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#like the fact that the salem witch trials were a very real historical event and therefore not ip aside
devilsskettle · 3 years
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oh man i have a Lot of thoughts about the autopsy of jane doe, both positive and critical For Sure, i'd be SO excited to see your analysis of it! definitely keeping an eye out for that 👀
thanks! i'm working on something article-like to talk about the film and i don't know what i want to do with it yet lol but if i don't post it on here i'll definitely link it. it's mainly a discussion of gender in possession/occult films in the same way that carol clover describes in men, women, and chainsaws - that there are dual plot lines in occult films, usually gendered masculine and feminine respectively, where the "main" feminine plot (the actual possession) is actually a way to explore the "real" masculine plot (the emotional conflict of the "man in crisis" protagonist). typically the man in crisis is too masculine, or "closed" emotionally, where the woman is too "open," which is why she acts as the vehicle for the supernatural occurrence as well as the core emotions of the film. the man has to learn how to become more open (though if he becomes too open, like father karras in the exorcist, he has to die by the end - he has to find a happy medium, where he doesn't actually transgress gender expectations too much. clover calls this state the "new masculine," and we might apply the term "toxic masculinity" to the "closed" emotional state). part of the "opening up" feature of the story is that it allows men to be highly emotionally expressive in situations where they otherwise might not be allowed to, which is cathartic for the assumed primary audience of these films (young men). another feature of the genre is white science vs black magic (once you exhaust the scientific "rational" explanations, you have to accept that something magic is happening). the autopsy of jane doe does this even more than the films she discusses when she published the book in 1992 (the exorcist, poltergeist, christine, etc) because the supernaturally influenced young woman who becomes this kind of vehicle is more of an object than a character. she doesn't have a single line of dialogue or even blink for the entire runtime of the movie. the camerawork often pans to her as if to show her reactions to the events of the movie, which seems kind of pointless because it's the same reaction the whole time (none) but it allows the viewer to project anything they want onto her - from personal suffering to cunning and spite. 
compare again to the exorcist: is the story actually about regan mcneil? no. but do we care about her? sure (clover says no, but i think we at least feel for her situation lol). and do we get an idea of what she's like as a person? yes. even though her pain and her body are used narratively as a framework for karras' emotional/religious crisis, we at least see her as a person. both she and her mother are expendable to the "real" plot but they're very active in their roles in the "main" plot - our "jane doe" isn't afforded even that level of agency or identity. so. is that inherently sexist? well, no - if there were other women in the film who were part of the "real" plot, i would say that the presence of women with agency and identity demonstrate enough regard for the personhood of women to make the gender of the subject of the autopsy irrelevant. but there are none. of the three important women in the film, we have 1) an almost corpse, 2) an absent (dead) mother, and 3) a one dimensional girlfriend who is killed off for a man's character development/cathartic expression of emotions. all three are just platforms for the men in crisis of this narrative. 
and, to my surprise, much of the reception to the film is to embrace it as a feminist story because the witch is misconstrued as a badass, powerful, Strong Female Character girl boss type for getting revenge on the men who wronged her, with absolutely no consideration given to what the movie actually ends up saying about women. and the director has said that he embraces this interpretation, but never intended it. so like. of course you're going to embrace the interpretation that gives you critical acclaim and the moral high ground. but it's so fucking clear that it was never his intention to say anything about feminism, or women in general, or gender at all. so i find it very frustrating that people read the film that way because it's just. objectively wrong.
there's also things i want to say about this idea that clover talks about in a different chapter of the book when she discusses the country/city divide in a lot of horror (especially rape-revenge films) in which the writer intends the audience to identify with the city characters and be against the country characters (think of, like, house of 1000 corpses - there's pretty explicit socioeconomic regional tension between the evil country residents and the travelers from the city) but first, they have to address the real harm that the City (as a whole) has inflicted upon the Country (usually in the forms of environmental and economic destruction) so in order to justify the antagonization the country people are characterized by, their "retaliation" for these wrongs has to be so extreme and misdirected that we identify with the city people by default (if country men feel victimized by the City and react by attacking a city woman who isn't complicit in the crimes of the City in any of the violent, heinous ways horror movies employ, of course we won't sympathize with them). why am i bringing this up? well, clover says this idea is actually borrowed from the western genre, where native americans are the Villains even as white settlers commit genocide - so they characterize them as extremely savage and violent in order to justify violence against them (in fiction and in real life). the idea is to address the suffering of the Other and delegitimize it through extreme negative characterization (often, with both the people from the country and native americans, through negative stereotyping as well as their actions). so i think that shows how this idea is transferred between different genres and whatever group of people the writers want the viewers to be against, and in this movie it’s happening on the axis of gender instead of race, region, or class. obviously the victims of the salem witch trials suffered extreme injustice and physical violence (especially in the film as victim of the ritual the body clearly underwent) BUT by retaliating for the wrongs done to her, apparently (according to the main characters) at random, she's characterized as monstrous and dangerous and spiteful. her revenge is unjustified because it’s not targeted at the people who actually committed violence against her. they say that the ritual created the very thing it was trying to destroy - i.e. an evil witch. she becomes the thing we're supposed to be afraid of, not someone we’re supposed to sympathize with. she’s othered by this framework, not supported by it, so even if she’s afforded some power through her posthumous magical abilities, we the viewer are not supposed to root for her. if the viewer does sympathize with her, it’s in spite of the writing, not because of it. the main characters who we are intended to identify with feel only shallow sympathy for her, if any - even when they realize they’ve been cutting open a living person, they express shock and revulsion, but not regret. in fact, they go back and scalp her and take out her brain. after realizing that she’s alive! we’re intended to see this as an acceptable retaliation against the witch, not an act of extreme cruelty or at the very least a stupid idea lol. 
