We’ve all seen the images of witches with their loyal cat or toad by their side. These witches’ familiars help them cast spells, or in the case of Harry Potter, deliver the mail. But what are familiars and why are they so important to ideas around witchcraft? And what unusual familiars can we find in […]
witch trials
[Review] England’s Witchcraft Trials by Willow Winsham
The subject of witch panics and witchcraft trials remains a hotly contested one, even in these more enlightened times. Recently, I posted an article about northern witchcraft trials that surprisingly didn’t end in execution. One accusation occurred as late as 1867, and the accuser ended up paying damages to the accused. Yet an indignant tweeter […]
The Surprising Truth about English Witch Trials
‘Witch hunt’ is a term currently being bandied around to relate to a whole raft of things. Yet in earlier centuries, the term referred to a very real danger. Rather than losing a reputation, its victims could lose their lives. Popular culture often implies a craze for witch trials swept Europe, with thousands of people […]
