[Music] the witch an iconic Halloween character usually dressed all in black with green skin a tall pointy hat and flying a broomstick across a full moon but witches aren't just a Halloween cliche they've got a long and tumultuous history that we bet you didn't know though many stereotypes come from Western culture witchcraft has existed around the world and throughout history including Asian African and many Native American societies long before the Advent of science witches were blamed for storms accidents disease and other bad things that happened in medial Europe anywhere between 100,000 and 200,000 people were arrested on suspicion of Witchcraft about half of them were executed and did you know the accused witches were not just women but men too and even some children even after the witch hunts ended Western culture remained fascinated with witches the witch field fairy tales of the brothers grim and Hans Christian Anderson inspired lfrank Bal to create his modern fairy tale the wonderful Wizard of Oz which featured the most famous witch in pop culture history the Wicked Witch of the West and did you know Bal didn't intentionally make the witch's skin green in his book but that's how she appeared in the Technicolor film version in 1939 and the image stuck and what about that tall black pointy hat that witches wear members of Europe's upper classes wore similar hats during the 15th century and the style later spread to commoners the same poor country folk who were typically accused of paganism and Witchcraft the broom a common household tool was used by pagans during ancient crop fertility rights it later became a common symbol of witches who were set to use their brooms to hide their wands during the witch hunts people also believed that witches would rub a special ointment into their brooms and use them to fly across the sky and perform their magic and did you know that witches still exist in modern times the modern form of Witchcraft known as wika was founded in England in the 1950s its members worship nature and a female deity known as the goddess and they take an oath to do no harm with their magic there are now more than 400,000 wiccans in the United States but you probably won't recognize them on the street they don't wear pointy hats and not a single one of them has green skin he