Ironically enough, people suffered more at the hands of these religious prosecutors than they ever did from the alleged witches. What a fearful time to live in!
No one can be a witch because magic isn’t real, it’s just a superstition. But if Witches would exist and they would be able to use damaging spells like creating pestilence or bad weather it would have been fair to burn them
Puritans hated England and left because High Church Anglicanism simply resembled Catholicism. Malcontents tend to turn on each other if 2 or more large groups are assembled opposingly.
Poor Margarethe. Many women got accused of witchcraft because they tried to help heal people with herbs etc. Your documentary is very professionally done. I really enjoyed it.
Its sad in so many ways how people in undereducated and impoverished societies still can actually believe that by singling out an individual and torturing and or killing someone will " solve" some community or personal issue. Sad and scary.
I would argue thats happening in the western world, not necessarily about witches but about many other things. Its not just an impoverished area thing, sadly it just seems like a human thing. (Edit for spelling/grammar)
amazing how there's always this idea that west is "more educated" while destroying the planet with its concept of capitalist civilization... also, all the countries that were mentioned were subjected to imperialism from europe.
@@ravenoctober9936i would argue that it isn't innately human but rather a product of illness that tends to affect the kind of humans we unfortunately still know nowadays. It's humans embodying the fears that they're unable to read and transform and playing them out. It's tricky truly, rationally I know that violence is never cured with violence but I also do not know if i would be able to do any better if i would come across one of those witch hunters to be honest. The biggest problem of the world that we know is that we never knew how to create healthy distance between incompatible individuals and so we overstepped one another in horrible ways. Hope we'll soon see it change for good.
This happens nowadays. When a family has a scapegoat, some family member who behave “bad” according to them. This member takes all the trash of the family.
My ancestor was in one of the last group of "witches" to be killed in Scotland, in Inverness-shire. From what I know of her through research, she was a healer. Thank you for the mini doco 🙏
it's true about 18 century and 21 century beatyfull 21 art 💐. Trump cost soo mich disturbing bombs, ex cop, local people terrorism, or even able to contron a country when over trow government? make its only business people manipulation because government people more and more making taxes on billionaire and millinaire. Witch 🧙♀️ don't exist enimore.
They religion still execute women in other countries particularly muslim for not wearing head coverings .on one ocasion they executed a young girl 14 who hascbeen raped by a gang ofvold men so they blamed her and executed her in saudi arabia
What i thought was just a personal story in the past turns out to be a global issue of injustice and oppression affecting many today.Thank you DW for an eye-opening documentary.
After 51 years 23 and me helped me find my biological Mother in October of 2022. She is a Wiccan priestess and does readings in new orleans. Learning about witchcraft helps me learn more about my Mother. Thank you for posting ❤
Mass formation psychosis. Still happening today. And still motivated by money. Follow the money, right? Who profits? What fears are being exploited? This was well worth watching.
My great great grandmother Guadalupe Berlanga Gomez was an indigenous woman of Mexico, descended of the Azteca and spoke Nahuatl, she was a Bruja and a healer and was infamous for removing spells until she passed..her gift runs deep in my blood…it’s an indescribable feeling..
The biblical quote "Thou shall not suffer the witch to live." may well be (and most likely is) a mistranslation. It may just as much mean "Thou shall not suffer the assassin to live" or "Thou shall not suffer the poisoner to live". Most likely, taking in context, the last example is probably the correct translation, as poisoner refers to not merely somebody who uses poison to harm others but also people who use lies and deception, a poisonous tongue, to ruin other people's lives.
And if you lived in that town and if you protested the burning of your neighbour, you’d instantly be suspected of being in league with the .devil himself. And now you’re next for the stake. The more people who questioned and protested the killings, the more the townspeople would be killed
Working with herbs, being a midwife and doing normal midwife stuff, having more knowledge than the "average person"... Usually they didn't even do anything in particular. The church and religious people just wanted a scapegoat for what things that happened and made - often but not always - women responsible for bad events that happened. If a horse died and someone saw a woman who wasn't the owner of the horse touch the animal, that would have been enough to accuse that woman of witchcraft for killing the horse and bring sentenced to burn at the stake. Jeanne d'Arc, who is considered a saint in France, supposedly heard God and the holy Mary talk to her, say that she was the chosen vorhin to bring victory over Orleans. And that's what she did. When she was captured in Orleans by the English, they accused of witchcraft because they thought that the devil spoke to her and therefore burned her at the stake.
Yeah most likely many of the uppity do gooders church ppl. Look at how many of those who were/are up to no good over the centuries, especially kiddy fiddlers protected by the church authorities.
Alice Lake, an ancestor of mine, was hanged for being a witch, around the year 1650 in Massachusetts. Her crime was seeing an apparition of her dead baby.
That's called a vision, she saw a vision of her own death. Still messed up for doing that to her. My biological father had a vision of me being homeless once at the time I was homeless for almost an hour
Thank you so much Ms. Karin Helmstaedt for making this comprehensive then and now knowledge. In the past being raised evangelical Christian, I judged witches and occult practices as "evil' or "scary" I've met several pagans since then and done a lot of research on pagan festivals and witchcraft online and found that that just isn't true, it's fake news. Now, I consider myself a Buddhist Pagan and embrace my own inner witch. I was shocked to learn from this video that this kind of persecution is still widespread in present times. Thank you so much for spreading awareness!
Thank you for this reporting of a serious and disturbing aspect of human society - the cruelty of people to people - almost as bad as the way people decide they can treat animals. Your story of your persecuted ancestor rings tragic and true - and a family story of my own is in agreement with your story. According to my father, his grandmother (a fiercely independent and religious widow) had a sister who was feared to be an actual witch (sometime in the 1920s or 1930s?). I could never get the full story from my father, but it appears that older people (back then) knew about healing plants and practiced midwifery in order to make a daily living. But neighbors for some reason suspected my father's grandmother's sister of practicing magic - and out of fear someone in the town took matters into their own hands and POISONED the person they thought was a witch - someone (anonymously?) got away with murdering a poor woman because they feared she was practicing magic! All she was doing was helping to deliver babies, and prescribing plants as medicine to earn money and heal people. Just want you to know, Ms. Helmstaedt, that your family history has some elements in common with my family story. Many thanks for having the bravery to put this story out in public - the only way to confront ignorance and fear and backward thinking!
Witchcraft is real, it’s omnipresent, and it’s about controlling other people. Satanism is the foundation of all human culture today. The ruling class are almost entirely witches. Bill Gates, Rockefeller, etc. Why do you think Elon Musk is fixated on numerology?
Many thanks back to you for sharing this harrowing story. So many people have suffered as a result of the ignorance, cruelty and fear you describe., and thankfully, at least bringing their stories back into the light and acknowledging them feels like a way to counteract it. 🙏
Ah yes, the cruelty of PEOPLE because SURELY women would start and actively encourage killing other women over taking some power back in quiet with herbs. Yeaaaah, "people" did it, sure
I'm a witch myself. My ancestors were shamans (native canadian), and I've learn to use nature and the divine power that we are all granted to navigate through life. In my journey, I have to learn to forgive the people who propagated this cruelty, and it's the hardest part so far! 😢
@@a.c.4647 the witch hunts and trails have happened everywhere and still are. Also remember there are many types of witch hunts. Here in the states it wasn't just the witch trials like in Salem, it's also what we did to those of the Native American Nations, those that came here from Europe and settled thought the Native Americans were both dumb, backwards, and evil because they didn't follow christen ways and because they wanted to keep their beliefs, their ways and most importantly their land. They were treated as lesser and still are, just as everyone else is that is different. It may be called by different names but it's still a witch hunt a real witch hunt, just look at what's happening in the US right now. People that don't think or look like a minority of people are suffering because of and by that minority. Aka Republicans are acting like those of the past that went after witches, and like those that first came here, and hitler and his followers. It's always those that think different, believe different or look different, even if their sexual orientation is different from what they think should be. Even going after and killing women right in the hospital because the Drs are afraid of going to jail all because they think a woman doesn't have a right to their own decisions. I am Pagan and still see those that believe different like I do, like my friends that are Jewish, Muslim and even believe in the Hindu faith. This is why we all must stand up for all those that are quote different both here and around the world.
Many thanks for your comment and story, and apologies that I missed to reply earlier. The shamanic tradition is another huge area of interest for me, and so glad you are honoring your ancestors 🙏
As a practicing witch, it always gives me chills watching stories of all those poor victims back then, and it's shocking to see that women are still being targeted in parts of the world. It's sickening how our first reaction to something we don't understand is violence and destruction. I'm quite lucky to live in a place where there aren't such extreme measures, but the majority of people still view me and my practice with contempt, and some go as far as calling it demonic. I really hope that one day we'll be accepted
The thing is that it's all education and meditation and experiences with nature that makes us realise a lot of things and people think it's magic but it's all just science. Everything is science and people just want to take out anybody that seems different from them. It's fear that makes people divert blames on people who seem to be in the spotlight for some reason and feel relieved about belonging to a dumb group of idiots. Wish there was better education in the society instead of people being made to be servants to bigger organisations.
I am a practicing witch and wear it proudly. I will use my voice for those who still have none. The "evil" isn't coming from those targeted. It's coming from the accusers. Fear and greed are the true enemies of mankind. Part of my waking up was reading "Waking the Witch" by Pam Grossman. It was quite enlightening. With so many accused over the centuries, we all have an ancestor who was involved, either as victim or persecuter. This is a beautifully presented video, thank you.
@margaretwordnerd5210 beautiful! I envy your time on your path. I'm curious, but understand keeping beliefs private, so answer only if you're comfortable, do you follow any particular tradition? I stopped faking a faith I never believed in only about 5 years ago and now living my true self. We've come a long way, and still a long way to go. Stay safe out there.
My five-greats-grandfather was Rev. George Burroughs, who was hanged for the alleged crime of witchcraft at Salem, during the terrible summer of 1692. Although I'd heard about him from my maternal grandmother ever since I was a kid, I decided I had to visit Salem, and as peculiar synchronicity would have it, I chanced to visit exactly 300 years to the month, from his ghastly death on the gibbet in August of that fateful year. I was deeply moved when I came to the memorial that has been built for the victims, and saw his name carved in the stone, and found myself moved to tears on discovering that no one is certain where the bodies were disposed of, there having been a kind of communal forgetting of the precise circumstances which prevailed in those days. And so it goes...
Thank you so much for sharing this moving story! I can completely understand your feelings upon visiting that spot in Salem, and I know many members of my family have been very moved upon learning the details of our ancestor's tale in Winningen. Happy to know that it has resonated with so many others.
My great grandmother x generations back was hung with him. Her name was Martha Allen Carrier. I’m directly descended through the female line of my family from her.
@@adeleennis2255 Ms. Ennis, I bow to your murdered ancestor, and pray that perhaps she and Rev. Burroughs were able to aid one another to leave behind the darkness of their passing, and the cruelty they suffered at the hands of persons who should have cared for and supported them.
Wasn't he the one who defiantly and successfully recited the Lord's Prayer from the gallows, which was supposed to be something that a witch could not do? That had to take a lot of courage in the face of impending death. I can see him looking Cotton Mather in the eye as he said it, too (if there is a Hell, I hope Mather is *roasting*, the bastard). If your ancestor was the one who did that, mad respect for him.
I'm descended from three 'witches' convicted in Salem, and the Cotton family, who Cotton Mather was named for and also descended from. I suspect I have others in my tree from the earlier English witch hunts, likely on both sides of the issue. I've traced my family tree on my dad's side so far back that I'll never be able to research it all in my lifetime.
I learned so much about witches from watching this intriguing documentary. I had no idea the extent to which the persecutions are still happening. Would enjoy learning more! Thanks!
Witches are real. And witchcraft is about slavery and control. And the people who control everything, censor, cancel, and are the source of most evil in society such as war, crime, drugs, and prostitution, are the same ruling class that tells us how evil we are for being faithful and law abiding. This stuff is propaganda and all culture is based on Satanism. Even Christmas. Jesus is your only hope. Better get to know him.
The young girl testified against her poor mother as a witch and the mother was executed in England. Years later the lady suffered the same but this time not from her daughter but accused by neighbours for doing witchcraft.
