What are some of the methods people used to “prove” someone was a witch? One method was called the “swimming test.” As suggested in the first season of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2018–present), a suspected witch was thrown into a body of water, tied to a rock, and left to sink or float. If the person floated, they were certainly a witch. If they sank and drowned, they were human. This was derived from the “trial by water,” an ancient practice where suspected criminals or sorcerers were thrown into rushing rivers to allow a higher power to decide their fate. This custom was banned in many European countries in the Middle Ages, only to reemerge in the seventeenth century as a witch trial that persisted in some locales well into the eighteenth century. Another variation of this test was the ducking stool. An accused witch would be strapped to a chair and ducked into a body of water as punishment or to prove she was a witch. Another test was to find the “witch’s mark.” As seen in The Scarlet Letter (1995) suspects were stripped and publicly examined for signs of a blemish that witches were thought to receive upon making their pact with Satan. It was believed that this “Devil’s Mark” could change shape and color, and was numb and insensitive to pain. It was easy for even the most minor physical imperfections, such as scars or birthmarks, to be labeled as signs of being a witch. By not being submissive enough, women were often accused of witchcraft. In the trial of Rachel Clinton, her accusers made the case against her with the following: “Did she not show the character of an embittered, meddlesome, demanding woman; perhaps in short, the character of a witch? Did she not scold, rail, threaten, and fight?” Even the way someone looked could doom them to being accused. Reverend John Gaule in the 1640s insisted that “every old woman with a wrinkled face, a furr’d brow, a hairy lip, a gobber tooth, a squint eye, a squeaking voice, or a scolding tongue is not only suspected, but pronounced for a witch.”
An example of a ducking stool.
What about modern witches? Those who practice witchcraft are considered pagans. The word pagan stems from the Latin pagini or paganus, meaning “hearth” or “home dweller.” In the 1450s the fear of witchcraft became more prevalent, and people began associating witchcraft and paganism with devil worship, evil hexes, and spells. Contemporary witches include those who identify as Wiccan and those who practice other forms of witchcraft. Wicca was introduced to the public in 1954 and became a recognized religion in the United States in 1986. What do Wiccans believe in regard to witchcraft? Many follow the belief that magic, as said by Aleister Crowley, is “the science and art of causing change to occur in conformity with will.” Wiccans cast spells for healing, protection, or to banish negative energy. A central theme of belief is of the five elements: air, water, fire, earth, and spirit. These elements are invoked in rituals and often represented by a pentagram shape. The ethic of the Wiccan Rede, which first appeared in 1974 as a poem in Earth Religion News, is followed by many Wiccans and summarized by the last two lines:
Bide the Wiccan Law Ye Must,
In Perfect Love and Perfect Trust,
Eight Words the Wiccan Rede Fulfill,
An it Harm None, Do What Ye Will.
There are an estimated three million Wiccans in the United States alone and it is considered the fastest growing religion in the country.
Today, women have reclaimed the word “witch” as a term of empowerment. In response to the recent “Me Too” movement, some men compared being called out for sexual harassment to a witch hunt. Writer Lindy West responded with a piece in the New York Times entitled “Yes, This Is a Witch Hunt. I’m a Witch and I’m Hunting You.” Author Joanna Malita-Król explores how the feminist movement identifies with witches as “the free, independent woman who lives on the edge of patriarchal culture, and the Pagan witch stereotype which largely agrees with the feminist interpretation.”1 People may not be being accused of witchcraft and burned at the stake in this day and age, but those who identify as witches or are seen as any type of “other” may still have a difficult road ahead. Hopefully humankind can learn from the mistakes of the past and prevent similar prejudices in the future.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CARRIE
Year of Release: 1976
Director: Brian De Palma
Writer: Lawrence D. Cohen
Starring: Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie
Budget: $1.8 million
Box Office: $33.8 million
Carrie is a story of firsts. It is the first novel by Stephen King, published in 1974. It is the first of his works to be adapted to film, and it was the cinematic debut for actor John Travolta. The film itself begins with a first. Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) endures a typical, teenage rite of passage. While for many girls their first menstrual period is awkward and uncomfortable, for Carrie it is horrific. In what has become one of the most iconic horror introductions in the last fifty years, Carrie’s routine shower becomes a blood-soaked terror, not unlike that other famous shower scene. And her rising horror is only worsened by her fellow students’ assault. Carrie is mocked and even pummeled with tampons. So how does this innocent, weak, seemingly powerless girl become a modern-day witch?
We first must ask; what are the powers that witches supposedly possess? Are there scientific explanations for them? Carrie comes to realize that with her transition into womanhood she has a new, uncommon trait: telekinesis, the ability to move things with one’s mind. Numerous movies and TV shows feature characters with this ability including Eleven on Stranger Things, Jean Grey of The X-Men (2000), and Roald Dahl’s beloved character Matilda (1988). Does telekinesis exist? The study of this supposed ability became popular in the late 1800s when objects would move as psychics and mediums contacted the dead. These occurrences proved to be hoaxes, but telekinesis gained attention again several decades later when a researcher at Duke University named J. B. Rhine tested the theory that people could change the outcome of rolling dice with their minds. The results of the experiments were enough to convince him and some others that telekinesis exists. Researchers since have been unable to duplicate his findings and therefore regard it as pseudoscience.
Another witch-related power that people are said to possess is the ability to “witch” water. Also called dowsing, the process begins with the diviner guiding a Y-shaped stick or two L-shaped ones. Water, minerals, and even gemstones are said to be found this way as the stick moves and points toward the target. This technique has been used by the military to try to locate weapons and tunnels during the Vietnam War and by regular citizens looking for a place to drill their well. The scientific community has attributed this technique to the ideomotor phenomenon. When this happens, the subject makes movements unconsciously. This phenomenon could also explain Ouija boards and other techniques used by mediums.