From Salem to Siberia: The Witch Legends That Lingers

Introduction

From the Salem trials to Siberia, witches are a recurring subject in history and culture. These strange and superstitious rituals reveal a lot about their communities and worries. Apart from their horrible depictions of oppression and authority, the surviving witch legends remain popular today. This question asks you to reconsider how these stories have shaped justice, gender, and the paranormal. Be ready to travel over time and space as we unravel these different stories and expose the similar elements that span nations and periods.

The list of famous witches from throughout the world is provided below:

The Witch of Endor

The Witch of Endor

The ban on witchcraft and divination in the Bible most certainly sprang from the Witch of Endor. King Saul of Israel encountered problems in the first Book of Samuel and sought the witch to see ahead. As he and his boys were ready to march into war against the Philistines, Saul yearned for an amazing vision into the next day. After God turned aside his first call for assistance, Saul turned elsewhere. The Bible tells us that Saul summoned the Endor witch. To allow Samuel to tell him what would happen, he instructed the witch to resuscitate him. Samuel passed for someone else so she wouldn't realize she was with the king.The witch Endor hired was who? Nobody knows, as with many biblical figures. Though she has shown up in contemporary writing, myth and legend have veiled her identity. Chaucer calls her out in "The Canterbury Tales." To amuse visitors, the monk related the tale.

Greek Chaotic Goddess Circe

Circe

Famously chaotic mistress Circe makes appearances in "The Odyssey." Left Laestrygonia were Odysseus and the Achaeans. The Achaeans arrived at Aeaea in Circe after the Laestrygonian monarch ate Odysseus' scouts and large stones wrecked most of his ships. Circe knew magic, potions, and herbs. Her name derives from Enchanter's nightshade, Circaea. 16th century botanists believed Circe used it to charm her prisoners. Her father might have been the oceanid Helios or the magic goddess Hecate.Odysseus intervened to stop Circe from turning his people into pigs. Hermes briefed him on conquering Circe before he came. After Odysseus beat her under Hermes' direction, Circe, who changed males back into men, developed feelings for him. After a year on Circe's bed, Odysseus went back to Ithaca and Penelope. Circe carried Odysseus everywhere, even to the Underworld; she might have been his two children's birth mother. With magic remedies, Circe raised Odysseus from dead.

American Witch The Bell Witch

The Bell Witch

Other urban legends live alongside mythology and folklore. Tennessee in the 1800s sets the Bell Witch story. "A sinister entity that tormented a pioneer family on Tennessee's early frontier between 1817 and 1821," Pat Fitzhugh of the Bell Witch website notes. Fitzhugh notes that early in the 1800s John Bell and his family settled a large homestead after leaving North Carolina for Tennessee. Later among the cornfields appeared a strange creature described as "the body of a dog and the head of a rabbit."Even worse, young Betsy Bell claimed a spirit slapped and yanked her hair. Bell confided in a neighbor who brought in a party headed by local commander Andrew Jackson after instructing the family to remain silent. Carrying a weapon and a silver bullet as a "witch tamer," another gang member also The man was banished as the beast despised the silver bullet and witch tamer. Jackson looked even though his men wanted to leave. Everyone departed the farm early morning.Locally, 'Kate' haunted the Bell house every day, wreaking havoc Kate tortured Betsy into maturity after John Bell died; the spirit identified itself as the 'witch' of Kate Batts, a Bells' neighbor with whom John had negative business transactions over some bought slaves.

Famous Morgan Le Fay

Morgan Le Fay

For those who follow Arthurian tales, Morgan le Fay is rather famous. She first shows up in Geoffrey of Monmouth's "The Life of Merlin," early 12th century. Before acting in paranormal ways, the witch Morgan attracts men with her charms. Chrétien de Troyes' "The Vulgate Cycle" calls her Guinevere's lady-in-waiting. Arthurian legend holds that Morgan adored Giomar, Arthur's nephew. Once Guinevere discovered and ended the affair, Morgan exacted retribution by telling Sir Lancelot.Throughout Thomas Malory's "Le Morte d'Arthur," Morgan le Fay—"Morgan of the fairies"—alludes to her unhappy marriage with King Uffen. She began aggressively confronting her boyfriends, including Merlin. Her loved Lancelot was not perfect. She becomes an anti-heroine in the thirteenth century an anti-heroine. Joining a coven, she starts to be Merlin's apprentice and fiancée. She could become a mermaid, crone, fairy, queen, and another fantastic and horrible shape. Given the Christian prejudice toward a strong but nonreligious woman healer, she most likely was a smart witch. 

