The Witches Who Failed to Fly - Malcolm's Musings: Anomalies

We expect most of our readers have at least a fair knowledge of how witchcraft and its practitioners were regarded from about the 15th century onward. Malcolm Smith shares some intriguing research into those times, including the little known fact that witches were by and large tolerated or even ignored by the christian churches, and that a hallucinogenic plant-based ointment was responsible for their "flights" with or without brooms. Nick Redfern then describes A Witch Named Isobel and a “Familiar� Creature, a tale from more recent and less enlightened times when a belief in Familiars--demonic shape shifting "pets"--could result in an unfortunate witch being burned or drowned. As is always the case throughout human history,  ignorance breeds fear, fear makes people irrational, and soon torches and pitchforks start sounding like smart ideas. (CM)

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from THE ANOMALIST http://bit.ly/2vARFsJ