Spooky Spectacular: Hansplaining Witch Craze and Witch Trials

In a very spoooky episode of Hansplaining, Hannah takes Suzanne through the facts, figures, and fallacies of the European witch hunt craze. How is it that everything from storms, to the death of the elderly, to curdled milk began to be attributed to witches? And what are the 3-ish reasons that someone might confess to being a witch during this time period? Warning: Suzanne shares her friend's solution to prevent a hangover and if you follow her advice, it means you are also a witch.

Reading List:

Behringer, Wolfgang. “Weather, Hunger and Fear: Origins of the European Witch-Hunts in Climate, Society and Mentality.” German History 13, no. 1 (Jan. 1995): 1-27.

Hester, Marianne. “Patriarchal Reconstruction and Witch Hunting.” In Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe: Studies in Culture and Belief, edited by Jonathan Barry, Marianne Hester, and Gareth Roberts, 288-306. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.

Roper, Lyndal. Oedipus and the Devil: Witchcraft, Sexuality and Religion in Early Modern Europe. London: Routledge, 1994.

Ruggiero, Guido. Binding Passions: Tales of Magic, Marriage, and Power at the End of the Renaissance.Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993.

Ruiz, Teofilo F. Terror of History: Mystics, Heretics, and Witches in the Western Tradition. Digital Course. Chantilly, VA: The Teaching Company, 2002.

Wiesner-Hanks, Merry. “Gender.” In Encyclopedia of Witchcraft: The Western Tradition, Volume II, edited by Richard M. Golden, 407-411. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2006.