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.
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesSalem Witch Trials
A colonial legal crisis where over two hundred people faced accusations of sorcery in Massachusetts.Belief 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 5 moreSatanism
A modern set of beliefs using the figure of Satan as a symbol or deity.Tradition 路 Power and authority 路 Cursing and harm Living
馃嚜馃嚜 Estonia and 1 moreEstonian mythologyeesti m眉toloogia
The pre-Christian beliefs and legends of the Estonian peopleTradition 路 Protection 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
馃嚝馃嚠 Finland and 1 moreFinnish mythology
The pre-Christian folklore and cosmology of the Finns and KareliansTradition 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Protection Revived
馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 7 moreSatanic panic
A moral panic over unsubstantiated claims of Satanic cults abusing children in the late twentieth centuryBelief 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚚馃嚘 Canada and 1 moreTotemdoodem
A spirit or symbol linking a group to nature, from Ojibwe clan systems to Australian kinshipBelief 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Power and authority Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesCurse of Tippecanoe
An urban legend linking US presidential deaths to election years ending in zero.Belief 路 Cursing and harm Fading
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesKennedy curse
A pattern of tragedies linked to the American Kennedy familyBelief 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚚馃嚘 CanadaSpoon bending
A magic trick and paranormal claim involving the deformation of metal cutleryBelief 路 Wonder and entertainment 路 Power and authority Historical
馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 1 moreCurse of 1940
A superstition explaining a long championship drought for the New York RangersBelief 路 Luck and prosperity Historical
馃嚝馃嚠 Finland and 1 moreHiisi
A Finnic spirit of sacred places that evolved into a demonic giant in folkloreBeing 路 Cursing and harm 路 Power and authority Historical
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesAshtar
A channeled extraterrestrial figure central to mid-century American ufology and New Age spiritualityBeing 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Seeing and foretelling Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesGreenbrier Ghost
A West Virginia murder case where a mother claimed her daughter's spirit revealed the truth.Belief 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚚馃嚘 CanadaOak Island mystery
A centuries-old legend of buried treasure and unexplained engineering on a Canadian island.Belief 路 Luck and prosperity Historical
馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 1 moreBaskerville effect
A theory that superstition about unlucky numbers causes heart attacks through stressBelief 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesChristian views on magic
A spectrum of Christian beliefs about magical practices, ranging from strict condemnation to esoteric integration.Belief 路 Cursing and harm 路 Protection Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 5 moreVanishing hitchhiker
An urban legend where a motorist picks up a passenger who vanishes, often leaving behind proof of their death.Belief 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Wonder and entertainment Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesPlastic shaman
A label for imposters who sell fake Indigenous spiritual practices for profitBelief 路 Cursing and harm Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesMartian Monkey
A 1953 Atlanta hoax involving a tailless monkey dressed as an alienBelief 路 Wonder and entertainment Historical
馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 5 moreHaunted doll
A doll claimed to be haunted or possessed, often linked to film and urban legend.Belief 路 Wonder and entertainment Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 1 moreRemote viewing
A claimed psychic ability to perceive distant targets without using the sensesBelief 路 Seeing and foretelling Historical
馃嚞馃嚙 United Kingdom and 1 moreSuperman curse
An urban legend linking misfortunes to actors and creators in Superman adaptationsBelief 路 Cursing and harm Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesSecond-term curse
A belief that U.S. presidents face greater trouble in their second term than their first.Belief Historical
馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 3 moreFortune telling fraud
A confidence trick where a grifter invents a curse to extract money from a vulnerable client.Belief 路 Cursing and harm Living
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Kennedy curse: Walt Cisco, Dallas Morning News, Public domain, source
- Spoon bending: Sgerbic, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Curse of Tippecanoe: Albert Gallatin Hoit, Public domain, source
- Salem Witch Trials: unattributed, Public domain, source
- Satanism: Alexandre Cabanel, Public domain, source
- Estonian mythology: Jeannette Berkowitz (illustrator), Public domain, source
- Finnish mythology: V盲in枚 Blomstedt, Public domain, source
- Totem: Jami430, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Curse of 1940: Trophy: Unknown Photo: Alexey Chernyadyev Derivative work: J . delanoy, CC BY 3.0, source
- Christian views on magic: Athanasius Kircher, Public domain, source
- Ashtar: Evedawn99, Public domain, source
- Martian Monkey: Tim Farley, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Haunted doll: Cayobo, CC BY 1.0, source
- Satanic panic: Hartmann Schedel (1440-1514), Public domain, source
- Second-term curse: Achille Beltrame, Public domain, source
- Fortune telling fraud: Simon Vouet, Public domain, source
- Oak Island mystery: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source