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One day during middle school recess a group of children were talking and witches came into the conversation. To our surprise one boy thought witches where real. The rest of us thought witches where just a superstition or a childish fear that everyone should have outgrown by now. We argued for a short time but were unable to convince him that witches didn't exist in the real world.

Our teacher walked by and he told us to ask her. We rolled our eyes and one of us asked the teacher what we thought was a dumb question. She looked surprised by the question, and it seemed to make her uncomfortable. She looked up for a moment like she was struggling to come up with an answer, then she looked back and hastily said yes, and quickly turned and walked away.

We were stunned. One kid asked me "did she say yes?". I replied "That's what she said". The one kid got to say "told you" with a smug look while the rest of us stood with our jaws dropped from the bizarre revelation.

One day during middle school recess a group of children were talking and witches came into the conversation. To our surprise one boy thought witches where real. The rest of us thought witches where just a superstition or a childish fear that everyone should have outgrown by now. We argued for a short time but were unable to convince him that witches didn't exist in the real world. Our teacher walked by and he told us to ask her. We rolled our eyes and one of us asked the teacher what we thought was a dumb question. She looked surprised by the question, and it seemed to make her uncomfortable. She looked up for a moment like she was struggling to come up with an answer, then she looked back and hastily said yes, and quickly turned and walked away. We were stunned. One kid asked me "did she say yes?". I replied "That's what she said". The one kid got to say "told you" with a smug look while the rest of us stood with our jaws dropped from the bizarre revelation.

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[–] • 1 pt

There are definitely Wiccans and such. Apparently the last prosecution for witchcraft took place in 1944 (A medium, was she a witch or a fraud?). I recall from history a woman was convicted as a witch because she was producing poisons. Her potions could be used for pest control, but one was used by a client to commit murder. Whether or not you would call her a witch what she did was real.

It seems the teacher was caught off guard, didn't want't to go into a religious topic unprepared, and just walked away before giving a full explanation. Usually not ideal for educating children, but it definitely left me asking questions and gave me a lasting memory.

[–] • 1 pt

Of course, there is wicca, which I now understand as a modern construction, without the ancient roots to its traditions, it claims. I was referring to the traditional definition of "witch", a magic practitioner, usually female, old, bad tempered and evil.

Many traditions, such as Voodoo, fully embrace, what westernera would term "magic".

In some countries in Africa, witchcraft is against the law, and there are prosecutions; they are also executed extra-judicially. I saw a video of 3 being burnt alive.