Greek Mythical Witch Medea

Medea

Greek mythology features witches, as Odysseus and Circe's tale demonstrates. Jason and his Argonauts decided to pick the Golden Fleece from King Aeëtes of Colchis in their hunt. Aeëtes had no idea that following wooing and marriage, his daughter Medea helped Jason steal the Golden Fleece from him and idealized Jason. Medea, Circe's niece, was divine. Prophet Medea cautioned Jason of the perils he would encounter on his expedition. After he acquired the fleece, she left on the Argo with him and they lived blissful ten years.

Following customary Greek myth, Jason sought another woman and left Medea for Creon's daughter, Glauce. Medea sent Glauce a lovely golden gown laced with poison, murdering the princess and her father, the king, not taking rejection well. The Corinthians killed Medea's children and Jason in payback. Thessalus, one child, survived after Medea killed two others in order to show Jason she was good and furious. Her grandfather Helios sent Medea on a golden chariot out of Corinth.

Russian Witch Baba Yaga

Baba Yaga

Baba Yaga is an elderly witch who may be either terrifying and frightening or the star of a story—and occasionally she gets to be both in Russian folktales.

Baba Yaga, who has iron teeth and a shockingly long snout, resides in a cottage on the edge of the forest and is shown as having chicken-like legs. She can walk around on her own. Unlike many old folklore witches, Baba Yaga does not fly about on a broomstick. Rather, she rowing almost like a boat travels around in an enormous mortar, pushing along an equally big pestle. Using a broom fashioned of silver birch, she cleans the footprints away from behind her.

Generally speaking, nobody ever knows if Baba Yaga will assist or impede people looking for her. Though it is not so much that Baba Yaga wants to save the virtuous as it is that evil carries its own repercussions, many bad people get their own desserts through her deeds.

Pagan Witch La Befana

La Befana

La Befana is a legendary tale most often told in Italy around the Epiphany. How relevant is a Catholic feast to modern paganism? La Befana indeed happens to be a witch. Folklore holds that Befana goes around on her broom bringing presents on the night before the Epiphany feast in early January. She leaves candy, fruit, and little presents in the stockings of youngsters who are well-adjusted all year long, much as Santa Claus does. Conversely, if a youngster is mischievous, La Befana leaves behind a lump of coal for him or her.

La Befana's broom is for more than just getting about—she will clean a dirty house and sweep the floor before she leaves for her next trip. Since Befana gets a little sooty from down chimneys and it's only courteous to clean after oneself, this is a good idea. As thanks, she might finish her visit with a glass of wine or a plate of leftover food donated by her parents.

Some academics think the narrative of La Befana has pre-Christian roots. The ritual of leaving or trading presents could have originated in early Roman times during Saturnalia, in midwinter. Many Italians today, including those who practice Stregheria, hold a festival honoring La Befana.

Legendary Sorceress Grmhildr

Grimhildr

Grimhildr, sometimes known as Grimhilde, was a sorceress wed to King Gyuki, one of the Burgundian kings, and her narrative finds expression in "The Saga of the Volsungs," where she is characterized as a "fierce-headed woman." Grimhildr was easily bored and would frequently entertain herself by bewitching different people, including the hero Sigurðr, whom she intended to see wed her daughter Gudrun. The enchantment succeeded; Sigurðr left his wife Brynhild. Grimhildr decided her son Gunnar should wed the spurned Brynhild, as if that wasn't enough mischief-making; but Brynhild objected. She claimed she would only wed a man ready to walk across a ring of fire for her. Brynhild thus formed a circle of flames around her and defied her possible suitors to pass it.Sigurðr promised to switch bodies with Gunnar and get across as he knew he would be in danger if he saw his ex happily remarried and could cross the flames safely. And who possessed sufficient magic to enable the body-switching operation? Naturally, Grimhildr. Brynhild married Gunnar, but it didn't work out; she later discovered she had been duped and killed Sigurðr and herself. Gudrun, whose evil mother ended up marrying Brynhild's brother, Atli, was the only one who emerged from the entire fiasco comparatively undamaged.