(also - i hate how much of a buzzword salem is in movies like this lol, nothing about her injuries or the story they “read” on her is even remotely similar to what happened in salem, except for the time period. i know they don’t explicitly say oh yeah, she was definitely from salem, but her injuries really aren’t characteristic of american executions of witches at all so i wish they hadn’t muddied the water by trying to point to an actual historical event. especially since i think the connotation of “witch” and the victims of witch trials has taken on a modern projection of feminism that doesn’t really make sense under any scrutiny. anyway)
not to mention the ending: what was the writer intending the audience to get from the ending? that the cycle of violence continues, and the witch’s revenge will move on and repeat the same violence in the next place, wherever she ends up. we’re supposed to feel bad for whoever her next victims will be. but what about her? i think the movie figures her maybe as triumphant, but she’s going to keep being passed around from morgue to morgue, and she’s going to be vivisected again and again, with no way to communicate her pain or her story. the framework of the story doesn’t allow for this ending to be tragic for her, though - clearly the tragedy lies with the father and son, finally having opened up to one another, unfortunately too late, and dying early, unjust deaths at the hands of this unknowable malignant entity. it doesn’t do justice to her (or the girlfriend, who seems to be nothing but collateral damage in all of this - in the ending sequence, when the police finds the carnage, it only shows them finding the bodies of the men. the girlfriend is as irrelevant to the conclusion as she is to the rest of the plot). 
but does this mean the autopsy of jane doe is a “bad” movie? i guess it depends on your perspective. ultimately, it’s one of those questions that i find myself asking when faced with certain kinds of stories that inevitably crop up often in our media: how much can we excuse a story for upholding regressive social norms (even unintentionally) before we have to discount the whole work? i don’t think the autopsy of jane doe warrants complete rejection for being “problematic” but i think the critical acclaim based on the idea that it’s a feminist film should be rejected. i still consider it a very interesting concept with strong acting and a lot of visual appeal, and it’s a very good piece of atmospheric horror. it’s does get a bit boring at certain points, but the core of the film is solid. it’s also not trying to be sexist, arguably it’s not overtly sexist at all, it’s just very very androcentric at the expense of its female characters, and i’m genuinely shocked that anyone would call it feminist. so sure, let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water, but let’s also be critical about how it’s using women as the stage for men’s emotional conflict 
also re: my description of this little project as “a film isn’t feminist just because there’s a woman’s name in the title” - i actually don’t want to skim over the fact that “jane doe” isn’t a real name. of the three women in the film, only one has a real name; the other two are referred to by names given to them by men. i’ll conclude on this note because i want to emphasize the lack of even very basic ways of recognizing individual identity afforded to women in this film. so yeah! the end! thanks for your consideration if you read this far! 
#the autopsy of jane doe#men women and chainsaws#horror#also to be clear i'm not saying that the exorcist is somehow more feminist because. it's not. i'm just using it as a frame of reference#you'd think a film from 2016 would escape the ways gender is constructed in one from 1973 but that's not really the case#i actually rewatched the end of the movie to make sure that what i said about the girlfriend's body not being found at the end was accurate#and yeah! it is! the intended audience-identified character shifts to the sheriff who - that's right! - is also a man#the camerawork is: shot of the dead son / shot of the sheriff looking sad / shot of the dead father / shot of the sheriff looking sad /#shot of jane doe / shot of the sheriff looking upset angry and suspicious#which is how we're supposed to feel about the conclusion for each character#the girlfriend is notably absent in this sequence#anyway! this is less about me condemning this movie as sexist and more about looking at how women in occult horror#continue to be relegated to secondary plot lines at best or to set dressing for the primary plot line at worst#and what that says about identification of viewers with certain characters and why writers have written the story that way#i think the reception of the film as Feminist might actually point to a shift in identification - but to still be able to enjoy the movie#while identifying with a female character you need to change the narrative that's actually presented to you#hence the rampant impulse to misinterpret the intention of the filmmakers#we do want it to be feminist! the audience doesn't identify with the 'default' anymore automatically#i think that's actually a pretty positive development at least in viewership - if only filmmakers would catch up lol#oh and i only very briefly touched on this here but the white science vs black magic theme is pretty clearly reflected in this film also
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blackevermore · 3 years
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x Sona names and their meanings/reasoning behind them
x I was talking to the lovely @gunkyengines about our sonas and she asked me how i came up with my names and I thought I share with you guys as well
x A little info before getting into it. I’m extra and I mean really extra, when I pick a name I try to work it around my first name and or my last name but none of my sonas will ever have my actual name because I keep it rather personal. But if you know me and have ever seen my name it very......very obvious how open and in your face how coded I’ve laid out my names.
x However Sonas that have completely names have a reason behind it.
So to start!
Cev/Cevvy || This is a nickname I’ve pick up from a friend in highschool that I haven’t started using until I came over to tumblr from Deviantart. I normally and naturally go by Taylor on other platforms but I knew that would draw confusion when I was talking about my ships. So I adapted Cev/Cevvy as my online name while here.
