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.
🇫🇮 Finland and 1 moreFinnish mythology
The pre-Christian folklore and cosmology of the Finns and KareliansTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Protection Revived
🇬🇧 United KingdomGiles Corey
An English-born farmer pressed to death for refusing to plead during the Salem witch trialsFigure Historical
🇨🇦 Canada and 1 moreTotemdoodem
A spirit or symbol linking a group to nature, from Ojibwe clan systems to Australian kinshipBelief · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Living
🇺🇸 United StatesThe Kybalion
A 1908 book presenting seven principles of mental philosophy as ancient Hermetic wisdomText · Power and authority Historical
🇺🇸 United StatesSalem Witch Trials
A colonial legal crisis where over two hundred people faced accusations of sorcery in Massachusetts.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical
🇺🇸 United StatesCotton Mather
A Puritan minister and writer known for his role in the Salem witch trials and promotion of smallpox inoculationFigure Historical
🇨🇦 CanadaNanabozhoᓇᓇᐳᔓ
A shapeshifting spirit and trickster in Anishinaabe storytelling from North AmericaBeing · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Living
🇺🇸 United StatesHex sign
Pennsylvania Dutch barn symbols that range from folk art to talismansCharm · Protection · Wonder and entertainment Living
🇺🇸 United States and 5 moreSatanism
A modern set of beliefs using the figure of Satan as a symbol or deity.Tradition · Power and authority · Cursing and harm Living
🇪🇪 Estonia and 1 moreEstonian mythologyeesti mütoloogia
The pre-Christian beliefs and legends of the Estonian peopleTradition · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇺🇸 United States and 7 moreSatanic panic
A moral panic over unsubstantiated claims of Satanic cults abusing children in the late twentieth centuryBelief · Cursing and harm Historical
🇺🇸 United StatesCurse of Tippecanoe
An urban legend linking US presidential deaths to election years ending in zero.Belief · Cursing and harm Fading
🇺🇸 United StatesKennedy curse
A pattern of tragedies linked to the American Kennedy familyBelief · Cursing and harm Historical
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreNeotantraनवतन्त्र (navatantra)
A Western movement blending Tantra with modern views on sacred sexualityTradition · Love and attraction · Change and initiation Living
🇨🇦 CanadaSpoon bending
A magic trick and paranormal claim involving the deformation of metal cutleryBelief · Wonder and entertainment · Power and authority Historical
🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreCurse of 1940
A superstition explaining a long championship drought for the New York RangersBelief · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇺🇸 United StatesMothman
A humanoid cryptid from West Virginia folklore, linked to large birds and a bridge collapse.Being · Seeing and foretelling Living
🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreNew Thought
A spiritual philosophy linking mental states to physical health and prosperityTradition · Healing · Luck and prosperity Living
🇺🇸 United States and 4 moreAMORCAntiquus Mysticusque Ordo Rosae Crucis
A US-based Rosicrucian order with global lodges and a focus on correspondence study.Tradition · Change and initiation · Power and authority Living
🇫🇮 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
🇺🇸 United StatesFive-Percent Nation
A New York movement teaching that Black people are the original gods and earth of civilizationTradition · Power and authority · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇺🇸 United StatesAshtar
A channeled extraterrestrial figure central to mid-century American ufology and New Age spiritualityBeing · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Seeing and foretelling Living
🇺🇸 United StatesHodag
A fabricated American cryptid from Wisconsin folklore and tall talesFigure · Wonder and entertainment 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
🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreFearsome critters
Tall tale animals from North American logging camps used to jest and explain the wild.Figure · Wonder and entertainment · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇫🇮 Finland and 2 moreHaltija
A supernatural guardian of a specific place or animal species in Finnish and Baltic Finnic mythologyBeing · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇺🇸 United States and 3 moreBuilders of the Adytum
A Western mystery school teaching tarot and Qabalah through correspondenceTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Living
🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreBaskerville effect
A theory that superstition about unlucky numbers causes heart attacks through stressBelief · Cursing and harm Historical
