Executing Magic in the Modern Era: Criminal Bodies and the Gallows in Popular Medicine

by Francesca Matteoni

Book Overview

This book explores the magical and medical history of executions from the eighteenth to the early twentieth century by looking at the afterlife potency of criminal corpses, the healing activities of the executioner, and the magic of the gallows site. The use of corpses in medicine and magic has been recorded back into antiquity. The lacerated bodies of Roman gladiators were used as a source of curative blood, for instance. In early modern Europe,...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1013289072
• ISBN13: 9781013289071
• Release Date: October 2020
• Publisher: Saint Philip Street Press
• Length: 124 Pages
• Weight: 1.28 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 8.5" x 11.0"