Popular Misconceptions about Witch Hunts

1.It was not a Medieval practice. The prosecution of witches began in the 15th and peaked in the 17th century, the “Age of Reason.”

2.It was not specifically a Christian practice. Witches are known and usually feared worldwide, and continue to be hunted and killed in non-Christian societies today, notably in Africa. Two hundred were killed in South Africa in the 1990s. The Catholic Church was more sceptical of witchcraft than most: according to St. Augustine and Canon Law, witches had no real power, and the prosecution and execution of witches was specifically prohibited. The common people, however, did believe in witches. The European witch trials generally took place when and where the Church's influence was weakest.

3.Witches were not pagans, and not the predecessors of today's “neo-pagans.” No witch was ever executed for worshipping a pagan deity. Conversely, the pagan Romans and Norse practiced witch-burning, and it was Christianity that ended this practice. Neopaganism was invented out of whole cloth in the 1950s.

4.Best current estimates are that 40,000 to 60,000 witches were executed throughout Europe over the centuries—not the millions often claimed. One of the main popularizers of the common false figure of nine million killed, chillingly enough, was the German Nazis. The witch trials were supposedly a Christian attempt to exterminate “Aryan womanhood.” This notion of an Aryan holocaust fit well with their anti-Christian campaign, and helped to justify their own real holocaust.

5.Contrary to feminist claims, it was not a matter of men trying to dominate women. While the accused in witch trials were primarily (80%) women, so were the accusers. Women were simply much more likely than men to believe in the reality and efficacy of witchcraft.