In 1484, a Catholic pope issued a Papal edict that commenced burning suspected witches at the stake. Around the same time, two monks wrote a book called the Malleus Mallificarum or also known as the Witches Hammer. (Mallificarum is Latin for evil witch (either male or female - not a harm none Wiccan.) This book of all things it said, said that witches had sex with the devil and that the devil's penis was bone, horn and red-hot iron. Before that, heretics and Jews were burned at the stake too. Most accused witches were either mentally ill, exceedingly attractive women (thought to sexually bewitch men) or old women (thought to be evil spell casters, especially if they talked to themselves - thought to mutter evil spells) or the women who knew herbalism (competing with the male medical establishment). About 9 million innocent people including Jews were tortured and burned in this manner. Needless to say, Martin Luther, the one who preached salvation through faith alone nad not works almost got burned at the stake for heresy. His success ended the burning times effectively. Many burned witches were guilty by asscociation.
Salem, in all reality was a hysteria. People were eating contaminated rye bread with ergot, which was hallucinagenic (like LSD). Most of the accused witches were hanged, one was burned and a man was pressed to death. In England, except under Queen Mary I (bloody Mary of the Scotts), witches were deprived of sleep and hung, not burned or legally tortured.
Unlike the American legal system, where a suspect is innocent until proven guilty, during the burning times, accused witches were guilty until proven innocent, usually and mostly always through intense torture.
By the way, the Bible was on the Roman Catholic Index, a list of forbidden books.
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