The Pathfinder witch hunt refers to a series of events that took place in the late 17th century in the Province of Pennsylvania. The hunt targeted individuals, specifically women, who were accused of practicing witchcraft. This period of hysteria and paranoia was marked by fear and suspicion, as the colonists believed that witches were causing harm to their communities. The Pathfinder witch hunt was influenced by the broader context of the Salem witch trials, which took place in Massachusetts during the same period. The colonists in Pennsylvania were exposed to stories and accounts of witchcraft trials occurring in other parts of the American colonies, leading to a heightened sense of anxiety. During this time, accusations of witchcraft were usually made against women who were considered outsiders or who displayed behavior that deviated from societal norms.

Book Event (Witch Hunt)

Exit Shrine of Lamashtu after killing the cultists during Witch Hunt.

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During this time, accusations of witchcraft were usually made against women who were considered outsiders or who displayed behavior that deviated from societal norms. The accusers often relied on rumors and superstitions to identify witches, leading to false accusations and innocent people being wrongly accused. Similar to the Salem witch trials, the Pathfinder witch hunt relied heavily on spectral evidence.

Info

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    How workers mobilized to resist the McCarthyite witch hunt

    Protest against House Un-American Activities Committee hearing at San Francisco City Hall in 1960, after being hit by cop firehoses. In 1953 HUAC met in the same place targeting unionists as “subversives.” Thousands protested, forcing “government witch hunters to cut and run.”

    One of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for July is Labor’s Giant Step — The First Twenty Years of the CIO: 1936-55 by Art Preis. Out of his experiences in the labor battles of the 1930s, Preis became a staff writer for the Militant. His book deals with those great class-struggle upheavals, out of which strong industrial unions were built. This excerpt from “The witch hunt and labor struggles” describes how all wings of capitalist politics embraced McCarthyism to target the labor movement, trampling on constitutional rights. Copyright © 1972 by Pathfinder Press. Reprinted by permission.

    BY ART PREIS

    The assault on the organized workers during the first Eisenhower administration was primarily one which came under the heading of “McCarthyism.” All wings and tendencies of capitalist politics, the Democratic liberals in Congress included, vied in a campaign of political terrorism disguised as anti-communism. The stifling atmosphere of intimidation created by threat of the communist smear, which was McCarthy’s specialty, was thickened by new repressive legislation and direct victimization.

    Behind the general smoke screen of anti-communism, one of the most sinister anti-union bills was introduced into the Senate in April 1953 by Senator John Marshall Butler, Maryland Republican. He had been elected with Senator Joseph McCarthy’s direct aid. Butler’s bill required the National Labor Relations Board to deny collective bargaining recognition or elections to any union under “investigation” by the Subversive Activities Control Board set up under the McCarran-Kilgore Act of 1950. Such investigation and denial of NLRB certification were to be based on any employer’s mere complaint that a union seeking collective bargaining rights was “communist dominated.” If the Subversive Board should “find” against the union, the latter would be permanently banned by the NLRB unless and until such a ruling was reversed by a regular federal court.

    On November 1, 1953, the special Senate Internal Security subcommittee, headed by McCarthy’s protege, Senator Butler, opened hearings on “Communist penetration of our trade unions.” The targets of this inquisition, it was announced, were several of the independent unions which had split from the CIO in 1950, including the United Electrical Workers and the Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, engaged at the time in conflicts with large corporations. McCarthy carried out one of his highly publicized and televised inquisitions of alleged Communists in General Electric plants in Massachusetts. Among those who received the stigma of his wild charges and innuendo-loaded questions were local officers of the CIO International Union of Electrical Workers.

    McCarthy also conducted a smear hearing, February 19 and 20, 1954, in Albany, New York, on alleged subversive activity by the independent United Electrical Workers in General Electric’s Schenectady plant. Hundreds of union workers traveled to Albany at their own expense and the loss of a day’s pay to voice their opposition. “The workers jammed the hearing room and hundreds more milled through the corridors and outside the building,” reported Harry Ring in The Militant. “They booed and jeered McCarthy’s tirades and shouted approval of seven subpoenaed GE workers who defied the witch-hunters. Workers in the corridors held aloft for photographers an outsized valentine inscribed: ‘GE Loves McCarthy.’”

    A Negro worker, amid vigorous applause, turned the attack on McCarthy and denounced him. When McCarthy tried to intimidate this witness, he shouted back: “Go down South and subpoena Governor Byrnes and Talmadge. Yes, subpoena those enemies of my people, of America. Why don’t you investigate subversion by GE, of the Jim Crow system, of the profits taken from the sweat of my people? You fascist bum, why don’t you investigate that?”

    Ring further reported: “When the seventh witness leaned forward in the stand to tell him, ‘I don’t want to be framed. I will rest upon the Fifth Amendment which guarantees that innocent people be protected,’ McCarthy suddenly announced that he had received an ‘urgent’ phone call from New York City and abruptly ended the hearings. He left the courthouse with the boos of the audience ringing in his ears.” He never went back.

    A companion offensive against unions was unloosed by the House Un-American Activities Committee. The latter group, headed by Congressman Harold H. Velde, a Republican, ran into an unforeseen obstacle when it barged into San Francisco to open a “subversive” hearing in City Hall. Some 6,000 members of Local 10, ILWU (independent), “hit the bricks” on December 3, 1953, to protest Velde’s investigation. The waterfront was paralyzed. The CIO Council in the East Bay area denounced the Velde committee as an enemy of democratic rights. The hearings were flooded with “unfriendly witnesses” and “unfriendly” spectators. Scheduled to last 11 days, the hearings were hastily terminated after five days. Velde retreated ignominiously. At the first real resistance by organized labor, the government witch-hunters had to cut and run.