As a practicing witch and human being this breaks my heart. To know how prevalent the unjust murder of accused pagan witches today is so alarming and disgusting. Even here in the west u must be careful as people are afraid of what they do not know. Be safe and blessed be to all
Indeed. Although I find there's generally greater acceptance, the word Witch is still a contentious issue. If only our true rule of "Harm None" was lived by the wider population the world would be a far happier, safer & more rewarding place to live. Tolerance, respect & peace feels, as ever, a goal we might never reach.
I read that in Germany, the witch hunters earned their money on commission, so they had a lot of incentives to torture and convict as many people as possible. Also, confession under torture was seen as legitimate evidence to denounce others, whereas under British law they had more restrictions.
That is so interesting to hear! Funnily (or not funnily) enough, it reminds me of the ladies who work for the office of public order, who wear a uniform and earn additional money on commission when they give people fees for wrong parking. These women are very, very nasty in most of the cases. None of them smile, most of them are extremely unfriendly when you ask them for directions or public parking areas. I live in central Luebeck in northern Germany where you can mostly only park in official parking lots, not along the streets. The authorities want to keep the historical city centre for pedestrians and quiet, besides the streets are often very narrow. People like me who live there have special licenses that allow them to park in front of their houses. Those ladies know our cars. In spite of that, one of them waited until my license expired (I had had an accident and was at the hospital at the time) and directly fined me, day after day after day. When I came back from hospital I found an immense fine. I wrote to the office of public order and filed a complaint. Fortunately they withdrew the fine. Another time, they fined me for parking my car a bit higher up my street where it was forbidden. I had been forced to do so because we had the usual high water in February and everybody had to leave the house in the middle of the night when the water came to repark their car further up the road or somewhere else. You don’t walk a mile to repark your car in you pyjamas, so everybody just parks the car higher up our street where it’s not allowed because it’s a bit narrow (but ok). And nearly everybody leaves for work early in the morning, so it’s just for a couple of hours that special night. But the ladies WILL wait for these nights of high water and fine the whole neighborhood. For them, it’s a money making machine, the late winter floods. Everybody hates these “witch hunting” ladies.
Not so, in 17C England we had officially recognised administrative positions called "witchfinder generals." And the last so called "witch" was tried and found guilty under the 17C witchcraft act, in London's Old Bailey, during World War II, because her seances with deceased sailors revealed torpedoed ships that government had wished to keep secret.
As a solitary practitioner of the ancient craft for the past 20+ years I appreciate this video and the awareness it creates. As a member of the human race it is our duty to seek the true meaning of our own existence. "Know thyself"
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Indeed, her life was filled with extraordinary challenges and responsibilities at a young age. It's a complex historical situation, but decisions like divorce were very unusual at the time.
Scary as an older widow who rejects dogmatic religion. And one of the women hung in Salem was my poor grandmother. The inhumanity of some humans is bottomless.
Phenomenal documentary! This really sheds light on the historical injustices faced by those identified as witches. Although the past treatment of witches was horrific, it is heartening to see folks begin to reclaim the term 'witch'. Amazing job!
It is very unlikely that Heinrich Kramer (as a devout catholic priest) had any offspring. But no one hinders u to live in your fantasy world with your "witch wife" gg....
Yes, i have witches on both sides of my family. One was a Moyer from upper New York who wasn’t allowed to be buried in the church yard because she was a witch. But apparently did alright in life. My grandmother was a witch. She was very humble about it. Taught me alot about plants and to revere nature.
Isee witches as the sjamaan medicinmen ect , John d Rockafeller also pushed against alternative healing methods , they stopped it and John D who had oilcompanies and pertrochemie factory,s became no 1 in Pharma ,, All synthetic crap like the MNRA , they burned the wrong ones !
Ms. Karin Helmstaedt, thank you for this very comprehensive and interesting documentary! We always thought that witch hunts were something of the past and only driven by religion. Also, we are shocked that so apparently it is taking place today and is hardly known. Thanks to this broadcast, we now know better. We watched so enthralled that we did not ask a question in the live chat because, after all, we wanted to follow the interesting story. What an enormous effort that must have been to put this half hour together, the filming, the interviews, the preparations, the research and finally the editing. We believe this is a very high quality production and look forward to seeing more from you. Here you and DW have done a fantastic job! Congratulations!
The KKK and the Democrat Party were started by witches known as Freemasons, whom worship the Satanic globalist leader Nimrod (the Washington Monument), his wife Semiramis (the Statue of Liberty), and her son Tammuz(the bald Eagle/Horus the Phoenix). Today the witch-hunts are for Trump supporters, otherwise known as Christians.
As Nigerian, my mum is a victim of witchcraft. Witch Leads to her early death while i and my siblings were very young and our last born was a 4months old.😢 life was a hell for me and my family 15years ago💔 now I'm currently based in Europe. And planning to return back home soon. So that I con go & seek justice for those who are helpless.😢 the experience was really hell after my mum's death!😭
Thank you for making this documentary and honouring your ancestor for she is all our ancestor. I have been doing much healing over this in the last few years. Some incredible people doing much needed work bringing to attention how mob mentality and crop failure, economic down turn etc can have effect on communities as we just repeat same mistakes if we don't remember. I have done a little research in to the witch trials. I was blessed to attend a a very moving exhibition in Pendle, Lancaster where the Pendle witch trials took place in England. Honouring mostly women who were tortured and murdered for "witchcraft".
Thanks for your comments Jude, and yes, more and more communities are at least recognising the victims of witch hunts and the lasting harm they caused for so many families and societies. As far as I could ascertain, Winningen was the first community in Germany to erect a monument in 1925. I felt it was important to know this history and vindicate our ancestors, and glad it has struck a chord with you.
Well it’s similar to covid, where rather than crops failing, the modern day equivalent was occurring with the economy, and people took to demonizing anyone who wanted to make their own choice about their own body. It was a bit of a witch hunt in some ways. Mob mentality is unfortunately part of our genetics, I think. I hope we evolve out of it. It’s pretty scary.
I bet it would amaze you to know that Satanism and witches are alive and well in our permanent ruling class. Why do you think you are even watching this stuff to begin with?
@@Lyrielonwind but black magic is evil, and it's a problem if you tolerate it too. Not saying people should be accused, but black magic will destroy a society.
People are declaring themselves witches on Facebook. So why do you even mention the word " fear?" Even if they aren't naturally more sensitive than others, they certainly WANT to be and have no idea of the danger they are placing themselves and OTHER women in. The naievty of this generation online and in the media is absolutely astounding. Manifesting things universally doesn't grant you them, just because you want it to. A very dangerous and irresponsible thing to do in these times. Prayer doesn't involve any such metaphysical ambiguity.
What a beautiful and well done exploration of Witch hunts in Germany and Europe. I have an ancestor, Samuel Wardwell who was executed for Witchcraft in Salem, MA. He was apparently a psychic and astrologer and was a farmer with a thriving farm which attracted envy and fear...
Thanks for sharing this Vicki, and it's amazing how many people have commented that can trace their lineage back to an ancestor in Salem, something most people here haven't bothered or been able to do as so many documents have been lost over the centuries. I was lucky to find a cache of records that is in amazing condition.
What a great video; well done, well researched. Thanks for sharing the story of your ancestress. My first ancestor in America came here early from Scotland, after being accused of witchcraft. Unlike so many others, she wasn't convicted. She survived, and beat feet out of Scotland with her husband shortly afterwards, restarting her life in early colonial Maryland. And thanks for raising awareness that people are STILL being accused and killed. When I researched it myself (I'm a writer) I was SO surprised to find that. There are also lots of places in Pakistan and the Middle East where you can get killed for being a witch. Still surprising is that even here in America, being a witch can occasionally get you killed if you're a member of an immigrant community from any of those countries. (It's more likely in the original countries than here, but still.....) Thanks again!
This was incredibly well researched and presented! Especially interesting to investigate how widespread the witch trials were in Europe with the North American focus being heavily fixed on the Salem trials, thanks Karin and DW!
What a slap in the face, a man’s wife gets executed right in front of him, and he’s handed the bill for the wine that everyone else is partying with - wine that he probably didn’t even order.
How horrible for your ancestor! How brilliant you have told the story of those who are still suffering today! Thank you for this brilliant film and your compassionate action for women today. Long live the Witch say I.
I thank you for doing this video and the acknowledgement of those that practice modern witch craft and Paganism. I am one of those and as in the past for many people, our neighbors went after us. They complained to management and even made a giant cross that they put in their backyard table where the umbrella normally goes. They even put a listening device out back ( had a friend that knows about all that stuff verifie that's what it was) they finally chilled out after management told them to stop or get kicked out. But it's not just those of us that actually practice Paganism that stuff is happening to. To me this hate speech and even violence against those of a different religion, of a different color, that is LGBTQ+ and others are also basically being gone after and even killed in a kind of modern day witch hunt. My husband and I both have people in our family line that were accused, torched, and killed. I also come from a line of people that some call Ozark Mountain witches. Yes there are many customs of many ways in our own country, yet even here it seems history is trying to repeat itself. We can never let anything like that or like hitlers camps which was really another kind of witch hunt, happen again. All must stand together and fight against this (not violently) every day. Seeing this and knowing there are those of my blood line that went through this, knowing women around the world are still going through this makes me cry and also wonder if this hate and unjustified hurt and murder will ever stop, will humans ever advance past all this. Our will we kill ourselves and mother earth all over hate of women and those considered other.
Thank you for this video. I am an American citizen living in Brazil. Years ago I gave a Halloween party for my daughter's primary school class. Years later I was having coffee at a friend's house with others and I was asked what street I lived on. I was shocked when he seriously said, "Do you know there is a witch on your street?" Since there are only half a dozen houses on my street and I know everyone I am sure it was " old fake news" stemming from my Halloween party all those years ago.....
I absolutely loved this short documentary!! Your poor ancestor… I am a modern day ecclectic witch and I take pride in living nature and wishing nothing but good upon the world and humanity. The discourse behind the word “witch” needs to change! ❤
I had a sense of deja vu about the wood where they were executed. Long ago I had a very vivid dream of being beheaded in a wood like that. Later on in the video there 's the "merciful" death of Margarethe. At 50, as a single and childless woman in South America, I survived mob violence which had a witchhunt bizarre logic to it and gave me a sinister deja vu. Memory goes beyond individual lives. It might be ancestral memories or past lives or just the fact that many things, sadly, have not changed in the collective.
Interesting to hear some myth busting. Didn't know that protestant church was so involved in it. I have some southern german ancestors who were protestant (lutheran) and who left Germany a couple centuries ago. Even I was born protestant on paper, although the family not religious already then. Makes me wonder if some of my ancestors suffered this horrible fate, too 😰 Also crazy that this is still happening... it often feels like time travel going to some countries... poor souls.
@@DWHistoryandCulture They went to Russia, then Azerbaidshan, then Kazakhstan after unrest there, now we're back in Germany but I'm only quarter German by now 😅 Each branch of my family has quite dramitic stories and it always impresses me how strong they were to survive it all. History is wild.
The witch hunts seem to be a case of science vs. religion in which religion had it right and (pseudo) science dragged religion into going along. The Catholic Church, generally speaking, had always viewed the practice of witchcraft as superstitious heresy and even the Inquisition had a policy of ignoring accusations of witchcraft and focusing instead, on doctrinal heresy. Protestant countries, on the other hand, pursued witch hunts with gusto, and it's no coincidence that many of the most fanatical Protestants were men who prided themselves on their interest in "modern" scientific discoveries. Witchcraft was normally viewed as a civil matter in which religion had some bearing (as it had in most other aspects of life at that time). This is not to downplay the many injustices and atrocities committed by the Catholic Church in past ages and acknowledged as such even by the Popes.
Very interesting. However, it would also be interesting to know how much of this european whitch hunt mentality influenced the south (Africa, Asia, Americas). Specifically understanding that during that period most of the world were european colonies and there was a strong force to evangelice foreign local comunities.
I have had stones thrown at me a baloon filed with acid thrown at me that missed me and been accused of being a witch simply for wearing a patchworked coat here in the USA. People are taught to fear and hate those who don't conform to social norms.
