ah they fly through the air on broomsticks, they cast spells, conjuring both good and evil. they can be hideous and frightening or sassy, seductive and downright sexy. which is our a mainstay in western pop culture. i pretty you know, but jokes and entertainment, aside being labeled to which can still get you killed. imagine you find out your ancestor was a witch. at least they said she was a witch. apparently she poisoned people. some one of them said she. so she was tried and burned as a which that's what happened in my family history. so let me take you on a journey to learn all about which honey and don't think i'm one minute there over

i was a teenager when i found out about my ancestor margarita cuba. how over 300 years ago, in 1642, she was accused, tried, tortured and ultimately burned as a witch. for years i was haunted by her story and wanted to find out what really happened. so i travel to vinegar in a small town in south western germany. it's wine country, surrounded by an idyllic patchwork of sloping hills and vineyards. but one of those hills is a mass grave. in the 17th century, more than 20 people died here during the venting in which trials their names are etched into germany's oldest monument to persecuted witches. this is actually the place where the witches were burned this the execution place. if i come over here,

i've been up here several times with my family. well, it came up to see our ancestor loggerhead to clover. so what kind of a woman was she? and why was she accused of witchcraft? to find out i tracked down local, historian, val, to homer. he knows the details of every which trial in this area, including that of my ancestor was what was mine? if i didn't, i didn't listen to provide was feeling decency. she was an interesting woman. because a lot of clues indicate she was very clever, that she had a deep sense of responsibility. oh, india sh dark a house. but that this inner strength and confidence and probably menchie overstepped her boundaries a bit. osmond with regard to others in the community to india. potations the order sounds like she was a bit of a rebel, someone who didn't quite tow the line of social norms. and possibly a bit before her time. margarita came from a well to do family and married

a judge. so she belonged to the town social elite. she was the mother of 2 small boys in the accusations, against her grew rife. here in the church, she suffered a mortifying attack of dysentery in front of the entire congregation. later her accusers said that satan had followed her into the sacred space. it was just one of many charges, including allegedly giving various people food or drink in the past, after which they become gravely ill. in the state archives in nearby cobblins, the original records of the winning, in which trials are extraordinarily well preserved. and with walter's help, i make a shocking discovery. it turns out marguerite, his own mother was burned as a witch before her. in fact, maria neighbor was the 1st person in vinegar to be executed for witchcraft, already in 1631. so poor margarita already had the cards stacked against her.

but when did this witch hunt craze actually begin? and why didn't look lehman ology as a science has existed since the beginning of theological thinking damage. the christian and theological teaching, grappled with these questions from the start on. but in an already the old testament had it in for which is in the book of exodus which states thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. but it was thomas of aquinas, a 13th century, dominican friar and theologian, who had a profound impact on the church's view of witchcraft. he argued, the world was full of evil demons and that witches were practitioners of malevolence, sorcery, according to him, women were not only particularly susceptible to demonic possession, but were lining up to make

a pact even to have sex with the devil himself. he was backed up by pope john the 22nd in 1326 who declared any practice of magic to be an act of heresy. after that, the church went whole hog to warn people of this new threat. these ideas led to the definition of a new criminal offense, witchcraft, and laid the groundwork for the great european, which hunts by the 15th century, this brand of fake news was spreading like wildfire in the form of the mulatto smell. if he com or the hammer of witches by dominican inquisitor hine, of his comma 1st published in 1486, it was essentially the manual on how to identify, try torture and kill which's comma described in obsessive detail how which is make their lustful packed with the devil renounced their christian faith, eat children,

and generally wreak havoc on their surroundings. a book full of toxic masculine obsessions coincided with the rise of the printing press, meaning its message could travel far and fast. over the next 200 years, the maria's sold like hot cakes becoming 2nd only to the bible in terms of sales. images gave form to these ideas. a seminal works like these 15th century woodcuts inspired many artists like german painter and print maker. i pies, duleigh, and his student hands by long green, who's interpretations of deviant devilish women were pretty salacious stuff and continued to inspire the public imagination through the ages. right on into the 20th century. like here in the 1922 called horror film exxon. all this hit a nerve as early modern europe was fraught with problems. invasion flores, of religion, new illnesses like syphilis, even

