From the fifteenth to the eighteenth the centuries, many Europeans developed a heightened concern with the phenomenon of witchcraft, seeing a new sect hostile to humanity. Thus, governments and society organized "hunts" for these alleged witches: accusing, torturing, and executing thousands of people. The intensity and viciousness of these hunts varied from place to place, as did their focus on particular targets, such as women. Finally, a changed world-view, informed by the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment,brought an end to these hunts for threats that did not empirically exist.

Explore the history of the witch hunts,

• through my book (also linked in the upper right corner),
• and/or through the links below,
• this short video ("Ugly History: Witch Hunts," available on TED-Ed and on YouTube (with over 1,750,000 views)

Here is a Ted-Ed video specifically on the Salem Witch Hunt also available on Youtube (with over 5,000,000 views).

And for the guy allegedly behind it all, here's a video about changing perceptions about the Devil, also available on Youtube with over 1,000,000 views.

Prof. Pavlac is available to give public lectures on the witch hunts, such as described here.

The syllabus for his college course on the Witch Hunts is available here.

A page for his course taught for the Institut of Learning in Retirement, Fall 2022 is here.