Witches, Witchcraft, and Witch Hunts

There have been posts circulating in March of this year that alternate-tread staircases (pictured below) are called "Witch Stairs." The belief that "witches can't climb up these stairs" was the reason behind why they were originally built. However, it has been later debunked and this claim is actually false. The actually reason behind these alternate-treads stairs are to save space, especially in narrow homes.  As mentioned in a well-known woodworking magazine Fine Homebuilding, alternate-tread stairs solve the problems of smaller spaces. These stairs serve the purpose of both a ladder and stairs, and are built as such for steep inclines. Robin Briggs, an emeritus fellow at All Souls College at Oxford, explained that he has never come across any textual evidence that these stairs could disable witches.  Similarly, some believe in an urban legend that a witch descending from an attic would have trouble doing so because witches are unable to see their feet. Outlan

The Salem Witch trials are constantly looked back on as an event that no one can exactly pinpoint the cause. There are many different theories as to what happened during this time, but at the end of the day, these are just theories. With that being said, there are a few common misconceptions that people having regarding the Salem witch trials. In this blog post, I want to point three main myths, and debunk them. First, many people believe the convicted witches were burned. However, with the exception of one, all who were sentenced to death did so by getting hung. The exception to this is Giles Corey, who we talked about in class, in which he was crushed under stones after refusing to plead guilty. Online forums constantly reiterate the fact that these Salem witches were in fact burned, but in reality there is no evidence to support this.  Second, another main myth people assume to be true is that all the victims were women. It is true that misogyny was at the forefront of many decisio

It wasn't until 1976, when Linnda Caporael gave the first evidence suggesting that the Salem witch trials began as a result of an outbreak of rye ergot. This is a type of fungus that produces hallucinations and was likely in the bread and similar grains the townspeople of Salem were consuming. Those who consume ergot may appear bewitched, when in reality they are just really high.  The common symptoms of ergot are paranoia, hallucinations, twitches and spasms, cardiovascular trouble, and stillborn children. To me, this sounds exactly like the symptoms exhibited in those who believed a witch had influence over them. Although, it is worth noting that some who were supposedly bewitched may have had ergot poisoning, while others were succumbing to the hysteria surrounding the situation.  Studies have shown that witch hunts rarely occurred when people did not consume rye. Witches and rye seem undoubtedly connected during this time period, and it would be hard to rule this out as a contr