a climate crisis. from the early 14th to mid 19th century, much of northern europe was in the grip of a big chill, known as the little ice age. that meant years of crop failure, extreme weather, and economic hardship. old term dal sure, wouldn't zoom in on a clean bill. got the idea that witches were responsible for all of this. but that's all that out of greed, envy and resentment. they were in league with the devil and using malevolent magic to create this, whether chaos does this lesson that off. that's when it was quite literally a perfect storm which is offered europe's beleaguered populations as a simple explanation for widespread fan sickness and suffering. and that's when which hunts really took off. contemporary historians estimate that between 50 and 60000 people died as a result of the european witch trials. and about 80 percent of the victims were

women. about half of those victims or $25000.00 people were killed within the boundaries of present day germany, which brings us back to margarita, whose ordeal was pretty typical for the time she was denounced and arrested, her body searched for an incriminating devil's mark. they shaved off all her hair, but she refused to confess. so the witch commission resorted to torture a legal policy at the time. you know, the unplugged family one who was accused was assumed to be guilty and the person have to prove their own innocent luggage of the for the idea was that the confession was inherently there just under the surface and had to be drawn out. torture was seen as a necessary means of killing off the body to free the soul to allowed to reveal remorse center confess until augustine. margarita was strapped into the iron boot, an instrument designed to slowly crush the lower leg. when she still maintained her innocence, they hoisted her up by her hands with a rope. out of her mind with pain,

she was forced to denounce another woman, a common practice that led to more witch trials and kept the brutal cycle going ah. after 2 days she could stand no more and confessed to being a witch, sealing her own death sentence. ah, the trial records revealed much more about my family and that even more relatives were victims of the witch hunts. here in the nearby town of cast alone in this freezing dungeon, one of them was imprisoned for weeks. his family fought in vain to save him. wait a minute, him you it writes, and in fact nearly one in for victims of the european which hans was a man, a detailed as often ignored. but wasn't it cunning women midwifes and healers who were most likely to be accused of witchcraft?

the hip, a metos, this midwife myth has incredible longevity that church and state colluded to go after cunning women healers and midwives, and destroy their knowledge of birth control and abortion. so that's not true at all. so initial assessment of ga kind, 5 returned her colleagues agree that some of the most common myths about which hunts have been perpetuated by feminist interpretations where they fit perfectly into a political agenda. ah, for decades women's movements eager to rebel against patriarchal structures embrace the which as a potent symbol of power, which she remains to this day in most of the western world. she is this symbol of. busy power that is subversive. she is a symbol of women being free and independent, getting justice. and so she is ultimately, that's really inspiring figure because nobody can keep her down. ah,

oh. back in 1642, a woman like that was certainly a provocation. but neither midwives, nor red haired women were more likely to be accused of witchcraft in the end. it could happen to anyone, but back to venting in such a seemingly peaceful little place why we're 20 which is executed in this town alone . one explanation could be that as a wind growing region, it was hit hard by the little ice age. did people here just need someone to blame for the hailstones that ruined their harvest? or were the religious radicals at work? who was actually on the local, which commission his story invito. homer says it was a group of local citizens, eager to better their status. a secular court that sees the opportunity to append social power structures to its own advantage, and the victims, fortunes along with it. it was all about power, money, envy, and resentment as

a well off family, high up in the pecking order. it's no wonder margarita was a target whereby we can clear up yet another misconception that the catholic church was the driving force behind the european witch trials. does that i know the notion that catholics hunted witches and protestants were restrained, doesn't hold any water. indeed, after the reformation, vinegar was predominantly protestant, and it turns out, protestant communities were often far more zealous in their persecution of witches than catholic ones. anna croft, shaft d in an area the converted to protestantism, in 1557th, surrounded by the so called the wrong catholic religion. you didn't, they were under enormous pressure to prove that protestantism was the better religion as they pointed to the right religion the on you 50. and that had quite an effect on the accusations hot. hicks or i, unclouded good picked. in fact, protestant countries like scotland and sweden saw much higher incidence of witch trials than catholic dominated ireland or portugal. italy and spain. both

