Why would people go to a witch burning?

Discussion in 'Research' started by Bakkerbaard, Jan 24, 2023.

  1. w. bogart

    w. bogart Contributor Contributor Blogerator

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    Has it? Look at Chicago.
    Humans have a violent side to their nature, luckily civilized society has done a lot to keep it in check / or channel it into sports.
     
  2. Bakkerbaard

    Bakkerbaard Contributor Contributor

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    Well, yeah. If you weigh too much you can't fly a broomstick.
    Though I've been reading up on a lot of Scottish witch stuff, and it seemed that King James did put a little more effort into making it "fair". Or, at least, he didn't just go "burn 'em all!"
    My argument falters when you see the numbers, of course. He burned most of them. But, you know, not all.

    First rule of witchclub is you don't talk about witchclub.

    Fair enough. I'd check out one at least. Though I'd probably have learned my lesson after that.

    Thank you for so accurately summing up humanity. ;o)

    Though I'm not sure if it was always the case, it did occur publicly.
    Apparently there were freelance witch hunters, and if finding a witch gets a guy money, he's gonna find a witch. To prick a devil's mark without it bleeding they would use retractable blades, and they had all kinds of tricks up their sleeves to determine someone a witch. This would suggest they regularly performed in front of an audience.

    I guess, yeah. If you make sure to stand upwind you could have a reasonable party.

    Oh, I googled.
    But there's not a lot on the actual motivations of the individual to go see a person, or perhaps a relative even, burn.

    Had one of those not long ago in the Netherlands as well. Nouri was the guy's name, played for Ajax I don't care for football/soccer, or most sports in general, but I was doing the graphics for that particular match. Just collapsed on the pitch.
    To demonstrate my completely lack of interest for what I consider to be a highly overrated sport, here's the wiki on him. Up until a minute ago, I thought he was dead.
     
    Last edited: Feb 1, 2023
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  3. w. bogart

    w. bogart Contributor Contributor Blogerator

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    Consider Joan of arc. Burned as a witch, but it was really politics behind it all.
     
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  4. JLT

    JLT Contributor Contributor

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    In a radio interview recently, a cardiologist explained that it was rare, but not unknown, for this to happen after any sudden blow, like a tackle or an auto accident or whatever. It seems that a cardiac arrest can occur if the blow happens at a certain point in the heartbeat's cycle. But it has to be at that precise millisecond. That's why you don't have people keeling over after every tackle. (Quarterback Steve Young once compared every football game to a minor auto accident.)

    The cardiologist said that many auto accidents are blamed on heart attacks, whereas it was actually the auto accident that caused the heart failure rather than the other way around.
     
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  5. Homer Potvin

    Homer Potvin A tombstone hand and a graveyard mind Staff Supporter Contributor

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    Funny you mention that now as I stumbled across an article about that just this morning (maybe same cardiologist?). It said there were like 20 - 30 cases a year in the US, most of them young athletes, fatality rate of 58%. I wonder how those odds compare to lightning strikes. Gotta be more than 20 - 30 a year in the US, right? Obviously a different susceptible population--contact sport athletes vs anybody--but still....
     
  6. w. bogart

    w. bogart Contributor Contributor Blogerator

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    I forget where I read it, but an article said you were more likely to be struck by lightning several times in your life, than you are of winning the lottery.
     
  7. montecarlo

    montecarlo Contributor Contributor

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    Probably better off too. I read somewhere that lottery winners are 120 times more likely to be killed by a loved one.

     
  8. Iain Aschendale

    Iain Aschendale Lying, dog-faced pony Marine Supporter Contributor

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    Twenty-five years or so ago a Japanese dad was playing catch with his kid in the park. Kid missed the catch, the ball hit the exact point at the exact moment in the heart rhythm, and boom, he dropped dead.

    A tragedy to be sure.

    It's illegal nationwide to play catch in parks now.
     
  9. Friedrich Kugelschreiber

    Friedrich Kugelschreiber marshmallow Contributor

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    And yet it's still legal to frolic in an open field during a thunderstorm?
     
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  10. Iain Aschendale

    Iain Aschendale Lying, dog-faced pony Marine Supporter Contributor

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    Mandatory, in fact.
     
