Throughout time, there have been many legends and tales associated with witches.
So, what are some of these beliefs?
Folklore related to witches has been around for hundreds, if not thousands of years.
Witches have been blamed for virtually every kind of problem imaginable.
If livestock became ill and died, a family member became sick, or someone just experienced
a sudden run of bad luck, it was often thought that a witch might be the culprit.
Throughout European traditions, witches were almost always thought to be unmarried, middle-aged
women.
However, one must keep in mind that the average lifespan was less than 50-years-old.
Therefore, a middle-aged woman would be someone in her 20s or early 30s.
It was believed that a witch received her powers by signing a pact with the devil.
It was thought that the devil would seal this pact by leaving a mark on the woman's body.
Many believed this mark would be the easiest way to detect a witch.
Therefore, if a woman was accused of being a witch, her body was inspected for signs
of this mark (which could appear in the form of a large mole, scar, or birthmark).
It was also believed that a witch traveled with a "familiar".
The familiar was a demon that would do a witch's bidding for her.
It was suspected that the familiar would take on the form of an animal, such as a goat or
cow, but most commonly, the animal was believed to be a black cat.
The presence of such animals was another method of spotting an accused witch.
Once a possible witch was identified, there were other tests used to "help" establish
the witch's true identity.
For example, the woman in question would be placed at the edge of a cliff and pushed off.
If she was a witch, she would fly away.
If she was not, she would fall to an honorable death.
A similar test known as "dunking the witch" was used as well.
In this case, the witch was tied to a chair and placed under water for great lengths of
time.
If she was still alive when brought above water, she was a witch.
If she had died, then she had died an honorable death.
Throughout the 1500s, there was a book in circulation known as the Malleus Maleficarum.
This was essentially a guidebook which instructed the reader in the best ways to identify potential
witches and how to punish them once they were discovered.
If a woman was found guilty of being a witch, by far the most common form of punishment
was being burned at the stake.
This was a method of execution which involved tying the woman to a stake and setting her
on fire.
It is estimated that from the 1400s through the 1600s, more than 50,000 women were executed
for practicing witchcraft, including twenty during the famous "Witch Trials" that took
place between February 1692 and May 1693 in Salem, Massachusetts.
Nineteen of these women were hanged, one was crushed to death.
Thankfully, the practice of hunting and executing witches died out in Western culture, but the
legend and myth of the witch survives in the public conscience and will surely be with
us for years to come.