Literary Fiction and Historical Reality – Documenting Centuries of Incriminated Occult Practices

The fifteenth century reflects the dawn of a canvas depicting a troublesome setting, inflicting vile retribution for actions that were feared and most often misinterpreted. Deeming witchcraft as an outrageous crime was a fact of existence, dictated by the influence of church and state intertwined and seen as a threat to the natural order. Rather than focusing on the fascination surrounding the practices associated with the occult, the main goal of the present paper is to provide an insight into the mechanism of past societies and how relevant literature and reality reach a convergence point on the matter of historical truth. Folklore and fantasy need to be overlooked in order to shed light on the accuracy of the entire phenomenon. The hysteria building around it and misconceptions related to esoteric pursuits led people to a distorted perception of those considered practitioners, thus sparking a long path of violence: empty, unfounded accusations and testimonies against humans with no privilege or way to defend themselves, implausible evidence of their actions, forced confessions and mass executions.