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> The intensity of the panic rose and fell more than once over these 200 years [..] It’s unclear how many were executed. The interactive map includes data on th

by deogeo 7y ago

> The intensity of the panic rose and fell more than once over these 200 years [..] It’s unclear how many were executed. The interactive map includes data on the deaths of 123 people. Other sources estimate 300 to 2,000. So an upper estimate of 10 deaths per year - hardly an "extensive craze".

tptacek 7y ago
Isn't that a significantly higher number than the Salem witch craze, which was (1) much more tightly geographically focused and (2) one of the signal historical events of the era? We teach the Salem Witch Trials to children in elementary school; this is the first I'd heard of the Scottish witch craze.
- deogeo 7y ago
  It's a higher number, but it's over a much larger area and time-span - all of Scotland, and 200 years. So it's expected there would be more cases. > this is the first I'd heard of the Scottish witch craze. That's not surprising - compared to everything else going on at the time, this seems worth little more than a footnote. During the same period, over 1 million people were enslaved in the course of the Barbary slave trade alone: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbary_slave_trade https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbary_slave_trade
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - thaumasiotes 7y ago
    > it's over a much larger area and time-span - all of Scotland, and 200 years. So it's expected there would be more cases. You're half right and half badly wrong. 10 deaths per year being a higher number is less surprising when you consider that the statistic covers a wider area. It's much more surprising if the statistic covers a huge span of time! You expect the rate to go back to something normal, not to maintain itself at severely elevated levels for 200 straight years.
- barry-cotter 7y ago
  The Salem Witch Trials being one of the signal historical events of the era is a judgment, not a fact. In 100 years what are considered the events worth teaching in classes about colonial British North America will be different.
  - pvg 7y ago
    In 100 years what are considered the events worth teaching in classes about colonial British North America will be different. That seems like much more of an opinion than the actual fact of the abiding fascination with the Salem Witch Trials over the last couple of hundred years.

by deogeo 7y ago

tptacek 7y ago

Isn't that a significantly higher number than the Salem witch craze, which was (1) much more tightly geographically focused and (2) one of the signal historical events of the era? We teach the Salem Witch Trials to children in elementary school; this is the first I'd heard of the Scottish witch craze.

deogeo 7y ago
It's a higher number, but it's over a much larger area and time-span - all of Scotland, and 200 years. So it's expected there would be more cases. > this is the first I'd heard of the Scottish witch craze. That's not surprising - compared to everything else going on at the time, this seems worth little more than a footnote. During the same period, over 1 million people were enslaved in the course of the Barbary slave trade alone: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbary_slave_trade https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbary_slave_trade
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- thaumasiotes 7y ago
  > it's over a much larger area and time-span - all of Scotland, and 200 years. So it's expected there would be more cases. You're half right and half badly wrong. 10 deaths per year being a higher number is less surprising when you consider that the statistic covers a wider area. It's much more surprising if the statistic covers a huge span of time! You expect the rate to go back to something normal, not to maintain itself at severely elevated levels for 200 straight years.
barry-cotter 7y ago
The Salem Witch Trials being one of the signal historical events of the era is a judgment, not a fact. In 100 years what are considered the events worth teaching in classes about colonial British North America will be different.
- pvg 7y ago
  In 100 years what are considered the events worth teaching in classes about colonial British North America will be different. That seems like much more of an opinion than the actual fact of the abiding fascination with the Salem Witch Trials over the last couple of hundred years.