CRM 1301 THE DEMONIC PERSPECTIVE Salem witch trials (1600’s Salem, Massachusetts): (1692-1693) Some kitchen slave from Barbados (Tituba) told stories about magic to little girls. Suddenly, the young girls started acting very strange and pecurlary. Once caught acting, they named Tituba (strange dark foreigner), Sara Good (pipe smoking, leather faced village hag), Sara Osborne (old, good social standing, but lives with a man who she is not married to) to be witches who influenced them. They were then put on trial, they were asked the same question over and over again “were they a witch, did they see Satan, and if they weren’t a witch, how would they have foreseen the situations that happened to the little girls.” Then, they were all found guilty and sentenced to death (only Tituba admitted to actions of witchery). She admitted that the Devil came to see her and coerce her to become a witch and put a spell on the little girls. Sara Good and Sara Osborne were put to death and Tituba life was spared because she confessed. Deuteronomy 18:10-13 (a guide for how to live back then): o Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or costs spells, or who is a medium or spiritist of who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord; because of these same detestable practices the Lord you God will drive out those nations before you. Exodus 22:18 o Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live WITCH HUNTS IN MEDIEVAL EUROPE • Back then, Deviance and weird behavior were all caused by supernatural explanations. • The Demonic Perspective • Look for the cause and cure of deviant and weird behavior in the realm of supernatural explanations. • ALL DEVIANCE = SIN • CRIMINAL = SINNER = HERETIC • SINNER = HERETIC • A heretic is a person who held opinions who were contrary to the catholic church (the church held all the power back then). • When a person went against the church, it was deemed harmful to the victim, to God, and the entire cosmos (cosmic consequences). • Human beings are torned between supernatural forces of good and evil. TWO PATHS TO DEVIANCE: Temptation path: o Rooted in the story of Adam and Eve and what happened in the garden of Eden (when Satan, who was the snake, tempted Eve to eat the fruit of knowledge). The original sin. o People should have the ability to refuse temptation. o These people are considered to be active due to them being responsible for their actions. Possession path: o The devil has taken over the person’s mind and body. This can therefore result in evil behavior. o This path is more passive due to the devil being the entity having to take over the person’s body THE INQUISITION - In the Middle Ages, the catholic church had all the power. - The inquisition was a window of time to deal with heretics. - There needs to be inquisitors (old white men who were educated). - There is a handbook (Malleus Maleficarum aka hammer of the witches) that is used to identify and prosecute witches. It contains criteria for witches. The Trials: - The accused HAVE to testify. - Refusal was proof of guilt - Anyone can testify against the HERETIC - The accused would not be told who the testifiers were. - There were no advocates for the accused - NO supporters for the accused. Guilty by association. - They need a HALF-PROOF to convict someone. This means you can have the smallest amount of incriminating evidence to convict someone. EVIDENCE USED TO IDENTIFY A WITCH - Trial by clever test (say the lord's prayer perfectly while facing the inquisitors). - Testimony of others (when someone attributes their own bad fortune with the actions of the accused) - Looking for physical marks from the devil (witch's teat) (warts, red hair, moles, birthmarks, scars, any physical deformity, writing with left hand, blemishes, PHYSICAL DIFFERENCES). They would prick the women and it didn’t cause any pain or bleeding she is considered a witch. - Spectral evidence (testimony of visions and dreams of ghosts that are in the shape of the accused) - Confession of guilt (admittance of GUILT) (The puritans precluded Trial by clever test and Testimony of others when the cases reached hundreds. Furthermore, they started to question physical marks and confession of guilt as well. Spectral evidence became a central tool when diagnosing a witch) THE IMPORTANCE OF CONFESSIONS - Admissions are key to the trials due to the belief of the confessions being a step of bringing someone back to their faith. - Some accused are spared of death - But most people who confessed get killed. - BUT, if you confess, your soul gets saved, and you can still go to heaven. - Guilt legitimized the process of the trial. - Inquisitors also use torture devices to extract confessions. Methods of extracting a confession (torture) - Head crusher (A device that crush your head) - Heretic’s Fork (Uncomfortable position with your head positioned in a upright position) - The Inquisitional chair (Spikes all over the chair, very uncomfortable can make the straps even tighter) - The Spanish Tickler/cat’s paw, - Strappado (Uncomfortable position causing shoulders to pull out of their socket, and add a series of drops and weights to make it more painful) - Judas’ Cradle (Hoisted up by a rope and a sharp pointed chair penetrating you) - Rack (Individuals are stretched out, pulling the pully stretches your arms and legs can cause legs or arms to be ripped off your body) - Mouth pear - Thumb screw - False confessions are a big problem with these devices for confessions. o False confessions still happen today, we can’t torture today but you can be psychologically tortured (bright lighting, long hours of questioning) TORTURE: THE PURPOSE BEHIND THE PAIN Objective of torture: - Get out an admission of guilt Justification of torture: - To protect the community from further wrath of angry god - To restore the hope for personal salvation through repentance Procedure: - Answer questions under oath while enduring physical pain. (Middle Ages) “Third degree” (3 rounds of torture. By the third round of questioning, you would be admitting guilt) 1. Accused shown the torture devices and questioned 2. Light torture administered and questioned 3. Increasingly intense torture administered and questioned 4. To demonstrate what happens to