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.
🇺🇸 United StatesKennedy curse
A pattern of tragedies linked to the American Kennedy familyBelief · Cursing and harm Historical
🇾🇪 YemenDhu'l-Khalasaذُو الْخَلَصَة
A pre-Islamic shrine in Yemen destroyed by early Muslim forces.Text · Cursing and harm · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇩🇪 Germany and 2 moreOccultism in Nazism
The study of alleged magical links to the Nazi regime and the myths that surround themBelief · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Historical
🇪🇬 Egypt and 1 moreQareenقرين
A spiritual companion or double assigned to every human in Islamic beliefBeing · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Living
🇷🇸 Serbia and 5 moreZduhaćздухаћ
A South Slavic belief in men who fight storms and hail to protect their cropsBeing · Protection · Cursing and harm Historical
🇷🇺 RussiaBlack magic
Magic used for evil or selfish purposes, and the beliefs surrounding itBelief · Cursing and harm Historical
🇧🇷 Brazil and 1 moreSaciSaci-pererê
A one-legged prankster of Brazilian folklore who hides in dust devils and wears a magic red cap.Figure · Luck and prosperity · Cursing and harm Living
🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago and 5 moreSoucouyant
A shape-shifting vampire spirit of Caribbean folklore that sheds its skin to fly as a fireballBeing · Cursing and harm Living
🇮🇪 Ireland and 5 moreSeventh son of a seventh son
A folklore belief that birth order grants supernatural healing or cursed powersBelief · Healing · Cursing and harm Historical
🇫🇷 FranceLouviers possessions
A seventeenth-century French convent case of mass demonic possession and witchcraft accusationsBelief · Cursing and harm Historical
🇫🇷 FranceChamalières tabletPlomb de Chamalières
A Gaulish lead tablet from a French spa, read as either a curse or a healing prayer.Text · Cursing and harm · Healing Historical
🇷🇺 Russia and 1 moreUnclean forceнечисть
A Slavic term for evil spirits and the undead that inhabit the natural worldBelief · Cursing and harm Historical
🇧🇷 BrazilThe Hairy LegPerna cabeluda
A Brazilian urban legend of a detached leg that attacks people at nightFigure · Cursing and harm · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇸🇾 SyriaLilulilû (Akkadian), lilu (Sumerian)
A class of Mesopotamian spirits linked to unfulfilled lives and illnessBeing · Cursing and harm · Healing Historical
🇨🇳 China and 1 moreTaoist coin charm道教品壓生錢
Chinese and Vietnamese numismatic charms used for protection and feng shuiCharm · Protection · Cursing and harm Historical
🇨🇳 China and 1 moreLei Ting curse charm符咒钱
A numismatic charm invoking the thunder god to banish evil spirits.Charm · Protection · Cursing and harm Historical
🇬🇧 United KingdomWirry-cow
A Scottish folk figure representing a frightening object or spiritBeing · Cursing and harm Historical
🇮🇹 Italy and 1 moreShamanism in Europe
Scholarly theories on shamanic elements in European folk beliefs and witch trialsTradition · Protection · Cursing and harm Historical
🇱🇰 Sri LankaMara
A Buddhist figure representing the forces that block spiritual awakening and keep beings trapped in rebirth.Being · Cursing and harm · Binding and oaths Living
🇮🇱 Israel and 5 moreAstaroth
An arch-demon in Western occultism, derived from the ancient goddess Astarte.Being · Power and authority · Cursing and harm Historical
🇨🇭 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 · Cursing and harm Historical
🇷🇺 Russia and 3 moreChortчёрт
A Slavic demon spirit with horns and hooves, known in folklore as a trickster or minor evil force.Being · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇫🇮 Finland and 1 moreHiisi
A Finnic spirit of sacred places that evolved into a demonic giant in folkloreBeing · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Historical
🇷🇸 Serbia and 5 moreWolves in folklore, religion and mythology
A global survey of how cultures view the wolf as symbol, spirit or threatBelief · Power and authority · Cursing and harm Historical
🇷🇴 Romania and 2 moreStrixστρίξ
A classical bird of ill omen that evolved into a term for witches and vampires across Europe.Being · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇫🇷 FranceTitivillus
A medieval demon who collects scribal errors and liturgical mistakes in a sack.Being · Cursing and harm Historical
🇹🇷 Turkey and 4 moreAl BastyAlbastı
A female spirit of guilt and childbirth found in Turkic and Caucasian folkloreBeing · Cursing and harm Historical
🇪🇬 Egypt and 2 moreAbyzou
A female demon of envy who targets newborns and pregnant women in late antique magic.Being · Cursing and harm · Protection Historical
