Imagine your village is having a really bad year, crops are failing, people are getting sick, and the weather is strange. You start to think something supernatural is happening. Someone in the village points at an old woman who lives alone near the woods and says, 'She must be a witch!' People believe her because they don’t know what else could be causing all these problems. They might even put her on trial and burn her if she doesn’t admit to being a witch, just like in some stories you’ve heard before.
Examples
- A farmer’s wife was accused of being a witch because her cows stopped producing milk.
- A child in the village disappeared, people said it was the work of a witch nearby.
- An old woman living alone was put on trial and burned at the stake for being a witch.
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See also
- How Does a Medieval Castle Stay Standing for Centuries?
- How Did the Printing Press Change the Spread of Ideas?
- How Does a Medieval Castle Withstand Sieges for Years?
- What are epistemic agents?
- What are divine right of kings?