C.Taylor (WonkaVerse) || Stepping into my Wonka ship I had the short brain power to actually name her something else other than C.Taylor which was my online name on dA. Eventually her full name became Cev Taylor but she ONLY went by Taylor. I have thought about making her first name Cerverse to give it some ounce of difference from my name but I’m not sure yet.
Charamaine-Tazara or Taz (TMNT) || Her name came along because I'm a history nut and I had the idea of mixing European history with African. Charmaine comes from the name of the first king of Europe, Charlemagne, and Tazara comes from Tanzania the country, for where I based her mythical tribe to be from. Taz is a African wild Nymph who is a part of African mythology. Her name almost became Candake-Nandi, the names of two very powerful African Queens put together but I thought that would be overkill. 
Ceiara (Transformers) || Her name comes from Ciara,Ceira, and or Keira and is Irish meaning black or dark. No I didn’t choose this name because I’m black, though that be funny. I choose it because Ceiara Cybertronian guardian is a shifting Decepticon name ZipRide (we name our cars in my household and that's my cars name and yes he is a decepticon). She had no idea she was affiliated with the bad side for so many years that when she met Bee she was protective over the fact ZipRide hadn’t harmed her. She was apart of the darkside and sometimes she plays devil’s advocate.
Zairla (X-Men) || Her name comes from Czar, she has the power to copy and keep and uses more than one power at a time but she is unstable which leads to her falling apart from the inside just like the Russian empire, also I like the way Zair/Czar sounds. But her name also comes from the bible of tribulation:  a cause of great trouble or suffering. Zairla could be as powerful as Jean Gary if not better if she could just get her power under control and not kill herself. 
Ester (Hazbin Hotel) || I’m aware HH isn’t meant to be deep but I can’t help it! Ester gets her name after the Queen Esther from the bible, Esther (bible) her cousin Mordecai persuade the king to retract an order for the general annihilation of Jews throughout the empire of Persia. I named Ester this because she restores Alastor's more human side when they are once again back together and she is the Mama of the coven that takes in souls of those that were damned to hell but were not bad people. 
Melpomene (Hetalia) || I already knew that this ship wasn’t going to be sunshine and rainbows. Not when history is a core part of it, and due to recent events I need the real world was going to bleed into my fantasy. So I named her after the Muse of  music, song and dance who then become the Muse of  tragedy. Because even when things are good, great, there is still something that can destroy it. In this case the thing that tries to get in the way of Mel and Ivan was the fact he is immortal and she is human. In short years in his time she would only be a memory. A memory he would hold on to dearly.
Zirius (Undertale) || Comes from Sirius which is the brightest star visible from any part of Earth. Zirius is a supernova who is dying a little bit more every time the player resets the game. supernovas take forever to burn out thus making her so bright you not only could see her from the Earth but also in the underground. She has to stay in Hot Lands most of the time so she doesn't hurt anyone on accident. Alphys help create her rings and a veil hat she wears all the time to block out her deadly light rays. 
Rihonna  (BNHA) || Based off of te Fleetwood mac song Rhiannon because for a long time she was a fleeting memory for Yagi because her quirk is Amnesia and used overused her power to make him forget her but instead it backfired and she forgot about him until she came back into his life. And now that she's back she's fell in love with him but also with Taishiro. in the word of Fleetwood Mac: Rhiannon rings like a bell through the night And wouldn't you love to love her? Takes to the sky like a bird in flight And who will be her lover? ((it also means Great Queen in Welsh!!))
Zephyr (Homestuck) || Comes from the Greece Zephyrus the Greek god of the west wind. Zephyr is an major book nerd who works in the High Blood Historical library, but during combat she is a very skilled archer, she is the wind and she commands it to guide her arrows. The highbloods find her to be deadly and choose to keep her under their control incase there happens to be another revolution. She treated with respect more than any other lowblood in high blood court bc she is the the matesprit of GHB and Dualscar but is also their facilitator in the Auspisticism. 
Tayonna (Danny Phantom) || It’s a sister name I created for the name Tituba. As we all know Tituba was a infamous “witch” from the salem trials. Tayonna is a witch poltergeist who hasn’t been laid to rest for almost 400 years due to romantic betrayal. Her name almost became Morgan named after the witch Morgan Le Fay or Sylvie which is French for spirit of the wood.
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automatismoateo · 4 years
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Top 10 biggest misconceptions about Atheism: via /r/atheism
Submitted August 06, 2020 at 05:55PM by DerangedBehemoth (Via reddit https://ift.tt/2DHr58A) Top 10 biggest misconceptions about Atheism:
DISCLAIMER: This is not completely original. This is more or less a paraphrase and build up on a list created by TJ Kirk (AKA Amazing Atheist) years ago. I simply posted it because I enjoy discussing these things thoroughly and added on a few other perspectives.
10. Atheists worship the devil
Most people with half a brain are fully aware of how silly this is, but I hear it frequently enough that I felt it worthy of mentioning. So that being said, atheists don't believe in a god or gods, therefore they don't believe in the judeo-christian god, therefore they do not believe in his arch-nemesis, SATAN. It would be nonsensical to worship something we don't believe in.