@@kfespirituu Portland Oregon in the 1980s. Barstow California in the 1990s. California society has gotten worse since 2021 to the point where I will not do renaissancee faires there. I will do renaissance faires in Oregon.
@@catherineleslie-faye4302Im active in the Northern CA pagan community. What I've seen is discrimination but not violence. Also, too many newbie "Witches" are just trendy Satanists making us look bad and trying to reignite the Satanic Panic. How has it gotten worse in your view? Not arguing genuinely curious. And I'm so sorry that happened to you!
People were that afraid of witchcraft, absolutely terrified of it. The people would rather execute people like “ just in case” rather than take a chance of having a witch potentially hurting people. And they figured if they were wrong that God would forgive them. Thanks for the video. Informative & interesting.
A great film, Karin! Very touching, as far as your personal family history is concerned, exciting and a lot of new things in your look into history - and shocking that witch hunts still exist today. Really a very, very great film!
I’m a witch and I really hope the world stops killing us, harming us, and destroying us for their awful terrible reasons. There is never a good reason at all to harm another witch. We deserve to live freely and express ourselves!!! And I consider all the accused people of witchcraft , “my witch ancestors” even though they were probably not even that at all. Because of their trials and pain I got to be free. Thank you. Great video.
My 9X great-grandmother was Rebecca Nurse, her sister Mary, my 9X great aunt, and Samuel Wardwell my 1st cousin 9x removed all died being accused of witchcraft at Salem in 1692. Rebecca's mother, Joanna Blessing, was accused years earlier, also another 9X great-grandmother, Mary Bliss before that. Both Joanna and Mary were acquitted of their ordeals but continued to be looked on with suspicion for the rest of their lives In Salem witchcraft was used by some to get revenge on others. I think the girls in Salem's witchcraft story were told ghost stories by Tituba, and they decided it would be fun to act out. The powers that be, (their father and others) decided to go with the witch story and use it to their advantage. They told the girls who to accuse, and it got out of hand...completely. It destroyed lives and families. Witchcraft is something society has used to control women, (and society) take revenge, steal from the less powerful, and put the fear of the devil into others. None of the thousands of victims of witchcraft in America and Europe were witches, because there is no such thing as a witch! There are intelligent wise women everywhere, and society has always put them "in their place". There are despicable, greedy men everywhere and they have used the term for their own use.
Fascinating story, and thanks so much for sharing this - amazing to think your ancestors were going through this a full 50 years after mine. It took a long time for people to realise that the law had to serve them differently...one of the later victims in Winningen actually decided to turn the accusation around, and accused the entire town of being witches. Needless to say, that got people to thinking!
Rebecca Nurse was born on 21 February 1621 in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England, United Kingdom to William Towne and Joanna Blessing. When she was 16, her parents and 5 younger siblings set sail to America aboard the Rose of Yarmouth in 1637. There is a plaque dedicated to them in St Nicholas church in Great Yarmouth. On a side note as well being born in Great Yarmouth Rebecca was hanged on my birthday.
@madibe53 Samuel Wardwell is my 9× grandfather! Aparently, he was accused of fourtune telling and was known for practicing healing through herbal remedies. His brother Eliakim and wife Lydia surrvied but had to flee to New Jersey because they refused to go to Church.
@@camit9670 I've read about his fortune-telling, he was an interesting character. Apparently, that would make us cousins somewhere in the past. Rebecca Nurse's sister, Sarah moved away with her husband, and they changed their name.
Brilliant piece, well done The one thing you perhaps didn't focus (enough) on are the number of children vilified as witches and them abandoned, ostracized or killed. It's beyond disgraceful.
This was a great video. I’m a practicing witch, and this video made me acknowledge the privilege I have of being able to take this label on for myself and use it for spiritual growth. Acknowledging that so many women are dying and suffering for not even self identifying as such, gives me pause and I feel some need for self reflection. Thanks for sharing this research with us ❤
Actually witchcraft as was understood earlier and it is today is not about spells or tricks. It's more about accepting who you are, embrace it and trust in your instincts. And knowing use of herbs, connecting to your intuition.
It's not religion; it's psychopathy. Psychopaths are predators and they feast on the most vulnerable. They start smear campaigns due to envy and created massive hysteria by brain washing; after that, the mob will do the job. Religions are just the masks they use to justify their crimes. Not that religions have no part of that but it might be used to control the narrative. Anyway, Politics could serve a way to control the narrative. I don't know if you have read the book Maid's Tales by Atwood.
Hearing these stories about what people thought of witches then, and hearing what we do now about human trafficking, especially in Hollywood, and about adrenochrome, makes me wonder if someone knew then what we are only starting to really know now, and those people are the 'witches' that were truly being spoken of in the stories, but it got refocused to the innocent.
That's what I heard from a descendant whose ancestors from Scotland were posing as Puritans in Massachusetts. He read the original documents from the Salem Witch trials which are kept from the public.
This is APPALLING! Even if those women are indeed practicing Magick, it is nowhere NEAR the the degree of criminality as is the murder of them for their alleged Faith! I happen to know that Magick is particularly powerful and sinister when human Life is sacrificed, but outside of human (or animal) sacrifice, the Magick spells of a witch are no more powerful than are the sincere prayers of a faithful believer of any other religion.
@@shadrachemmanuel1720 For your information, dear, many pagans and wiccans today believe in the power of magick (not magic which is fictional), working with deities, the power of nature, etcetera. Just because you don´t believe in any of these things, it doesn´t mean other people can´t have their faith and it also doesn´t mean you are right and these things aren´t real. Ancient civilizations (Mezopotamians, Celts, Greeks, Romans...) believed in the power of magick and had so many rituals, prayers, invocations to call for the divine guidance. It was their belief and I can assure you, this belief is still very popular in neopagan and pagan circles up to this day. And yes, actually, there are certain.. well you could say schools.. for learning magick. Traditional covens, for example, usually do not let their novices in until they complete at least a year and one day of hard studying, examinations and other tests, only then, if they succeed, the person may be initiated (we have three degrees of witch´s initiation) and join their brothers and sisters of the Craft. Also, there are some online schools of witchcraft (usually payed courses of magickal arts), like Wicca Academy.
Man, there's loads of information that point out to the opposite of my idea of the witch hunts from medieval times. Thank you so much for putting it out there. The thing about Spain being one of the chillest places to be a witch at the time, that really surprised me.
It would be nice to know how we can advocate for the modern victims that you highlighted in countries like Paupau New Guinea or Ghana. I'm pretty sure those of us who are in the witchcraft community and those of us who love history would love to know how we can help make the world a better place.
Thanks Victoria for your kind thoughts and comment. You could certainly raise awareness on this by sharing the link and also get in touch with Leo Igwe and/or support his NGO, Advocacy for Alleged Witches - advocacyforallegedwitches.law.blog/ - he would also know how one could provide more concrete assistance. Many thanks for amplifying and go well!
@@KarinHelmst-jz6yf You should pin this link and any others regarding helping these women in Africa, India, and Papua New Guinea. I read about this going on in PNG about 15-20yrs ago, but I thought with the growing presence of Western companies, that witchcraft accusations would become a thing of the past. At that time, one of the big problems volunteers were having was phone access/service and transportation, as a lot of the area was remote. It would be great to see more coverage on this topic, as well as other issues that affect women and girls. Really appreciate your professionalism and high standards! 💜✌️😎
Witch-hunting was a profitable business. In the case of a witch trial the county took possession of everything the accused owned. They took their homes and property and resold it. That’s why widows and single women were easy targets. As well as older couples without male children of age to claim their inheritance and property. That’s the TL;DR They could be lonely or active members of the church, that didn’t matter but, it would take more time to target the people who were more active and respected by their community (it was simply easier to alienate them and turn others against them). Then, those who were vulnerable to blame for others misfortunes. Your baby died? Blame the midwife - oh, you need her in the village? Blame the doula. She’s a widow with land who is old or won’t marry you? What a -waste- witch! You can see how these people were especially easy targets. Herbalism was common knowledge in basics, and everyone had herbal gardens to treat ailments or stay healthy, and a kitchen garden for fragrant, savory and sweet herbs. Maybe an autistic woman was more fixated on learning about it. Maybe she knew a little too much and she was odd. Maybe she offered you medicine but, you only got worse bc your symptoms weren’t just sores and hair loss, they were actually indicative of syphilis. Once they had one woman tortured to confess, they could leverage her for other names.
Great work on this documentary! It is truly impressive and well-executed. Kudos to the entire team involved in creating such a fantastic piece of work!
I feel like using the word witch or the ability to be able to accuse someone of that is just another way to Brutalize certain human beings for whatever the real reason are or motives I pray to God that this stop.
Magic and medicine used to be one and the same practice. But at some point in society there was a split; men went into a logical path, medicine, while mostly women remained involved in a more accessible form of natural holistic medicine. This same split occurred between astronomy and astrology; they used to be all one study before they were split into two opposing practices.
@@62Cristoforo lol, I understand. I’m Navajo, raised on the reservation, and was surrounded by the traditional teachings. My dad used to tell me stories about how stuff of “fairytales” or what we’d call fantastical today is rooted in some truth. Magic, medicine, and sciences were almost one in the same, lol. All that fantasy wasn’t just limited to humans and supposedly there was an extinction level event that wiped out almost everything. We’re what was left over. Crazy I know 😆. So many many stories and ways of teaching life lessons.
Mary Bradbury is one of my great grandmothers, 10 generations removed or something like that. She survived. I believe the women were targeted by young teenage girls who were bored.
Thanks for a very interesting and informative documentary on this subject. It seems to me that the women who were accused of witchcraft denied it under torture, so why on earth call yourself a witch because you don't believe in greed and capitalism? To my mind it perpetuates a lie, that the alternative to greed is calling yourself a witch, as if Christianity taught greed, just because it's not practiced by many that preach it, doesn't change it's nature, and it's anti greed and pro life. It's pagans and people calling and thinking of themselves as "Christian", accusing and killing alike sadly. My heart goes out to the victims of ignorance, envy and greed.
I agree. Modern "witchcraft" makes absolutely no sense. Being knowledgeable about herbal medicine and nature should be an acceptable norm not something to use to make yourself seem unique and part of a club. It's totally rediculous.
My 11th great grandmother (Rebecca Nurse) was hung in 1692 during the Salem Witch Trials. I found out that I am related to her twice on my moms side. My 11th great on my grandma's side and she was an aunt on my grandpas side. I love this about my ancestry!
Thanks so much for sharing this - and I totally get it. Many of the Salem descendants have reached out in these comments - and very glad to know she was later exonerated.
I have ancestors from Ireland, Scotland, German, and India (Bangladesh now). I identify as a witch. My great-grandmother was considered a wise-woman. She was a witch in my eyes. A healer, midwife, and sometimes had knowledge that she couldn't explain. I too have most of that in common with her.
One of my ancestors was killed along with her sister and brother as part of the European witch trials. I honor them every year on September, both the month of their death and my birth. Needless suffering, I hope they’re at peace
For me being a witch isn't even about religion. it's about having an understanding of the world around me and trying to do whatever part I can to help protect and heal both the environment I live in and also the people that I surround myself with. I think in some sense there is a "witch" in all of us because whether or not we'll admit out loud I think we all have some form of trauma that we are dealing with. Whether it's current trauma from an accident, or an illness or bad relationship with someone we care about or a past trauma of abuse or neglect. My mother was never around when I was a young child and there was never any real explanation of why, she just wasn't. As I have grown up and become wiser and more mature I am learning to let go of that and to forgive her for not being there when I needed her most. We have been working towards having some form of contact now that I am older and the older and wiser I get the less I feel that need to know why she was never there. Sometimes it's better to leave a question unasked because there is no good answer that will justify why.
I found out recently that my 9th great grandmother was Mary Easty. Mary and her sister (my great aunt) Rebecca Nurse were hung in the Salem Witch Trials. I’ve been obsessed with the trials since I was a young girl and felt very connected to it.
