Haley Shepherd

Dr. Courtney Luckhardt, a professor of medieval history at Southern Miss, gives a Halloween lecture to the USM History Club.

The University of Southern Mississippi’s History Club recently hosted a Halloween event featuring a lecture by Dr. Courtney Luckhardt, a professor of medieval history at USM. Luckhardt, who specializes in religion and the cultural history of the medieval era, delivered a talk on the medieval history of Halloween to the History Club and other interested students.
Luckhardt began the lecture by discussing the ancient Celtic origins of Halloween. She then transitioned to the medieval witch hunts that occurred between 1400 and 1650, during which many people, both women and men, were persecuted and executed as witches. This period gave rise to many of the witch stereotypes still associated with the holiday today.
“The history of Halloween itself is sort of shrouded in the pre-Christian past,” stated Luckhardt. “We don’t have a ton of information about that, but the creatures associated with Halloween are something that we have a lot more information about as historians.”
Much of the source material used in Luckhardt’s presentation came from Malleus Maleficarum, or The Hammer of Witches, a book written in 1486 as a manual for Catholic priests on how to identify and persecute witches. It is one of the earliest known witch-hunting texts and remains a key resource in understanding the witch craze of the period. Luckhardt also covered the scientific revolution and the resulting social and religious changes that influenced the persecution of witches.
“It was a really important moment this persecution of witches in the early modern period, and it really spoke to a lot of the major changes that were happening in Europe during this period.” said Luckhardt.
Luckhardt, who is a former advisor to the History Club, initiated the idea of the lecture. Although she had presented the topic to the club and her students before, this was the first time in two years she had given the lecture, which included new slides and images. It was a new experience for everyone in attendance.
“I hadn’t heard the lecture because I wasn’t here the year that she did it. I loved it. I thought it was super fun, and I think it was really interesting the way that we don’t really characterize the medieval period in an accurate way,” said History Club President, Alaina Abed, a junior double majoring in History and Political Science. “I really liked the step-by-step, how to become a witch. I thought that the way she phrased it was really funny and entertaining.”
Abed worked with both Luckhardt and the History club’s current advisor Dr. Joseph Peterson to make this Halloween celebration unlike any of the History club’s regular meetings. Besides the unexpected images that led to many gasps and giggles from the students, they also hosted a costume contest. The contest resulted in a tie as Luckhardt, who was the judge, could not choose between the two finalists. She did admit that she was a little biased in her decision as the winners, Grace Chandler and Lily Bridges, were dressed as witches.
“I really enjoyed the back and forth and there was a little bit of laughter and things like that. So, I think it was fun,” said Luckhardt. “I sort of enjoy scandalizing the students. Because a lot of students think the Middle Ages is very prim and proper. I like to remind people that the Middle Ages is maybe not what they think it is. But they are often things that the students are shocked by, in a good way.”