🇨🇳 China and 1 moreMogwai魔鬼
A Chinese term for demons and evil spirits, borrowed from Sanskrit lore through Buddhism.Being · Cursing and harm Historical
🇬🇷 GreeceGelloΓελλώ
A Greek demon of infancy and a class of beings blamed for infant death.Being · Cursing and harm · Protection Historical
🇯🇵 JapanAkuma悪魔（あくま）
An evil spirit in Japanese folklore, later used for Satan in ChristianityBeing · Cursing and harm Historical
🇺🇸 United StatesGreenbrier Ghost
A West Virginia murder case where a mother claimed her daughter's spirit revealed the truth.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical
🇯🇲 Jamaica and 3 moreDuppy
A Caribbean term for a ghost or malevolent spirit, rooted in West African folklore.Being · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Living
🇮🇱 IsraelAgrat bat Mahlatאגרת בת מחלת
A demon in Jewish tradition who rules over destructive spirits and night hours.Being · Cursing and harm Historical
🇮🇹 Italy and 1 moreCola Pesce
An Italian merman legend about a boy cursed by his mother to live in the seaFigure · Cursing and harm · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇮🇱 Israel and 1 moreTerritorial spirit
A belief that demons or angels rule over specific lands and nations.Belief · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Living
🇷🇺 RussiaHabernitsa
A noon demon of Slavic fields who punishes workers and causes pain.Being · Cursing and harm Historical
🇩🇪 Germany and 3 moreWiedergänger
A German term for a revenant or ghost that returns to the world of the living.Being · Cursing and harm Historical
🇩🇪 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 · Cursing and harm Historical
🇫🇷 France and 1 moreDusios
A Gaulish spirit type later classified as an incubus demon by early Christian writersBeing · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Historical
🇫🇷 FranceYan-gant-y-tan
A Breton demon who carries five candles and is said to bring bad luck.Being · Cursing and harm · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇭🇺 Hungary and 1 moreSárkány
A winged reptilian beast from Hungarian folklore, linked to weather and literary heroes.Being · Cursing and harm · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇳🇴 NorwayDeildegast
A Norwegian ghost bound to boundary stones it moved in lifeBeing · Cursing and harm Historical
🇸🇩 SudanWitchcraft, Oracles and Magic Among the Azande
A foundational anthropological study of Azande witchcraft, oracles, and magic in southern Sudan.Text · Cursing and harm · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇬🇧 United KingdomSaducismus Triumphatus
A 1681 English book defending witchcraft beliefs and attacking skepticsText · Cursing and harm Historical
🇪🇬 Egypt and 1 moreMahalathמָחֲלַת
A queen of demons in Jewish mysticism and the mother of AgratBeing · Cursing and harm Historical
🇮🇱 Israel and 1 moreSe'irimשעירים
Demons of Hebrew tradition linked to wild goats and ruined placesBeing · Cursing and harm Historical
🇾🇪 YemenʿAnāqأناق بنت آدم
A monstrous daughter of Adam in Islamic extra-Quranic traditionFigure · 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.
- Kennedy curse: Walt Cisco, Dallas Morning News, Public domain, source
- Occultism in Nazism: Peretz Kaminsky, Public domain, source
- Qareen: عامر شاہین, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Zduhać: Bidgee, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Black magic: https://www.flickr.com/photos/eliogarcia/ (nick in flickr:creo que soy, CC BY 2.0, source
- Obake: Utagawa Kunisada (歌川国貞), Public domain, 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
- Chamalières tablet: Unknown, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Unclean force: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Lei Ting curse charm: Donald_Trung, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- The Hairy Leg: Diógenes Montenegro, Public domain, source
- Taoist coin charm: Etnografiska Museet, CC BY 2.5, source
- Astaroth: M. Jarrault, Public domain, source
- Chort: 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
- Abyzou: Paul Perdirizet (1870-4 juin 1938), Public domain, source
- Mogwai: Gisling, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Gello: Filippino Lippi, Public domain, source
- Wiedergänger: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Yan-gant-y-tan: Louis Le Breton, Public domain, source
- Dusios: Eric Hunt, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Night raven: Kim Diaz Holm (den unge herr Holm), CC BY 4.0, source
- Sárkány: Albrecht Dürer, Public domain, source
- Mara: Under the Bo, CC BY-SA 3.0, source