predominantly catholic, were comparatively safe for any one associated with witchcraft. you english included john the roman inquisition, persecuted people for sorcery, magic and superstition for what they rarely put anyone to death for the spanish inquisition. never executed witches because very early on they concluded that witches don't even exist coming in for the sex about ah, another place where which child devastated a protestant population was in norway. the tiny town of varden saw one of the biggest witch trials in scandinavia. an impressive monument commemorates the execution of 91 people for witchcraft back in 1621. nearly a 3rd of the village at the time. oh,

my ancestors story came to its tragic end. in november, 1642 maga hate club. i was forced to address the towns people who had gathered to witness her execution. as god is my witness, i beg any one whom i may have wronged in my life for forgiveness. may i be an example to all, and i am treat all of you to keep god before thine eyes and shield yourselves from the evil enemy. she was granted a merciful death and was beheaded before her body was burned. perhaps most shocking of all was the feeding frenzy that ensued. according to records. 250 leaders of wine were hauled up to the execution side, a treacherous ploy to insure the whole town with complicit, logan, he does. husband was handed the bill insured, which trials were a lucrative business commissioners, scribes vintners, executioners all made a handsome living, perpetuating the system by the mid 16 hundreds,

europe's witchcraft mania had made its way to the new world. the most famous witch trials began in salem, massachusetts, in 1692 of nearly 200 people accused of witchcraft 19 were executed, one crushed to death, and at least 5 died in jail. so when did all this madness stop? as they counted their dead in salem witch hunting hysteria and europe began to die down as people doubted so many could be guilty of witchcraft. the age of enlightenment gave more credence to science and reason than to superstitious beliefs. food was more plentiful and the advent of insurance, many people were less prone to disaster. the last a legend which in europe was beheaded in switzerland in $1782.00, marking the end of a dark chapter. well, thank god, that's over. what is it up?

he saw healer of never been so many which on this one as we see in today's world. the words of which hunt expert vice gung bailing a whose research is a shocker. he says more people were killed for witchcraft in the 20th century than in the entire 300 years of european which hunts. in fact, a recent global study shows that belief in witchcraft is still widespread today. and dozens of countries are affected. in the pacific island nation of papua new guinea, the public torture and murder of a legit which is it's so common that sorcery accusation related violence or as a r v has its own acronym. most often the victims are women and according to experts, their number is on the rise. especially in village and tribal communities. the u. n . estimate some $200.00 people are killed each year. government

come on swell, good super bowl. there's a very high number of murders of a legit witches that go on recorded and pop when again herndon either. okay. in depth, you can read every week in the times of india in which village witches have just been killed. hickson took the sometimes men, mostly women who had been ostracized, outcast results and murdered by the village community. so to speak, it all schools. it happens every week and ask if she, you'd have walker in south asia. women are still blamed for crop failure, disease, or natural disasters, or frequently branded as witches for a trifle like this woman from jackson to offered medicine to a neighbor. in garvin mckinney, fidel the village elder took me captive, he made me, he says he beat me for so long. they thought i was dead, but i was able to escape for some minute ago. my love when singled out victims are often helpless in the face of mob dynamics. single women and widows are

particularly at risk as they are in africa, where the problem is rampant and bit once you begin worker trauma can, if we look at recent times than we see that in a country like tanzania alone since its independence in the early sixty's between 30 and 40000 people, you go. yeah, mostly women have been killed for alleged crimes of witchcraft and sure lessons home. most likely found guilty by some kind of village tribunal is full and then killed by young people gert at one. and it's not just tanzania, many countries including nigeria, or the democratic republic of congo are also dealing with the problem in northern gonna hundreds of older women have been banished to segregated villages or which camps. one of them is gamba. these women have been denounced for causing fires, drought and disease. many were accused by their own families. conjunct

lambert had to flee her village after a neighbor accused her of witchcraft. she's been in gum bag for 10 years, and one i was badly abused. my landlord asked me to vacate the property because of the witchcraft accusation. i also fled to stopped the brutalities. well, just look at my arm. this is what they did to me. it's broken valenzuela county. nigerian human rights activist lou egret has visited gamba for his research. for years he's been fighting the persecution of witches throughout africa, and urgent governments to protect the victims. his goal, that by 2030, which hunts in africa, will be a thing of the past. the victims, amending women, and let me tell you what we meant. occupy a weaker social quarter up was a shift african countries offer conversation on demos are on that. we may not treated as 2nd class. remember ours. remember that you can get to read all

