Book Review: Witch Hunt by Kristen J. Sollée
I recently read the eBook Witch Hunt: A Traveler’s Guide to the Power and Persecution of the Witch written by Kristen J. Sollée and published in 2020 by Red Wheel / Weiser. The book was based on Sollée’s road trip to places of importance in witchcraft history with each chapter covering a different location with Europe or the USA. Sollée seamlessly blends her lived experience with detailed research, creating a narrative of magical realism, historic documentation, and modern interpretation, from scholarly books to tourist traps. Besides exploring places less familiar to the average reader, Sollée includes references to literature turned pop culture like Shakespeare’s Macbeth and well-known artworks like Michelangelo’s David and The Fall and Expulsion from Garden of Eden in the Sistine Chapel. The balance of novelty and familiarity kept me engaged through the 2.5 hour reading time.
Another talent exhibit by Sollée is her ability to explain new vocabulary. From the “Introduction”, she explained that “psychogeography and geomantic empathy [are] names for the ways we can become intimate with the physical and metaphysical aspects of a place and how that place can impact our emotional state”. While a slightly longer explanation may have aided readers less familiar with material culture studies or anthropology, the sentence shows how Sollée was once at the same stage of understanding as her assumed audience, created a similar empathetic connection as described in the quote.
Sollée is also successful in simple translations between languages. She translates Latin in “Blood Stregoneria, Sex Magic (Florence, Italy)” by explaining “You might even feel the pull of the place or its protective spirit, what the Romans called genius loci.” Later, she translates German in “The German Witchscape (Harz Mountains, Germany), as German witches are known as hexen, while heathen is the Germanic equivalent to the Latin-based term pagan. She also has a handle on Irish, demonstrated in “Pagan Past and Pagan Presence (Kilkenny, Ireland)” with the explanation “Uniquely Irish witch figures like the “cunning woman” called the bean feasa and her male equivalent the “fairy doctor” to contemporary Irish witches and Pagans”. While I do not expect Sollée to be conversationally fluent in all these languages, the translations show the breadth of her research.
As someone who enjoys folklore, especially beliefs that have persisted into the modern era, I appreciate learning tales from belief systems across Europe. In Sanremo, Italy, locals believe witches would enchant clothing hung on a clothesline overnight. In Kilkenny, Ireland, “the Green Man… [is] a spirit or symbol of vegetative renewal…”, whom I have seen depicted by local artists at craft fairs. Throughout Europe and Colonial America, “[a witch] was believed to shape-shift into cats, dogs, and all manner of animals”, while the concept of a witch having a familiar or magical pet was specific to England [From “The Ghosts of Malkin Tower (Lancashire, England)”]. In Medieval France, peasants were superstitious about Fairy Trees where fairies might dance [From “The Iron Maiden (Rouen, France)]. Scandinavians believed witches could create storms [From “The Passion of King James (Edinburgh, Scotland)”].
For me, the most fascinating concept was that our modern distinctions of Pagan and Christian either did not exist for early church history, and Pagan elements have been blended into modern Christian belief. The Feast of San Giovanni in Florence is also the summer solstice, a pagan celebration [From Divination Nation (Florence and Bologna, Italy)]. Pre-Christian and neo-Pagan figures illustrate the Vatican [From “A Witches Guide to the Vatican”, Vatican City], while the Green Man appears on a church building constructed around 800 years ago in Kilkenny, Ireland. Modern Pagans and Christians share beliefs when supporting justice and honoring the dead. Sollée remarked after an interfaith memorial service in honor of witchcraft trial victims, “Who would have thought that witches would be the thing to finally bring Pagans and Christians together in ritual and prayer.” [From “Rituals of Remembrance” (Hartford, Connecticut)”]
Moving into the realm of politics, I was impressed by Sollée’s ability to evaluate a pair of opposing opinions and present these opinions in a fair manner supported by research. This is best demonstrated in her chapter on Joan d’Arc, a historical figure simultaneously considered a Catholic saint and an icon in the LGBTQIA+ community. While these two groups are not mutually exclusive, members of these groups tend to have opposing beliefs. Catholics belief Joan “donned simple soldier’s garb” even though “[c]ross-dressing was deemed heretical” because “it was God’s will she wear men’s attire”. In contrast, Leslie Feinberg argues in her book Transgender Warriors: Making History from Joan of Arc to Dennis Rodman that Joan might be considered a man assigned female at birth. With these contrasting opinions in mind, Sollée presents her decision based on primary sources: “As it is tricky to apply today’s language and identity politics to a person from a vastly different culture and time, I have chosen to refer to Joan as “she”, as there is evidence she wanted to be called a maid, a feminine designation”.
Finally, a few fun facts in the book fit into the category of my pet interests. In “Sowing Seeds, Altered States (London, England)”, I learned that magical plants of the late middle ages were “mandrake, henbane, belladonna, and torn apple”; Belladonna Took is the name of the mother of Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Modern American witchcraft took the form of spiritualism in western and central New York during the mid-19th century, an area also known as the "Burned-Over District" and frequented by human rights activists like Abby Kelley Foster. My favorite name in the entire book was Elizabeth Garlick, a French Huguenot and herbalist living in New York.
This book is an ideal read for those interested in folklore, European and United States history from the late European Medieval Period through the present, women’s history, and religion. Some descriptions of violence and sexuality may not be appropriate for or appreciated by all readers. For further reading or future traveling, Sollée includes an extensive bibliography of books and articles; a list of the locations she visited such as museums, lodgings, and restaurants; and attractions such as plays and festivals. While her book is niche in scope, Sollée clearly understands the niche, making Witch Hunt a highly satisfying read.