Thanks for your comment! A number of other descendants of the Salem victims have share their stories here, and most of them can also relate to your obsession, and feel very strongly about commemorating their history. In case you aren't familiar with this podcast: thoushaltnotsuffer.com/ - it's well worth a listen and they are doing great work to educate about both the historic witch hunts and the scourge of modern witch hunts today.
An amazing and, too often sometimes, tragically beautiful documentary! Infinite love and gratitude to Ms. Helmst and DW! “Blessings Be,” as the Wiccan and “Pagani” choose so often to phrase it! I was born at sundown on Samhain, and have been fascinated, frightened, foreboded and forbidden by witches, as well as having been freed, furthered and finally fully feminized, by witches throughout my life! While I am a “solo” non-Wiccan, I have caucused with the Wiccans and learned, from experience, to respect the power and potential of their fluidity and familiarity with voice, ritual, and context, as well as for their various votive “trinkets!” I also love cats (and other “familiars!”) and I hope I’m not injudiciously letting one out of the bag when I suggest that, in fact, everyone is a witch! We all possess the power to alter reality with our minds, words and actions, though most of us are willfully and thoroughly incognizant of this! In point of fact, one of the only really pertinent and persistent questions in this regard, in my opinion, is what I have come to regard as “Glinda’s Interrogative,” i.e., “Are you a Good Witch, or a Bad Witch?” In calculatedly safe and contextually salubrious, curious as well as correct situations, I present as “The Pretty Good Witch of the West by Southwest,” as well as “The Word Witch of the Penultimate Homely House,” and sometimes in especially “digital” milieus as “Cybelline the Witch-Bot!” Ever since a young atheist introduced me to the “Gnostic Gospels,” they have become an ever increasing, I could even say “enormous” aspect of my spiritual sojourn! I now understand why my Boddhisatva Jesus is such an ever increasingly joyful blessing and beneficent force in my life, while Jehovah (Yaldabaoth, Yahweh, Saklas, as well as many other “aliases”), a real being and the “demi-urge” of this “realm” (which is “pixelated” at the Planck scale!) is a truly negative and narcissistic being, and NOT the “father” of Jesus of Nazareth! I really didn’t intend to share this much “arcane” information, but there are apparently some souls in contact with this rather safe spiritual context that need to hear this… -- AND SO IT IS! - Namaste, Glenn (Jesus’ “SL” Angel)
@@KarinHelmst-jz6yf Oh my most dear Ms. Helmst, Thank you for your very kind and personal reply! My apologies for misspelling your name! Too lazy to backtrack and obtain it on my own, I copied the apparently incorrect spelling from the comment of a Mr. Fried. My limp wristed and tepid self-defense is that it was almost sunrise, and, my coach, hours previously having morphed quite pumpkin-wise, had left me to walk (oh the indignity!) back to my tall and curiously Germanic bungalow, the variously enchanted “Penultimate Homely House!” And speaking of enchantment, your inarguable loveliness catches my breath, and I scarcely even care to recapture it, though, being still nominally incarnate, I suppose I must! Should you ever require the services of a mid-western magical “Nancy boy” for almost any sort of purpose or endeavor (scribe or scrabble, cauldron cleaning, tour guide to the binary citadels, watcher of the wee hours, impromptu footstool or ought else…) please consider me a first call for help or perhaps your personal fallback for fortune and frivolity! - Mega Namaste, Glenn (PGWotWxSW)
@@erinmac4750 Thank you my most dear Ms. erinmac4750! Have a lovely and auspicious weekend and a merry, merry, month of May! And a Blessed Summer as well (I mean, why the heck not?)… - Namaste, Glenn (PGWotWxSW)
In my birth village Neerharen in Belgium only 5 km from Maastricht there where 16 witches executed. The witch hill was on the other side of the of my mom's house where they had there walpulrichnachten and the executing place is bin build on in the last 15j.
Thanks, Timm, for sharing this insight. How is this historic chapter commemorated, can you find information on this, as a visitor for example? And was it a topic in your family? All the best from Berlin!
Thank you for sharing this video “ A Witch in the Family”. It is still a very deep and open wound for some, as the West may not be as free from this dark past as the world thinks…
I can not believe that this is the fist time I’ve heard of the witch hunts in Africa why is the media not screaming out about this stories like this should be all over the media and drawing attention to this to bring an end to such miscarriages of justice.
Didn't the Spanish Inquisition also target people who were, at various times, forced to wear conical hats? There might be some overlap we're overlooking
In line with the other reply, Jews were often persecuted at the same time for the same/similar offenses. We can see echoes of this in some of the anti-Semitism coming from some of the "christian nationalists" in the U.S. today. In one of his podcasts, Jordan Klepper had an enlightening discussion about just this.
I think its interesting that witches or women who call themself witches still exist until today, doing the same practices and stuff they got inherited by their predecessors. Like the mother of a friend of mine..
I served in the Marines. When stationed in Pensacola, Cherry Point, and Beaufort I was met with so much hatred from fellow Marines. Many times my personal property was vandalized, I was threatened by senior NCO's that practicing any further would lead to violence and my grusome death. This started in 2000. I continue to explore, share, educate, and uplift others with a sad heart. Maybe it will get better. To all those in the military - watch out for prayer groups, chaplins, and anyone wearing Knights Templer rings and clothing. Gather Quietly.
My boyfriend is still serving in the airforce, deployed currently, and I know they mistreat him due to him being open about his faith and practices. I hope he gets out in 4 years at his soonest retirement. Thank you for your service
@@daneascott9645 I'm sure he knows, but seriously - give him a heads up on the Knights Templer thing. It's something wierd they do that makes them very identifiable. Sometimes just knowing who not to confide is valuable. I hope your boyfreind stays safe, and enjoys his service. It wasn't all bad, just avoiding assholes is a required skill. Also, tell him to keep an eye out for opportunities after service. Good luck. Give him your love and strength.
I know that an ancestor's first wife was executed as a witch in the 17th century. Interestingly, that same ancestor remarried within a few weeks. (Northern Germany, region near Schneverdingen) And yes, I knew about these accusations, persecutions, executions from history and religion lessons, and it was made clear even then that false accusations were often made out of envy and greed and jealousy, lust for revenge. And if we take these basic motives, we always find campaigns against individuals or groups that (at least) end in the destruction of a soul/psyche.
This is such a powerful video in so many ways! I had no idea Witch hunts still happened nowadays! Thank you for your brilliant work in this video and for all your research which brought this knowledge to me and many others around the world. We must speak for those who can’t!
A very informative piece-thank you For nearly 35 years in my career as a fitness instructor, I have presented special themed classes at most holidays; a particularly popular one has been my Halloween class, in “which” I present as a costumed “witch.” A few years ago I began to be bothered as I thought and learnt more about the actual history across the world, and have found other ways to present. This video might be the final straw that solidifies my position. (Gladly on the verge of retirement, so I won’t have to deal with the conundrum of change much longer)
Thank you for a very informative video and for spreading the word. I had no idea people were still being prosecuted for witchcraft, it's so saddening my heart sinks ☹️💖
Ironically enough, people suffered more at the hands of these religious prosecutors than they ever did from the alleged witches. What a fearful time to live in!
We still are suffering
Imagine if your neighbours happened not to like you, they can conspired and report you of witch craft
I don't have to imagine
No one can be a witch because magic isn’t real, it’s just a superstition. But if Witches would exist and they would be able to use damaging spells like creating pestilence or bad weather it would have been fair to burn them
Puritans hated England and left because High Church Anglicanism simply resembled Catholicism. Malcontents tend to turn on each other if 2 or more large groups are assembled opposingly.
Poor Margarethe. Many women got accused of witchcraft because they tried to help heal people with herbs etc. Your documentary is very professionally done. I really enjoyed it.
Thank you Lynne, that is great to hear.
I agreed with you. Back then the literacy was close to non existent. 😮
Misogyny was involved and much worse than that
Darling, that was likely, almost, always the case, sadly.
Exactly, people are all extremely selfish and are not good stewards of the planet and the histories only speak of the same.
Its sad in so many ways how people in undereducated and impoverished societies still can actually believe that by singling out an individual and torturing and or killing someone will " solve" some community or personal issue. Sad and scary.
I would argue thats happening in the western world, not necessarily about witches but about many other things. Its not just an impoverished area thing, sadly it just seems like a human thing.
(Edit for spelling/grammar)
amazing how there's always this idea that west is "more educated" while destroying the planet with its concept of capitalist civilization... also, all the countries that were mentioned were subjected to imperialism from europe.
@@ravenoctober9936i would argue that it isn't innately human but rather a product of illness that tends to affect the kind of humans we unfortunately still know nowadays. It's humans embodying the fears that they're unable to read and transform and playing them out. It's tricky truly, rationally I know that violence is never cured with violence but I also do not know if i would be able to do any better if i would come across one of those witch hunters to be honest.
The biggest problem of the world that we know is that we never knew how to create healthy distance between incompatible individuals and so we overstepped one another in horrible ways. Hope we'll soon see it change for good.
This happens nowadays. When a family has a scapegoat, some family member who behave “bad” according to them. This member takes all the trash of the family.
@@miracles424 not to mention that's exactly how society is legally structured on all levels.
My ancestor was in one of the last group of "witches" to be killed in Scotland, in Inverness-shire. From what I know of her through research, she was a healer. Thank you for the mini doco 🙏
Thanks for your comment and I can highly recommend to visit the Witches of Scotland website!
@@KarinHelmst-jz6yf thank you Karin, I most definitely will
Mr. Sebi was a healer, killed. Jacobo Grinberg , Mexican healer, "disappeared" ??!!
They don't want healers...
I guess it was safer to just stand by and watch people suffer in those days.
@@rocio4292 Exactly.
I enjoyed the personalized story of her grandmother. They incorporated it into a larger story and took it through history to modern day. Well done!
it's true about 18 century and 21 century beatyfull 21 art 💐.
Trump cost soo mich disturbing bombs, ex cop, local people terrorism, or even able to contron a country when over trow government?
make its only business people manipulation because government people more and more making taxes on billionaire and millinaire.
Witch 🧙♀️ don't exist enimore.
They religion still execute women in other countries particularly muslim for not wearing head coverings .on one ocasion they executed a young girl 14 who hascbeen raped by a gang ofvold men so they blamed her and executed her in saudi arabia
What i thought was just a personal story in the past turns out to be a global issue of injustice and oppression affecting many today.Thank you DW for an eye-opening documentary.
@@hetoako Thanks so much for your feedback 🙏
Many thanks for your feedback and for taking the time to comment ❤
After 51 years 23 and me helped me find my biological Mother in October of 2022. She is a Wiccan priestess and does readings in new orleans. Learning about witchcraft helps me learn more about my Mother. Thank you for posting ❤
Thank you for sharing your story. We appreciate you taking the time to share your experience with our community. Sending you all the best
Mass formation psychosis. Still happening today. And still motivated by money. Follow the money, right? Who profits? What fears are being exploited?
This was well worth watching.
Thanks Lily! 🙏
I’m familiar with the mass formation of psychosis like Covid 19 and the vaccines as an example.
@@GreasyBaconMan i had a friend of the family die of covid 19
My great great grandmother Guadalupe Berlanga Gomez was an indigenous woman of Mexico, descended of the Azteca and spoke Nahuatl, she was a Bruja and a healer and was infamous for removing spells until she passed..her gift runs deep in my blood…it’s an indescribable feeling..
Were there witch hunts in Mexico too??
❤❤❤
Viva la medicina indígena 💗
Yes because there likely are evil ones and thus spells or curses need to be lifted.
your grandma was not a good witch, there is no such thing as a good witch, they all serve one evil
@@manicpixiecoffeelovr 😹😹😹😹😹😹
Elderly widows were often targeted as witches to acquire their land and valuables.
@@ijfsfv7439
the Church Literally had a Lot to Gain
That certainly was a big part of what happened in Salem.
The biblical quote "Thou shall not suffer the witch to live." may well be (and most likely is) a mistranslation. It may just as much mean "Thou shall not suffer the assassin to live" or "Thou shall not suffer the poisoner to live". Most likely, taking in context, the last example is probably the correct translation, as poisoner refers to not merely somebody who uses poison to harm others but also people who use lies and deception, a poisonous tongue, to ruin other people's lives.
