Witches! Witches! Witches!

As the central antagonist in Night of the Demon was a man who practiced the black arts, I began thinking about the role of witches in the horror genre. Witches have inspired fear in humanity for centuries and centuries. I find witches one of the most fascinating figures in the supernatural mythology in that the belief in them that humanity has held has lead to the condemnations and executions of many real people in history. What is it about witches that terrifies us so much?

They are generally seen as normal people with extraordinary abilities. The mythology is a little lenient in how they come about these abilities, as there are variety of ways that are portrayed in literature, mythology and film. In the television show Charmed the three women that act as benevolent witches and save the world on a weekly basis came from a long line of witches and were merely born with their supernatural abilities. In Night of the Demon, it seems that Karswell derived his powers from ancient texts and magic runes. In other works, such as the recent film The Sorcerers Apprentice the witches get their power from special objects that hold that power, such as a ring or talisman. More realistic witches, such as the individuals that have been condemned throughout history were believed to derive their power from devil worship.

The first question I want to pose is can you consider a witch a monster at all? In the works that I mentioned in the previous paragraoh the only one that truly would, in my opinion, be considered a work of horror would be Night of the Demon. In this work, the real monster isn't Karswell, it is the demon. As we know, according to Carroll's philosophy a monster musst be abnormal in the world it is in, as well as invoke a feeling of disgust within us. The demon invokes the fear and disgust in us in Night of the Demon, not Karswell so by Carroll's definition, because he is not disgusting, Karswell is not a “monster”. Is Karswell even a supernatural being? This could probably be argued both ways. Does he exist in our world, in my opinion yes. He is not innately powerful or supernatural, merely pulling his power from a book. Is he disgusting? Not so much, although the demon he conjures is.

Why is it that witches are present in so many different works of horror? In my opinion, witches are so frightening and so compelling because they are ordinary people. They loo no different, do not change in a disgusting way and could be anyone. They are so compelling in that everyone wants to have extraordinary power and be able to do things others cant do. This is so frightening because if there are individuals that have this power, how do you compete with them? So in conclusion, although they are fearsome and fascinating, witches cannot rreally be considered monsters.