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Perhaps some leading opinion-shapers in Germany have become aghast at the hysterical and hyper-irrational reaction coming from “climate scientists” in the wake of typhoon Yolanda, a single, destructive storm supposedly brewed by the misdeeds of darker forces, e.g. the 90 top carbon emitters of the world.

Despite the progress science and technology we’ve seen since the European Dark Ages centuries ago, the very same kind of madness seen back then seems to have found fertile ground in the minds of today’s leading figures – at least that’s what one leading book reviewer seems to be telling us.

A book review authored by Claudius Seidl appearing in Germany’s influential political daily, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) on Sunday, carries the title: Witch hunting and climate change – The winter of the world. The book: The Victims of the Franconian Witchhunts.

The FAZ describes how a trove of 17th century records from the Franconian town of Bamberg survived and allowed a detailed reconstruction of the horrifying madness that terrorized one of Europe’s most idyllic settings, a region that had yet to escape old archaic structures and where the Renaissance had yet to arrive.

FAZ book reviewer Claudia Seidl writes:

In the 17th century in the middle of Germany, witches burned. The story of the bishop who initiated the witch hunt is of amazing relevance today.”

The accused had little chance of escaping the death sentence

The madness created an atmosphere of intense fear that pitted citizen against citizen, neighbor against neighbor. Not denouncing others meant the risk of being denounced by others.

The woman, who was viewed as a well-liked neighbor suddenly found herself accused of fornification with Satan, of having cooked children into a witch’s potion, and of having flown through the night sky on a broom as a storm blew. … Whoever stood accused had little chance of escaping the death sentence.”

As a result, in the early 17th century hundreds of “witches” met their fate at a fiery stake.

Witchhunts always occurred in times of extreme weather

Although the causes of the widespread madness are still debated today, one fact is clear:

The ‘witches’ were always accused of freezing the wine and wheat. They conjured up frosts and destructive hail, cold rains and storms that were so terrifying that no one could recall anything like it before.”

Today’s scientists are embarrassed to talk about it

During these dark times of madness and paranoia, the climate had changed almost instantly from the relatively pleasant conditions of the Medieval Warm Period to the deadly harshness of the Little Ice Age. Seidl writes:

The relationship between climate change and witch-hunting is evident. In all accusations, bad weather explained by magic – but when today’s scientists mention this relationship, they do so shamefacedly, discreetly, as if the whole matter is highly embarrassing. This is so because also with us, where we are studying and measuring climate change … we have gotten used to blaming the severity of storms and rains and the size of hail on global warming.”

Seidl asks today if in these more rational times we are “unable to exorcize these questions of faith and irrationality“.

Horrifying that people prefer subjugating themselves to madness rather than questioning it

Seidl concludes, writing, “it is horrifying when madness reigns how people prefer to subjugating themselves to it rather than questioning its basis.”

And he reminds us: “It was also the wealth of those burned that filled the coffers of the Church to the brim.”