That being said, there are atheists/anthitheists out there like myself that tend to identify with Satanism as conceived by "Anton LaVey", where Satan is more of a metaphorical symbol of humanity's primal nature, as opposed to a horned beast who resides in hell over the sinners of Earth for eternity.
9. All atheists are anti-religion
Yes, many atheists, including myself, identify as antitheist; meaning we believe that religion is not only false, but also view it as a detriment to the progression of humanity. There are varying degrees of which antitheists view religion as a detriment, from mild to extreme, but the majority of antitheists do NOT support any form of government mandated abolishment of religion. And I can say with strong confidence that such a belief would not correspond or collaborate with the ideals of any reputable atheist advocate groups or organizations, or even by any somewhat reasonable atheist individual.
That being said, the idea of atheism itself in no way entails antitheism by default. There are many atheists who advocate that religion is a social adhesive, and can/should be applied in ways that are beneficial to the progression and cooperation of civilization. While I personally do not agree FULLY with this belief, I can very much identify with some of the basic ideas of it.
8. The burden of proof is on atheists.
The burden of proof is always on the party making a claim. Saying there is no god is not a claim, it is rather the response to the claim that there IS a god. The fact of the matter is that there has been no HARD evidence of a god or gods, nor has their been any evidence whatsoever that we have the ability to lean heavily on any religious practice for practical purposes.
In other words, not only has there been no hard scientific evidence of a deity that exists within the confines of any of the detectable senses or measurements, but it has also been seen time and time again that things like prayer and rituals have no effect on the outcome of actual events.
We have as much credible evidence for an abrahamic deity as we do a flying spaghetti monster or magic rainbow robot unicorn. Therefore, any religious claims should continue to be regarded as nothing but hearsay with no official recognition as a plausible explanation (scientifically, judicially, socially, etc.)
7. Atheism is responsible for some of history's greatest atrocities.
This is known as the "atheist atrocities fallacy", and it has been thoroughly explained and picked apart multiple times by multiple reputable people and groups. However, in all honesty, it isn't terribly difficult to refute this fallacy. 1. There are FAR more atrocities that happen on a daily basis under the banner of religious extremism as well as plenty of major historical tragic events that happened under the banner of religion (The crusades, 9/11, the Salem Witch Trials, etc.) Hitler was NOT atheist. Hitler claimed to be Catholic, and referenced god many times in his speeches. The belt buckles of the SS were even engraved with "God With Us". Hitler may have used religion as a contrivance, but his regime was not anti-religion.
The only official atheist figures of atrocity we know of from history were Joseph Stalin and Pol Pot. However, the motivation behind these anti-religious campaigns were simply to solidify the power of the state, and further perpetuate these men's own cult of personality and totalitarian rule. Their evil actions clearly were done in the name of their own greed for power and prestige, their motivation and driving force was certainly not "atheism" itself.
6. Atheists have lost their faith or connection to God
This is a common idea thrown out in response to discovering that an individual is an atheist; The idea suggests that one is an atheist simply due to something along the lines of having lost their way due to a traumatic experience, overwhelmed by worldly negativity, or cynical mental state. It perpetuates this regard for atheists as what one may call the "lost lamb" or "prodigal son" perspective. This is quite often referenced in Christianity, but many other popular religions carry a similar perspective with the same basic principle that atheists are just individuals gone astray from god's flock.
In reality, this is actually an odd sentiment that happens to be popularly carried by religion which suggests that belief in god is a default, while atheism is peculiar aberration. It's not difficult to discern how this idea comes to be, the real question is why? It's not because they instinctually carried a belief in god from the moment of birth, but rather because they were TAUGHT what to believe, which instilled the idea of god in their heads. That's why a boy born in Iraq will KNOW that Islam is the unquestionable answer to life's major questions, while a girl born in Louisiana will know that Southern Baptist is the unvarnished truth.
5. Atheists have no sense of spirituality.
This assumption runs on the idea that spirituality and religion are one in the same. There are many similarities, but the idea that they are essentially the same thing is false. There are many atheists that would claim to carry heavy interest in spirituality, and thoroughly enjoy open-mindedly exploring spirituality through various practices. Spirituality can probably best be defined as;
"a sense of wonder at the beauty of the universe, the complexity of life, the magnitude of space, the magnitude of geological time, all those things create a sort of frission in the breast which you could call spirituality." -Richard Dawkins.
I myself wouldn't consider myself to be a "spiritual" person in the popular sense of the word, but I'm highly sympathetic to the idea and have certainly been open to spiritual ideas and practices.
4. Atheists have no way of dealing with death.
Atheists grieve for the loss of loved ones and tragic events just as much as anybody else does. Truth be told, there is likely a slightly heavier sense of anguish for individuals that do not carry a belief of an afterlife, as there is no blanket of security that allows these individuals to alleviate the feeling of loss with the idea of an inevitable eternal paradise for all. However, atheists have ways of coping with their grief and coming to terms with reality through various means. What those methods are are completely up to the individual. Death is a tragic event and it should be a painful experience. To allow one's self to feel that sadness with all of it's weight and implications is a good way to honor the life of the person or people for whom you mourn. I still love and cherish the time and memories I have with people I love and have loved in this world completely regardless of what lies beyond. But the fact of the matter is that our existence on this planet to our knowledge is temporary, and it is up to us to not only take advantage of what little time we have, but to accept that once this life is done, we move on. What we move onto is a question that humanity will likely NEVER have an undeniable answer to and will only know as individuals once it's too late.
