Witch Trials: 4 Real Medical Illnesses That Were Mistaken For Witchcraft And The Devil
Oct 19, 2016 12:52 PM By Elana Glowatz @ElanaGlow
When authorities burned accused witches at the stake throughout history, they often thought they were performing their own version of defense against the dark arts. Without the kind of advanced medical knowledge we have today, people sometimes attributed unexplained or strange medical phenomena by saying it was the work of witchcraft or demons.
It’s an idea that dates back to the beginning of civilization. Lois N. Magner, an expert in the history of medical science, writes in “A History of Infectious Diseases and the Microbial World†that believing supernatural forces caused diseases “was essentially universal in prehistoric societies and in the remarkable civilizations that developed in the period between about 3500 BCE and 1500 BCE in Mesopotamia, Egypt, China and India.†For example, in the ancient days of India, “Hindu myths and legends depict a complex pantheon of gods and a vast array of demons capable of causing disease and pestilence. Legendary healers and gods wrestled with the demons†in these scenarios, Magner notes.
But some specific maladies were more often linked to witchcraft and dark forces than others.
https://www.medicaldaily.com/witch-trials-4-real-medical-illnesses-were-mistaken-witchcraft-and-devil-401780
