Scottish witch report shows executioners’ crisis

[icymist]

IT WAS a macabre and dreaded career to take, during one of the darkest chapters in Scotland’s history when superstition brought about a culture of fear and panic that claimed the lives of hundreds of people.

Now, research into the grim role of the men who ended the lives of the nation’s witches has revealed how they were handsomely rewarded for their deeds yet feared by ordinary people.

A new book exploring the history of witch hunting throughout the 16th and 17th centuries shows that there was a recruitment crisis for executioners

http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/heritage/scottish-witch-report-shows-executioners-crisis-1-3247012

[libodem]

1. Shudder

I didn't want to read this but in solidarity with those poor women, I did. I think we can thank the early Patriarchal Catholic Church for their stance on solitary women, midwives and healers. Or any nonconformist.

They couldn't wait to push women out of healing professions and make room for the all male college of physicians.

[icymist]

2. I know that it is hard to read some of this.

I try and post one of these stories now and then least we forget how massive mental illness can be driven up.

[libodem]

3. What an awful age

That must have been to be alive. So much superstitious misunderstanding and violence in the name of a male deity. Sickening.

Republicans are still denying evolution and likely any other science that conflicts with their pet narrative. They would be the types to sign up as chief witch hunter.