Davis's Blog, Witches and Witchcraft

 Having a witness take the stand in any kind of trial is one of the easiest ways for the prosecution to connect with the jury. Hearing direct testimony, especially when they are filled with emotion or the occasional tear, can establish credibility and allow the jury to put themselves in the shoes of the alleged victim. Oftentimes, particularly in cases that involve children being harmed, having the actual victims testify as to their direct trauma will all but guarantee some form of legal victory. It's hard to imagine someone could lie about so much pain. While the Salem witch trials were not set before a jury, the magistrates back in that time had enough discretion with how they could rule that they almost resembled a jury. They were members of the community who would end up judging their peers and hearing all the evidence put before them. This was not the bench trials (only the judge) based upon strict legal precedent that we see in many of our courts today. When reading through...

 At the beginning of the semester, I found it very improbable that I would be able to connect a lesson from my Contending Perspectives in Economics class with anything I learned from Witches, Witchcraft, and Witch Hunts. However, with our last class complete, I can say that I was mistaken. As we read through the public confession of Ann Putnam, which occurred over a decade after the executions she was largely responsible for, I thought to myself: “Wow, Ann Putnam seems to have a view of justice almost identical to that of Karl Max and the Marxist School of economic thought. You may be thinking that there is no way that a young girl in Salem in the 15th/16th century could ever relate to the father of communism. Well, her justification for her involvement was very close to the way that Marx viewed certain negative aspects of capitalism and other economic systems. He believed that justice is a function of history and is relative. For example, we believe today that slavery is an unju...

       When I tell most of my friends and families that I am currently taking a class on witches and witchcraft, the reaction is almost always the same. Initially, they are confused and a little suspicious of what one could possibly learn. Upon my explanation of the class being purely academic and a historical examination of the trial that occurred in Salem, their tone usually changes from skeptical to interested. I can recall dozens of discussions that went through this exact progression.       In my personal opinion, their interest lies in the fact that everyone has heard about the Witch Trials that occurred in the 1600s, but the details escape them. It is not something that is talked about on a regular basis outside of the surrounding area in Massachusetts. It seems as if it is being forgotten. However, the town of Salem has done all they can to continue or even grow the buzz surrounding this tragic event. The big question is: Are they trying t...

Every October, we all go about our lives celebrating Halloween without wondering where it came from. We simply collect our candy, dressing up in costumes, and embrace some of our darker sides for the night. The phrase “trick or treat” flies out of young children’s mouths without a thought of its meaning. Most people would be shocked to find out that the original holiday was a celtic pagan festival called “Samhain” to celebrate the new year. Costumes were worn to ward off spirits who visited the earth on that day. Even more surprising, the term Halloween came from the Catholic church renaming the day All Hallows Eve to celebrate the night before All Saints day on the 1st of November. As a Catholic myself, I always understood that there was some vague connection between the church and that time of the year, but I did not understand the direct ties and implications of the relationship. From 2nd through 5th grade at my local catholic elementary school, I can vividly recall back to back...

  A close examination of the accusations against Rebecca Nurse breaks many of the stereotypes that are associated with witches and provides a unique comparison to our current justice system.       Normally, when you watch a movie or even a kids show, witches are usually portrayed as snarly, old, and haggard. All you need to do is look towards classic examples like Snow White or Rapunzel. However, if you look to what happened in Salem and many other areas in Europe where witch trials occurred, older women were generally not the target. Most of those who were accused of witchcraft and eventually tried were younger women. Especially in Salem, the case of Rebecca Nurse definitely went against the grain in terms of target. It can almost be viewed as an anomaly in the same way that it was very rare for a man to be executed for witchcraft. The fact that it ended in an execution is very interesting as well because they gave her multiple opportunities to confess. It wa...

  Religion and witchcraft have had a complicated past. In our world today, many view the two as mutually exclusive, meaning you can’t believe if in one if you believe ion the other. There are even some families who won’t let their children watch movies like Harry Potter or others that involve witches because they fear it influencing the religious views of their kids. However, if we travel back to when witchcraft was much more prevalent, it was viewed almost as an aspect of religion by many. They were two ideas that could live in harmony with each other. In this next section, we will explore both the Puritan and Catholic ties to witchcraft. Beginning with the Puritan belief in witchcraft, it was not something that they thought was make believe. If it was, like the opinion that most current protestants hold, there would have been no witch trials in Salem. Instead, they ascribed to the belief that the world was an enchanted place and that there were forces that could bring out certain...