sinners 5. A form of punishement 2 stages of torture: - Preparatory (the inquisitor is trying to find an admission before torture) - Preliminary stage (To find out who else is a witch, accomplices, etc.) - Punishment (eye for an eye/lex talionis [retaliation or retribution]) (code of Hammurabi First known written bodies of law) Punishments - The wheel was meant to break all the bones which broke the devil’s hold on the body so that the sinner's spirit cannot get around and affect other people. o (apotropaic rituals were used to ward bad/evil spirits away) - Burning at the steak was meant to visualize eternal burning in hell. (gives validation of the writings about hell in the bible) - Scold’s bridle was meant to use it on women so that it closes the mouth of the woman and prevents her from speaking. Inside was a metal spike and prevented them from speaking (this was used on women who were gossiping, undermining husband’s authority, talking back to husband, intellectual women who spoke out against the church). - Ducking Stool This was where an individual us placed on a chair for prostitution, rowdiness, unruliness. Predominantly women (but also men) were placed, and a chair hung from a crane above the water; she then gets dunked into water. But before that, the person on the chair gets paraded around town for humiliation. - The Drunkard’s cloak: An alcoholic man gets paraded throughout the town in a keg for humiliation. Burning times questions answers and notes: - Widows, pagans, midwives (because they reduce pain in childbirth and get informal training. They also don’t use traditional medicine and provide contraceptives and disrupt god’s will from Eve's first sin), healers (Educated through traditions), spinsters (not married), peasants, heretics, rural women, women with property, independent, old women, and beggars were the groups of women predominantly targeted. - Hags, the derogatory term for old women which means “wise woman”. - Some factors that contributed to the witch hunt were the Christianisation of Europe (caused millions of deaths), patriarchal society, black plague, the lucratively of crime, guilt and sin were caused by women’s sexuality. People were just looking for a scapegoat for all the bad things happening in their society. Women in general were viewed as a threat (more females etc.). - Renaissance = time for the “witch craze” (women’s power = death) - Halloween = pagan holiday of Samhain to commemorate ancestors - Curandera = Mexican healing witch - The word witch comes from the Anglo-Saxon root “wick” which means “bend or shape consciousness and bend and shape events in your life” - People who went against the church were charged with heresy and executed - In 1554 Maryanne monjou was drowned for calling up the spirits of the rine - 85% of people who were killed for witchcraft were women - The witch hunt was also known as the “women’s holocaust” - 9 million people over 300 years were burned or executed by the inquisition - Mary was a sort of goddess according to Matilde of Hindenburg who was a nun. Then, over 500 churches were constructed all over Europe which worshiped Mary. - Apparently, Joan of Arc had deep routes to old pagan religions - Any woman who healed without having studied is witch and must die - Mask of shame is a punishment back then for women who spoke out - Women who made dresses too ornate had to wear the dressmaker’s collar. - People who fell asleep in church had to wear the rosary necklace - Women who gathered at Night were thought to be evil. - Near the city of trier, nearly 2 entire villages were wiped out due to the witch hunt - Women also had to walk backwards because they would give the evil eye - They would also shave the women head to toe Rationale for punishments: - - Rooted in Christianity o Biblical law Penance through physical pain o Nothing sacred about the body Purge the body of a sinner to get rid of evil spirits o To restore the body of the community Public punishment o A reminder to be obedient to God and follow god’s will Social control o Rid society of undesirables/deviants (Section 365 Criminal Code) Everyone who fraudulently - Everyone who fraudulently - (a) pretends to exercise or to use any kind of witchcraft, sorcery, enchantment, or conjuration - (b) undertakes, for a consideration, to tell fortunes, or - (c)pretends from his skill in or knowledge of an occult or crafty science to discover where or in what manner anything that is supposed to have been stolen or lost may be found, - Is guilty of an offense punishable on summary conviction - 6 months incarceration or $2000 fine or both - Law was repealed December 13, 2018 Modern day witch hunts: - The searching out and deliberate harassment of people whose opinions or actions are regarded as unpopular, wrong, or dangerous. - Walter Palmer's action of killing Cecil the lion made an outcry in society and made people start out a witch hunt for him. Digital Witch Hunts: - Faster pace - Ex: Assistant professor at a small vacation with wife, he was mistakenly accused of attending a white supremacies rally in Charlottes vile. Even though it wasn’t him in the photo he received many death threats and random emails regarding him attending this rally. People tend to jump the gun early and act without knowing the full truth. - The shaming of these people will always stick with you for the rest of your life because if you search your name, you will find things about yourself. What is a: Moral panic: - An exaggerated outburst of public concern that someone or something is a threat to societal values, safety and/or interests. Examples: Blue Whale Challenge, Bloody Marry Challenge, Killer Clowns, following 911 Arabs and Muslim were perceived as dangerous people, End of the world in 2012, violent video games, genre of music (rock and heavy medal), gangster rap Moral entrepreneur: - Individual/group/institution who is committed to the creation and enforcement of rules against what they define as a “deviant” Examples: The Catholic Church in the Middle Ages, Trump or any politician, authors and doctors, the media, mothers against drunk drivers, cult leaders, parents and teachers, antivaccination Folk devil: - Who or what is blamed for threatening the social order Can be fictional or not
