In my years here I have read some truly insane letters in the DE, but Marcus Nicholson’s letter of Dec. 11 (Witchcraft is on the rise) takes the cake. First off, for a history major he seems to totally lack any grasp on history. He mentions the Salem witch trials were the height of Witchcraft which is odd since none of the women executed in Salem were witches, just innocent victims of mass hysteria. And the only laws we ever had a willingness to break were those stemming from ignorant prejudice (now all repealed) that denied us the freedom to practice our religion. So I would like to know where Mr. Nicholson found the information he based his brief history of witches on.

As for the rest of his letter, it appears to be the product of an overactive imagination or a delusional mind. Contrary to popular belief, witches do not fly on broomsticks. In ancient times people would go out to the fields, straddle broomsticks, and jump to show the crops how high to grow. This was a form of sympathetic magic, similar to ancient cave paintings and the belief that washing your car will make it rain.

Newt’s eye and bat wing and all those other strange ingredients are nothing more than archaic names for herbs and spices. To ancient people, names like oregano and thyme would seem just as odd. Witches do not melt in water. We live in the real world, not Oz.

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Mr. Nicholson also claims to have been turned into a frog, which makes me truly question his sanity. No witch or Wiccan has ever turned anyone into a frog although one might have convinced some ignorant sap who really deserved it that they had been transformed. Witches are bound by the laws of physics just like everyone else.

Finally, as a Wiccan, I find Nicholson’s call for the extermination of witches to be a sign of his ignorance and prejudice. I would like to suggest that someone who likes fiction as much as he seems to should reconsider his major because facts do not seem to be his forte.