Scholars and sceptics
Anthropologists, historians and investigators who study magic and test its claims.
Scholars and sceptics are the people who study magic from outside the practice: anthropologists, historians, folklorists, psychologists, scholars of religion and investigators who test claims. They have names such as E. E. Evans-Pritchard, Marcel Mauss, Bronislaw Malinowski, Mary Douglas, Keith Thomas and Carlo Ginzburg, and also investigators such as James Randi. This page covers what they have found, how they disagree, and what their work has cost and changed. Their work has changed how the whole subject is understood.
Early theories
Nineteenth-century writers such as James Frazer treated magic as a mistaken early science, a view now widely rejected as arrogant and inaccurate. Later anthropologists, including Evans-Pritchard in his 1937 study of the Azande, showed that magical belief can be a consistent way of reasoning about misfortune. Mauss and Malinowski stressed its social role. Fieldwork, archives, laboratory studies and surveys are their main methods, and each field has its own debates and schools.
The history of witch trials
Historians have revised their view of the witch trials. Keith Thomas and Alan Macfarlane studied English village accusations, Carlo Ginzburg found the benandanti in Friuli, and Ronald Hutton has argued about the numbers and causes, and Silvia Federici links the persecution to the rise of capitalism, a thesis historians dispute. The older figure of nine million victims has been dropped, and estimates now run to tens of thousands of executions.
Testing claims
Sceptics test whether claims hold up. James Randi offered a prize for evidence of paranormal power that was never won, and organisations such as the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry investigate fraud. Researchers study why people believe: pattern-seeking, uncertainty and the wish to control events. The best sceptics aim to understand people, not to mock them. Sceptics hold that claims should be tested, and they have a long record of exposing cases such as spirit photography and fake healers.
Ethics of study
Scholars were often colonial officials or missionaries, and their reports shaped how Indigenous religions were named. Contemporary researchers work with communities, ask consent and respect closed knowledge. Practitioners sometimes object to being explained, and sceptics sometimes to being called closed-minded. The conversation continues, and this guide aims to stay neutral on whether magic works. Their critics reply that science cannot measure everything that matters to a community, and that explaining a ritual away is not the same as understanding it.
Scholars and sceptics on EveryJaadu
The entries written up so far, best known first.
馃嚠馃嚬 ItalyWitches of Benevento
A medieval Italian legend of witches gathering under a walnut treeBelief 路 Cursing and harm 路 Luck and prosperity Historical
馃嚨馃嚤 PolandWitch trials in Poland
A historical record of sorcery prosecutions and executions in Poland from the 15th to the 19th century.Belief 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚜馃嚫 SpainBasque witch trials
A seventeenth-century Inquisition campaign against alleged witches in the Basque Country.Belief 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚠馃嚬 ItalyWitch trials in Italy
Historic legal proceedings against alleged witches across Italian states from the 14th to 18th centuries.Belief 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚫馃嚜 SwedenTors氓ker witch trials
The largest mass execution of witches in Swedish history, carried out in a single day.Belief 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚛馃嚜 GermanyTrier witch trials
A series of mass executions in the Holy Roman Empire between 1581 and 1593.Belief 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚝馃嚪 FranceWitch trials in France
A fragmented history of legal persecution for sorcery across French regions and centuries.Belief 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚞馃嚙 United Kingdom and 7 moreSaint Andrew's Day
A Christian feast day marked by national holidays in Scotland and Romania, and folk divination across Europe.Rite 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Luck and prosperity Living
馃嚠馃嚜 Ireland and 5 moreHoly well
A water source revered for healing and ritual across pagan and Christian traditionsTradition 路 Healing 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomSamlesbury witches
Three Lancashire women acquitted in a 1612 trial linked to anti-Catholic propagandaBelief 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚦馃嚤 NetherlandsCornelius Loos
A Catholic priest who publicly opposed the European witch trials of the late 1500s.Belief 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚜馃嚜 Estonia and 1 moreWitch trials in Latvia and Estonia
Early modern persecutions of sorcery and paganism by Baltic German authoritiesBelief 路 Cursing and harm 路 Cleansing and purification Historical
馃嚦馃嚧 NorwayVard酶 witch trials
A major Scandinavian persecution of women accused of sorcery in 17th-century NorwayBelief 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚫馃嚜 SwedenWitch trials in Denmark
A history of legal executions and local panics against sorcery in early modern Denmark.Belief 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚛馃嚜 Germany and 1 moreWitch's mark
A bodily mark believed to prove a pact with the Devil during early modern witch trialsBelief 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomEnglish folklore
The myths, legends, and customs of England passed down through generations.Tradition 路 Protection 路 Cursing and harm Living
馃嚛馃嚜 GermanyW眉rzburg witch trials
A mass execution of hundreds in a German Catholic principality during the Thirty Years WarBelief 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚞馃嚙 United Kingdom and 1 moreScottish folkloreBeul-aithris na h-Alba
The myths, creatures and beliefs of the Scottish people, recorded from ancient times to the present.Tradition 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Protection Living