Thanks to you and the couple of others who have pointed this out...showing we could always use more room for detail! Appreciate your comment 🙏
Wasn't a mistranslation. It was King James altering it because of his fear of witches.
@@juliaforsyth8332 Except, Luther had it as well, as well as all the other translators...because it is translated as such into the Latin form.
They executed a third of their own town, that is INSANE.
And if you lived in that town and if you protested the burning of your neighbour, you’d instantly be suspected of being in league with the .devil himself. And now you’re next for the stake. The more people who questioned and protested the killings, the more the townspeople would be killed
God would have destroyed it entirely.
So what exactly did the witches do that was anywhere near as abominable as burning someone alive?
Working with herbs, being a midwife and doing normal midwife stuff, having more knowledge than the "average person"... Usually they didn't even do anything in particular. The church and religious people just wanted a scapegoat for what things that happened and made - often but not always - women responsible for bad events that happened. If a horse died and someone saw a woman who wasn't the owner of the horse touch the animal, that would have been enough to accuse that woman of witchcraft for killing the horse and bring sentenced to burn at the stake.
Jeanne d'Arc, who is considered a saint in France, supposedly heard God and the holy Mary talk to her, say that she was the chosen vorhin to bring victory over Orleans. And that's what she did. When she was captured in Orleans by the English, they accused of witchcraft because they thought that the devil spoke to her and therefore burned her at the stake.
harming children and innocent babies, human sacrifices which mainly involved children that's why they weren't well liked.
@@kellygoodman6167 more likley trough people which accused innocent people.
@@mclovin7375 I agree that innocent people got caught up but I do believe some people were up to no good
Yeah most likely many of the uppity do gooders church ppl. Look at how many of those who were/are up to no good over the centuries, especially kiddy fiddlers protected by the church authorities.
Alice Lake, an ancestor of mine, was hanged for being a witch, around the year 1650 in Massachusetts. Her crime was seeing an apparition of her dead baby.
That, that’s just … how…
That's just sickening I'm at a loss for words
That's called a vision, she saw a vision of her own death. Still messed up for doing that to her. My biological father had a vision of me being homeless once at the time I was homeless for almost an hour
@@mistylawrence6944 I don’t think seeing an apparition of the women’s dead child is a vision of her own death.
@@sleeksilver16 Oh, I misread it, I apologize.
Thank you so much Ms. Karin Helmstaedt for making this comprehensive then and now knowledge. In the past being raised evangelical Christian, I judged witches and occult practices as "evil' or "scary" I've met several pagans since then and done a lot of research on pagan festivals and witchcraft online and found that that just isn't true, it's fake news. Now, I consider myself a Buddhist Pagan and embrace my own inner witch. I was shocked to learn from this video that this kind of persecution is still widespread in present times. Thank you so much for spreading awareness!
Thank you and very happy this has resonated with you and so many others!
Lol pagan witch. Suits you😂
christians are really very difficult to deal with
Thank you for this reporting of a serious and disturbing aspect of human society - the cruelty of people to people - almost as bad as the way people decide they can treat animals. Your story of your persecuted ancestor rings tragic and true - and a family story of my own is in agreement with your story. According to my father, his grandmother (a fiercely independent and religious widow) had a sister who was feared to be an actual witch (sometime in the 1920s or 1930s?). I could never get the full story from my father, but it appears that older people (back then) knew about healing plants and practiced midwifery in order to make a daily living. But neighbors for some reason suspected my father's grandmother's sister of practicing magic - and out of fear someone in the town took matters into their own hands and POISONED the person they thought was a witch - someone (anonymously?) got away with murdering a poor woman because they feared she was practicing magic! All she was doing was helping to deliver babies, and prescribing plants as medicine to earn money and heal people. Just want you to know, Ms. Helmstaedt, that your family history has some elements in common with my family story. Many thanks for having the bravery to put this story out in public - the only way to confront ignorance and fear and backward thinking!
Witchcraft is real, it’s omnipresent, and it’s about controlling other people. Satanism is the foundation of all human culture today. The ruling class are almost entirely witches. Bill Gates, Rockefeller, etc. Why do you think Elon Musk is fixated on numerology?
Many thanks back to you for sharing this harrowing story. So many people have suffered as a result of the ignorance, cruelty and fear you describe., and thankfully, at least bringing their stories back into the light and acknowledging them feels like a way to counteract it. 🙏
Ah yes, the cruelty of PEOPLE because SURELY women would start and actively encourage killing other women over taking some power back in quiet with herbs. Yeaaaah, "people" did it, sure
I'm a witch myself. My ancestors were shamans (native canadian), and I've learn to use nature and the divine power that we are all granted to navigate through life.
In my journey, I have to learn to forgive the people who propagated this cruelty, and it's the hardest part so far! 😢
Wait, did this witch hunt extend all the way to Canada?
@@a.c.4647 the witch hunts and trails have happened everywhere and still are. Also remember there are many types of witch hunts. Here in the states it wasn't just the witch trials like in Salem, it's also what we did to those of the Native American Nations, those that came here from Europe and settled thought the Native Americans were both dumb, backwards, and evil because they didn't follow christen ways and because they wanted to keep their beliefs, their ways and most importantly their land. They were treated as lesser and still are, just as everyone else is that is different. It may be called by different names but it's still a witch hunt a real witch hunt, just look at what's happening in the US right now. People that don't think or look like a minority of people are suffering because of and by that minority. Aka Republicans are acting like those of the past that went after witches, and like those that first came here, and hitler and his followers. It's always those that think different, believe different or look different, even if their sexual orientation is different from what they think should be. Even going after and killing women right in the hospital because the Drs are afraid of going to jail all because they think a woman doesn't have a right to their own decisions. I am Pagan and still see those that believe different like I do, like my friends that are Jewish, Muslim and even believe in the Hindu faith. This is why we all must stand up for all those that are quote different both here and around the world.
Many thanks for your comment and story, and apologies that I missed to reply earlier. The shamanic tradition is another huge area of interest for me, and so glad you are honoring your ancestors 🙏
True..
U r just normal human
As a practicing witch, it always gives me chills watching stories of all those poor victims back then, and it's shocking to see that women are still being targeted in parts of the world. It's sickening how our first reaction to something we don't understand is violence and destruction. I'm quite lucky to live in a place where there aren't such extreme measures, but the majority of people still view me and my practice with contempt, and some go as far as calling it demonic. I really hope that one day we'll be accepted
Many thanks for sharing this and take care.
The thing is that it's all education and meditation and experiences with nature that makes us realise a lot of things and people think it's magic but it's all just science. Everything is science and people just want to take out anybody that seems different from them. It's fear that makes people divert blames on people who seem to be in the spotlight for some reason and feel relieved about belonging to a dumb group of idiots. Wish there was better education in the society instead of people being made to be servants to bigger organisations.
I am a practicing witch and wear it proudly. I will use my voice for those who still have none. The "evil" isn't coming from those targeted. It's coming from the accusers. Fear and greed are the true enemies of mankind.
Part of my waking up was reading "Waking the Witch" by Pam Grossman. It was quite enlightening. With so many accused over the centuries, we all have an ancestor who was involved, either as victim or persecuter. This is a beautifully presented video, thank you.
@@karmas8864 blessed be. I found my faith in 1979, and it has been good for me.
@margaretwordnerd5210 beautiful! I envy your time on your path. I'm curious, but understand keeping beliefs private, so answer only if you're comfortable, do you follow any particular tradition? I stopped faking a faith I never believed in only about 5 years ago and now living my true self. We've come a long way, and still a long way to go. Stay safe out there.
My five-greats-grandfather was Rev. George Burroughs, who was hanged for the alleged crime of witchcraft at Salem, during the terrible summer of 1692. Although I'd heard about him from my maternal grandmother ever since I was a kid, I decided I had to visit Salem, and as peculiar synchronicity would have it, I chanced to visit exactly 300 years to the month, from his ghastly death on the gibbet in August of that fateful year. I was deeply moved when I came to the memorial that has been built for the victims, and saw his name carved in the stone, and found myself moved to tears on discovering that no one is certain where the bodies were disposed of, there having been a kind of communal forgetting of the precise circumstances which prevailed in those days. And so it goes...
Thank you so much for sharing this moving story! I can completely understand your feelings upon visiting that spot in Salem, and I know many members of my family have been very moved upon learning the details of our ancestor's tale in Winningen. Happy to know that it has resonated with so many others.
My great grandmother x generations back was hung with him. Her name was Martha Allen Carrier. I’m directly descended through the female line of my family from her.
@@adeleennis2255 Ms. Ennis, I bow to your murdered ancestor, and pray that perhaps she and Rev. Burroughs were able to aid one another to leave behind the darkness of their passing, and the cruelty they suffered at the hands of persons who should have cared for and supported them.
Wasn't he the one who defiantly and successfully recited the Lord's Prayer from the gallows, which was supposed to be something that a witch could not do? That had to take a lot of courage in the face of impending death. I can see him looking Cotton Mather in the eye as he said it, too (if there is a Hell, I hope Mather is *roasting*, the bastard). If your ancestor was the one who did that, mad respect for him.
I'm descended from three 'witches' convicted in Salem, and the Cotton family, who Cotton Mather was named for and also descended from. I suspect I have others in my tree from the earlier English witch hunts, likely on both sides of the issue. I've traced my family tree on my dad's side so far back that I'll never be able to research it all in my lifetime.
I learned so much about witches from watching this intriguing documentary. I had no idea the extent to which the persecutions are still happening. Would enjoy learning more! Thanks!
Hi Kim, thanks for your feedback! Make sure to hit the subscribe button- there’s lots more to come!
Witches are real. And witchcraft is about slavery and control. And the people who control everything, censor, cancel, and are the source of most evil in society such as war, crime, drugs, and prostitution, are the same ruling class that tells us how evil we are for being faithful and law abiding. This stuff is propaganda and all culture is based on Satanism. Even Christmas. Jesus is your only hope. Better get to know him.
Many thanks for your comment Kim and i am on it!
The young girl testified against her poor mother as a witch and the mother was executed in England. Years later the lady suffered the same but this time not from her daughter but accused by neighbours for doing witchcraft.
That is another amazing, but depressing, doc….I think “The Pendle Witch Trial.”
@@mansoormannix1753 the Pendle witch trials I live just up the road from there in Lancashire UK.
As a practicing witch and human being this breaks my heart. To know how prevalent the unjust murder of accused pagan witches today is so alarming and disgusting. Even here in the west u must be careful as people are afraid of what they do not know. Be safe and blessed be to all
Indeed. Although I find there's generally greater acceptance, the word Witch is still a contentious issue. If only our true rule of "Harm None" was lived by the wider population the world would be a far happier, safer & more rewarding place to live. Tolerance, respect & peace feels, as ever, a goal we might never reach.
I read that in Germany, the witch hunters earned their money on commission, so they had a lot of incentives to torture and convict as many people as possible. Also, confession under torture was seen as legitimate evidence to denounce others, whereas under British law they had more restrictions.
Yes, thanks for pointing this out 😳
In many cases that is correct and you can read more here: www.dw.com/en/a-witch-in-the-family/a-65447802
That is so interesting to hear! Funnily (or not funnily) enough, it reminds me of the ladies who work for the office of public order, who wear a uniform and earn additional money on commission when they give people fees for wrong parking. These women are very, very nasty in most of the cases. None of them smile, most of them are extremely unfriendly when you ask them for directions or public parking areas. I live in central Luebeck in northern Germany where you can mostly only park in official parking lots, not along the streets. The authorities want to keep the historical city centre for pedestrians and quiet, besides the streets are often very narrow. People like me who live there have special licenses that allow them to park in front of their houses. Those ladies know our cars. In spite of that, one of them waited until my license expired (I had had an accident and was at the hospital at the time) and directly fined me, day after day after day. When I came back from hospital I found an immense fine. I wrote to the office of public order and filed a complaint. Fortunately they withdrew the fine. Another time, they fined me for parking my car a bit higher up my street where it was forbidden. I had been forced to do so because we had the usual high water in February and everybody had to leave the house in the middle of the night when the water came to repark their car further up the road or somewhere else. You don’t walk a mile to repark your car in you pyjamas, so everybody just parks the car higher up our street where it’s not allowed because it’s a bit narrow (but ok). And nearly everybody leaves for work early in the morning, so it’s just for a couple of hours that special night. But the ladies WILL wait for these nights of high water and fine the whole neighborhood. For them, it’s a money making machine, the late winter floods. Everybody hates these “witch hunting” ladies.
