Sons of Norway - Mandt Lodge welcomes the public to a program on “Wizards and Magicians Were Found Everywhere- Legends of Witchcraft from the Nordic Countries”. The program will be at Sons of Norway- 317 South Page Street, Stoughton, on Wednesday, April 10, at 7:00 PM.

This presentation examines some of the most widely shared beliefs and stories about witchcraft in Scandinavia during the early modern period, when nearly everybody believed that there were people capable of harming others with magic. Due to a confluence of folk and elite belief in the period, hundreds of people were accused, tried, and executed for the crime of witchcraft. We’ll look especially at the worst of Norway’s witch trials, in seventeenth-century Finnmark, to untangle the webs of fear and envy that sent dozens of people to the stake.

Amber R. Cederström has a Ph.D. in Scandinavian Studies–Folklore from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she defended her dissertation, Poisoner, Shapeshifter, Adultress, Thief: Legends and Images of Witchcraft in Finnmark and Gotland. She is currently an acquisitions editor at the University of Wisconsin Press.

Refreshments will be served! Everyone is welcome and no reservations needed! Please contact Darlene Arneson at arnesonfamily5@gmail.com or 608-873-7209 for more information.

Mandt Lodge is handicapped accessible with a lift located on the south side of the building. There is parking on the street, public parking lot behind the Stoughton Senior Center, or in the Livsreise parking lot if their building is closed. We always encourage you to bring donations for the Stoughton Food Pantry! The public is always welcome at Mandt Lodge!