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.
馃嚞馃嚙 United Kingdom and 2 moreWitchcraft Acts
A series of British laws that shifted from punishing witchcraft to punishing those who claimed to practice it.Text 路 Cursing and harm Historical
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
馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomWitch trials in England
A historical period of legal persecution for alleged sorcery in England from the 15th to the 18th centuryBelief 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚪馃嚧 Romania and 2 moreStrigoi
A Romanian undead spirit linked to witchcraft and vampirismBeing 路 Cursing and harm 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
馃嚪馃嚭 RussiaBlack magic
Magic traditionally defined by malevolent intent and selfish purposesBelief 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚠馃嚦 India and 2 moreTrial by ordeal
An ancient judicial test where a dangerous physical trial determined guilt or innocenceRite 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
馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomPaisley witches
A 1697 Scottish witch trial ending in mass execution after a child's illness sparked local panic.Belief 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚛馃嚜 GermanyPhilipp Adolf von Ehrenberg
A German prince-bishop who directed a massive witch-hunt in the 1620sFigure 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚛馃嚜 GermanyAlp
A Germanic spirit that presses on sleepers and drinks milkBeing 路 Cursing and harm 路 Luck and prosperity Historical
馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomMatthew Hopkins
The English witch-hunter who led the deadliest wave of executions in Britain.Figure 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomWiccan Rede
A moral guideline for Wiccans stating that actions should cause no harm.Text 路 Cursing and harm Living
馃嚫馃嚜 SwedenMora witch trial
A 1669 Swedish mass execution driven by child testimony and European hysteriaBelief 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚠馃嚫 IcelandGaldrab贸k
An Icelandic grimoire of spells and staves from around 1600Text 路 Protection 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚛馃嚜 Germany and 2 moreOccultism in Nazism
The study of alleged magical links to the Nazi regime and the myths that surround themBelief 路 Cursing and harm 路 Power and authority Historical
馃嚪馃嚭 RussiaBlack magic
Magic used for evil or selfish purposes, and the beliefs surrounding itBelief 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚠馃嚜 Ireland and 5 moreSeventh son of a seventh son
A folklore belief that birth order grants supernatural healing or cursed powersBelief 路 Healing 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
馃嚝馃嚪 FranceChamali猫res tabletPlomb de Chamali猫res
A Gaulish lead tablet from a French spa, read as either a curse or a healing prayer.Text 路 Cursing and harm 路 Healing Historical
馃嚪馃嚭 Russia and 1 moreUnclean force薪械褔懈褋褌褜
A Slavic term for evil spirits and the undead that inhabit the natural worldBelief 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomWirry-cow
A Scottish folk figure representing a frightening object or spiritBeing 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚠馃嚬 Italy and 1 moreShamanism in Europe
Scholarly theories on shamanic elements in European folk beliefs and witch trialsTradition 路 Protection 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚚馃嚟 Switzerland and 2 moreOrder of the Solar TempleOrdre du Temple solaire
A neo-Templar new religious movement responsible for mass deaths in the 1990s.Tradition 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚪馃嚭 Russia and 3 moreChort褔褢褉褌
A Slavic demon spirit with horns and hooves, known in folklore as a trickster or minor evil force.Being 路 Cursing and harm 路 Luck and prosperity Historical
馃嚪馃嚫 Serbia and 5 moreWolves in folklore, religion and mythology
A global survey of how cultures view the wolf as symbol, spirit or threatBelief 路 Power and authority 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚪馃嚧 Romania and 2 moreStrix蟽蟿蟻委尉
A classical bird of ill omen that evolved into a term for witches and vampires across Europe.Being 路 Cursing and harm 路 Luck and prosperity Historical
馃嚝馃嚪 FranceTitivillus
A medieval demon who collects scribal errors and liturgical mistakes in a sack.Being 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
馃嚠馃嚬 Italy and 1 moreCola Pesce
An Italian merman legend about a boy cursed by his mother to live in the seaFigure 路 Cursing and harm 路 Seeing and foretelling Historical
馃嚛馃嚜 Germany and 3 moreWiederg盲nger
