The Horrors of Witchcraft and Demonic Possession

Abstract

One of the deepest horrors experienced by people in early modern Europe occurred as they read accounts or viewed images of the witches sabbath. These imagined assemblies, which were believed to have involved cannibalistic infanticide and other practices that challenged the moral and social order, evoked an existential horror that the Devil and his human accomplices threatened to destroy Christianity and Christian civilization. As belief in the witches’ sabbath declined and became the subject of ridicule or the inspiration of occult practices such as the Black Mass in the modern period, witchcraft became the subject of horror fiction, a genre that produces a more transient horror, such as might be inspired by other “scary” novels and movies. The existential horror of the demonic, however, has persisted in allegations of satanic ritual abuse, the afflictions of demoniacs, and the fear of eternal damnation in certain Christian communities.