Not so, in 17C England we had officially recognised administrative positions called "witchfinder generals." And the last so called "witch" was tried and found guilty under the 17C witchcraft act, in London's Old Bailey, during World War II, because her seances with deceased sailors revealed torpedoed ships that government had wished to keep secret.
As a solitary practitioner of the ancient craft for the past 20+ years I appreciate this video and the awareness it creates. As a member of the human race it is our duty to seek the true meaning of our own existence. "Know thyself"
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Indeed, her life was filled with extraordinary challenges and responsibilities at a young age. It's a complex historical situation, but decisions like divorce were very unusual at the time.
Scary as an older widow who rejects dogmatic religion. And one of the women hung in Salem was my poor grandmother. The inhumanity of some humans is
bottomless.
Which one? I recently found out my 9th great grandmother was also one of the 19 hung in Salem.
So relevant in the social media age, as hate and mob "justice" reach terrifying new levels.
except they're all witches now.
Especially when so many r back to claiming angels & demons r real……
That particular upsurge is alarming.
@@friedricengravy6646you believe in witches but not angels and demons? 😅
@@mariecait No, I dont. Magic is not real, period.
Phenomenal documentary! This really sheds light on the historical injustices faced by those identified as witches. Although the past treatment of witches was horrific, it is heartening to see folks begin to reclaim the term 'witch'. Amazing job!
Thanks a lot Karina for you kind words!
🙏❤
I had no idea that this still occurred and so rampantly. Why does no one talk about this?? Absolutely terrible
My wife is a witch and my ancestor wrote The Witch’s Hammer. I thrilled that times are changing.
The witches hammer is basically copied from the Malleus Judeorum also known as "Hammer of the Jews"
It is very unlikely that Heinrich Kramer (as a devout catholic priest) had any offspring.
But no one hinders u to live in your fantasy world with your "witch wife" gg....
Yes my ancestor Jacob spranger was involved in that publication as well
@@Springerbaby blessed for better times.
@@Springerbaby Of course. U might discuss this with the Japanese King Emperor......his family line goes back to the "Sun Goddess" Amaterasu 🤣
Men and theology ... 500 years behind the rest of the world. Painful to hear ... how terrible to be born in these countries
Yes, i have witches on both sides of my family. One was a Moyer from upper New York who wasn’t allowed to be buried in the church yard because she was a witch. But apparently did alright in life. My grandmother was a witch. She was very humble about it. Taught me alot about plants and to revere nature.
Thanks for sharing this 🙏
Isee witches as the sjamaan medicinmen ect , John d Rockafeller also pushed against alternative healing methods , they stopped it and John D who had oilcompanies and pertrochemie factory,s became no 1 in Pharma ,, All synthetic crap like the MNRA , they burned the wrong ones !
Ms. Karin Helmstaedt, thank you for this very comprehensive and interesting documentary!
We always thought that witch hunts were something of the past and only driven by religion.
Also, we are shocked that so apparently it is taking place today and is hardly known.
Thanks to this broadcast, we now know better.
We watched so enthralled that we did not ask a question in the live chat because, after all, we wanted to follow the interesting story.
What an enormous effort that must have been to put this half hour together, the filming, the interviews, the preparations, the research and finally the editing. We believe this is a very high quality production and look forward to seeing more from you.
Here you and DW have done a fantastic job! Congratulations!
Thanks so much, Angie and Piet, for your thoughts and for tuning in earlier on!!
So grateful for your comments Piet and glad to know our efforts are appreciated! Cheers and many thanks!
The KKK and the Democrat Party were started by witches known as Freemasons, whom worship the Satanic globalist leader Nimrod (the Washington Monument), his wife Semiramis (the Statue of Liberty), and her son Tammuz(the bald Eagle/Horus the Phoenix). Today the witch-hunts are for Trump supporters, otherwise known as Christians.
Humans are often cruel. :(
As Nigerian, my mum is a victim of witchcraft. Witch Leads to her early death while i and my siblings were very young and our last born was a 4months old.😢 life was a hell for me and my family 15years ago💔 now I'm currently based in Europe. And planning to return back home soon. So that I con go & seek justice for those who are helpless.😢 the experience was really hell after my mum's death!😭
I am so sorry to hear this and hope you stay safe, and perhaps contact Leo Igwe - maybe your story could indeed help others 🙏
Thank you for making this documentary and honouring your ancestor for she is all our ancestor. I have been doing much healing over this in the last few years. Some incredible people doing much needed work bringing to attention how mob mentality and crop failure, economic down turn etc can have effect on communities as we just repeat same mistakes if we don't remember. I have done a little research in to the witch trials. I was blessed to attend a a very moving exhibition in Pendle, Lancaster where the Pendle witch trials took place in England. Honouring mostly women who were tortured and murdered for "witchcraft".
Thanks for your comments Jude, and yes, more and more communities are at least recognising the victims of witch hunts and the lasting harm they caused for so many families and societies. As far as I could ascertain, Winningen was the first community in Germany to erect a monument in 1925. I felt it was important to know this history and vindicate our ancestors, and glad it has struck a chord with you.
@@KarinHelmst-jz6yf Thank you.
Well it’s similar to covid, where rather than crops failing, the modern day equivalent was occurring with the economy, and people took to demonizing anyone who wanted to make their own choice about their own body. It was a bit of a witch hunt in some ways. Mob mentality is unfortunately part of our genetics, I think. I hope we evolve out of it. It’s pretty scary.
Very exciting documentation! I didn't know that women were still ostracized as witches or even killed because of it. Unbelievable.
Yes, it is terrifying, isn't it? Thanks for watching!
Single old women are still ostracized and looked down in Occidental countries.
I bet it would amaze you to know that Satanism and witches are alive and well in our permanent ruling class. Why do you think you are even watching this stuff to begin with?
@@Lyrielonwind but black magic is evil, and it's a problem if you tolerate it too.
Not saying people should be accused, but black magic will destroy a society.
People are declaring themselves witches on Facebook.
So why do you even mention the word " fear?"
Even if they aren't naturally more sensitive than others, they certainly WANT to be and have no idea of the danger they are placing themselves and OTHER women in.
The naievty of this generation online and in the media is absolutely astounding.
Manifesting things universally doesn't grant you them, just because you want it to.
A very dangerous and irresponsible thing to do in these times.
Prayer doesn't involve any such metaphysical ambiguity.
What a beautiful and well done exploration of Witch hunts in Germany and Europe. I have an ancestor, Samuel Wardwell who was executed for Witchcraft in Salem, MA. He was apparently a psychic and astrologer and was a farmer with a thriving farm which attracted envy and fear...
Thanks for sharing this Vicki, and it's amazing how many people have commented that can trace their lineage back to an ancestor in Salem, something most people here haven't bothered or been able to do as so many documents have been lost over the centuries. I was lucky to find a cache of records that is in amazing condition.
That's crazy!
I’m related to John Alden. He and his family had to flee Salem as they were accused of witchcraft. Perhaps our families knew one another.
@@pukegreenpea4628 I am also descended from John and Patricia Alden. We are distant cousins!
What a great video; well done, well researched. Thanks for sharing the story of your ancestress. My first ancestor in America came here early from Scotland, after being accused of witchcraft. Unlike so many others, she wasn't convicted. She survived, and beat feet out of Scotland with her husband shortly afterwards, restarting her life in early colonial Maryland. And thanks for raising awareness that people are STILL being accused and killed. When I researched it myself (I'm a writer) I was SO surprised to find that. There are also lots of places in Pakistan and the Middle East where you can get killed for being a witch. Still surprising is that even here in America, being a witch can occasionally get you killed if you're a member of an immigrant community from any of those countries. (It's more likely in the original countries than here, but still.....) Thanks again!
Thanks so much for your feedback Laurie, much appreciated!
And also for the story of your own ancestor - so glad she made it out! 👍
This was incredibly well researched and presented! Especially interesting to investigate how widespread the witch trials were in Europe with the North American focus being heavily fixed on the Salem trials, thanks Karin and DW!
Thanks a lot, Spencer, for your comment! All the best from Berlin.
What a slap in the face, a man’s wife gets executed right in front of him, and he’s handed the bill for the wine that everyone else is partying with - wine that he probably didn’t even order.
I bet if he didn’t pay the bill, he would be arrested as well and his property seized. Sometimes you can’t win.
Well…as the doc shows, it wasn’t the “fairest” time.
How horrible for your ancestor! How brilliant you have told the story of those who are still suffering today! Thank you for this brilliant film and your compassionate action for women today. Long live the Witch say I.
I agree Rocki and thanks so much for your kind feedback! 🙏
@@KarinHelmst-jz6yf My pleasure, the May Queen will bring you blessings. 🙂
Atleast you know that there were no child sacrifices, that was a lie that was added to the bible by the Roman empire for thought control
I thank you for doing this video and the acknowledgement of those that practice modern witch craft and Paganism. I am one of those and as in the past for many people, our neighbors went after us. They complained to management and even made a giant cross that they put in their backyard table where the umbrella normally goes. They even put a listening device out back ( had a friend that knows about all that stuff verifie that's what it was) they finally chilled out after management told them to stop or get kicked out. But it's not just those of us that actually practice Paganism that stuff is happening to. To me this hate speech and even violence against those of a different religion, of a different color, that is LGBTQ+ and others are also basically being gone after and even killed in a kind of modern day witch hunt. My husband and I both have people in our family line that were accused, torched, and killed. I also come from a line of people that some call Ozark Mountain witches. Yes there are many customs of many ways in our own country, yet even here it seems history is trying to repeat itself. We can never let anything like that or like hitlers camps which was really another kind of witch hunt, happen again. All must stand together and fight against this (not violently) every day. Seeing this and knowing there are those of my blood line that went through this, knowing women around the world are still going through this makes me cry and also wonder if this hate and unjustified hurt and murder will ever stop, will humans ever advance past all this. Our will we kill ourselves and mother earth all over hate of women and those considered other.
Blessed Be !!
That fact that this is still happening is so sad it breaks me😢.
I hope your ancestors rest in peace.
Your information was so helpful and your entire work is professionally done.
Many thanks! 🙏
Thank you for this video. I am an American citizen living in Brazil. Years ago I gave a Halloween party for my daughter's primary school class. Years later I was having coffee at a friend's house with others and I was asked what street I lived on. I was shocked when he seriously said, "Do you know there is a witch on your street?" Since there are only half a dozen houses on my street and I know everyone I am sure it was " old fake news" stemming from my Halloween party all those years ago.....
I absolutely loved this short documentary!! Your poor ancestor… I am a modern day ecclectic witch and I take pride in living nature and wishing nothing but good upon the world and humanity. The discourse behind the word “witch” needs to change! ❤
Thanks so much Vee for your kind words and I couldn't agree more!
This is heartbreaking coming from a witch family.
I had a sense of deja vu about the wood where they were executed. Long ago I had a very vivid dream of being beheaded in a wood like that. Later on in the video there 's the "merciful" death of Margarethe. At 50, as a single and childless woman in South America, I survived mob violence which had a witchhunt bizarre logic to it and gave me a sinister deja vu. Memory goes beyond individual lives. It might be ancestral memories or past lives or just the fact that many things, sadly, have not changed in the collective.
I believe it could be your past life... wow
Interesting to hear some myth busting. Didn't know that protestant church was so involved in it. I have some southern german ancestors who were protestant (lutheran) and who left Germany a couple centuries ago. Even I was born protestant on paper, although the family not religious already then. Makes me wonder if some of my ancestors suffered this horrible fate, too 😰
Also crazy that this is still happening... it often feels like time travel going to some countries... poor souls.
Thanks Mori for sharing your thoughts here. Where did your German ancestors move to back then?
@@DWHistoryandCulture They went to Russia, then Azerbaidshan, then Kazakhstan after unrest there, now we're back in Germany but I'm only quarter German by now 😅 Each branch of my family has quite dramitic stories and it always impresses me how strong they were to survive it all. History is wild.
