Profs and Pints Iowa City presents: “The Hunted Witch,” on witchcraft belief and witch persecution in Europe and New England, with Waltraud Maierhofer, professor of German and Global Health Studies at the University of Iowa, teacher of a course on witch hunts in history and fiction, and editor or translator of several German novels based on real witchcraft trials.

Profs and Pints is bringing to the Graduate Iowa City an event that you’ll find spellbinding: A fascinating look at the history of belief in witchcraft and attacks on those suspected of practicing it.

Focusing mainly on European witch trials that long predated the notorious ones in Salem, Mass., Dr. Waltraud Maierhofer will shatter many common myths about witch hunts and accused witches.

For example, you’ll learn how, contrary to popular belief, most witch trials did not take place in the Middle Ages but later, in the Early Modern period. Prior to then, belief in magic and in its use for either good or evil penetrated people’s worldview, but most people regarded witchcraft—the use of magic for evil—as a “forgivable sin.”

The Early Modern period brought with it a confluence of developments that aroused fear and contributed to suspicion of the existence of evil forces and of people harnessing such forces for personal gain. These developments included the Protestant Reformation, challenges to a God-centered worldview, scientific discoveries, the formation of distinct European states, and weather changes, known as “the little Ice Age,” that left people looking for scapegoats for crop failures.

In response, demonologists convinced worldly authorities that “witchcraft” should no longer be viewed as forgivable but, instead, as an “exceptional crime” that must be eradicated. The “witch,” they argued, needed to die and name others.

Professor Maierhofer will discuss findings and theories regarding who the accusers were, who benefitted from witch trials, and which people were especially vulnerable to finger pointing. You may be surprised to learn how often the accused, rather being odd old women with cats, instead were both men and women with wealth and power.

We’ll also look at what today’s conspiracy theories have in common with historical witch hunts and where and why “real” witch hunts currently occur. (Advance tickets: $13.50 plus processing fees and 12 percent state and local sales tax. Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. Talk starts 30 minutes later.)

Image: A woodcut depicting supposed witch Mother Shipton from the 1834 John Ashton book Chap-books of the Eighteenth Century. (Public domain.)