Page - 68 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 07/01

68 | Christian Wessely www.jrfm.eu 2021, 7/1, 67–93 are unthinkable without a material framework, and on the level of bits and bytes, they are material entities too. Yet scripture has a different quality connected to bodily experience when it is engraved, written, or embossed on something palpable and with sensory elements. The haptic of old paper, the smell of the dust, the sound of the rus- tling, and the picture of the seals and the watermarks on the material become part of the perception process. Even for the best possible digital representation such dimensions are largely missing, in part as a result of a lack of technical possibilities and in part as a result of the usual focus on the text itself. In this ar- ticle I seek to show that the opportunity to handle original material influences how we interpret and classify texts and thus provides us with new insights. The original documents that are the subject of this article were found in 1991 in an attic in Graz, Austria. The lot includes letters of individuals involved in a witchcraft process, different versions of the corresponding interrogation record, and files and orders of the court involved. They bear signs of an en- ervating and painful process. As effigies of their writers, they have a place in this issue in showing relations between official proceedings and the unofficial course of action, associations that are often overlooked in cases like this. It remains unclear why and how these documents were moved to the house where they were found. The plastic bag containing the rolled-up material bore the imprint of the Graz record shop Mecki Schallplatten; this company was founded in 1976 so evidently the documents were handled after this year, although we cannot know the nature of that handling – were they simply ti- died up or perhaps they were acquired around this time, for example at a flea market. The last owner of the house, Gerlinde Leski, asserted that neither she nor to the best of her knowledge her parents (resident 1960–1990) knew about the treasure hidden above their heads. In 1642 an accusation of witchcraft and/or performing magic was life- threatening. The last witch trial in the duchy of Styria was conducted in the city of Radkersburg in 1746,1 and many of the accused were sentenced to death based on confessions they had been forced to make by being racked. The Constitutio Criminalis Carolina ordered, “If someone […] carries around suspicious things or acts and speaks like performing magic […] it is sufficient reason to question him [her] under torture.”2 1 Cf. Valentinitsch 1987. 2 “Item so jemandt sich erbeut andere menschen zauberei zuo lernen / oder jemands zuo bezaubern bedrahet vnd dem bedraheten dergleichen beschicht / auch sonderlich