“Ihr verfluchte Truden...”: A Psychoanalytical Study of the Witch Mania in Râșnov, Transylvania, in 1732
“Ihr verfluchte Truden...”: A Psychoanalytical Study of the Witch Mania in Râșnov, Transylvania, in 1732

Summary/Abstract: This study offers a psychoanalytical interpretation of testimonies from a witchcraft trial held in 1732 in Râșnov(Rosenau), a Saxon town in southeastern Transylvania. The analysis is based on archival judicial documents preserved in the National Archives of Romania in Brașov, including indictments, interrogations, and witness depositions concerning several women accused of witchcraft, most prominently the widow Dowen Nith and members of her family. The testimonies refer to events spanning approximately two decades (c. 1712–1732) and describe acts interpreted by contemporaries as manifestations of witchcraft affecting people, livestock, and domestic life. The article situates these accusations within their historical and socio-cultural context while applying psychoanalytic concepts, particularly those associated with Sigmund Freud. Mechanisms such as projection, repression, and regression to magical thinking are used to explain how fears, social tensions, and personal conflicts were externalized through accusations of witchcraft. The testimonies reveal how illness, dreams, quarrels, and economic losses were interpreted within a framework of supernatural causation. At the same time, the acquittal of Dowen Nith suggests the gradual emergence of more rational judicial practices in 18th-century Transylvania.

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