Witch hunting became a very common practice between 15th and 17th century’s Europe. It began as way of destroying remnants of paganism.People used to believe that witches made pacts with the devil, and celebrated reunions, called Sabbaths were they worshiped the all kinds of daemons. When witch hunting began it was done by the inquisition, but this practice became a way of demonstrating power by the authorities.
As this practice grew, more and more people (specially women) were accused of being witches, and it became a way of getting rid of poor people, ill people, or any person that might represent a problem to the people of the wealthier social classes. Trials were made. Trials where people were tortured to confess that they were something they weren’t. Many ways of proving if someone was a witch were invented: people were burnt, they were tossed into the water, etc.
Witch hunting expanded even into the colonies! An example of this is Salem witch trials. This witch hunt began when two girls began to be afflicted with a very strange illness: they began to fill pain around their body, they couldn’t control their arms and legs, they couldn’t sleep or speak. Since no one knew what had happened, people thought of witchcraft. There are several theories about what caused this kind of affections: Some people think that it was because people were so concerned and feared about what could happen to their souls, but others think that bred poisoning caused by fungus led people to have hallucinations, pains and all this kind of behaviors; however, this theory was refuted because the symptoms were inconsistent. Many people were accused for these events, and several trials were done. many other people started to act as if they were being witched. Many people were accused for these events, and several trials were done, leading 20 persons or so to their death.