Skip to content
TrackPodcasts
true crimeOct 14, 202233:11pending

The Great European Witch Hunt

About this episode

We've probably all heard of the Salem witch trials, but prior to the afflicted hurling accusations at local townsfolk, there was a much larger witch hunt. The “Great Hunt” was a larger, more prolonged European phenomenon between 1560 and 1630 that led to 80,000 accusations and 40,000 deaths. Reasons for accusing a person of witchcraft varied, but more likely than not, few actual witches were tried and killed.

SOURCES

The European Witch Craze of the 14th to 17th Centuries: A Sociologist's Perspective; By Nachman Ben-Yehuda; American Journal of Sociology; Vol. 86, No. 1 (Jul. 1980), pp. 1-31 (31 pages); Published By: The University of Chicago Press

https://www.law.berkeley.edu/research/the-robbins-collection/exhibitions/witch-trials-in-early-modern-europe-and-new-england/

https://qz.com/1183992/why-europe-was-overrun-by-witch-hunts-in-early-modern-history/

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/autumn-s-oddities--5307439/support.

Get every episode summarized

Each time Autumn's Oddities publishes, we email you a written briefing from the transcript — the topics, who appeared, and any specific claims, with the ad reads skipped.

Email me new episodes

Free for 3 shows. No card needed.

No transcript yet

This episode has not been transcribed. Request it and it moves to the front of the queue.

The Great European Witch Hunt

Autumn's Oddities

0:00
33:11

More episodes

More from Autumn's Oddities

View all episodes →