Davis's Blog, Witches and Witchcraft

  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...

 If you were to attempt to find a common theme for all accused witches (in North America and even extended into Europe), the simple answer would be that it is an exertion of power. The accuser uses the opportunity of deeming someone a witch to either maintain status over them or further destroy the accused’s standing in society. There are countless examples of this, both from the witch trial era themselves and from the modern era.  Let’s begin with a case from the past, involving the “bewitched” Goodwin children who allegedly could not control their actions, and the blame placed on lowly Goody Glover. If you look at her role in the community, she was not of high standing. She was the mother of a washwoman (accused of stealing clothing) and was somebody who did not clearly have the resources to stand up for herself. Upon coming to her daughter’s defense when accused of stealing, she put herself at risk by challenging the well-off Goodwins. When the Goodwin children started acti...

  Hysteria and irrationality are two common themes whenever somebody hears about witch trials. It is hard to imagine in our current day and age that something of a similar nature could possibly occur. We have laws, procedures, and regulations that provide a strict burden of proof in order to convict someone of any crime, let alone witchcraft. However, it would come as a shock to most that not every accused “witch” was sentenced to death in an unjust manner. Eunice “Goody” Cole managed to survive her entire life, well into old age, as an accused witch who was often seen to have beat the courts.      If you were to hear about a woman in the 1600’s who was hated by her entire town, was put on trial for witchcraft multiple times, and refused to comply with local penal codes, there is little chance you thought she lived a long life. Despite any preconceptions, Eunice Cole’s ability to avoid the gallows stands as an anomaly and a sign of partial rationality of those who ...