Why do witches wear tall pointy hats? You’ve probably never questioned it through years of Harry Potter and Hocus Pocus, but it has to have come from somewhere, right? As it turns out, that hat’s probable origin, like a lot of human history, is pretty racist.
During this time, a version of the ‘satanic panic’ of the 1980s existed in many European Christian countries, though at that time it was Jewish people who were considered the culprits. Starting around the 12th century it was a common belief that Jewish people possessed magical powers gained from deals with the devil.
Jewish people were often accused of murdering Christian children in grisly sacrifices that mocked the Christian Eucharist.
So what does this have to do with pointy hats? Before the more well-known yellow badge that denoted a person was Jewish in the Middle Ages, a type of cap called a judenhut or Jewish hat was often worn to signify someone was Jewish.
Read thea article by Hayley Williams on Lifehacker.