The Witch-Cult in Western Europe

The Witch-Cult in Western Europe is a book by anthropologist and historian Margaret Alice Murray, first published in 1921. This was the first book in which the author developed her controversial literal interpretation of the Witch trial evidence, aiming to show that the consistent narrative of the cult is evidence of a wide-spread, underground pagan religion existing in Europe up through the Renaissance. Murray also gives her take on Fairies, Joan of Arc and Gilles de Rais. With extensive quotes from the original documents, presented in the original Elizabethan English, French and German, and an appendix which lists the names of hundreds of accused witches, this remains an important and influential work on Neopaganism.

This book has 101,598 words, and was originally published in 1921.