Flying ointments: hallucinogenic salves, broomsticks, and medieval dream trips

There’s an old potion recipe that sounds like something out of a medieval goth’s dream journal. Known as flying ointment, this salve allegedly let witches fly on broomsticks to the infamous Witches’ Sabbaths. This wasn’t just fairy tale material. Historical witch trial records, theologians, and even Francis Bacon took it very seriously (or at least seri…