Bedknobs And Broomsticks

Where does the flying broomstick myth for the Halloween witch come from?  Is it related to hallucinogenic drugs...or is it a clever and subversive plot to undo a Christian tradition -- The Legend Of La Befana?

You decide:

A story published today in The Guardian (I know, that newspaper) caught my eye:

Halloween witch: is a travel sickness drug behind flying broomstick myth?

The story explores the association of witches and flying broomsticks and postulates that the old "witches' brew" contained powerful hallucinogenics, including herbs such as hemlock, nightshade, henbane, and mandrake. From the story:

That would have been a potent mixture. Nightshade, henbane and mandrake are some of the most toxic plants in the family Solanaceae. Nightshade (Atropa belladonna) is immediately recognisable for its deep purple fruit and was said to be tended by the Devil himself. Like its close relatives henbane (Hyoscymaus niger) and mandrake (Mandragora officinarum), its leaves and berries are packed with chemicals called tropane alkaloids.
If contemporary accounts are to be believed, "witches" applied this hallucinogenic ointment with the handle of a broom, smearing the ointment onto the length of the broom and then rubbing the handle against their genitals and even inserting it into the vagina. As the drugs took effect, delusions of flight may have ensued while astride the broomstick's handle. It has been argued that this drug-induced delusion lies at the the root of the myth of witches' flight.

Yikes!

The pharmacology is sound. "Ointment would have been very effective as a delivery method for scopolamine," says Dr Randolph Arroo, head of research at Leicester School of Pharmacy, De Montfort University. "Alkaloids go through your skin into the bloodstream – consider nicotine patches." Tropane alkaloids easily cross the blood-brain barrier, acting on the central nervous system.
"Mucous membranes are particularly good at transporting drugs - that's why cocaine is snorted," he adds. "Vaginal application would be pretty efficient, and the effects of the drugs would be noticeable quite rapidly."
So the ointment may well have been capable of delivering powerful delusions of flight. But the image of hallucinating women astride brooms is so highly sexualised as to seem comic. Did some of those accused of witchcraft really apply flying ointment in this way?

That's quite a flight of imagination. I'm sceptical. Another explanation is the co-opting of the older story of La Befana, a Christian legend also dating from the middle ages. Here is how La Befana is depicted in modern Italy:

Coinkydink?

If you don't know the story of La Befana and especially her obsession with brooms and broomsticks, watch this video I put together last year: