Witchcraft: Quick Facts

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The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last updated

Nov. 3, 2026

News •

Halloween in Portugal: from Pão por Deus to Goat and Canhoto, how Portugal celebrates Witches' Day • Oct. 30, 2026, 5:22 AM ET (Euronews)

Columbus witches prepare for annual river paddle • Oct. 24, 2026, 3:00 AM ET (The Columbus Dispatch)

Photos and Videos

Oil painting The Witches' Sabbath by Francisco de Goya shows a group of figures in dark robes gathered around a crouching person, with eerie creatures flying in a moonlit sky.

Salem witch trial

Francisco Goya: Linda maestra!

The Blair Witch Project

Compendium maleficarum: Devil and witches trampling a cross

Malleus maleficarum

Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch of the West with green skin and black hat, next to a costumed Flying Monkey, in a scene from The Wizard of Oz.

Watch the Weird Sisters conspire in the opening scene of William Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth

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Topics

incubus witch How Rye Bread May Have Caused the Salem Witch Trials witching hour coven hag familiar succubus white magic witch trial alchemy astrology divination Spiritualism Evil eye dowsing levitation

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Key People

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Joseph Glanvill

British philosopher

Illustration of Halloween characters silhouetted on a purple background (silhouette, spooky, scary)

A Monstrous Vocab Quiz

Saint Thomas Aquinas. Apotheosis of St. Thomas Aquinas, altarpiece by Francesco Traini, 1363; in Santa Caterina, Pisa, Italy. St. Thomas Aquinas (c1225-1274) Italian philosopher and theologian. Dominican order of monks (black friars).

Medieval History Quiz: Part Four