    Unfortunately, the top labor leaders did little more than whine that McCarthy, Velde and the like were not “really interested in suppressing communism.” That objective, it appeared, was “sincerely” desired by the Democratic liberals in Congress, the traditional “defenders” of civil liberties and labor’s rights. …

    It is an irrefutable fact that the New Deal-Fair Deal liberals were the chief authors and sponsors of the first federal laws to (1) make mere opinion a crime (the Smith Act of 1940, rushed through by a Democratic Congress and signed by President Roosevelt); (2) establish concentration (detention) camps in America where political dissenters can be imprisoned without trial during a “national emergency” (McCarran-Kilgore Internal Security Act of 1950); and (3) outlaw a political party (Communist Control Act of 1954).

    In This Issue

    • Canadian longshore workers fight for raise, job protection
    • What is road to unify, strengthen working class?
    • SWP meeting in California maps out bold 2024 campaign
    • Rail unions seek control over safety, work conditions as derailments grow
    • NOW conference participants debate over perspectives
    • Working people in Ukraine show resolve to defend their sovereignty

    D&D 5E Help Running a Courtroom Trial/Witch-Hunt

    Here's the scenario: The current BBEG in my campaign is an evil priest whose MO is pretending to be a good priest so he can keep tabs on the good guys. You know the old shtick. He's recently run into some legal trouble because one of the adventurers found out his secret. Basically, the priest was seen using an unholy symbol by the adventurer, which he identified as such after consulting with a real good priest, who succeeded on a Religion check, identifying the evil cult the symbol belonged to. Instead of dealing with the evil priest himself, however, the adventurer went to the local authorities and accused the priest of practicing "dark magic" which happens to be a big no-no in this community. His testimony is based on his identification of the priest's symbol. The priest was apprehended and his quarters were searched, but no symbol was found because the priest keeps it hidden in a different location when he's in disguise.

    So now it's the priest's word against the adventurer's, with the other priest offering an expert opinion but having witnessed nothing. The evil priest was taken into custody because of the seriousness of the charge, but because witchcraft falls outside the local magistrate's jurisdiction, an inquisitor NPC has been sent for under the authority of the king, modeled after the Witchfinder General. This corrupt inquisitor is put in charge of the proceedings, interrogates the witnesses, and begins a general witch-hunt in the local community, the goal of which is to increase his own power and wealth.

    So my question is how to run this trial in a way that's interesting and fun for the players. The probable outcome I'm forseeing is that the evil priest bribes the inquisitor to get him off, all the while deceiving him into thinking he's not really aligned with the dark forces. Important NPCs or members of the party itself are accused of witchcraft and possibly interrogated themselves. The magistrate is good and presides over all but is also deceived and will generally defer to the recommendations of the witchfinder. The PCs essentially end up in a very sticky situation that they have to deal with while the bad guy gets away. At the same time I want the players to have a lot of agency.

    I don't have much experience running this type of interaction, so I was wondering if there were any good ideas for a court trial floating around out there in the minds of EN World.

    

    This meant that witnesses would testify to seeing the accused person's spirit engaging in malevolent acts, even if the accused was physically present elsewhere. The use of spectral evidence was controversial and highly problematic, as it allowed for the accusation and conviction of individuals based on unverifiable claims. The accusations and trials of witches during the Pathfinder witch hunt resulted in the imprisonment, torture, and execution of numerous individuals. These events caused widespread fear and panic among the colonists. The hunt finally started to lose momentum when prominent members of the community were accused, leading to doubts about the validity of the accusations. The Pathfinder witch hunt serves as a grim reminder of the dangers of mass hysteria and the consequences of baseless accusations. It is important to reflect on these events and learn from history to ensure that innocent individuals are not targeted unjustly in the future..

    Reviews for "The Role of Evidence in the Pathfinder Witch Hunt Trials"

    - Sarah - 2 stars - I was really disappointed with "Pathfinder witch hunt". The story felt like it was all over the place, and the characters were one-dimensional. The pacing was also off, with long stretches of boredom followed by rushed action scenes. I found it hard to connect with the protagonist, who lacked depth and development. Overall, I felt that the book had a lot of potential but failed to deliver a satisfying reading experience.

    - John - 1 star - "Pathfinder witch hunt" was a complete letdown. The writing was clunky and lacked finesse, often resorting to clichés and predictable plot twists. The dialogue was stilted and unnatural, making it difficult to engage with the story. I was also disappointed by the lack of world-building, as the setting felt generic and underdeveloped. The book seemed more focused on action sequences rather than character development, leaving me feeling disconnected and uninterested in the outcome.

    - Emily - 2 stars - I really wanted to like "Pathfinder witch hunt" but ultimately found it to be a mediocre read. The pacing was inconsistent, with slow sections that dragged on and sudden bursts of fast-paced action that felt disjointed. The writing style was okay, but the story lacked depth and complexity. The characters were forgettable, and the plot felt predictable. Overall, I felt that the book had potential but failed to live up to my expectations.

    Examining the Role of Fear in the Pathfinder Witch Hunt Hysteria