This may be a far less comfortable view of mortality than what religion has to offer, but people have proven time and again that religion is very much not necessary to confront this reality and prepare for it.
3. Atheists lead meaningless lives.
I would argue that this belief is one of the most presumptuous misconceptions of all the others. 1st of all, this assumption presumes that a meaningful life is measured by devoting all of one's time and effort into appeasing an all powerful deity trying to impose their will onto you. 2nd of all, we are highly cognitive developed primates, who through biological and social evolution have discerned a vast amount of ideas and information about the universe and our place in it. We also have the ability to reflect on the truths that we have discovered, and we can amend and enhance them as new facts come to light. I believe that in the pursuit of knowledge and understanding, there is GREAT meaning.
2. Atheists have no moral compass
There is no sentient mature human being in the history of time that did not adhere to some sort of moral code or compass. Even the most wicked people throughout history had their own set of principles and ideals. We as human beings are responsible for setting our own standards and codes as we see fit. What many religious people don't realize is that they their own moral code doesn't likely come from the bible. Those who assisted in setting their moral code from adolescence likely referred to the bible as a SOURCE, but in actuality this is simply a contrivance for creating a foundation for civil behavior.
To simplest scientific reasoning behind moral codes are the following; Empathy, civil order, social contract.
We don't simply walk around attacking random individuals as we please because we do not wish the same thing upon ourselves. To some degree or another, whether it be a lot, or extremely little, we see other human beings as our kinfolk of whom we do not wish harm upon.
We enjoy living in a peaceful organized civilization to some degree or another, and we understand there are certain codes that we all must follow as a community in order to maintain that. Obviously, what exactly these codes should entail specifically will vary in opinion between individuals, but the basic fundamental end result that the majority of humans carry is that we want to live in a thriving successful civilization.
Lastly, we all carry a hypothetical social contract of peaceful behavior. Once again, this is why we mind our business and do not randomly disturb or conflict with random strangers. If someone does do this, they are essentially violating that contract which will cause a mutual conflict, which can carry anywhere from mildly inconvenient to catastrophically detrimental results.
All of this is a very simple bare explanation of basic moral code. The reality is that moral codes develop through a vast complex network of knowledge, wisdom, experiences, desires, goals, etc.. The main foundation and origin of all morality is most definitely NOT religion.
1. Atheists all think the same way
The very idea of atheism as I said at the beginning is extremely broad and vague. If you look at a group of atheists, you will discover that their backgrounds, specific beliefs, interests, ideas, and approach to religion all vary and differentiate EXTREMELY heavily from person to person. Granted, the same could be said for some religions, but religion itself carries a set of required beliefs (some more than others), while atheism only requires one very simple opinion; There is no god. In fact, even that alone can be interpreted differently as far as what it entails.
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itshistoryyall · 4 years
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Part 4: Burn Them All
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photo credits: here
A little foreword before we begin:
I had to start over for this part because, I’m gonna be honest, it’s a mess. For some reason historians have this aversion to keeping history in a tidy chronological order, and I’m not sure why, but I basically had to sift through other people’s research for multiple days and then come up with a game plan for how all of this was going to be laid out. To put into perspective just how large this part of the research was, I made this photo of the links that I found on Wikipedia.
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   The rest of this will include only the trials that I wanted to research or thought were interesting or had some sort of historical importance, so if you feel like there’s one I didn’t mention and you would like researched, please email me or PM me and I will do my best to do a separate post about it. I have to admit, it was just too much for me to do without spending a few weeks researching. Now, back to the good stuff.
 In the mid-1500’s we begin to see a wide-spread persecution of alleged witches and a mass hysteria driven by religious persecution and fear of accusation. This time period between 1560-1630 is considered by most historians to be the bulk of the trials, and that idea is backed up by sheer numbers. The death toll from these trials is somewhere in the 40,000-50,000 range, though, historians of the past have wildly unpredictable and outrageous estimates numbering in the millions. Taking into account a “normal” level of fatalities for crimes outside of witchcraft, plague fatalities, and normal death rates, it’s a bit safer to assume somewhere in the thousands 40-50,000 even seems a bit steep to me, but no one can ever know for certain. The important thing to takeaway from this was that it was a lot. In this section we’ll be focusing on the trials that have enough historical information to be granted a name and some basic description located somewhere other than Wikipedia, or (more likely) the ones that piqued my interest most. Those are as follows: The Witch Trials of Wiesenteig, Trier, Berwick, Bamburg, Nogaredo, the Pappenheimer Family, Pendle Witches, and the Affair of Poisons. The Salem Witch Trials are a unique set of events that I feel require special attention and will therefore write on that subject separately. size
As we learned from Part Three, these trials began in a region of southern Switzerland and spread from a French-speaking side to a German-speaking side, so from that we can deduce why the first major trial took place in Germany. The Wiesenteig Witch Trials began in 1562 amassing a death toll of around sixty and earning its reputation for the first mass execution of this magnitude[1]. To understand why we saw such extreme numbers here, we need a little background. The city of Wiesensteig, like many other cities in Europe,[2] was facing a difficult few years. Some might call these things simply unfortunate, but not Wiesensteig. They were clearly cursed by witches because no other city in the world could possibly have inclement weather, the Bubonic Plague—among other epidemics, and (I think at this point it goes without saying, but alas) religious turmoil! So obviously, the first course of action after a particularly brutal hailstorm in 1562 was to arrest a few ladies for witchcraft. Of the accused, six were made to confess through torture and were executed, but before facing their punishment they claimed to have seen several other women at their Dark Sabbath[3]. The women that were named from neighboring Esslingen were soon arrested, and then shortly released leaving authorities in Wiesensteig outraged by the lack of sentencing. In reaction, Weisenstein saw forty-one more executions. In December of 1563, the execution of twenty more women was approved leading ultimately to the production of a widely used pamphlet, True and Horrifying Deeds of 63 Witches. Further executions in the area occurred in 1583, 1605, and 1611 leaving an estimated total of ninety-seven women who perished.