🇨🇦 CanadaMistapewmistâpêw (ᒥᐢᑖᐤ)
A spirit-being of the Cree peoples, known as the Great Man or Bigfoot.Being · Protection · Healing Living
🇺🇸 United StatesZelph
A figure identified by Joseph Smith as a buried warrior in IllinoisFigure · Power and authority Historical
🇺🇸 United StatesChurch of Light
An esoteric organization teaching astrology, alchemy, and magic as a way of life.Tradition · Power and authority · Change and initiation Living
🇺🇸 United StatesChristian views on magic
A spectrum of Christian beliefs about magical practices, ranging from strict condemnation to esoteric integration.Belief · Cursing and harm · Protection Living
🇫🇮 Finland and 1 moreVäinämöinen
An ancient Finnish demigod and master singer from the Kalevala epicBeing · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇺🇸 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 · Seeing and foretelling · Wonder and entertainment Living
🇺🇸 United StatesPlastic shaman
A label for imposters who sell fake Indigenous spiritual practices for profitBelief · Cursing and harm Living
🇺🇸 United StatesMartian Monkey
A 1953 Atlanta hoax involving a tailless monkey dressed as an alienBelief · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇺🇸 United States and 2 moreSolar Lodge
A California-based magical order active in the 1960s, known for its A∴A∴ curriculum and legal troubles.Tradition · Power and authority Historical
🇺🇸 United States and 5 moreHaunted doll
A doll claimed to be haunted or possessed, often linked to film and urban legend.Belief · Wonder and entertainment Living
🇨🇦 CanadaOak Island mystery
A centuries-old legend of buried treasure and unexplained engineering on a Canadian island.Belief · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreRemote viewing
A claimed psychic ability to perceive distant targets without using the sensesBelief · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreThe Teachings of Don Juan
A 1968 book presenting an apprenticeship with a Mexican sorcerer as anthropological fieldwork.Text · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Change and initiation Historical
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreSuperman curse
An urban legend linking misfortunes to actors and creators in Superman adaptationsBelief · Cursing and harm Living
🇺🇸 United StatesDreaming the Dark
A 1982 book by Starhawk linking magic, sex, and politicsText · Power and authority Historical
🇺🇸 United StatesKrotona
A historic Theosophical center and intentional community in CaliforniaTradition · Power and authority Living
🇺🇸 United StatesSecond-term curse
A belief that U.S. presidents face greater trouble in their second term than their first.Belief Historical
🇺🇸 United States and 3 moreFortune telling fraud
A confidence trick where a grifter invents a curse to extract money from a vulnerable client.Belief · Cursing and harm Living
🇬🇱 GreenlandAnguta
A Greenlandic Inuit figure who guides the dead and fathered the sea goddess SednaBeing · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇺🇸 United StatesThe Occult: A History
A 1971 survey of occult figures and latent human powers by Colin WilsonText · Wonder and entertainment 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
- Spoon bending: Sgerbic, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Hodag: Gourami Watcher, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Mistapew: Alarichall, CC0, source
- Zelph: HotWheels53, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Curse of Tippecanoe: Albert Gallatin Hoit, Public domain, source
- The Kybalion: American Libraries, Public domain, source
- Salem Witch Trials: unattributed, Public domain, source
- Nanabozho: D. Gordon E. Robertson, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Satanism: Alexandre Cabanel, Public domain, source
- Estonian mythology: Jeannette Berkowitz (illustrator), Public domain, source
- Finnish mythology: Väinö Blomstedt, Public domain, source
- Totem: Jami430, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Hex sign: Smallbones, CC0, 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
- Väinämöinen: Akseli Gallen-Kallela, Public domain, source
- Mothman: Tim Bertelink, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- New Thought: Nyttend, Public domain, source
- Ashtar: Evedawn99, Public domain, source
- Fearsome critters: Coert Du Bois, Public domain, source
- Martian Monkey: Tim Farley, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Haunted doll: Cayobo, CC BY 1.0, source
- Oak Island mystery: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Satanic panic: Hartmann Schedel (1440-1514), Public domain, source
- Cotton Mather: Peter Pelham, Public domain, source
- Second-term curse: Achille Beltrame, Public domain, source
- Fortune telling fraud: Simon Vouet, Public domain, source