馃嚞馃嚪 Greece and 5 moreNecromancy
A form of divination that seeks to speak with the dead for hidden knowledge.Tradition 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Power and authority Historical
馃嚠馃嚬 Italy and 1 moreMedieval European magic
A broad category of ritual and natural practices in the Middle Ages, blending healing, divination, and religious belief.Tradition 路 Healing 路 Seeing and foretelling Historical
馃嚠馃嚜 Ireland and 4 moreWinter solstice
The shortest day and longest night of the year, marked by rites of solar returnTradition 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Protection Living
馃嚝馃嚪 France and 1 moreNostradamus
A French astrologer and physician known for a book of poetic propheciesText 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Power and authority Historical
馃嚞馃嚙 United Kingdom and 2 moreDaniel Dunglas Home
A Scottish physical medium known for levitation and spirit communication during the Victorian era.Belief 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Wonder and entertainment Historical
馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomPendle witches
A 1612 series of English witch trials that resulted in ten executions near Pendle Hill.Belief 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚜馃嚫 Spain and 1 moreAlonso de Salazar Fr铆as
An inquisitor who used evidence to stop witch executions in SpainBelief Historical
馃嚦馃嚧 NorwayWitch trials in Norway
A wave of executions and legal persecution for sorcery in early modern Norway.Belief 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚛馃嚜 Germany and 1 moreBamberg witch trials
A mass execution campaign in a German prince-bishopric that killed around one thousand people between 1623 and 1632.Belief 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomSpectral evidence
Court testimony based on visions of spirits during historical witch trialsBelief 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚦馃嚤 NetherlandsWitch trials in the Netherlands
A historical record of prosecutions and executions for sorcery in the Dutch Republic.Belief 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚝馃嚪 FranceLouviers possessions
A seventeenth-century French convent case of mass demonic possession and witchcraft accusationsBelief 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚞馃嚪 GreeceGello螕蔚位位蠋
A Greek demon of infancy and a class of beings blamed for infant death.Being 路 Cursing and harm 路 Protection Historical
馃嚝馃嚪 France and 1 moreDusios
A Gaulish spirit type later classified as an incubus demon by early Christian writersBeing 路 Cursing and harm 路 Power and authority Historical
馃嚝馃嚪 FranceLoudun possessionsaffaire des poss茅d茅es de Loudun
A 17th-century witchcraft trial in France involving alleged demonic possession by Ursuline nuns.Belief 路 Cursing and harm 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
馃嚛馃嚜 Germany and 5 moreWitchcraft accusations against children
Historical and modern persecution of children blamed for witchcraftBelief 路 Cursing and harm Living
馃嚠馃嚪 Iran and 5 moreAxis mundi
A concept describing a central point connecting the earthly and heavenly realms.Belief 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Power and authority Historical
馃嚠馃嚫 Iceland and 3 moreDeal with the Devil
A cultural trope of trading one's soul for worldly favours in exchange for demonic aidBelief 路 Power and authority 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚞馃嚪 GreeceSacred mysteries渭蠀蟽蟿萎蟻喂慰谓
Secret ceremonies and divine doctrines held to exceed human reasonBelief 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Change and initiation Living
馃嚛馃嚜 Germany and 1 moreReligious aspects of Nazism
The study of how Nazi ideology borrowed religious forms and esoteric beliefs to build a political movement.Tradition 路 Power and authority 路 Cursing and harm Historical
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Witchcraft accusations against children: Radbot, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Witch trials in Denmark: Rigsarkivet - Danish National Archives, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Witch's mark: T. H. Matteson, Public domain, source
- English folklore: J. R. Skelton, Public domain, source
- W眉rzburg witch trials: Sweet Chily, Public domain, source
- Necromancy: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
- Medieval European magic: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Winter solstice: Image by Przemyslaw " Blueshade " Idzkiewicz, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Nostradamus: After C茅sar de Notre-Dame, Public domain, source
- Daniel Dunglas Home: Nadar, Public domain, source
- Pendle witches: Dr Greg, CC BY 3.0, source
- Alonso de Salazar Fr铆as: Oscar Monta帽茅s, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Bamberg witch trials: Berthold Werner, Public domain, source
- Gello: Filippino Lippi, Public domain, source
- Dusios: Eric Hunt, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Deal with the Devil: Christoph, Public domain, source
- Witch trials in the Netherlands: Mathje1963, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Basque witch trials: Alberto-g-rovi, CC BY 3.0, source
- Loudun possessions: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Sacred mysteries: Johannes Hopffe, Public domain, source
- Witch trials in the Holy Roman Empire: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Tors氓ker witch trials: Y-n盲smannen, CC0, source
- Witch trials in France: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
- Saint Andrew's Day: Henryk Siemiradzki, Public domain, source
- Axis mundi: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Holy well: The Speckled Bird, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Samlesbury witches: Tom Oates, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Religious aspects of Nazism: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, source
- Witches of Benevento: Guglielmo della Porta, CC0, source