What Kind of Witch Hunt Is This?
It has become quite common for people to refer to any excessive campaign of punishment as a "witch hunt". Defenders of President Clinton, for example, called the work of independent counsel Ken Starr as a witch hunt.
Given the frequency with which people complain about "witch hunts" against them, it's easy to remember that the phrase came about because of actual hunts against people accused of witchcraft. Here in North America, we think about the terrible example of the Salem witch trials, but there has been a long history of sadistic campaigns against accused witches before and after that single incident, extending into the present day.
This page focuses on this sort of persecution of people literally accused of being witches and engaging in acts of black magic.
Given the frequency with which people complain about "witch hunts" against them, it's easy to remember that the phrase came about because of actual hunts against people accused of witchcraft. Here in North America, we think about the terrible example of the Salem witch trials, but there has been a long history of sadistic campaigns against accused witches before and after that single incident, extending into the present day.
This page focuses on this sort of persecution of people literally accused of being witches and engaging in acts of black magic.
News And Analysis About Witch Hunts
Original articles exploring the issue of campaigns against accused witches
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Witch Hunt Resources
No, not resources for witch hunts. These are resources about witch hunts.
- The Witches Way - Executed during the Burning Times a List
- Documented incidents in the killings of "witches."
- Salem Witch Trial Resources at UMKC
- University of Missouri at Kansas city resources on the Salemn witch trials
- Documents from the Salem Witch Trials
- Archives from the University of Virginia
- National Geographic: Salem Witch-Hunt--Interactive
- Experience the 1692 Salem witch-hunt in a terrifying online trial
- Torment of Africa's Child Witches
- Article from the Times of London
- Child Witches Accused in Africa
- Extraordinary stories of children who have been ostracised by their families and communities, because they are branded witches
An Ancient and Modern Problem
Anti-witch crazes are not just a problem of the past.
Many people assume that paranoid campaigns against accused witches are a problem of the past. Unfortunately, witch hunts are still taking place - even here in the United States.Examples include:
- The Wasilla Assembly of God funding the anti-witch churches of Thomas Muthee
- Widespread violence against people accused of witchcraft - including tens of thousands of children - in present day Africa, Asia and Europe
- The ritual sex abuse accusations of the 1980s in the United States - which turned out to be a fraud
- Baseless accusations of neighbors putting needles, razor blades and poisons in Halloween candy as a part of a satanic plot - though such an event has never actually been documented
- Attempts to censor Harry Potter books, based on the fear that the books will make ordinary children into witches
Books About Witch Hunts
Read about the Burning Times and hunts for witches past and present
The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe
Amazon Price: $35.55 (as of 12/19/2009) 
Satanic Panic: The Creation of a Contemporary Legend
Amazon Price: $43.20 (as of 12/19/2009)
Witchcraze: A New History of the European Witch Hunts
Amazon Price: $12.44 (as of 12/19/2009)
Evil Incarnate: Rumors of Demonic Conspiracy and Satanic Abuse in History
Amazon Price: $29.95 (as of 12/19/2009)
The Salem Witch Trials Reader
Amazon Price: $15.60 (as of 12/19/2009)
Witch Talk
Do you know of other example of witch hunts in current events or in the past?
Share your thoughts about persecution of people accused of witchcraft... from the Dark Ages all the way up to Sarah Palin's church in Wasilla, Alaska... in this guestbook.
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by irregularworld
I am native resident of Upstate New York who lives in the 24th congressional District, in the village of Trumansburg, in the town of Ulysses, in Tompk... (more)
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