These were certainly not the largest trials to have occurred in Germany, however the Trier Trials taking place in the diocese of Trier near the borders of France, Belgium, and Switzerland[4] certainly left their mark on the world. We can’t know for sure the number of casualties because existing records of the trials only include those that occurred within the city-limits, and they do not include statistics for the entire diocese or those that may have perished via torture or while imprisoned. The number that most sources reference is 400; however, it’s likely that the number closer to the thousand mark rather than the low hundreds, and as such it can be an assumed low estimate of the actual number of deaths. This incident is considered the largest mass execution of peoples during an extended period of peace in Europe’s history.
The appointed archbishop of Trier in 1581, Johann von Schönenberg, was quick to order a purge of three groups that he didn’t like very much. That included Jews, Protestants, and lastly, witches. Due to Johann’s support for these trials, we see a large upturn in the popularity and commendation of these executions among increasingly more church officials. The largest number of executions took place between 1587 and 1593 when 368 people were burned at the stake in twenty-two villages. The number of those executed was so heavily comprised of women, that a couple of villages were left with only a single female resident amongst the living, but that is not to say that it was only women who were executed for sorcery. A large number were members of nobility, held positions in the government, or were people of influence, and of the victims, 108 were men. One notable male victim was rector of a university and a chief judge in the electoral court who didn’t approve of the trials; Dietrich Flade, the rector/judge, doubted the effectiveness of torture practices and opposed the violent treatment of the accused, and as such, was arrested and subjected to the same abuse as those he was attempting to protect. His execution was a turning point, and it effectively ended any opposition to the trials in Trier and making way for hundreds more burnings.
 I would like to issue a trigger-warning for the sensitive material that is to follow. It is graphic, detailed, and gruesome, so please do not read further if you feel sensitive to these subjects.
 One other case worth mentioning in Germany is the Pappenheimer Family Trials. Though it was a small number of fatalities, it was unusually well documented for the time and that gives us a great deal of written detail to refer to when describing the torture practices in these trials. The family comprised of a mother, father, and three sons—Simon (22), Jacob (21), and Hoel (10). The mother, Anna, was born the daughter of a grave-digger and began life on the fringes of society, and her husband, Paul, did not fare much better in life as an illegitimate child and day laborer. Throughout their lives they lived apart from most of society and were likely not even treated kindly by other poor laborers. In fact, the surname suggests that the family was in the business of privy maintenance and cleaning, and it was not their original surname. The real family name was Gämperle, and they were in for a fate much worse than name-calling after Paul was accused of murdering pregnant women in order to gain magical benefits from their unborn fetuses. The whole family, aside from their youngest son, was subjected to cruel and relentless torture until they had confessed to hundreds of unsolved crimes over the past few decades including murder of the elderly and children, spoiling cattle, thievery, and burning people alive in their beds.
On July 29, 1600,the following took place: the eldest sons and their parents were brought before the town along with two others accused of witchcraft, Anne was placed between her two sons, the executioner cut off her breasts, and then he proceeded to beat her and her sons in the face with them three times each. Next, Anne was whipped five times with a “twisted wire,” then both of her arms were broken on the wheel, and her body was immediately burnt. Next the men’s arms were also broken, they all received five lashes with the twisted wire whip, and all of them except Paul were tied to the stake and burned. Paul was then spitted alive and roasted to death, and then once he was dead his body was also burnt.[5] This was all displayed for the entire town to see and was then used as a punishment for ten-year-old Hoel, who was made to watch the entire ordeal. Later that year he was also tortured, strangled, and then burned at the stake after having confessed to eight murders on his own. The importance of pointing out these torture proceedings is to make a reference point for how tortures took place during these executions, and to give you an idea of what this could look like at each and every execution described hereafter.
For our next trial, we turn to Scotland’s famous witch trials where, purportedly Shakespeare gained the inspiration for one of his most famous tragedies, Macbeth, and where we begin to see an association with witches and the natural forces of weather. The Berwick Witch Trials took place for a year beginning in 1591, and it was all due to the inclement weather that beset King James VI after he had sailed to Copenhagen to marry Queen Anne. While the royal couple were sheltering in Norway and waiting on the storms to subside one Danish Admiral, Peder Munk, made mention that high ranking official of Copenhagen’s wife was to blame for their misfortunes. After the suggestion, several nobles of the Scottish court were also accused and confessed to plaguing the voyage of Queen Anne with raging storms and for sending devils to climb up the sides of the ship. More than a hundred of the accused were executed marking this as one of Scotland’s largest witch hunts on record. These events prompted King James to publish his dissertation Daemonologie in 1597, marking the beginning of a secular persecution of witches and conversely inspiring a well-known playwright.
