In 1484, Pope Innocent VIII released the papal bull Summis Desiderantes in response to the German inquisitor, Heinrick Kramer’s request to prosecute witchcraft in Germany.
The Scottish Crown, the Protestant Church, and Witch Trials
The purpose of this article is to acquaint the reader with the period of the witch trials. The newly formed church did not originally intend to pursue witchcraft so vigorously, but did so by default due to the influence of Mary, Queen of Scots, who rejected laws and clauses which contained anti-Catholic rhetoric.
The Enduring Sexual Appeal of Vampires
No creature of the night seems to excite the western imagination quite like the vampire. While others like Frankenstein and the Mummy have lost their lustre over the years, vampires abound in books and films. In the local video store, the horror shelves are stocked with films like ‘The Lost Boys’, and posters proclaim the release of ‘Fright Night II’.
Bram Stoker and the Creation of the ‘Dracula’ Novel (1897)
There are various noticeable connotations which come to people’s minds after hearing the word Gothic. Some associate the term with today’s pulp literature for youngsters, whereas others often think of old, black and white movies about all those ridiculously looking monsters who constantly attack poor and frightened damsels-in-distress.
Six Suggestions for Finding the Perfect Filming Location
Whether you are an aspiring or seasonal videographer, you want to ensure the perfect shot every time, and that is why the filming location is an important consideration
Witchcraft and Powerful Women Throughout the Middle Ages
“All witchcraft comes from carnal lust, which in women is insatiable,” caution Kramer and Sprenger, fifteenth-century Dominican inquisitors and authors of the ‘Malleus Maleficarum’, or ‘Hammer of Witches’, the definitive text on witchcraft to emerge from the late medieval period.
The Japanese Peculiar Subculture of Lolita with a Goth-Loli Focus
Japan, nowadays, does not seem as distant from our culture as it was two or three decades ago. In recent times there has been a real invasion of Japanese popular culture, an invasion that makes me think that it is not possible to reduce the world simply to an American “global village”.
The Monstrous Other and Virtual Vampires Transgressions
The image of the vampire is such a pervasive one in twenty-first-century visual and literary culture that it is difficult to imagine a point of tabula rasa, where a potential cultural consumer does not already hold some preconception of pale skin and pointy teeth in reference to the vampiric.
The Supernatural Trials Concerning the Witchcraft Act, 1735
In the year 1944, a trial took place which has rightly been described as one of the most curious interludes in the long annals of the Old Bailey.
The Folklore Vampire: The Monstrous Other
According to J. Gordon Melton, “The vampire figure in folklore emerged as an answer to otherwise unsolvable problems within culture. It was seen as the cause of certain unexplainable evils, accounted for the appearance of some extraordinary occurrences within the society, and was often cited as the end product of immoral behaviour” (445).
