Witches & their Broomsticks...

So, there I was talking to my British friend Anna today as she was sweeping out her office. She stops sweeping for a minute and asks me if I knew why witches had brooms. Several things came to mind, but as I wasn't sure if this was a joke or not I just shook my head no.

After a minute, Anna says that this isn't a joke, and that she heard this from her supervisor. So she starts tell me that the reason witches have brooms is because they used to apply ointments and what not to the knobby end, and then stick 'em up their bum's. She pauses. I just look at her waiting for her to laugh, until I realize that she's serious.

Then, I laughed....alot.

I started wondering though why witches did have brooms. Surprisingly, Anna wasn't completely crazy. Here are the best theories I could find...

1. Witches disguised their wands as broomsticks to avoid suspicion.

This seems feasable.

2. Witches would use broomsticks to temporarily trap the spirits of people.

Weird, but fits with the classic Medievil sterotype of evil witches.

3. "Some people speculate that in the Middle Ages women publicly accused of being witches (or at least women with knowledge of herbology did "ride" brooms. They applied a layer of paste made out of trance inducing plants (such as belladonna) to the broomstick and "rode" it, as a way of applying the hallucinogenic herb to the thin skin of the labia where it might be quickly absorbed into the blood stream. However, due to the witchhunts and the general beliefs of the time, little to no reliable information exists to corroborate this belief."

Huh. Who would have thought?