbreak: Questioning The Existence And Potency O

• 

  Witch Killing And Africans

The Witch by Ronald Hutton review – why fear of witchcraft ...
www.theguardian.com › books › jul › witch-history-of-.




..



Jul 28, 2017 — The Witch by Ronald Hutton review – why fear of witchcraft hasn't gone away.
You've visited this page 2 times. Last visit: 25/07/19