The Devil Made Me Do It: An Incomplete History of (True) Occult True Crime

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The Salem witch trials may be the first thing that comes to many peoples’ minds if asked to share their thoughts about the idea of witchcraft and the legal system. Of course, like other popular occult-adjacent legal moments in American history, such the Satanic Panic of the 1980s, and the case of the West Memphis three, the ‘witches’ of Salem, Massachusetts had nearly nothing to do with the actual occult, and everything to do with the prejudices of those in positions of legal power. Much has been done over the past few decades to rectify this history and uplift witchcraft in the popular imagination, up to and including freeing the previously-incarcerated, an incredible feat and one that should be celebrated. By virtue of these actions, however, there’s been an oppositional push to completely separate the occult from legal narratives – a move…