WEREWOLVES, WITCHES & TERROR

During the 16^th and early 17^th centuries there was, in France, a widespread belief and fear of werewolves. Between the years 1520 and 1630 some 30,000 people were identified as actually being werewolves, many of these were tortured by the authorities and subsequently confessed that they were able to change into the shape of a wolf, commit murder and devour people. These ‘facts’ have been retained for posterity in the records of court proceedings.

One infamous trial, in the year 1521 produced ‘evidence’ that two men, Pierre Burgot and Michale Verdum shapeshifted into werewolves and then murdered and ate various children. According to records Pierre Burgot confessed that he had met three horsemen dressed in black, one of which offered him money and protection if he would accept him as his Lord. This Burgot agreed to do and was then required to denounce God, the Holy Virgin Mary and The Company of Heaven, again he agreed. He subsequently met up with a man called Michael Verdum who persuaded him to remove all his clothing and smear himself with a strange ‘magical’ ointment which caused him to become a werewolf. Then together with Verdum, Pierre Burgot first killed a seven year old child, then a women and ate her four year old daughter. Having confessed this the court ordered that Burgot and Verdum be executed. Such trials were commonplace in France during the imaginary epidemic of werewolves and people were genuinely frightened of these supposed creatures believing them to be everywhere. The courts and officials that captured, tortured and executed these ‘werewolves’ were, so people undoubtedly believed, protecting the innocent from attack.

In 17th century England there was a great fear of witchcraft brought about in part by King James I who believed that a curse had been put on him by witches that almost caused his ship to sink whilst at sea. As a direct result of this he instructed that the Bible he had commissioned to be translated into a new version carry a warning against witches. It was at the direct instruction of King James I that the words 'Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live' were added to the Bible at Exodus 22:18 There was at that time appointed a man called Matthew Hopkins who became the most notorious name in the history of English witchcraft, more commonly he was known as “The Witch-Finder General”. Throughout his reign of terror 1645-1646, Hopkins acquired a feared and evil reputation as a ‘fingerman’ (informer), paid by local authorities to commit perjury. Together with his henchman and fellow ‘Witch-Pricker’ John Sterne, in just 14 months, Hopkins was responsible for the condemnations and executions of some 230 alleged witches, more than all the other witch-hunters that proliferated during the 160-year peak of the country’s witchcraft hysteria.

The witches themselves, usually just elderly wise women offering herbal remedies for healing etc. were accused of all manner of incredible things. These included consorting with satan through familiar spirits, flying around on broomsticks, worshipping the devil at infernal masses, casting spells that injured cattle and changing people into frogs etc. The supposed ‘witches’ were subjected to torture to make them confess to suchlike ridiculous notions. When they did so they were executed by hanging or even burning alive at the stake. People in 17^th century Britain believed that witches did exist and they were genuinely terrified of them. No doubt the likes of Matthew Hopkins and the officials that appointed him were seen as protecting the public from the evils of witchcraft.

The idea that human beings can shapeshift into the form of a wolf and then kill and eat people is today thought of as silly in the extreme. As is the notion that witches can fly on brooms and turn people into toads. This is the 21^st century, the age of high technology and the people of the developed Western world rightly reject the idea that such things exist. Or do they?

Shortly after the horrific attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York USA which took place on 11^th September 2001, the developed Western world has supposedly been at war with ‘terror’. Terror is defined as a pronounced state of fear, an overwhelming sense of imminent danger. We have previously heard the Prime Minister of Great Britain The Right Honorable Tony Blair MP state that Iraq posed a serious and immediate threat to our nation as it possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction. I personally recall the outrageous lie that we were told concerning the ability of Iraq to launch a WMD or chemical warfare attack striking UK areas within 45 minutes. We were bombarded via the media with images of atomic bombs, chemical-weapons and ‘The Sun’ ran the headline ‘ 45 Minutes From Doom’. Then the military were ordered to place armoured tanks at Heathrow Airport which increased tension still further. In the USA the spokesperson for the Government, now Secretary of State, Condolezza Rice said ‘The next message from Saddam Hussein may be the mushroom cloud of an atomic bomb’. It was quite clearly the intention of Blair, Bush, Rice etc. that we be terrified by this rhetoric. Therefore, using a strict definition of terror, is it not the case that our leaders are causing this?

Tony Blair. George W. Bush. Condolezza Rice.

To ‘protect’ us from what they would have us believe was the ‘terror’ the UK and USA Governments sent their armies and invaded Iraq killing over 100,000 innocent men women and children whilst so doing. They found, when they searched Iraq, absolutely nothing remotely like an atomic bomb. Quite simply there were no WMDs. Meanwhile in prisons run by the USA forces, such as Abu Gharib, Iraqi citizens are being tortured in much the same way that suspected werewolves and witches were centuries ago. Now Saddam Hussein has been sentenced to hang. And all this bloodshed, abuse, torture and killing is supposed to be protecting us from attack?

Tanks and troops patrolling Heathrow Airport February 2003

Images of Baghdad As USA 'Liberates' The Iraqi People Using Shock and Awe Bombings.

This month, as I write, The Right Honorable Gordon Brown MP, the proposed successor to Tony Blair as Prime Minister, is stating that his first priority is going to be the ‘War on Terror’. What will this modern day Matthew Hopkins be doing one wonders? In the forthcoming Queen’s Speech there will be outlined a new all encompassing Terrorism Act 2007 giving the Government even more powers to detain (torture) anyone without charge for periods up to ninety days. There are over four million CCTV cameras all over the UK, even now on the peaceful Shetland Islands. These are there for no other purpose than to spy on us. The story used to get us to accept this extreme surveilance is the imaginary war on ‘terror’. It seems that every era has its werewolves. As Spiritualists I suppose we should be thankful they no longer torture mediums and healers, labeling them as witches first.

Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.

~Voltaire

Images From Iraq Following The Invasion by UK and USA Forces.

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