Shortly after the publication of Daemonologie, and the execution of the Pappenheimer’s, the famous English witch trials known as the Pendle Witches[6] (part of a larger series of trials known to history as The Lancashire Trials) took place in 1612. These trials are some of the best kept records of the executions taking place in the 17th century. We know that these trials led to the execution of around 10 people (two were sons of the accused), and although these numbers seem inconsequential when compared to the thousands who perished in Germany, it actually made up a significant portion of executions that took place in England where it’s estimated that the combined executions during this era were fewer than 500. Inspiration for the witch hunt that accused 11 people, included an instance where an unfortunate series of events involving Elizabeth Southerns and her granddaughter Alizon Device. Elizabeth also went by the alias Elizabeth Demdike which was a title derived from “demon woman,” and she was commonly believed to have been a witch by her neighbors for around fifty years prior to the Pendle trials. Her granddaughter, Alizon, one day had the misfortune of running across a beggar selling pins that had an ill-timed stroke after refusing to sell her his products. Pins were often handmade and expensive, and although considered a fairly common item, could also be used for magical purposes including divination, healing, and love magic. The beggar, John Law, was left lame and stiff with a permanent distortion of his face, and subsequently almost the entire Device family, including Elizabeth Southerns now in her mid-eighties, was put on trial for witchcraft.
Next we have a rather large historical event that took place, known as the Thirty Years’ War, and I don’t want to spend a lot time on that subject, so I’ll hit the highlights. It took place mostly in Central Europe from 1618-1648, and it is known as one of the most destructive wars in human history. During this time, we see somewhere around eight million casualties due to human violence, war, plague, and famine and a twenty percent loss of Germany’s total population on par with the casualties that it faced in WWII. We can also see witch-hunting efforts exaggerated by the raging war between most of Europe, and consequently some of our largest casualties from the following executions. Two of the four largest executions of witches in the Early Modern Period (1500-1800) took place during these thirty years of chaos and they resulted in fatalities numbering in the thousands.
[1] Though, we do see an execution a few years earlier in a region of Italy that mirrors the scope of the trials in Weisensteig, it is not as well documented and I thought, for brevity’s sake it would be best if I left it out.
[2] You’re not special, Wiesensteig.
[3] Not the band, that’s a different kind of sabbath.
[4] Remember Switzerland where those other crazy trials started? Me too.
[5] (Unknown, 1600, pp. 1-10)
[6] The Lancashire Trials consisted of the Pendle witches and the Salemsbury witches among other hunts in the area.
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wordcollector · 7 years
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Trypod: Tackling Podcast Unawareness with My Top 10 Podcasts
This month, NPR asked people to share stories about their favorite podcasts in an effort to encourage others to try listening to podcasts.  The effort has been termed ‘trypod,’ which is admittedly clever, but which makes Google really mad when you try to search for more information. Google’s spell-check aside, I wanted to participate and share my top 10 favorite podcasts, the ones that have kept me company on my long drives between Kentucky and Missouri.  Maybe you’re looking for a new podcast to try, or maybe you’ve never listened to a podcast and don’t know where to start.  Or maybe you’re looking to find someone with weirder listening tastes than you to make you feel a little bit better about yourself.
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Whatever the case, I give you the 10 podcasts that have managed to capture my heart and my ears:
Animation Addicts Podcast: I love all things animated, so it was great to find a podcast of other late-20s-year-olds discussing animated films and shows.  But better than that, Chelsea, Morgan, and Mason really discuss these films, dissecting the story and the characters, examining the style of the music, arguing about whether the jokes are funny or annoying.  It’s fun to recap some of my favorite films and to hear other opinions about them.  I also really like that the three share information regarding the history, the context, and the innovations of each film, particularly when Mason, who’s in school for animation, talks about new computer technology, programs, or techniques that were used in making a particular film; even though I don’t always understand all the technicalities, I can appreciate the outcome.  The Animation Addicts Podcast is the perfect show for any animation fan, and it’s guaranteed to brighten your day.
The Black Tapes: The Black Tapes is set up as a mockumentary of sorts, one that explores the unsolved and unexplained cases of a famous paranormal researcher.  Even though you know this story isn’t real, it’s easy to forget it at times, especially as the cases begin to resemble those horror films that begin with ‘Based on True Events.’  Alex is an interesting and determined lead, and her back and forth relationship with Dr. Strand both as friends and as professionals is fascinating to hear unfold. This podcast may be a bit scary for some listeners, as the cases do sometimes get a bit graphic, but it’s a great podcast to pull you in and keep you listening until you run out of episodes.
Harry Potter and the Sacred Text: As the name suggests, Harry Potter and the Sacred Text examines the Harry Potter books as if they were an actual sacred text a la the Bible.  Each episode covers a single chapter of the series, beginning, of course, with the Sorcerer’s Stone, featuring quick recaps of the chapter from the two hosts and then proceeding into a discussion of the characters, events, and important truths found in that section.  Eventually the hosts begin to look at each chapter through the lens of a particular theme—with a new theme each week—and it’s fascinating to see what can be revealed about the story when you look it from a new perspective.  The chapters are also discussed further using one of a handful of sacred practices designed to deepen the understanding of the chapter.  Don’t let the hint of religion push you away from this great podcast.  They’re talking about Harry Potter and not any true religious text, but examining these books as if they were sacred will reveal thoughts and feelings that will make you realize all over again just how fantastic a series Harry Potter truly is.
