The Odour of Witches: Scent During the European Witch Hysteria

This class is a module in the course

The Scent of Gods & Monsters: Olfaction & Belief 

This ticket is to audit this lecture only. Join the course here.

Why did witches smell like sulphur? Why were women’s bodies linked to perfume, poison, and pestilence? And how did smell become evidence of witchcraft?

In this lecture, historian and perfumer Nuri McBride examines the role of scent in the European witch hysterias between the 15th and 18th centuries. This period saw tens of thousands of people, mostly women, accused of witchcraft, with olfactory cues often cited in their condemnation. Fragrances were not neutral; they marked the difference between sanctity and sin, medicine and malice.

We’ll explore how olfactory language and the existing scent culture shaped legal, theological, and popular narratives about witches. From the sulphurous stench of Hell to the alluring perfumes of seductresses, we’ll trace the ways scent was weaponised…