It's a term for the witch trials in the Early Modern periods. Most notably, the Salem Witch Trials.
What is scary about the Burning Times isn't that witches existed and good people got rid of them, it's that there were no witches, of course, and innocent people were simply getting tortured and murdered.
Some silly, long-limbed boogeywoman just doesn't compare to that. That's why the witch shouldn't have been shown.
You should look up the Pendle Witches. They actually believed they could do magic in the form of healing. One of them confessed without even being accused because she cursed someone and felt guilty. It lead to almost her whole family being tried and executed. There's a good Netflix documentary that covers the case.
Other types of magic did exist and were practiced. The people who practiced it were the type that would never be brought to justice over it. Lords, clergy, noblemen. The materials used in spells were expensive and ironically the "poor widow" stereotype that was usually accused would have never been able to afford the bronze needles, jewels, papyrus, etc. that would be required.
Melissa: Is there an F5?
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People have trouble placing a number on how many people died, but it could be from 60,000 to hundreds of thousands of deaths. With that said, I still can't say that this is the exception that proves the rule since, in reality, magic doesn't exist. Insanity does, though. So the Pendle witches were executed for insanity.
Oh I didn't mean to imply that it was an exception that proved the rule. No doubt 99.9% of those executed were completely innocent. The Pendle case is just a rare example of the accused actually practicing some sort of craft.
Melissa: Is there an F5?
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You're right. It's very interesting.
shareYou are talking about reality though.
This is just a fictional horror story, so I was happy with them showing the witch.....Although, I do wish it looked different.
I'm not talking about reality, I'm talking about the first film and how everyone involved with this franchise seemed to know this very basic fact about the Burning Times and why they never showed a witch, from Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez, to the in-joke of hiring Joe Berlinger to direct the sequel, and beyond.
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