The surge in sorcery and witchcraft related murders in Papua New Guinea has drawn condemnation widely from international groups such as the United Nations and Amnesty International. A growing culture of insecurity and fear has been blamed for the unrest, and there are concerns it will impact on the country’s economic development in the long term. And why not? Who wants to do business in a country where people are being slaughtered as witches?

Women’s rights groups are also up in arms at the disproportionate number of women being targeted. Women in Papua New Guinea are six times more likely than men to be subjected to sorcery-related violence. Pressure is now being brought to bear upon the PNG government to take action against those who are justifying the killing of innocent people through sorcery accusations. Moves to repeal PNG’s absurd Sorcery Act, enacted in 1971 while PNG was still a colony, have been made. This comes after a number of women accused of sorcery and witchcraft were murdered in recent months.

In February, the world was shocked when graphic photographs circulated on the internet of a 20-year old mother, Kepari Leniata, being burnt alive in Mt Hagen in Papua New Guinea’s northern highlands.

Links

• Read More @ Islands Business

The post World Condemns Murders As Papua New Guinea Seeks Answers appeared first on The Malleus Maleficarum.

Someone recently pointed out that a version of the Malleus Maleficarum is currently available at Glem Book, which apparently pulled the file from Mosaicum.org. The text is tagged; “Layout Design, Editing & Formatting by Marc J. Driftmeyer”. A little more digging found that Mr. Driftmeyer’s re-packaging of our files also shows up on Scribd.

So… if the Malleus Maleficarum is in the public domain, what’s the problem here?

This “work” includes my introduction and even goes as far as to use our color scheme and the same Peter Paul Rubens artwork that we’ve always post on our main page. Therefore this “work” was clearly pulled from our files here at MalleusMaleficarum.org. As such, it’s misleading to present it as an original work. As well, by using the same color scheme and artwork as this web site, the work is inferred to have some association with our work here. And the use of my name infers some sort of endorsement.

For the most part, what annoys me in regard to nearly all of the files that have been pilfered from this web site through the years is the continued use of my name and introduction. By being included in this derivative ”work”, my name and introduction infer my complicity, or at least my approval in these “re-brandings”. Not to mention that by not seeking prior authorization to use copyrighted works, some people are in obvious violation of my own copyrights.

If you wish to use our files, here are a few things to keep in mind.

I should make very clear that the Malleus Maleficarum itself, whether it be the original Latin text or Rev. Montague Summers’ early 20th Century English translation, is very much in the public domain. As such, no one needs my permission to use the work itself. While we might get into semantic arguments about whether or not it’s a punishable offense to steal our PDF files and post them to your own web sites for your own purposes, the fact remains that our original intent in creating this program was to keep the memory and legacy of the Malleus Maleficarum very much in the public eye. So I won’t very well complain when people help spread the word.

It only annoys me when people take my own work and re-brand it as their own. You each have the right to use the actual text of the Malleus Maleficarum as you see fit. But you don’t have the right to use my original introduction, much less my name, to lend authenticity to your use of it.

As such, that’s why I’m flagging the Glem Book posting as an Unsanctioned Use, as well as the work on Scrib. All in all, this means little. I doubt Glem Book will suddenly remove it. And I doubt Marc J. Driftmeyer will suffer any loss of sleep because of my discomfort. Mostly, I just wanted to mention this one. It keeps popping up.

Sadly, there are a lot more out there.

The post Glem Book and Driftmeyer appeared first on The Malleus Maleficarum.

Simply put, there are things we want to talk about. They don’t always lend themselves to a full-blown blog post on the web site. So if you Follow us on Twitter, we’ll try to keep you apprised of witchcraft related news stories, as well as our occasional discoveries of the Malleus Maleficarum in popular culture and rare editions of the work for sale on eBay and other sources.

The one thing we can promise you is that you won’t find a bunch of fluff on our Twitter feed. There’s enough of that going around already. We’ll stick to the facts, and the point of this web site, and leave the cute bunnies and cat photos for someone else.

