witchcraft

Learn more about the story of Matilda Gage, whose writings inspired the witches in "The Wizard of Oz."

Before Salem, this small town succumbed to the witch-hunting fever.

They’re hip, business-savvy, and know how to cast a spell: How a new generation of witches and warlocks selling $300 wands conquered Salem.

America has a history of dealing with witches - and it has culminated in a modern movement of politically active ones.

Eighty years ago, MGM’s sparkly pink rendering of Glinda expanded American pop culture’s definition of free-flying women.

What's the real history behind Trump's 'witch hunt' tweets?

On the witch craze of early modern Europe, and how the concurrent rise of the mass-produced woodcut helped forge the archetype of the broom-riding crone.

The story of suffragist Matilda Gage, the woman behind the curtain whose life story captivated her son-in-law L. Frank Baum as he wrote his classic novel.

Marion Gibson’s research rigorously traces the legal and human aspects of the trials through today.

Sometimes an accused witch was believed to have had a dog who would do her bidding; to others, the devil appeared in the form of a dog.

Is the cost worth the payoff?

The little-told tale of the 1651 trial of Hugh and Mary Parsons.

We use the term "witch hunt" to describe baseless accusations. It's actually about targeting those without power.

A roadside marker program in New York State embraces the gray area between official history and local lore.

They're the hunters, not the hunted.

It happened long before a special prosecutor was appointed to investigate the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia. 

In a novelized biography of Samuel Sewell, a greater mystery than what bedeviled the girls is what motivated a righteous man to condemn them for witchcraft.

On the occasion of Halloween, an exploration of previous generations' fascination with ghosts, spirits, and witches.

In the same year as the Salem Witch Trials, a more common and lesser known witch hunt occurred in Stamford, Connecticut.

Jack Chick and the origins of the 1980s “Satanic Panic."

From early New England to the present day, censors have acted out of fear, not prudishness.

It’s time to care for the community—not cleanse it.

On the porous, ever-shifting boundaries between science and speculation.

Tensions between Salem and Danvers were there from the start—contributing to the ensuing witch hysteria.

Black identity is a reality, not an idea.

It is worth digging a bit deeper into the family matters between John and Elizabeth.

Despite the prevalence of tricks and spooky spirits in earlier years, the American commercial holiday didn’t develop until the middle of the twentieth century.

Sir Matthew Hale, a 17th-century jurist, has been endlessly quoted by American judges and lawyers, with awful repercussions for women.

Most Americans probably don’t know this piece of Black history. But they should.

A spectre is haunting houses—the spectre of possession.