%0 Book
%A Homayun Sidky
%D 1997
%C New York, United States of America
%I Peter Lang Verlag
%@ 9781453910146
%T Witchcraft, Lycanthropy, Drugs and Disease
%B An Anthropological Study of the European Witch-Hunts- Second Printing
%R 10.3726/978-1-4539-1014-6
%U https://www.peterlang.com/document/1054390
%X Long before the political mass-murders witnessed in the present century, western Europe experienced another kind of holocaust – the witch-hunts of the early modern period. Condemned of flying through the air, changing into animals, and worshipping the Devil, over a hundred thousand people were brutally tortured, systematically maimed and burned alive. Why did these persecutions take place? Was it superstition, irrationality, or mass delusion that led to the witch-hunts? This study seeks explanations in the tangible actions of human actors and their worldly circumstances. The approach taken is anthropological; inferences are grounded on a wide spectrum of variables, ranging from the political and ideological practices used to mystify earthly affairs, to the logical structure of witch-beliefs, torture technology, and the role of psychotropic drugs and epidemic diseases.
%K burning witches, witchhunter, witches
%G English