Author Archives for Rachel Christ

Remembering Candy and Mary Black

February 18, 2022 10:29 am Published by Comments Off on Remembering Candy and Mary Black

By: Jonah Hoffmann The Salem witch trials of 1692 involved a number of individuals identified as key players in the series of events that formulate the greater witch trials narrative. One such figure is Tituba, the enslaved woman who was the first person accused of practicing witchcraft and afflicting the young girls living in the household of her enslaver: Samuel...


The 17th Century World of Witchcraft

December 17, 2021 2:45 pm Published by Comments Off on The 17th Century World of Witchcraft

By: Jonah Hoffmann This blog series focuses on specific countries or regions of the Early Modern European world during the 17th century when scholars believe the peak period of witch hunting took place before fading out almost entirely during the latter portion of the century. While perhaps the most famous seventeenth century witch trial, the Salem witch trials that took...


The Beginning of the Witch Trials in Poland

April 2, 2021 2:16 pm Published by Comments Off on The Beginning of the Witch Trials in Poland

The Beginning of the Witch Trials in Poland: The period of ecclesiastical courts Guest blog written by Łukasz Hajdrych On 24 May 1511 vetula combusta [est] in campo extra oppidum Valishewo – A witch was burnt on the field outside the town of Waliszewo”. This is probably the most renown sentence which relates to the Polish witch-trials – the very...


Witches: Evolving Perceptions One Year Later

March 12, 2021 2:13 pm Published by Comments Off on Witches: Evolving Perceptions One Year Later

March 13, 2020 marks the one-year anniversary of the Witches: Evolving Perceptions exhibit renovation. On this day, years of hard work and planning were finally realized in this major interpretive planning update and exhibit remodel. Witches: Evolving Perceptions was created in 1999 in an effort to connect the history of the Salem witch trials with the broader definitions of witchcraft...


In Praise of Black Witches

February 8, 2021 3:46 pm Published by Comments Off on In Praise of Black Witches

This year we are focusing on some of the incredible pop-culture witches created and portrayed by black artists over the past 50 years. In 1900, author L. Frank Baum began to alter the image of the witch with his wildly popular children’s book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, giving America its first famous good witch. By the mid-twentieth century, good...


Fantastic Women Fridays

July 31, 2020 10:40 am Published by Comments Off on Fantastic Women Fridays

Welcome to Fantastic Women Fridays! This year marks the hundredth anniversary of the nineteenth amendment, granting women the right to vote. As we come upon this important milestone, it is worth pausing to consider the close links between women’s history and the history of witchcraft. Though anyone could be accused of witchcraft, the individuals who were the most susceptible to...


Seventeenth-Century Comets

July 21, 2020 1:31 pm Published by Comments Off on Seventeenth-Century Comets

According to the NASA website, “Comets are cosmic snowballs of frozen gases, rock and dust that orbit the Sun. When frozen, they are the size of a small town. When a comet’s orbit brings it close to the Sun, it heats up and spews dust and gases into a giant glowing head larger than most planets. The dust and gases...