  11. JLT

    JLT Contributor Contributor

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    Lighting strikes usually happen to people who are in wide open spaces where they're the best target, so it ain't just "everybody." Of course, it's not infallible. In my experience, given a certain combination of elevation, distance from tall objects, and weather phenomena, it is possible for lighting to hit anything it damn well pleases.
     
  12. w. bogart

    w. bogart Contributor Contributor Blogerator

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    Yeah, considering the average lottery winner files for bankruptcy with in five years yeah.
     
  13. Seven Crowns

    Seven Crowns Moderator Staff Supporter Contributor Contest Winner 2022

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    This "strike to chest will kill you" knowledge is pretty old hat. There used to be talk of making little league pitchers wear some sort of vest to prevent this. There have been little league kids hit with line drives while pitching and because that distance is so short (the reduced size of the field) they don't have much chance to catch or dodge the strike. Plus it still has maximium velocity. No drag has slowed it. I know there were a few kids who basically had the heart attack reaction. Now that's a few incidents over a few billion pitches, but hey, that's how we operate these days. Safety First! heh

    Not saying they can't catch it, because it's cool when they do, but it's not so easy. Everyone past the pitcher has a much easier time of it.

    -----------------------------

    And as for the witch question . . . I don't think people were as squeamish in the past. They all knew where there food came from and did not hesitate to slaughter it themselves, so I think they were a bit more blase about bloodshed. I'm reminded of that iron bull, or whatever animal it was (was it brass?), and the victims would be tossed inside it like an oven. Then when they started to burn, because of course the bull was heated up, their screams would sound like the bull was hooting and mooing and bellowing, much to the delight of the crowd. I imagine that eventually it would start breathing smoke, and that would be cool too.
     
    Last edited: Feb 10, 2023
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  14. FFBurwick

    FFBurwick Member

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    I see two kinds of people would do so. There are those duped, and think this is a very important solution, that they should be a part of. And there are those motivated purely by maliciousness. I am sure that leaves plenty of people, who would not choose to come to anything like a witch burning. And maybe someone is a hero who might try to stop it.
     
  15. Mckk

    Mckk Member Supporter Contributor

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    without spending too much time on this, since I should be writing instead, my first thought would be this: People go for the same reason that people stand around to watch a fire or an arrest or chase hurricanes today. There's fascination in horror, in the macabre. Also, back in the day, death and bodies weren't so uncommon as today. Babies regularly died from disease and malnutrition, as did adults from something as simple as a tooth extraction or just a regular infection, since there were no antibiotics, women regularly died in childbirth. Like, death perhaps wasn't as horrifying for them as it is for us today through sheer exposure. Just speculating though. As for the smell, again, no sewers or clean water anywhere lol. I'm guessing foul smells were also common enough that witch burnings might not be as foul-smelling as it would be for us today, though still foul.

    When something is a regular part of life, you stop being horrified. Look at covid. Is it not horrifying? Yes. Yes, it is. It still is - people are very much still dying from it. Do we care? No. No, we do not. We did a few years ago. Now, not so much. Or mass shootings in America - without making any political commentary, I can say for myself, when I see it pop up on my feed on FB, I no longer think anything of it. All I think of is: Glad I don't live in the US... and I leave it at that.

    So, witch burnings. If it was a regular thing for people back then, at some point, it's just another local event, barely worth noticing.

    Also, being a city major event, my guess is there would be festivities around it, especially food. You might go just for the food, esp in a century when food was scarce for the average person.
     
  16. Bakkerbaard

    Bakkerbaard Contributor Contributor

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    Welcome to my world. ;o)

    That is a painfully good point, yeah.
     
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  17. psychotick

    psychotick Contributor Contributor

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    Hi,

    To start with, wouldn't it depend on your belief system? If you've been raised to believe in witches and that they are evil, wouldn't you want to see a burning just to make sure the monster who threatens you and your family is truly gone?

    But also if you don't believe but worry that if you didn't go people might notice your absence and think it's because you are a witch sympathizer?

    Then again you might just have a bag of marshmallows to roast!

    Cheers, Greg.
     
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