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A museum dedicated to sharing Scotland’s history with the occult will open in Edinburgh at the end of February
Lauren Heath-Jones | Planet Attractions | 09 Feb 2023
Museum founder Ash Mills with a 200-year-old mummified cat Credit: Ash Mills
A museum dedicated to witchcraft will open its doors in Edinburgh, Scotland, at the end of this month.
Located in Edinburgh’s historic Old Town, the Museum of Witchcraft, Magic and Fortune-telling will explore Scotland’s occult past, including the witch hunts that happened in the country through the 16th to 18th centuries and saw at least 4,000 people tried for witchcraft.
Among the exhibits will be a 200-year-old mummified cat that had been buried alive in the walls of a family home in France to ‘ward off evil spirits’. Other artefacts will include ‘potion’ bottles that once belonged to people who were branded as witches, as well as mystical amulets and other mummified animals.
The museum will also be ‘guarded’ by a 19th-century ram horn, which is said to provide protection to the building and its contents.
Museum founder Ash Mills said that he wanted to share the history of Scotland’s witches after Nicola Sturgeon and the Scottish government publicly apologised to the thousands of women executed as witches under the Witchcraft Act of 1563.
“Putting aside Edinburgh being the birthplace of Harry Potter, Scotland actually already had a big history surrounding the fear of witchcraft,” Mills told Metro.
“It was one of the countries within Europe that witnessed persecution in mass numbers during the 17th-century witch craze.
“After over three years, both the Scottish Parliament and the Church of Scotland have made their apologies for those accused of being witches.
“I felt it was time to raise awareness of not only the witch craze but Scotland’s rich magical heritage.”
Museums and galleries
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