in 2022 over 80. women were living in dba in squalid conditions with no health care . they live from donations, selling firewood, or doing occasional work on surrounding farms. illness, famine, floods, or drought brought on by climate change. despite the cultural divide, there are striking parallels between the witch hunts in africa and those in early modern europe. 80 year old lady, when jani describes her ordeal about them, they stripped me naked. good shaved me everywhere. as part of the rituals my private parts, and my armpits. ah, gone as government is well aware of the witchcraft, superstition, and its often fatal consequences yet has announced its intention to close all which villages goes it down to which come is life i've read soon, since all it you did, things are being targeted again. the other dog li, demise,

the hosting wo, back to communities. so the god middle gamma is approach. and the problem wrongly i'm back is why i think web mos in any significant sheets in terms of resolving the problem which basically shocked ingram. this is a battle that we have to win. what we did for africa. wow. when, if you manage it, leo exit takes inspiration from to women who did when their battle, the activists for the which as of scotland. for 2 years, claire mitchell and zoe vandy tots. he campaigned for a legal pardon and apology for the 2500 people. mostly women convicted an executed for witchcraft in scotland. although their persecution dates back several centuries, they saw their demand as a signal for the present that are still people across the world generally vulnerable. often women are old people. they're being accused of witchcraft and in

some cases been killed by mob justice. and in fact, that are some countries that are trying to put it into their legal system where people can still be accused of witchcraft. so we don't think that it's an issue this past is still sadly very, very relevant. on march 8th, 2020, to their plea was heard scotlands, then 1st minister nicholas sturgeon, acknowledged the historic injustice before parliament. on behalf of the scottish government, i'm choosing to acknowledge that agree to us historic injustice, and extend to formal ponts to miss apology. to all those accused convicted, vilified, or executed under the witchcraft act of 15. 63. a signal to the rest of the world. where at least in the west, which is in witchcraft or having something of a renaissance, new york based pam grossman is a self proclaimed which author and host of the successful which wave podcast. while exact numbers are elusive,

she is observed the growing interest in witchcraft and paganism in recent years and puts it down to a need for alternatives in uncertain times. we steve, what is happening with capitalism being so ravenous and so bottomless, that it is destroying the very planet that we live on. and so which craft is a beautiful alternative to all of that? because which craft says that we all are divine no matter what our gender or background is. we all have access to in our power from spiritual connection to political and environmental activism. the shape shifting, which has morphed and proliferated in popular culture and online the witches of instagram and videos with the hash tag, which talk a math millions of views. if people find strength, balance and community in modern interpretations of the craft. at the same time,

the word which continues to be used to defame strong women the smear campaigns against hillary clinton. prior to the 2016 us election are just one example. and then of course, there's this guy for years form a u. s. president donald trump has complained about a never ending which haunt against him. he continues to misuse the term and he's always the victim. spending liggins and millions of dollars on his continued which on an appalling distortion of history that trivializes the plight of so many women still suffering to day dinning and prefers a more sober approach to its dark past. one that honors the victims of which haunts and brings them back into the conversation. all this delving into the history of our family, which has been enlightening and emotionally exhausting,

serene to retrace her footsteps and unbearably sad to think so many suffered her fate. oh, even more upsetting is the fact that women are still going through it. which ones aren't only a phenomenon of centuries ago, but rather an urgent problem that affects thousands of vulnerable women every day in africa, asia, and elsewhere. oh the deadly chain of events instigated by envious neighbors in montgomery to clue best case. oh is a pattern that keeps getting repeated in life and on line? ah, the victims oh their pain. oh, they're suffering oh, deserve our awareness and respect. oh, certainly a strange feeling to be here. it's a good thing that they've been vindicated or at least recognized historically and by the community. oh

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saying the same thing about you get to go without having to pay. i see that's all in your men's day to found a form the cd. yes. and then you succeed in restoring this young girls ability to treat it is something that really is price at minimum. i mean on to what i do. the trio, combating sheeting dealings starts april 29th on d, w i hello welcome. jo. favorite show the 77 percent coming to straight from them. yeah, i do. i never thought to illegal myoshi. i promise you we have a show popped fool. will load the fun you've done. why do is that out with this.