Introduction
Witch-hunts entail searching for individuals who have been labeled as witches, they are people viewed to practice witchcraft. Witchcraft has several meanings, even though the most appropriate one is the supernatural powers’ invocation to control events, people, and activities. Hence, a witch-hunt entailed the activity of searching for a specific group of individuals who mostly had contrary views and not necessarily due to them having done something dreadful. It demonstrated an event of moral panic, which was repeated many times for centuries that followed medieval Europe. However, from the 1980s to 1990s, moral panic spread via the United States (US) concerning supposed widespread satanic cults (Satanic panic), which were blamed for involvement in infant sacrifice, sexual abuse, and mind control. The essay compares and contrasts the Great European witch-hunt with the satanic panic of the 1980s and 90s.
Differences between the European Witch-hunt and the Satanic Panic
European witch-hunts occurred in began in Europe in the late fourteenth century. The witchcraft epicenter was believed to be in Europe mostly Germany. The first instance of witchcraft killing was in 1572 when Eva, a woman was charged with applying witchcraft to kill a child. Along with the other two women, she was arrested and burnt to death. Therefore, witch-hunts involve targeting groups due to their beliefs. In witch-hunts during medieval Europe, new laws were enacted to target a disadvantaged ideological group in society. Both political and religious ideologies were the center of witch-hunts over the American historical course. For example, the Salem witch trials and the second red scare actions that happened during both instances played on the citizens’ fears to promote the political, personal, and social agendas of those people who carried out the trials.
In the Salem witch trials and McCarthyism, there existed a feather that each societal value was being threatened by both external and internal entities. In the court of Terminer and Oyer, powerful Salem community members applied the trials in a bid to punish ministers within the colony who were considered tolerant of other religions. The community elders exploited the people via their fear and superstitions of the devil to validate their witchcraft accusations, which the elders applied to facilitate their evidence of protecting the society. There was a belief that Satan recruited the women and signed a pact with them to convert them into sexual objects.
It was noted that the witches sold their souls to Satan and could serve hell on the planet. Selling their souls was considered a kind of reward for the women. Single, windowed, and elderly women were seen to be living wicked lives, hence, leading to the witch-hunt in medieval Europe. The Catholic Church was alleged to be a monopoly in the 1500s in religion and dominated most of the faith population. Therefore, any practice being branded a potential witchcraft act was punished by death.
The Christians proposed that people who had supernatural powers gained them from Satan. Hence, from the late fifteenth century to the late eighteenth century, witch-hunt persecution was carried out across Europe and most people majority being women were killed for witchcraft. For instance, the labor radicals, Quakers, and communists were targeted for their beliefs rather than their deeds. For example James I believed that the power of a witch or magician emanated from the agreement entered into between witches and the devil. Hence, witchcraft was not an ideology but an action. Therefore, James I imposed a death sentence devoid benefit of clergy for witchcraft practice that led to any physical injury to another person against capital punishment only used in events of death under the statute of Elizabeth. There were evidentiary deficiencies during the Salem trials in which the only generally agreed evidence for the conviction of the witch was either the testimony of two eyewitnesses or confusion of the accused. Most of the evidence was controversial spectral evidence and hearsay.
However, satanic panic is overzealously targeting forms of criminal activities. Contrary to the witch-hunt in the Salem trials that centered on communications with Satan. The Satanic panic of the 1980s and 90s centered on the children’s abuse of the Satanic cults. In addition, unlike the Salem witch-hunt trials that occurred over a year period, satanic panic entails a sequence of discrete but interlinked instances that stretched for approximately 15 years from the 1980s to and mid-1990s. Despite the superficial differences between a witch-hunt and Satanic panic, it has in a similar perspective, been considered a witch-hunt when in reality it can be better termed as a crime panic.
The McMartin preschool trial is an example of a case of cult sexual abuse as it demonstrates the issues and pattern of the satanic panic events. The instance started with one case of sexual abuse engaging a child and a daycare worker; however, it expanded to involve many children accusing many pre-school staff. The children’s stories engaged accounts of sexual rites, animal killings, secret tunnels, sexual rites, exposure to corpses, and pornography sessions. Most of the satanic panic cases failed due to their dependence on unreliable children’s testimony. It focused on the fixation using one form of current criminal behavior, which was supported by people of influence leading to trials that were noted to be unfair due to current faults in criminal procedure law.
Further, the faults, which were contrary to some of the key procedural flaws of the Salem witch-hunt trials remain with us in these modern days. Hence, the satanic panic was not about the criminalization of beliefs or the formulation of new laws to target a specific ideology as it was in the case of a witch-hunt. The Dungeons and Dragons are examples of James Egbert III suffering from psychological problems that were associated with satanic panic. James believed Dungeons and Dragons were real and spread this panic without substantive evidence. The systematic use of the youth in popular culture as in Dungeons and Dragons, became wonderful acts of satanic panic for the evil plot as it taught children black magic as they committed satanic worship and violence.
Similarities between the European Witch-hunt and the Satanic Panic
Both the European witch-hunt and satanic panic lacked substantial evidence to prove in the trials. The trials were based on the hearsay and beliefs people had propagating conspiracy in society. People utilize both satanic panic and witch-hunts to spread their rumors as real, while the media and others support these trials for their benefit. Both witch-hunts and satanic panic thrive in spreading delusion among the people in society. Schools, for instance, became panicking about the dangers of Dungeons and Dragons reality, but this was not the truth as it centered on imagination.
Conclusion
The Great European witch-hunt centered on people’s beliefs, and the satanic panic focused on the propagation of criminal activities among children and teenagers in the 1980s and 1990s. Both activities lacked physical evidence and were based on brainwashing, moral pressure during an interrogation of eyewitnesses, evidence contamination, unconscious influence of eyewitnesses, and irregularities in the interrogation procedures as in the case of Dungeons and Dragons, the Salem witch-hunt trials, and others. A consistency of confessions one with another is considered evidence that they are real when in reality are based on propaganda and conspiracies.