A German term for a revenant or ghost that returns to the world of the living.Being 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚪馃嚭 RussiaHabernitsa
A noon demon of Slavic fields who punishes workers and causes pain.Being 路 Cursing and harm 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 FranceYan-gant-y-tan
A Breton demon who carries five candles and is said to bring bad luck.Being 路 Cursing and harm 路 Wonder and entertainment Historical
馃嚛馃嚜 Germany and 4 moreNight ravennattravn
A nocturnal creature of European folklore, feared as a child-stealer or seen as a ghost in bird form.Being 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚦馃嚧 NorwayDeildegast
A Norwegian ghost bound to boundary stones it moved in lifeBeing 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚟馃嚭 Hungary and 1 moreS谩rk谩ny
A winged reptilian beast from Hungarian folklore, linked to weather and literary heroes.Being 路 Cursing and harm 路 Wonder and entertainment Historical
馃嚫馃嚜 SwedenStentoften Runestone
A seventh-century Swedish stone inscribed with a curse and harvest blessings in Proto-NorseText 路 Cursing and harm 路 Luck and prosperity Historical
馃嚠馃嚬 Italy and 1 moreGrim Reaper
A hooded skeleton with a scythe, representing death in Western art and story.Figure 路 Cursing and harm 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
馃嚠馃嚫 IcelandYule catJ贸lak枚tturinn
A giant feline from Icelandic folklore that threatens those without new Christmas clothesFigure 路 Cursing and harm Living
馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomLazy Laurence
A mischievous English pixie who makes orchard workers lazy and gives them indigestionBeing 路 Protection 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomSaducismus Triumphatus
A 1681 English book defending witchcraft beliefs and attacking skepticsText 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomNine sorceressesnaw chwaer
A group of nine magical women in Welsh and Arthurian legendFigure 路 Cursing and harm 路 Protection Historical
馃嚛馃嚜 Germany and 3 moreCruentation
A medieval judicial test where a suspect touched a victim's body to see if it bled.Rite 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomLantern man
A ghost light of the English fens said to lure victims into the marshesBelief 路 Cursing and harm 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
馃嚜馃嚫 SpainLiber Ignium
A medieval Latin manuscript containing recipes for incendiary weapons and chemicals.Text 路 Cursing and harm 路 Power and authority Historical
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Occultism in Nazism: Peretz Kaminsky, Public domain, source
- Black magic: https://www.flickr.com/photos/eliogarcia/ (nick in flickr:creo que soy, CC BY 2.0, source
- Order of the Solar Temple: George Stock derivative work: thumperward ( talk ), Public domain, source
- Saducismus Triumphatus: unknown engraver of the 17th century, Public domain, source
- Cruentation: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Witchcraft accusations against children: Radbot, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Trial by ordeal: James Sibree, Public domain, source
- Alp: Henry Fuseli, Public domain, source
- Matthew Hopkins: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
- Mora witch trial: Unknown author Unknown author contemporary artist, Public domain, source
- Witchcraft Act 1735: Richard van Bleeck, Public domain, source
- Chamali猫res tablet: Unknown, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Unclean force: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Wolves in folklore, religion and mythology: Unknown author, CC0, source
- Strix: Prosthetic Head, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Titivillus: Andrewrabbott, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Gello: Filippino Lippi, Public domain, source
- Wiederg盲nger: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Yan-gant-y-tan: Louis Le Breton, Public domain, source
- Night raven: Kim Diaz Holm (den unge herr Holm), CC BY 4.0, source
- Dusios: Eric Hunt, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- S谩rk谩ny: Albrecht D眉rer, Public domain, source
- Grim Reaper: Jaroslav A. Pol谩k, CC BY 4.0, source
- Loudun possessions: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Yule cat: Christine Rondeau, CC BY 2.0, source
- Bideford witch trial: Totnesmartin, Public domain, source
- Stentoften Runestone: Sendelbach ( talk ), CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Chort: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Witches of Benevento: Guglielmo della Porta, CC0, source