Has anyone else here read anything about the witch trials of Salem Village in 1692? I'm asking because some of the tortures that took place were pretty gruesome, and I happen to find all of this fascinating.
For instance: being forced to sit upon a stool embedded with points from knives underneath; being beaten to the ground (even the elderly!); various torture devices (including one that seperated the jaw)...
And let's not forget the one man who was pressed to death over two days' time, until his chest finally caved in on him.
Not only that, but other isolated instances of "witches" from New England in that time period included witches turning men into horses and riding them all night to orgies far in the woods; and witches taking the form of animals, only for that animal to be mutilated, and for the effects of the injury to show up on the body of the witch.
It's pretty disturbing that people could be tortured and executed so easily for something that we today think is so silly. I mean, we have people today that might consider themselves "witches", but it's not a crime. That's why this interests me so much.
Anyone else?
Witch trials were a rather common case of manipulating the crowds into thinking someone is responsible for the ongoing woe and then erase it by publicly executing the person.
Martyrs still exist in some countries. Fortunately, nowadays we mostly have severe laws protecting people from being designated as such and tortured against their will - or worse.
Society evolves, even though principles remain the same : hatred towards different or strange people.
Agreed. These days crowds are controlled in very different ways. There are different media than way back then. Though we may think we are much more free in our ways of thought, but we're still influenced by the way news items are being brought, articles are written, the kind of information certain internet sites bring us. Maybe it won't go as far anymore as in those days (torturing and burning at the stake), but never say never. Just read "the Wave" and you see how easy it is.
But on the subject of witch trials: you might want to read the "Malleus Maleficarum". It's a manual for witch trials and torture methods written in the 15th century. Nothing to do with the witch trials in New England, but with those in Europe. Still, there's some gruesome stuff in there.
She turned me into a newt...I got better...
I never got too into the whole Salem thing, but witch hunts and the Inquisition have always interested me, partly for the gruesome torture aspect but mostly for the religious side. Read a bit of "Malleus Maleficarum" a while ago, and it's pretty fascinating stuff. If you're into the whole witch hunt business, check out the movie "Witchfinder General." It's not particularly gruesome (it's pretty damn old), but some scenes are deliciously brutal and its portrayal of the irrational hatred and fanaticism that enabled people's acceptance of these atrocities is suitably horrifying. I don't think it's particularly historically accurate, but it's fun as hell if you're into the whole burning witches thing.
But yeah, stuff like the witch hunts and the inquisition make you wonder about how damn stupid the human race really is. I agree with >>2 here, people still hold irrational hatred for others, but thankfully the erosion of religion's hold over the state and an acknowledgment of the need to protect human rights by most of the world's powers has helped prevent shear stupidity from resulting in gross violence, but this kind of shit will never disappear. Humans are generally morons, and pretty easily incited into cruelty, so there will always be "witch hunts" of some sort. Kind of a shitty thought, but whatever.
>Humans are generally morons, and pretty easily incited into cruelty
In the Canadian Criminal Code (Section 365), it's actually a crime when someone "pretends to exercise or to use any kind of witchcraft, sorcery, enchantment or conjuration". So yeah, if you're gonna cast a spell on someone, it better work!
