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Why Witches Ride Broomsticks 81

A Bewitching History:

Why Witches Ride

Broomsticks

Megan Ganon

Among the throngs of this year's trick-or-
treaters, hundreds of Americans will be dressed
as Miley Cyrus or a minion from "Despicable
Me," but more will go with a fail-safe getup.
"Witch" once again reigns as the No. 1 costume
for adults, according to the National Retail
Federation's 2013 Halloween survey.
Many of the pointy-hatted sorcerers who
roam the streets this Oct. 31 will be carrying
broomsticks or besoms. But few likely know the
murky tale of how witches came to be associated
with those familiar household objects.
The story — full of sex, drugs and
Christian inquisitors — starts with poisonous Sexy witches supported by demons and devils that are holding
plants like black henbane (Hyoscyamus niger), them."
sometimes called stinking nightshade.
The explicit implications of staff riding, and the Hundreds of years later, it can be tough
Ingesting henbane, which is rich in
sexual nature of witches in images throughout to tease out what people and artists of the
powerful alkaloids, can cause hallucinations (if Renaissance actually believed about witches. In
the Renaissance, are difficult to ignore. Artists
it doesn't kill you first). According to legend, any case, some brave, if ill-advised, modern
like Albrecht Dürer and Hans Baldung depicted
witches used herbs with psychoactive properties accounts suggest witches' flying potions
them naked. The witch in one engraving by the
like henbane in their potions, or "flying
Italian artist Parmigianino is not riding a broom, probably worked. In his book "The Long Trip: A
ointments." Some historical accounts suggest
but rather a gigantic, anatomically graphic Prehistory of Psychedelia" (Daily Grail
witches applied these ointments to their nether
phallus. Publishing, 2008), author Paul Devereux
regions. And what better applicator than a
But racy images of witches fit in with a recounts folklorist Will-Erich Peuckert's 20th-
wooden staff?
culture in which there was much speculation century experimentation with a mixture of
Lady Alice Kyteler, Ireland's earliest
about female sexuality, Zika said. belladonna, henbane and Datura:
known accused witch, was condemned to death "We had wild dreams. Faces danced
"It's bound up with an anxiety about
for using sorcery to kill her husband in 1324. before my eyes which were at first terrible. Then
women and what place they have in society at a
(Kyteler escaped, and her maid was burned at I suddenly had the sensation of flying for miles
time when Europe was undergoing fundamental
the stake in her stead.)
changes and transformations in society," Zika through the air. The flight was repeatedly
The English historian Raphael
said. With the Protestant Reformation, some interrupted by great falls. Finally, in the last
Holinshed later recounted the case and described
religious leaders established bans on drinking phase, an image of an orgiastic feast with
some of the supposedly damning evidence
and dancing, brothels were closed and marriage grotesque sensual excess." []
authorities found against Kyteler: "In rifleing
was more strictly codified and controlled.
the closet of the ladie, they found a pipe of
In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, Top TV Witches
ointment wherewith she greased her staffe, upon
images of witches riding up and out of chimneys
which she ambled and galloped through thick
start to dominate. During this period, women
and thin." 01) Samantha, Bewitched
also were more closely associated with domestic
Another oft-cited account comes a from
space than they were 200 years earlier, Zika
15th-century manuscript by theologian Jordanes 02) Witchiepoo, H.R. Pufnstuf
said. At that time, too, brooms are depicted more
de Bergamo. In his "Quaestio de Strigis" of
and more often in relation to domestic work in
1470, Bergamo writes of witches who on 03) Melisandre, Game of Thrones
art.
"certain days or nights they anoint a staff and
"It seems to me that this idea of them
ride on it to the appointed place or anoint 04) The witches of American Horror Story:
flying out the chimney is actually kind of a
themselves under the arms and in other hairy Coven
protest against this confinement in domestic
places."
space," Zika said. "Witchcraft is symbolically in
It's hard to know whether or not witches 05) Willow, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
some ways freeing individuals from that kind of
actually did the deeds they were rumored to
conception of their realm."
have done (like mounting hallucinogen-laced 06) Marge Simpson, “Treehouse of Horror
wooden staffs in their covens). Sources from the VIII,” The Simpsons
Can witches really fly?
era when fears about witchcraft peaked are
07) Halliwell sisters, Charmed
unreliable and biased, noted Charles Zika, a
Though the image of the broomstick stuck, early
professor at the University of Melbourne, who
depictions in 15th- and 16th-century Europe 08) Sabrina, Sabrina the Teenage Witch
has written about the imagery of witchcraft.
show witches flying on a wide range of items,
Modern knowledge of witches often comes from
including stools, cupboards, wardrobes and two- 09) Tabitha Lenox, Passions
manuals written by inquisitors, ecclesiastical
pronged cooking forks, Zika said. But rarely are
judges and testimony by accused witches —
witches shown getting aloft on their own. 10) Angelique Collins, Dark Shadows
much of it produced under duress or torture,
"There are very few representations of
Zika explained.
what you might call flying witches — they're 11) Zelena, Once Upon a Time
"A lot of it we can't trust as descriptions
usually riding some implement or animal," he
of social reality at all," Zika told LiveScience.
explained. 12) Rita Repulsa, Mighty Morphin Power
"It's not their own bodies that are Rangers
Dare to Believe, Dare to Be Heard
propelling them," Zika said. "The explanation in
The ‘X’ Xone Radio/TV Show
the theological handbooks is that they are being 13) Mildred, The Worst Witch
www.xzbn.com & SimulTV.com