Greek Goddess Hecate

Hecate

Greek goddess of magic and witchcraft Hecate She commands the spirit domain, the moon, and the gloom. Protecting thresholds and liminal areas, she led Persephone from and into the underworld. She was said in ancient times to perform necromancy and shield humans from roving bad spirits. She also is quite knowledgeable in herbal medicine. Her associates are poisons and hallucinogens like belladonna, hemlock, mandrake, aconite, and opium poppy. Like Hecate, these hazardous and mind-altering plants are dark and enigmatic, drawing the user's awareness into the spirit realm.

Alluring First Female Lilith

Lilith

Jewish legend holds that before Eve, Lilith was the first female God created. She was also greatly vilified as a baby-stealing demon of the night whose dangerously unfettered sexuality drove men off course. Lilith is connected with the darkness, the moon, and mysticism, much as Hecate. She never returned after being booted out of Paradise and ordered to have 100 demon babies every day she disagreed to be obedient to Adam. Lilith is regarded as the first feminist goddess because of her great independence and unreserved sensuality.

Welsh Mythical Witch Rhiannon

Rhiannon

This lovely, silver-haired witch riding a white horse in the Welsh myth collection Mabinogi stands for inner strength and patience. Rhiannon is the goddess of death and rebirth among Slavic nations. She goes with the Adar Rhiannon, "Birds of Rhiannon." These three birds have magical ability; their singing is supposed to "wake the dead and lull the living to sleep." Her and her birds have false control over their place in time and space. Her birds seem far closer to the eye than they actually are while she gently rides her horse Epona, staying elusively out of reach.Legend holds that Rhiannon chose a mortal man instead of a fairy suitor against her parents' desires. Her nurses frame her for murder of her own child after her turned-off suitor snatches her young son. She must wear a horse collar as punishment and take guests on horse back to and from the castle. Until she receives atonement four years later, Rhiannon performs her sentence with subdued grace. Her narrative reminds us to rely on the equilibrium of the universe and calls to our own inner reserves of strength and endurance.

Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau

Marie Laveau

Marie Laveau was regarded in 19th century Louisiana as the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans. Both white and black customers equally, all eager to be granted their particular requests, highly valued her talents with voodoo, magic, and medical herbs. Following the death under unknown circumstances of her first husband, a Haitian immigrant called Jacques Paris, she started working as a hairdresser with affluent white customers. They claim her network of spies set in those homes gave her the impression of omniscience, hence reinforcing her magical, all-knowing witch image. She also claimed to have a serpent, called Zombi after an African god, that she would wrap around her and dance with. People still pay visits to her tomb today to pray and offer gifts in the belief she would help them from the hereafter.

Biblical Witch Jezebel

Jezebel

Indeed a legendary witch, Jezebel is the perfect evil female the Bible has produced. Her name is a byword for sly, idolatry, and evil. She was born to Ethbaal of Tyre, ruler of the Phoenicians, who were supposed to revere several numerous gods and goddesses, especially to the nature deity Baal. After marrying King Ahab, Jezebel became queen of Israel and her polytheistic background and rejection of Yahweh attracted many adversaries caused her great conflict. She is presented as an ugly and nasty blaspheming woman who mistreated Yahweh's adherents. Most famously, she denounced the commoner Naboth to death for not providing King Ahab with land, which he turned down citing Jewish law. Jehu, the new king of Israel, gave his men orders to toss Jezebel out a window after King Ahab passed away. Jehu's horse then tramped over her body before feeding stray dogs. She made a point to go in style even if her death was graphic. Jezebel got all dolled up, painted her face and wearing in her best finery, knowing she would be executed.