Customer Reviews

Witchcraft and Black Magic

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I remember coming across and reading this paperback edition by Peter Haining.
A well known author and expert on the supernatural and the occult, who
also has written numerous anthologies of horror tales.
At best it is a brief introduction to the subject of witchcraft and magic.
For those who want more of an in-depth and scholarly view of the subject should look elsewhere.
It is however well illustrated and more suitable for young adult or teenage readers.
Like so many other books dealing with witchcraft and black magic it is a
little bit on the sensationalist side.
So I would not take this book too seriously.

I am a professional artist who was frightened, amazed and excited by this book as a child. I first came across this book when my cousin Anna, who collected Psychedelic posters and creepy occult books showed it to me in the 70's when I was about eight years old. What struck me were its lurid and sensational illustrations which were, although scary for a child to look at, quite mysterious and even beautiful. One of my favorites was the freaky picture of a possesed man. I could not sleep for days after seeing that one. At the time, I thought of that book as the scariest thing in the world, and it looms big in my memories. It is a general history of witchcraft and Satanism from ancient Rome to Renaissance Europe and the American Colonies, and gives a cursory view of notable and notorious figures like Matthew Hopkins, who made a living convicting old spinster ladies of being witches and giving them trial by water, which no one survives. "If you die, you are innocent. If you live, then you will be burned as a witch!"... Lovely! If you are looking for a first rate collection of occult illustrations and a good basic history of witchcraft, then I highly recommend this slim, but pithy volume. But if you have an active imagination, you will have nightmares. My childhood friend Hank stole my copy and I just ordered another one...I can't wait until it gets here.

As a Christian who likes to be informed on such matters as witchcraft and satanism so that I might warn others (especially young people) of its dangers, I appreciated this in-depth, highly informative book. It not only provides an historical perspective on occult practices, but is also a chilling expose of what goes on behind the scenes at "witches'sabbaths". It is also loaded with interesting folklore (vampires,werewolves, succubi,incubi,etc.)However,it is NOT by any means "pretty" and I definitely do not recommend it to those who are faint of heart or weak of stomach. Some of the graphic descriptions made me nauseous and the illustrations alone were enough to give me repeated nightmares (especially the ones of the "sabbaths", the vampire, the blood-splattered tombstones and the legendary "Witch of Berkeley" being dragged from her tomb by a goat-headed devil). As disturbing as the book was, however, it destroyed the glamour and allure that the occult had for me as an inquisitive and impressionable adolescent and for that I am profoundly grateful. The book exposes the raw and ugly truth behind occultism. Haining never resorts to euphemisms or sugar-coating; he tells it like it is!