While accusations of witchcraft have largely disappeared in
Europe, they have been rising in several parts of Africa, where cultural,
social, and economic pressures continue to fuel such allegations.
Across many African communities today, accusations of
witchcraft continue to shape social life in painful ways. Elderly women are
beaten, children are forced to confess, and entire families are stigmatized
because someone believes misfortune must have a supernatural cause.
Critics often argue that these accusations are rooted in
superstition, poverty, or a lack of education. While these factors certainly
play a role, the story is far more complex and far more universal than many
people realize. What is happening in parts of Africa today is not an isolated
cultural flaw. It is a chapter in a much older human story, one that Europe and
America lived through with even greater brutality.
Modern documentaries, historical archives, and academic
research reveal that the same patterns of fear, accusation, and violence once
dominated Western societies for centuries. Between the 15th and 18th centuries,
Europe was consumed by witch hunts that led to the torture and execution of
tens of thousands of people. Germany, France, Switzerland, and Scotland were
among the worst affected.
According to historian Brian Levack, author of The
Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe, an estimated 40,000–60,000 people were
executed during this period. Most of them were women, often elderly, widowed,
or socially vulnerable, the same demographic frequently targeted in African
communities today. Europe’s witch hunts were not only widespread; they were
exceptionally cruel.
Accused individuals were subjected to horrific torture
designed to force confessions. Many were tied to stakes and burned alive in
public squares, a spectacle meant to “purify” the community through fire.
Others were strangled before burning, drowned in rivers, crushed under stones,
or mutilated during interrogations.
The infamous “witch prickers” stabbed suspects with needles
to find “devil’s marks,” while courts accepted confessions extracted under
unbearable pain. In some regions, entire villages were wiped out by mass
executions. By comparison, Africa’s modern witchcraft accusations, though
tragic and unjust, rarely reach the industrial scale of violence that Europe
once normalized.
The famous Salem witch trials in colonial America
(1692–1693) are another reminder that fear and suspicion can overwhelm any
society. Twenty people were executed, and hundreds were imprisoned based on
nothing more than accusations, dreams, and community panic. The trials ended
only when the governor’s own wife was accused, revealing how arbitrary and
dangerous the system had become.
When we compare these histories, a pattern emerges:
witchcraft accusations thrive in moments of social stress. In Europe, they
intensified during periods of famine, disease, war, and economic instability.
In Africa today, similar pressures, poverty, illness, unemployment, and weak
social safety nets create fertile ground for suspicion.
When people lack scientific explanations or access to
healthcare, they search for someone to blame. The accused becomes a symbolic
target for collective fear. Another similarity lies in the role of authority.
In Europe, religious leaders, judges, and even kings endorsed witch hunts.
Today, in some African regions, certain pastors, traditional healers, or local
power figures reinforce accusations for personal gain or influence.
The mechanism is the same: fear becomes a tool of control. Yet
it is important to recognize that Africa is not “behind” Europe. Rather, Africa
is experiencing a phase that Europe and America once went through, a phase
driven by social anxiety, limited access to scientific knowledge, and the human
tendency to explain the unknown through supernatural narratives.
As societies modernize, witchcraft accusations tend to
decline, just as they did in the West. Understanding this shared history can
help reduce stigma. It reminds us that witchcraft accusations are not an
“African problem” but a human problem, one rooted in fear, misunderstanding,
and the struggle to make sense of suffering.
It also highlights the need for education, mental health
support, and stronger community structures to protect vulnerable people. The
lesson from Europe and America is clear: societies can outgrow witch hunts.
They can replace fear with knowledge and violence with compassion.
Africa is capable of the same transformation, and in many
places, it has already begun. However, acknowledging the historical parallels
helps us see that the path forward is not about blaming cultures; it is about
understanding human nature and building systems that protect the innocent.
References
• Brian
Levack, The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe.
• Smithsonian
Magazine, “What Really Happened During the Salem Witch Trials.”
• BBC
Documentary: The Pendle Witch Child;
• United
Nations Human Rights Council reports on witchcraft-related violence in Africa.
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