![]() ![]() ![]() Women who disregarded that rule were viewed with suspicion by the religious establishment. For a time the Catholic Church forbade women to be out between 3:00 and 4:00 AM. Psychological literature records that the hours between midnight and 4:00 AM are the peak hours for reports of supernatural activity, with the hour between 3:00 and 4:00 being the strongest. While most refer to the hours between 2:00 and 4:00 AM as the witching hour, Hamlet’s designated “witching time of night” was midnight. While the origin of the idea of a witching hour is unclear, Shakespeare alluded to the concept in his play Hamlet: “ˈTis now the very witching time of night, When churchyards yawn, and hell itself breathes out Contagion to this world” (III:ii). According to the lore, it is during the witching hour that a magician, demon, or witch is at the height of her powers and supernatural beings are the most active. The witching hour, or the devil’s hour, is a term that became popular in 1835 to define the time late at night when the powers of darkness are believed to be the strongest. ![]()
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