Blasphemous & Diabolical: Puritanism & the Obsession with Witchcraft | Minisode w/ Blair
- Author
- Maegan, Melissa, Blair, Marissa
- Published
- Fri 24 Mar 2023
- Episode Link
- None
In this minisode, join Blair as you explore the history of Puritanism and how the obsession with witchcraft plagued Europe and New England for centuries.
For most of us, when the words “Puritan” and “witch” come up, we think of Salem. Young girls accusing people left and right of being witches, gruesome capital punishment in the name of God, the significant decline of the village’s population... Historians have come up with a plethora of possible reasons why the accusations swept through Salem like wildfire; everything from teenage boredom to convulsive ergotism to a group of people specifically primed from years of religious indoctrination to believe that the devil was truly after them. Whatever the case, 25 innocent people (including children) ended up being the unfortunate victims of one of the most infamous cases of mass hysteria in American history.
References:
- United Nations Report: Witchcraft and Human Rights
- The Witchcraft and Human Rights Information Network (WHRIN)
- More information on the Malleus Maleficarum
- Heinrich Kramer
The Clever Ghouls podcast, hosted by Maegan and Blair, is a show dedicated to watching, analyzing, and discussing the movies that make us think about them long after we’ve left the theater or turned off the TV. We bring quick wit and unique perspectives from backgrounds like art history, cinematography, psychology, analysis, public education, mysticism, mythos, and more to create a curated, inclusive conversation around the spooky movies we love. Tune in on your favorite podcast hosting platform to listen along, join the conversation, and chime in with your own observations!
Our intro and outro music was created for us by Josh Marshall. For more episodes and other spooky content, find us on your favorite social media platform through our handle: @CleverGhouls. Don’t forget to subscribe and share, and if you really like our content, please leave us a review. Or we’ll haunt you forever. Thanks for listening!