The witch hunts seem to be a case of science vs. religion in which religion had it right and (pseudo) science dragged religion into going along. The Catholic Church, generally speaking, had always viewed the practice of witchcraft as superstitious heresy and even the Inquisition had a policy of ignoring accusations of witchcraft and focusing instead, on doctrinal heresy. Protestant countries, on the other hand, pursued witch hunts with gusto, and it's no coincidence that many of the most fanatical Protestants were men who prided themselves on their interest in "modern" scientific discoveries. Witchcraft was normally viewed as a civil matter in which religion had some bearing (as it had in most other aspects of life at that time). This is not to downplay the many injustices and atrocities committed by the Catholic Church in past ages and acknowledged as such even by the Popes.
Very good video. I didn't know that people were still being accused of witch craft today in 2023. Very sad and must be stopped.
This subject is so popular everywhere hear the same story we all know, yet this video coming from DW has such refreshing information. Thank you!!
Very interesting. However, it would also be interesting to know how much of this european whitch hunt mentality influenced the south (Africa, Asia, Americas). Specifically understanding that during that period most of the world were european colonies and there was a strong force to evangelice foreign local comunities.
It goes to show you how humans have always been cruel towards those they do not understand. 😢
I have had stones thrown at me a baloon filed with acid thrown at me that missed me and been accused of being a witch simply for wearing a patchworked coat here in the USA. People are taught to fear and hate those who don't conform to social norms.
I am so sorry to hear that! Where was this? 💔wanting to know so I can avoid that area
@@kfespirituu Portland Oregon in the 1980s. Barstow California in the 1990s. California society has gotten worse since 2021 to the point where I will not do renaissancee faires there. I will do renaissance faires in Oregon.
@@catherineleslie-faye4302Im active in the Northern CA pagan community. What I've seen is discrimination but not violence. Also, too many newbie "Witches" are just trendy Satanists making us look bad and trying to reignite the Satanic Panic. How has it gotten worse in your view? Not arguing genuinely curious. And I'm so sorry that happened to you!
I wish you strength and spirit to life your life. Stay well🍀
In Berkeley,CA you can walk down the street wearing a pentacle and no one bats an eye.
🎉I am the Witch in the family!🎉 I proudly carry the title!❤
People were that afraid of witchcraft, absolutely terrified of it. The people would rather execute people like “ just in case” rather than take a chance of having a witch potentially hurting people. And they figured if they were wrong that God would forgive them. Thanks for the video. Informative & interesting.
A great film, Karin! Very touching, as far as your personal family history is concerned, exciting and a lot of new things in your look into history - and shocking that witch hunts still exist today. Really a very, very great film!
That means a lot coming from you, Sabine, danke vielmals 💖
Thanks, Sabine, for sharing your opinion here. All the best to you
I’m a witch and I really hope the world stops killing us, harming us, and destroying us for their awful terrible reasons. There is never a good reason at all to harm another witch. We deserve to live freely and express ourselves!!!
And I consider all the accused people of witchcraft , “my witch ancestors” even though they were probably not even that at all. Because of their trials and pain I got to be free. Thank you. Great video.
My 9X great-grandmother was Rebecca Nurse, her sister Mary, my 9X great aunt, and Samuel Wardwell my 1st cousin 9x removed all died being accused of witchcraft at Salem in 1692. Rebecca's mother, Joanna Blessing, was accused years earlier, also another 9X great-grandmother, Mary Bliss before that. Both Joanna and Mary were acquitted of their ordeals but continued to be looked on with suspicion for the rest of their lives In Salem witchcraft was used by some to get revenge on others. I think the girls in Salem's witchcraft story were told ghost stories by Tituba, and they decided it would be fun to act out. The powers that be, (their father and others) decided to go with the witch story and use it to their advantage. They told the girls who to accuse, and it got out of hand...completely. It destroyed lives and families. Witchcraft is something society has used to control women, (and society) take revenge, steal from the less powerful, and put the fear of the devil into others. None of the thousands of victims of witchcraft in America and Europe were witches, because there is no such thing as a witch! There are intelligent wise women everywhere, and society has always put them "in their place". There are despicable, greedy men everywhere and they have used the term for their own use.
Fascinating story, and thanks so much for sharing this - amazing to think your ancestors were going through this a full 50 years after mine. It took a long time for people to realise that the law had to serve them differently...one of the later victims in Winningen actually decided to turn the accusation around, and accused the entire town of being witches. Needless to say, that got people to thinking!
Rebecca Nurse was born on 21 February 1621 in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England, United Kingdom to William Towne and Joanna Blessing.
When she was 16, her parents and 5 younger siblings set sail to America aboard the Rose of Yarmouth in 1637.
There is a plaque dedicated to them in St Nicholas church in Great Yarmouth.
On a side note as well being born in Great Yarmouth Rebecca was hanged on my birthday.
@madibe53 Samuel Wardwell is my 9× grandfather! Aparently, he was accused of fourtune telling and was known for practicing healing through herbal remedies. His brother Eliakim and wife Lydia surrvied but had to flee to New Jersey because they refused to go to Church.
@@camit9670 I've read about his fortune-telling, he was an interesting character. Apparently, that would make us cousins somewhere in the past. Rebecca Nurse's sister, Sarah moved away with her husband, and they changed their name.
Brilliant piece, well done
The one thing you perhaps didn't focus (enough) on are the number of children vilified as witches and them abandoned, ostracized or killed.
It's beyond disgraceful.
Thanks Pat, for this comment, and yes, there were a number of aspects that didn't make the cut, so to speak, always hard with such a vast subject.
This was a great video. I’m a practicing witch, and this video made me acknowledge the privilege I have of being able to take this label on for myself and use it for spiritual growth. Acknowledging that so many women are dying and suffering for not even self identifying as such, gives me pause and I feel some need for self reflection. Thanks for sharing this research with us ❤
Many thanks for your thoughtful comments! 🙏
So do you have super powers?
Actually witchcraft as was understood earlier and it is today is not about spells or tricks. It's more about accepting who you are, embrace it and trust in your instincts. And knowing use of herbs, connecting to your intuition.
Incredible what religions can make people do!
It's not religion; it's psychopathy. Psychopaths are predators and they feast on the most vulnerable. They start smear campaigns due to envy and created massive hysteria by brain washing; after that, the mob will do the job. Religions are just the masks they use to justify their crimes. Not that religions have no part of that but it might be used to control the narrative.
Anyway, Politics could serve a way to control the narrative.
I don't know if you have read the book Maid's Tales by Atwood.
I’m so glad that mythology and superstition have zero influence on my thought process.
Its not religion. Its peoples ignorance and their desire to find scapegoats to whatever ails their society at the time.
Religion was just an excuse.
Hearing these stories about what people thought of witches then, and hearing what we do now about human trafficking, especially in Hollywood, and about adrenochrome, makes me wonder if someone knew then what we are only starting to really know now, and those people are the 'witches' that were truly being spoken of in the stories, but it got refocused to the innocent.
That's what I heard from a descendant whose ancestors from Scotland were posing as Puritans in Massachusetts. He read the original documents from the Salem Witch trials which are kept from the public.
This is APPALLING! Even if those women are indeed practicing Magick, it is nowhere NEAR the the degree of criminality as is the murder of them for their alleged Faith!
I happen to know that Magick is particularly powerful and sinister when human Life is sacrificed, but outside of human (or animal) sacrifice, the Magick spells of a witch are no more powerful than are the sincere prayers of a faithful believer of any other religion.
I love the power of your name...
Magick, spells, !?!? What are you smoking that stuff ain't real . I suppose witches went to Hogwarts to get their certificate in the mystic arts. Lol.
@@shadrachemmanuel1720Lol! Looks like you "ain't real" either! youtube.com/@shadrachemmanuel1720
@@shadrachemmanuel1720 For your information, dear, many pagans and wiccans today believe in the power of magick (not magic which is fictional), working with deities, the power of nature, etcetera. Just because you don´t believe in any of these things, it doesn´t mean other people can´t have their faith and it also doesn´t mean you are right and these things aren´t real.
Ancient civilizations (Mezopotamians, Celts, Greeks, Romans...) believed in the power of magick and had so many rituals, prayers, invocations to call for the divine guidance. It was their belief and I can assure you, this belief is still very popular in neopagan and pagan circles up to this day.
And yes, actually, there are certain.. well you could say schools.. for learning magick. Traditional covens, for example, usually do not let their novices in until they complete at least a year and one day of hard studying, examinations and other tests, only then, if they succeed, the person may be initiated (we have three degrees of witch´s initiation) and join their brothers and sisters of the Craft. Also, there are some online schools of witchcraft (usually payed courses of magickal arts), like Wicca Academy.
Man, there's loads of information that point out to the opposite of my idea of the witch hunts from medieval times. Thank you so much for putting it out there. The thing about Spain being one of the chillest places to be a witch at the time, that really surprised me.
It would be nice to know how we can advocate for the modern victims that you highlighted in countries like Paupau New Guinea or Ghana. I'm pretty sure those of us who are in the witchcraft community and those of us who love history would love to know how we can help make the world a better place.
Thanks Victoria for your kind thoughts and comment. You could certainly raise awareness on this by sharing the link and also get in touch with Leo Igwe and/or support his NGO, Advocacy for Alleged Witches - advocacyforallegedwitches.law.blog/ - he would also know how one could provide more concrete assistance. Many thanks for amplifying and go well!
@@KarinHelmst-jz6yf You should pin this link and any others regarding helping these women in Africa, India, and Papua New Guinea.
I read about this going on in PNG about 15-20yrs ago, but I thought with the growing presence of Western companies, that witchcraft accusations would become a thing of the past. At that time, one of the big problems volunteers were having was phone access/service and transportation, as a lot of the area was remote.
It would be great to see more coverage on this topic, as well as other issues that affect women and girls. Really appreciate your professionalism and high standards! 💜✌️😎
@@erinmac4750 Thanks for your kind feedback - have taken note and will do! 🙏
Witch-hunting was a profitable business. In the case of a witch trial the county took possession of everything the accused owned. They took their homes and property and resold it. That’s why widows and single women were easy targets. As well as older couples without male children of age to claim their inheritance and property.
That’s the TL;DR
They could be lonely or active members of the church, that didn’t matter but, it would take more time to target the people who were more active and respected by their community (it was simply easier to alienate them and turn others against them). Then, those who were vulnerable to blame for others misfortunes.
Your baby died? Blame the midwife - oh, you need her in the village? Blame the doula. She’s a widow with land who is old or won’t marry you? What a -waste- witch! You can see how these people were especially easy targets.
Herbalism was common knowledge in basics, and everyone had herbal gardens to treat ailments or stay healthy, and a kitchen garden for fragrant, savory and sweet herbs. Maybe an autistic woman was more fixated on learning about it. Maybe she knew a little too much and she was odd. Maybe she offered you medicine but, you only got worse bc your symptoms weren’t just sores and hair loss, they were actually indicative of syphilis.
Once they had one woman tortured to confess, they could leverage her for other names.
Witches heal. Just as I was taught my Grama ❤️
Great work on this documentary! It is truly impressive and well-executed. Kudos to the entire team involved in creating such a fantastic piece of work!
Thanks so much, Jan, we really appreciate your words!!
Thanks so much for your kind feedback! ❤
this was so interesting! would love to see more content dealing with the dark parts of history that are untold or told inaccurately
Thanks for your kind feedback and well noted! 🙏
Thanks a lot for watching and for your positive feedback.
I feel like using the word witch or the ability to be able to accuse someone of that is just another way to Brutalize certain human beings for whatever the real reason are or motives I pray to God that this stop.
I wonder where we’d today as a society if the practice of magic wasn’t seen as evil. I feel like magic and medicine would go hand in hand.
They do. Most of these women were healers that used herbs as medicine FOR OTHER PPL.
Magic and medicine used to be one and the same practice. But at some point in society there was a split; men went into a logical path, medicine, while mostly women remained involved in a more accessible form of natural holistic medicine. This same split occurred between astronomy and astrology; they used to be all one study before they were split into two opposing practices.
