Historian Dr Molly Northcott has scored a thrilling career achievement after her manuscript on medieval witch-hunts was snapped up by distinguished British publishers Routledge.
Dr Northcott, 30, was awarded her PhD from UNE just 20 months ago.
In a remarkable sprint into publication, she is now the proud author of Agents of the Invisible World: Children and Witchcraft in England and New England, 1589-1692.
“People don’t realise how often young children were involved in witchcraft trials,” Dr Northcott said.
“Those children were not just innocent and passive. Many were aggressive in their denunciations and caused the executions of scores of innocent victims.
“It’s shocking but true. I researched hundreds of case studies in London, Oxford, New York and Salem.
“My book relies on 36 of these case studies based on primary sources, including legal documents, pamphlets and archival materials.
“People are enthralled by the brutal drama of ancient witch-hunts but feel they are irrelevant because they happened so long ago.
“Well guess what? The same human impulses that caused those witch-hunts, in which 75,000 people were executed, still exist today.
“Cancel Culture is one good example. Abusive social media is another.
“A persecuting society always needs a scapegoat and someone to blame and the label of ‘Witch’ is a handy tool.
“We are seeing it Melbourne with the Ditch The Witch campaign against their female Premier. We saw the same message used against then Prime Minister Julia Gillard. We’ve seen Pauline Hanson claim it is a witch-hunt against Ben Roberts Smith. Donald Trump regularly invokes the term.”
Dr Northcott’s countless hours of overseas research were self-funded.
She has lived in Armidale since 2014 and supported her writing by working as many shifts as she could as a waitress to pay for research trips to the UK and USA.
It was a hard slog, but it has been so worth it. I feel privileged to be published so soon after completing my PhD. Many scholars take years to find a publisher and some never do.
Now, working at UNE as a Student Support Administrator, her weekends are free again with waitressing a thing of the past.
Dr Northcott is scheduled to be the guest presenter at the August 19 Skeptics In The Pub.
Contributed by Amelia Willmer.
