Historical Witch Hunts

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My mom who defiantly would have been diagnosed with Asperger's if she were growing up today always said that if she grew up in Colonial times or the days when people believed bad things happened due to "witches", she would have been burned at the stake. I think I would have been burned at the stake as a toddler if I lived in those times. They didn't discriminate back then.

Anyway, does anyone else think that back in Colonial Times, people who were suspected of being witches could have actually been autistic. Yes, I am aware people would make up stories about So-&-So being a witch because they had something the other person wanted such as land. But could it be possible what some people back in 1700 saw as "witch" was actually just autism?

Could be. Most likely, people who were generally considered weird, in whatever way, would be more likely to be singled out.

I have thought about that possibility.

That has occurred to me, too.
Makes me glad to live in (somewhat) more enlightened times.

I have wondered on similar lines about the children called "Changelings" (the actual childed believed to have been swapped for a substitute by the fairies, "Little People" or whatever. The timings would match the point where some forms of the Autism Spectrum become apparent , and especially those forms where for whatever reason the early signs of language developement are lost.

I have also wondered around the very sad (and wicked) cases where in some societies children ahve been accused of being "possessed" and subsequently murdered./

I have wondered what it would have been like to live that long ago, but I would have died without medical intervention so it wouldn't have happened.

Very likely. I don't know what I do that makes people uneasy, but it's not visible so it could have easily been seen as "witchy."

From where my current country, there were certain regional folk cultures.
Certain sets of atypical behavior patterns may mistook one for being possessed, cursed, or worse and yeah, possibly accused of being a witch or a shape shifter.

Although this country's main idea of a 'witch' is more leaning towards 'medium' or 'shaman' than the usual kind of 'witch' that does curses and inflicts ailments... The country's history says it's more of a spiritual healer on local scale, than, say, creepy hermit stereotypes.
And so not necessarily ND-ish nor specifically autistic.


And even at this day and age, where kids are possibly murdered for it? Plausible.

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I often thought that I was cursed or possessed by the devil. I never believed in god but when I was younger I believed there was a devil (for a while I even believed my religion teacher was the devil).
When I could not understand what that invisible gap between the humans and me was I often thought it was a curse and I became frightened of myself that at my core I might be evil myself and I was scared I might discover something horribly malicious in me.

I believe if I lived in stone age times without strict laws, prisons and police, I would have been killed as a child or teenager, either by my mother or certainly by other teenagers because they hated me with every fibre of their being and wouldn't have had any reason to let me, a hated burden, live in their community. Therefore I think it is a weird miracle that I was born in this day and age because otherwise I wouldn't have reached adulthood.

Not sure if I would have been accused during the witch hunt. I read (at least in Europe) something in the bread they ate, from bad crops, made the people hallucinate, get vivid dreams and experience physical symptoms, of which they thought it was witchcraft. This could happen to anybody. I'm also sure the people could have become frightened and suspicious of anybody in such a psychological environment.

If I lived some centuries ago I might have gotten married early. And I think that only working in the home would have made me struggle less socially in the world. Not as many people would think I'm weird. Maybe I wouldn't have been as much of an outcast with an own nuclear family, (but I rather struggle alone than be a miserable and frustrated married mother and housewife, so I'm glad I didn't live back then).

I believe many of the shamans in Paleolithic Times just might have had autistic traits.

Just like the folks who domesticated animals and started agriculture.

Hunters tend towards conservatism and maintaining the status-quo. I sense many were made uneasy by the new innovations.

I read this post and immediately thought of the scene in Dr. Dolittle with the priest. Jokes aside there probably were some instances where the "slow" or "weird" person in a village would get blamed when a spate of bad luck hits said village. People on the spectrum are known to do things that wouldn't go over well such as talking to themselves and other acts of stimming.