Anyway, we look forward to seeing ya. As ever, thanks for your support and consideration.

The post Malleus Maleficarum Joins Twitter appeared first on The Malleus Maleficarum.

If you’re interested, the book is complete with an index at the end, but some pages are loose and need to be rebound. There are some little wormholes (as one might expect from a 431 year old book). It still has its original calf leather binding and inside marbled paper. 704 pages plus a 24 page index.

The “Buy It Now” price is $4,298.56 US.

Links

• eBay Auction
  

Other Bundled Works

1. M.Bernhardi Basin Opusculum de artibus Magicis…
2. Ulrici Molitoris Dialogum de Lamiis et Pythonicis mulieribus
3. Hieronimo Mengi Flagellum Daemonum seu Exorcismi …
4. D. Iohannis de Gerson Libellum de probatione Spirituum
5. M.Thomae Murner Libellum de Pythonico contractu
6. Foelicis Malleoli Tractatus duos Exorcismorum seu Adiurationum
7. Bartholomaei de Spina Quaestionem de Strigibus seu Maleficis, item eiusdem Apologiam quadruplicem de Lamiis:contra Io. Franciscum Ponzinibium

The post Rare 1582 Malleus Maleficarum – Frankfurt Printing appeared first on The Malleus Maleficarum.

Immediately after the incident Neelu and her son were rushed to Nagpur for treatment of their injuries, but both died before they could receive treatment. The neighbors who were involved in the attack have been arrested. Those who committed the horrifying crime fled the scene as on-lookers rushed in to help the victims. Police have begun an investigation into the incident.

The post INDIA: A Mother and Her Son Burnt to Death for Practicing Witchcraft appeared first on The Malleus Maleficarum.

Police Public Relations Officer Ms. Elizabeth Kanjela announced that Phanele Lupiya aged 63 of Chakumanika Village in Petauke was axed to death by her nephew, Lovemore Mwanza, aged 30 of the same village.

“The victim sustained a deep cut on the leg and died on the spot. On the other hand Chakumanika Mwanza aged 89 was axed to death by his son Lemani Mwanza aged 23 of the above mentioned village. The deceased sustained a deep cut on the head and died on the spot. Both bodies are lying in Petauke District Hospital Mortuary,” Kanjela said.

Both incidents happened on 30th March, 2013 around 05:00 hours at Chakumanika village, Chief Nyampande in Petauke District.

“One suspect, Lovemore, has been apprehended while the other one Lemani is on the run. We have lunched a manhunt and we request for information that might lead to his arrest from the members of the public.”

Links

• Original Article @ Zambian Watchdog

The post ZAMBIA: Two Elderly People Killed on Witchcraft Suspicion appeared first on The Malleus Maleficarum.

Kenya: Gang Burns Houses Over Witchcraft Allegations

Fifteen family members of the Talai clan in Nandi County, Kenya are camping at a church after attackers who accused them of being witches torched their houses. Seven houses were set ablaze by unidentified attackers, prompting the family members to flee from their homes.

Former Kapsisiywa concillor, David Sulo, who is also a Talai member, condemned the incident and called for Government intervention. He said that the victims were evicted by neighbors who accused them of being behind misfortunes in the area attributed to witchcraft.

Mr Sulo, however, said the evicted family has been residing there for over five decades and were in their rightful position.

Unknown people had threatened the victims through leaflets two months before the incident, he said. The victims said they had been threatened before but they ignored the threats since they were coexisting well with many neighbors.

Nigeria: Man Kills Mother And Only Daughter Over Witchcraft Allegations

A middle aged man identified as Temipreyo from Bomadi local government area of Delta State on Thursday hacked his mother and only daughter to death over allegations of witchcraft. Police authorities confirmed that the suspect, upon interrogation, confessed to committing the crime in frustration.

The suspect had been having a running battle with his wife over his inability to perform his “conjugal responsibility” and had sought assistance from various native doctors, one of whom accused his mother and late daughter as responsible for his plight.

