Writing is fraught with peril. Coffee stained shirts, stubbed toes, missed naps, and whooshing deadlines are just a few of the perils that I hope you never have to face. But there’s no menace, no danger, no pitfall, greater than the dreaded research rabbit hole.

I’m fighting one of them this very minute. The first book of Project Alemanni will involve the deadly witch trials that gripped Europe (and eventually the Americas) in the late Middle Ages and early modern era. They’re a fascinating topic on their own, but good alternate history doesn’t just call in the crazy local preacher and a few innocent women from central casting. Most historians put the number of women killed in witch trials at 60,000. It’s a phenomenon that has spanned centuries and a good account takes at least a shallow dive into some details.

As soon as you scratch the surface of these murders, you discover the Malleus Maleficarum (the “Hammer of Witches”) and the conspiracy theory it supported. The history of this book is cloudy and not all the sources I’ve found agree on the details. But I’ll summarize the bits that drew me in.

In 1486, Heinrich Krämer, an inquisitor and member of the Dominican Order, published what would eventually become the “manual on witchcraft.” If you’re like me, when you see a “manual on something” you probably think it’s a guide. A book with instructions on how to fix a car, write computer programs or how to be a witch. You probably don’t expect instructions on how to identify and burn mechanics, programmers, or witches at the stake.

But that’s exactly what the Malleus Maleficarum is.

Not in the Malleus Maleficarum, but from the same era.

It’s a screed, based on ancient folklore and a healthy portion of just making stuff up, with detailed instructions on how to identify, torture, try, and kill worshippers of Satan. Most of them are women, of course.

Right from the onset, theologians didn’t like Krämer’s how-to guide at all. He’d already been removed from a church position in Innsbruck because of questionable practices. He’d gone after a woman for witchcraft and the “case” was a mess. Even a superficial reading of the situation makes it clear he either just didn’t like women that “talked back,” didn’t like being turned down, or both. Even the local bishop allegedly called Krämer “senile and crazy.”

His book wasn’t any better. The theologians criticized the Malleus as disagreeing with current doctrine and for recommending procedures that conflicted with church rules.

But that didn’t stop the Pope from endorsing it and its author. He gave Krämer a license to prosecute his crusade against womwitches.

At the same time the Malleus Maleficarum saw wide circulation, primarily because Krämer had finished it right as the printing press was taking hold in Europe. Printers needed books, and a lurid tome about women worshiping Satan was just what they needed. That’s right, even back then publishers were more concerned about the market than ethics.

So all kinds of religious folks got their hands on this useful guide to persecution.

But the Malleus Maleficarum didn’t just kill thousands of women because it contained instructions on how to win friends and convict witches. It also portrayed witchcraft as a pagan cult. Witches weren’t just women that wanted to sleep with demons, curse men that rejected them, or ruin the current crop out of spite. They were heretics perpetuating an ancient religion that had survived Europe’s conversion to Christianity.

You see, witchcraft was a global conspiracy with its members hiding in plain sight.

The more things change…

Last Two Days of the StoryBundle

The 'Aliens Undercover' Story Bundle ends tomorrow!

I’ve been amazed by the response so far, with over 270 bundles sold so far and more than 95% of buyers opting for the entire bundle.

But what’s a Storybundle?

It's a curated selection of great books on a theme. This time the theme is aliens among us.

All the books are DRM-free, so you can copy them to any device you own. A portion of the proceeds go to charity too.

With StoryBundle, you decide what price you want to pay. For $5 (or more, if you're feeling generous), you'll get the basic bundle of three books:

Welcome to the Occupied States of America by Peter Cawdron

The Gunn Files Book 1: Culture Shock by M.G. Herron

Shadows of Divinity by Luke Mitchell

If you pay the bonus price of just $25, you get those books, plus TEN more for a total of 13!

Kelvoo's Testimonial by Phil Bailey

Eclipsing the Aurora by Peter J. Foote

The World in My Hands by Nick Snape

Return of the Martians by Mark Hood

Invasion by Joshua James

Alien People by John Coon

Shadows of the Past by Eric Goebelbecker

Sleepers by Darcy Pattison

Contact Us by Al Macy

Dissonance Volume 1: Reality by Aaron Ryan

This bundle closes tomorrow. So steer on over to https://storybundle.com/aliens to pick it up now.