European Witch Hunts
By Taryn Grapes
What is a witch.
A witch is a woman thought to have evil magic powers. Witches are popularly depicted as wearing a black cloak and pointed hat, and flying on a broomstick.
The word comes from the Hebrew word "Kasaph" which has the root meaning "whisper" when in the exodus means "one who whispers spells"
How was the face a witchcraft changed.
Becasue many people wanted to escape torture they admitted to witchcraft in order to have a instant death. They used what ever they could come up with whether it was flying to castings spells and even causing storms. This caused the whole idea of witches and wizards to take shap in the publics eyes.
Witches Were Tortured
Torture devices forced witches to confess
Accused witches would often confess to escape the painful and long torture.
Who was accused
Any one could be accused of witchcraft and anyone who was accused was investigated
How many were killed
Thousands were slaughtered just on some ones opinion. Over 80,000 of men and women were killed.
The Church caused Satan to change.
The Catholic Church is the reason people were terrified of witches and superstitious beings. They attempted to make it where witches worshipped Satan but this caused the publics view of Satan to change from a mischievous spoiler to a deeply sinister force.