The curious story of why witches are portrayed flying on brooms

You may have seen thousands of images of witches flying over their brooms, right? But do you know where the custom of portraying them in this way arose? So get ready to be surprised when you find out why, explained in detail by the folks at Today I Found Out!

The reason witches appear flying over brooms basically has to do with the use of hallucinogenic substances. Yes, dear reader, in the past, women used to make preparations with various herbs that left them high, and because these substances had several side effects when consumed orally, the "witches" used the broomsticks to administer these composed by ... Other forms!

Magic potions

As you know, in the past, in the absence of drugs like the ones we have today, people created various "potions" to treat the most various ailments, and experimented with all sorts of things to find out what the effects were.

Thus, it was found, for example, that a fungus known as rye spur - Claviceps purpurea - as well as the meimendron ( Hyoscyamus niger ), the mandrake ( Mandragora officinarum ), the devil's fig ( Datura stramonium ) and belladonna ( Atropa belladonna ), although potentially lethal in specific amounts, had a hallucinogenic effect. And it was not everyone who found it particularly unpleasant to be poisoned by these elements.

So much so that during the Middle Ages it was customary to use mixtures prepared with these items - and others - to induce sleep and even hallucinations. However, most of these herbs and fungi caused a number of side effects — such as nausea, vomiting, and allergies — once ingested, and it wasn't long before the high-class gang discovered that all these problems could be eliminated if the potions were taken. absorbed through the skin.

What's more, these people also realized which parts of the body absorb these substances most efficiently, which were the underarm sweat glands and the mucous membranes of the female genitals. With that knowledge in hand, soon the chicks began to make thicker potions and balms, and as brooms were always around, soon they began to be used for recreational purposes - so to speak.

Flying witches

It turns out that many of the people who produced and used these mixtures, according to reports on the subject - and there are 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th century records ... - were also associated with witchcraft practices, and several even were charged and tried. Thus, visual representations of the Middle Ages already depicted witches accompanied by brooms, as well as with other everyday objects.

So then we have the association of witches with brooms. But what about flying around these objects, where did that come from? According to Today I Found Out, during the interrogations of the witch-hunting era - there are 15th and 16th century documents proving this - some users of the “magic potion” claimed to have the sensation of floating and flying, an experience that evidently, was caused by the action of hallucinogens.

It is worth remembering that throughout history many of the "witches" questioned have gone through extremely brutal processes and had their testimonies analyzed by clearly biased individuals, and an estimated 50, 000 to 200, 000 of them have been executed. However, as Today I Found Out explains, all these accounts explain where the sympathetic image of little witches flying over brooms came about today.