@@62Cristoforo lol, I understand. I’m Navajo, raised on the reservation, and was surrounded by the traditional teachings. My dad used to tell me stories about how stuff of “fairytales” or what we’d call fantastical today is rooted in some truth. Magic, medicine, and sciences were almost one in the same, lol. All that fantasy wasn’t just limited to humans and supposedly there was an extinction level event that wiped out almost everything. We’re what was left over. Crazy I know 😆. So many many stories and ways of teaching life lessons.
I love my witch. I met her 10 years ago, her name is Megan. Really opened my eyes to a whole nother world.
Mary Bradbury is one of my great grandmothers, 10 generations removed or something like that. She survived. I believe the women were targeted by young teenage girls who were bored.
Thanks for a very interesting and informative documentary on this subject. It seems to me that the women who were accused of witchcraft denied it under torture, so why on earth call yourself a witch because you don't believe in greed and capitalism? To my mind it perpetuates a lie, that the alternative to greed is calling yourself a witch, as if Christianity taught greed, just because it's not practiced by many that preach it, doesn't change it's nature, and it's anti greed and pro life. It's pagans and people calling and thinking of themselves as "Christian", accusing and killing alike sadly. My heart goes out to the victims of ignorance, envy and greed.
I agree. Modern "witchcraft" makes absolutely no sense. Being knowledgeable about herbal medicine and nature should be an acceptable norm not something to use to make yourself seem unique and part of a club. It's totally rediculous.
My 11th great grandmother (Rebecca Nurse) was hung in 1692 during the Salem Witch Trials. I found out that I am related to her twice on my moms side. My 11th great on my grandma's side and she was an aunt on my grandpas side. I love this about my ancestry!
Thank you for sharing. We appreciate you taking the time to share your family's story with our community.
Thanks so much for sharing this - and I totally get it. Many of the Salem descendants have reached out in these comments - and very glad to know she was later exonerated.
My heart goes out to Margarethe n thousands of other women who have suffered so much injustice & cruelty under all these wrong accusation’s.
Thanks for the sentiment ❤
I have ancestors from Ireland, Scotland, German, and India (Bangladesh now). I identify as a witch. My great-grandmother was considered a wise-woman. She was a witch in my eyes. A healer, midwife, and sometimes had knowledge that she couldn't explain. I too have most of that in common with her.
One of my ancestors was killed along with her sister and brother as part of the European witch trials. I honor them every year on September, both the month of their death and my birth. Needless suffering, I hope they’re at peace
Thank you for sharing your story. We appreciate you taking the time to share your experiences with our community.
For me being a witch isn't even about religion. it's about having an understanding of the world around me and trying to do whatever part I can to help protect and heal both the environment I live in and also the people that I surround myself with. I think in some sense there is a "witch" in all of us because whether or not we'll admit out loud I think we all have some form of trauma that we are dealing with. Whether it's current trauma from an accident, or an illness or bad relationship with someone we care about or a past trauma of abuse or neglect. My mother was never around when I was a young child and there was never any real explanation of why, she just wasn't. As I have grown up and become wiser and more mature I am learning to let go of that and to forgive her for not being there when I needed her most. We have been working towards having some form of contact now that I am older and the older and wiser I get the less I feel that need to know why she was never there. Sometimes it's better to leave a question unasked because there is no good answer that will justify why.
This was heartbreaking to watch 💔
I found out recently that my 9th great grandmother was Mary Easty. Mary and her sister (my great aunt) Rebecca Nurse were hung in the Salem Witch Trials. I’ve been obsessed with the trials since I was a young girl and felt very connected to it.
Thanks for your comment! A number of other descendants of the Salem victims have share their stories here, and most of them can also relate to your obsession, and feel very strongly about commemorating their history. In case you aren't familiar with this podcast: thoushaltnotsuffer.com/ - it's well worth a listen and they are doing great work to educate about both the historic witch hunts and the scourge of modern witch hunts today.
An amazing and, too often sometimes, tragically beautiful documentary! Infinite love and gratitude to Ms. Helmst and DW! “Blessings Be,” as the Wiccan and “Pagani” choose so often to phrase it!
I was born at sundown on Samhain, and have been fascinated, frightened, foreboded and forbidden by witches, as well as having been freed, furthered and finally fully feminized, by witches throughout my life!
While I am a “solo” non-Wiccan, I have caucused with the Wiccans and learned, from experience, to respect the power and potential of their fluidity and familiarity with voice, ritual, and context, as well as for their various votive “trinkets!”
I also love cats (and other “familiars!”) and I hope I’m not injudiciously letting one out of the bag when I suggest that, in fact, everyone is a witch! We all possess the power to alter reality with our minds, words and actions, though most of us are willfully and thoroughly incognizant of this!
In point of fact, one of the only really pertinent and persistent questions in this regard, in my opinion, is what I have come to regard as “Glinda’s Interrogative,” i.e., “Are you a Good Witch, or a Bad Witch?”
In calculatedly safe and contextually salubrious, curious as well as correct situations, I present as “The Pretty Good Witch of the West by Southwest,” as well as “The Word Witch of the Penultimate Homely House,” and sometimes in especially “digital” milieus as “Cybelline the Witch-Bot!”
Ever since a young atheist introduced me to the “Gnostic Gospels,” they have become an ever increasing, I could even say “enormous” aspect of my spiritual sojourn!
I now understand why my Boddhisatva Jesus is such an ever increasingly joyful blessing and beneficent force in my life, while Jehovah (Yaldabaoth, Yahweh, Saklas, as well as many other “aliases”), a real being and the “demi-urge” of this “realm” (which is “pixelated” at the Planck scale!) is a truly negative and narcissistic being, and NOT the “father” of Jesus of Nazareth!
I really didn’t intend to share this much “arcane” information, but there are apparently some souls in contact with this rather safe spiritual context that need to hear this…
-- AND SO IT IS!
- Namaste,
Glenn
(Jesus’ “SL” Angel)
Namaste, Glenn, and many thanks for your thoughts and beautiful feedback
@@KarinHelmst-jz6yf Oh my most dear Ms. Helmst,
Thank you for your very kind and personal reply!
My apologies for misspelling your name! Too lazy to backtrack and obtain it on my own, I copied the apparently incorrect spelling from the comment of a Mr. Fried.
My limp wristed and tepid self-defense is that it was almost sunrise, and, my coach, hours previously having morphed quite pumpkin-wise, had left me to walk (oh the indignity!) back to my tall and curiously Germanic bungalow, the variously enchanted “Penultimate Homely House!”
And speaking of enchantment, your inarguable loveliness catches my breath, and I scarcely even care to recapture it, though, being still nominally incarnate, I suppose I must!
Should you ever require the services of a mid-western magical “Nancy boy” for almost any sort of purpose or endeavor (scribe or scrabble, cauldron cleaning, tour guide to the binary citadels, watcher of the wee hours, impromptu footstool or ought else…) please consider me a first call for help or perhaps your personal fallback for fortune and frivolity!
- Mega Namaste,
Glenn
(PGWotWxSW)
You have quite a way with words. I can see you as a bard. Thank you for the peace you share and bring a smile to my heart. ✌️😎🍀
@@erinmac4750 Thank you my most dear Ms. erinmac4750!
Have a lovely and auspicious weekend and a merry, merry, month of May! And a Blessed Summer as well (I mean, why the heck not?)…
- Namaste,
Glenn
(PGWotWxSW)
@@glenncbjones 🙏🙏🙏
In my birth village Neerharen in Belgium only 5 km from Maastricht there where 16 witches executed. The witch hill was on the other side of the of my mom's house where they had there walpulrichnachten and the executing place is bin build on in the last 15j.
Thanks, Timm, for sharing this insight. How is this historic chapter commemorated, can you find information on this, as a visitor for example? And was it a topic in your family? All the best from Berlin!
rest in peace to all the beautiful souls from the past and present
Can’t believe this is still happening. So important that we acknowledge it!
Thanks for your feedback 🙏❤
Sad to say in other parts of Africa there are people still accused of witchcraft, some are burnt or beaten.
Thank you for sharing this video “ A Witch in the Family”. It is still a very deep and open wound for some, as the West may not be as free from this dark past as the world thinks…
❤🙏
I feel so bad for those women in Gambia.
So well done. Start to finish. Excellent journalism 👏 thank you so much for the hard work that went into this incredibly important current issue.
Many thanks for your kind feedback - we so appreciate it and glad to hear it resonated with you.
I can not believe that this is the fist time I’ve heard of the witch hunts in Africa why is the media not screaming out about this stories like this should be all over the media and drawing attention to this to bring an end to such miscarriages of justice.
What an amazing video! Shocking but also fascinating and so well-made. Thank you!
Didn't the Spanish Inquisition also target people who were, at various times, forced to wear conical hats? There might be some overlap we're overlooking
Juden hatten
In line with the other reply, Jews were often persecuted at the same time for the same/similar offenses. We can see echoes of this in some of the anti-Semitism coming from some of the "christian nationalists" in the U.S. today. In one of his podcasts, Jordan Klepper had an enlightening discussion about just this.
I think its interesting that witches or women who call themself witches still exist until today, doing the same practices and stuff they got inherited by their predecessors. Like the mother of a friend of mine..
Dear Ragnar, thanks for sharing your thoughts here. What kind of practices do you mean? In the sense of healing?
@@DWHistoryandCulture yes, stuff like that
We still exist. The body can be destroyed but the witch will live on.
Thank you DW for bringing us this informative video.🙏
Beautiful documentary!! Thanks for sharing.
I served in the Marines. When stationed in Pensacola, Cherry Point, and Beaufort I was met with so much hatred from fellow Marines.
Many times my personal property was vandalized, I was threatened by senior NCO's that practicing any further would lead to violence and my grusome death.
This started in 2000. I continue to explore, share, educate, and uplift others with a sad heart. Maybe it will get better.
To all those in the military - watch out for prayer groups, chaplins, and anyone wearing Knights Templer rings and clothing. Gather Quietly.
My boyfriend is still serving in the airforce, deployed currently, and I know they mistreat him due to him being open about his faith and practices. I hope he gets out in 4 years at his soonest retirement. Thank you for your service
@@daneascott9645 I'm sure he knows, but seriously - give him a heads up on the Knights Templer thing. It's something wierd they do that makes them very identifiable. Sometimes just knowing who not to confide is valuable. I hope your boyfreind stays safe, and enjoys his service. It wasn't all bad, just avoiding assholes is a required skill. Also, tell him to keep an eye out for opportunities after service. Good luck. Give him your love and strength.
@@daneascott9645I didn't know this kind of issue is happening in the military. 😢😢
@@NemieVlog sadly it is and has been
@@daneascott9645 This is horrible.
I know that an ancestor's first wife was executed as a witch in the 17th century. Interestingly, that same ancestor remarried within a few weeks.
(Northern Germany, region near Schneverdingen)
And yes, I knew about these accusations, persecutions, executions from history and religion lessons, and it was made clear even then that false accusations were often made out of envy and greed and jealousy, lust for revenge.
And if we take these basic motives, we always find campaigns against individuals or groups that (at least) end in the destruction of a soul/psyche.
Thanks so much for your comment!
This is such a powerful video in so many ways! I had no idea Witch hunts still happened nowadays! Thank you for your brilliant work in this video and for all your research which brought this knowledge to me and many others around the world. We must speak for those who can’t!
Very grateful for your kind feedback, and so glad it has struck a chord and is raising the awareness of so many. ❤🙏
A very informative piece-thank you
For nearly 35 years in my career as a fitness instructor, I have presented special themed classes at most holidays; a particularly popular one has been my Halloween class, in “which” I present as a costumed “witch.” A few years ago I began to be bothered as I thought and learnt more about the actual history across the world, and have found other ways to present. This video might be the final straw that solidifies my position. (Gladly on the verge of retirement, so I won’t have to deal with the conundrum of change much longer)
Dear Ginnie, so glad to hear it's been an eye-opener, and thanks for your comment! 🙏
Thank you for a very informative video and for spreading the word.
I had no idea people were still being prosecuted for witchcraft, it's so saddening my heart sinks ☹️💖
❤