Our source said that the man has been married to his new wife for six years but has not been able to make love to her after the mother of his late daughter packed out. Unconfirmed sources also stated that his late mother had allegedly threatened to make life uncomfortable for him over his refusal to sack his present wife in spite of the mother’s advice.

While efforts to confront the mother and his daughter over the allegation of witchcraft failed, the fisherman was said to have confided in a friend who advised him that the only solution was to kill.

Uganda: Man’s Head Cut Off Over “Witchcraft”

Police in Kayunga District are hunting for a group of residents in Tangoye Village over allegedly beheading one of their colleagues, whom they accused of being a witch. The district’s officer in-charge of investigations, Mr. Gally Turyatunga, said Siraje Kayondo was attacked on Saturday evening at about 7pm as he returned from his garden with a friend.

Turyatunga said the farmer was waylaid by a machete-wielding group and tied up before he was beheaded.

“After cutting off his head, they threw it in a nearby bush and ran away, leaving the body on the roadside,” the police said, adding that his friend was not touched.

In January this year, Kayondo’s house was razed by residents who accused him of using witchcraft to kill two residents. He managed to flee with his family and took refuge in Kayunga Town but ‘stealthily’ went to the village to till his garden.

The CID chief said a number of residents believed to have destroyed the house were arrested and arraigned before court where they were charged with malicious damage of property.

A busy week for witch hunters in Africa.

The post KENYA, NIGERIA, UGANDA: A Busy Week For Witch Hunters appeared first on The Malleus Maleficarum.

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• View More Pictures

The post The LEGO Malleus Maleficarum appeared first on The Malleus Maleficarum.

On the opening day of her “trial” for witchcraft, Angela (not her real name) was tortured, humiliated and interrogated; an absurd prosecution in which she was in one moment accused of causing the deaths of those she was accused of harming, and the next being asked to give up the name of the real witch — “kolim nem, kolim nem [call the name]“, the gang demanded.

The next day, Angela was naked, staked-out, spread-eagled on a rough frame before a crowd of villagers, a blindfold tied over her eyes, a fire burning in a nearby drum. She breathed the smoke and felt the heat of the fire where the irons being used to burn her were warmed until they glowed. She knew what had happened to other women. One woman’s genitals had been burned and fused beyond functional repair by the repeated intrusions of red-hot irons.

The photographs witnesses took of Angela’s torture are shocking, both for the cruelty of the attackers and the torpid body-language of the spectators. Stone-faced men and women and wide-eyed children huddled under umbrellas, sheltering from the drenched highlands air as Angela writhed against the tethers at her wrists and ankles, twisting her body away from the length of hot iron which a young man aimed at her genitals.

It was around 5pm when they let Angela go, more than four hours after they began their assaults. When Angela’s elderly mother tried to attend to her they set upon her too, breaking her leg and her pelvis. Later a police car delivered Angela and her mother to a local clinic. Then a mob showed up, shouting and throwing stones on the clinic roof, insisting that the women be sent out. Fearing the clinic would be burned down, the clinic staff called the police.

A police officer arrived, and helped smuggle Angela and her mother away by car, taking them a long way away, eventually finding them care in another hospital. When their physical wounds were healed, Angela was relocated again. She has now joined the ranks of sorcery survivors who are not only damaged but forever displaced by their experiences, refugees within their own country.

Links

• Read the Full Original Article

The post PAPUA NEW GUINEA: It’s 2013, And They’re Still Burning Witches appeared first on The Malleus Maleficarum.

We’re proud of the new design. It’s painfully straightforward and simple. But that’s what we like about it. Some of our past designs were a little cluttered and perhaps got in the way of what people come to this web site to find – The Malleus Maleficarum.

Our goal, as ever, is to keep the Malleus alive in popular consciousness so that these horrors might never be practiced upon mankind again. It truly is the doom of men that they forget.

Hopefully along the way we’ve made the web site easier to use. Please let us know what we can do to improve your experience here. We would love to hear from you!

~ Wicasta

The post Welcome To The Machine appeared first on The Malleus Maleficarum.