Witches

Wht are witches commonly depicted flying on brooms?

it’s thought the idea of witches flying around on broomsticks came from the practice of concocting “witches flying ointment” and then using a broomstick to administer the drug to certain erm.... sensitive regions, thereby bypassing some of the negative side effects these hallucinogens cause when taken orally.

Until quite recently, rye was the primary grain from which bread was made. Susceptible to a disease known as ergot, caused by the fungus, Claviceps purpurea, rye was so commonly infected with it that until the 1850s, people thought the purple ergot that grew on the rye was actually a part of the plant; Notably, ergot contains a number of compounds including some hallucinogens. Thus, when a supply of rye became contaminated with ergot, those who consumed it sometimes also got a strong hit of the LSD-like fungus. Not everyone who experienced ergot poisoning minded the experience, and in fact many people, including women, actively worked with a variety of other plants for the express purpose of inducing sleep, as well as hallucinations.

Popular plants experimented on included several tropane alkaloids like henbane, jimsonweed, mandrake, and deadly nightshade. Most of these hallucinogens produced side effects when ingested, including rash, nausea and vomiting. Fairly early on, the pioneers of getting high realized they could bypass this discomfort by simply absorbing the drug through the skin, thus it was quickly discerned that two of the most effective places on the body to rub an ointment for maximum hallucinogenic absorption were the mucus areas of the genitals and sweat glands of the armpits. This topical means of drug delivery gave rise to thicker potions, balms and salves.

Andres De Laguna, who in the 16th century studied such a substance after taking it from the home of a woman accused of being a witch. He then tested it on another woman with the following result: “No sooner did I anoint her than she opened her eyes wide like a rabbit, and soon they looked like those of a cooked hare when she fell into such a profound sleep that I thought I should never be able to awake her… However … after the lapse of thirty-six hours, I restored her to her senses and sanity.”

He also revealed that the substance was composed of “soporific herbs such as hemlock, nightshade, henbane, and mandrake,” and that the woman was not at all pleased about being woken up. She reportedly said, “Why did you awaken me, badness to you, at such an inauspicious moment? Why I was surrounded by all the delights in the world.”

Laguna then noted that, “From all this we may infer that all that those wretched witches do and say is caused by potions and ointments which so corrupt their memory and imagination that they create their own woes, for they firmly believe when awake all that they had dreamed when asleep.”

For ladies who wished to partake, since brooms were readily available, it was a no-brainer to dip a broom handle into the ointment, and then straddle the broom. Contemporaneous accounts indicate that as the balm began to have its effect, riding the broom became even more fun.

In a 15th century account, Jordanes de Bergamo notes, “But the vulgar believe, and the witches confess, that on certain days or nights they anoint a staff and ride on it to the appointed place or anoint themselves under the arms and in other hairy places.”

Confessed witch Antoine Rose claimed that it was the Devil who gave her the concoction and that to use it, she would, “smear the ointment on the stick, put it between her legs and say ‘Go, in the name of the Devil, go!’”.

So how did we get from salve-covered broomsticks to flying around on them?

In the 16th-century book De praestigiis daemonum (On Witchcraft), Johann Weyer noted that once one of these ointments was applied to the genital area, it produced “a sensation of rising into the air and flying,” which caused many to believe this was done in order to “meet for devil worship at the sabbat.”

So the age-old joke of “Why do witches fly on broomsticks? -To get high!” is actually also surprisingly accurate!