Invisibilia: One of the few NPR podcasts I truly like, Invisibilia examines the unseen forces that impact us as individuals and as part of the human race.  These are things like our natural tendency to categorize people and things, the way clothes influence our perceptions and feelings, and the power of societal norms. This is definitely a podcast that makes you think as the hosts present interviews, scientific studies, and personal anecdotes all designed to open your eyes to the invisible factors affecting your life.  
Lore: Lore is a podcast that explores tales and folklore from around the world with an eye for telling the true story.  Each episode focuses on a different topic, whether that topic is a person (H.H. Holmes, Mary Toft), an event (Salem Witch Trials, the construction of the Hoosac Tunnel), or strange and explainable occurrences (curses, doppelgangers, supernatural creatures).  The host presents whatever facts or information is available on the topic in a way that is both informative and intriguing, and I appreciate the obvious amount of research that goes into each episode.  I also appreciate that, for the episodes where something explainable is discussed, the host gives evidence for multiple possible explanations, yet he always ends with one final bit of fact that really makes you consider your beliefs on things that exist at the edges of what’s truly known and what could be.  Some episodes are spooky, some are horrible, others are simply sad, but they all tell fascinating stories that will leave you wanting to know more.
Sayer: Sayer is a sci-fi/horror podcast with a psychopathic AI that someone decided should be in charge of everything.  Set on Typhon, Earth’s new man-made moon, each episode is narrated by Sayer itself as it provides you with information and instructions to help you get along in your new home and job.  Unfortunately, terrible and bizarre things happen quite often on Typhon, so you get placed into a tale of new chaos every episode. The storylines seem strange and disconnected until things really get going and you realize everything is in fact part of the same story.  It’s likely you’ll end up re-listening to episodes in a new light after new information has been revealed.  The story has a great ending if you manage to put all the pieces together, but I will admit to being confused from time to time, so here’s a free bit of information to help clear things up: there are no bees on Typhon.
Serial: I will admit to only having listened to the first season, but that was enough to land Serial on my list of favorites. If you’ve watched Making a Murderer, this story is quite similar, with a young man being convicted of a murder he swears he didn’t commit and a line of evidence that fails to conclusively prove anything.  The writers have done a fantastic job of laying out all the evidence and presenting both sides of the story.  They make no claims as to the man’s innocence or guilt, but they show that there was enough reasonable doubt to make you wonder how the man ever got convicted.  A lot of time and research has been put into making this podcast, and although it’s tough to listen to at times, you’ll want to binge all 12 episodes of season one.
Stuff You Missed in History Class: Educational yet entertaining, Stuff You Missed in History Class is a podcast that cover historical people, events, places, and artifacts that probably didn’t make it into your high school curriculum.  There are a wide range of topics, and each episode covers something new, so you’re free to pick and choose what ones to listen to.  And there are plenty of episodes to choose from, since this podcast has been running for a while.  It’s fun, it’s interesting, and it’s educational in a way that will make you look really smart come trivia night.  A must-listen for any history buff or for anyone wanting to know a bit more about the past.
Welcome to Night Vale: You’ve probably heard of this weird little podcast or at least seen it as you scrolled through the most popular podcasts on iTunes—this podcast has been high on the charts since it was first released.  Welcome to Night Vale is a community radio show for Night Vale, a little desert town where some really strange stuff happens.  No one’s allowed in the dog park except for the hooded figures, the librarians are more likely to eat you than they are to help you find a book, and you’re liable to be late for work because the Faceless Old Woman that Lives in Your Home filled all your shoes with scorpions.  And these are just the things that happen on a normal day.  Welcome to Night Vale may seem too weird or too ridiculous—and it is more than a bit of both—but it’s also extremely intricate, clever, heartwarming, and truly terrifying.  It takes pages out of shows such as The Twilight Zone and Twin Peaks to create a world where things aren’t quite right, but where the people you meet are truly one-of-a-kind.  But only because everyone had to kill their double.  Wait, you let your double go? And she’s working at Big Rico’s? You’d better hope the City Council never finds out.  
Witness: Produced by the BBC, Witness presents interviews from people with firsthand accounts of people, places, and events that changed the world.  These interviews span decades and cover a wide variety of topics, and each gives a unique and personal voice to a time past.  It’s educational, but still interesting, and once again, there are years of episodes to pick and choose what interests you.
Bonus: Flash Forward: Every episode of Flash Forward begins with a quick trip to the future, where some change in society has altered how our world works. Some of these changes seem more realistic than others, yet each is truly a possible scenario, with some even probable in the near future if technology continues to progress as it has.  Upon returning to the present, the host discusses the realities and consequences of that particular imagined future with experts on the topic, ranging from psychologists to scientists to science fiction writers.  It’s a very logical game of “What If?” that will sometimes leave you looking forward to the future and other time will make you paranoid of how humanity will screw itself up next.
There you go.  My top 10 podcasts plus one extra just because. The next time you need something to listen to, check out one of these podcasts or one of the other thousands of podcasts available now.  Whether you’re looking for something that makes you think, something that makes you laugh, or something that makes you cry, there’s a podcast for it.
So try a podcast today. You won’t be disappointed.  Happy listening.
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