But then, laws started to become more strict in two main ways:
In 1484, Pope Innocent [Um, I think not...] VIV wrote Summis Desiderantes, a document against witches and their craft. He also assigned inquisitors to all regions. Two of these inquisitors, Jacobus Sprenger and Henricus Kramer, wrote Malleus Malleficarum, translated to Hammer of Witchcraft. This, the most famous anti-witchcraft book, became the official guidebook of witch hunters. The bulk of the "Malleus Malleficarum Mania" took place between 1050 and the 1700's. Of course, it would gain and loose interest from time to time, but each time, the hunt would return with even greater fury than before. At times, the craze was so great that some accused their own family and friends! Of course, some might have good reason to do so, but most times, it was for the money.
That's right, witnesses were paid good money to testify in a court! Many times, they just made up stories. In The Witch of Blackbird Pond, someone claimed to have seen Katherine Tyler looking at his cows, who couldn't be milked later on. However, some witnesses testified not for the money, but for their lives. Sometimes, a person would confess to having connections with the devil under pressure. They were told that if they named other witches, their lives would be spared. This is another way so many innocent people were accused of witchcraft. Some of the sure ways to find out if someone was a witch were called witch tests. Witch tests were a series of tests performed by a professional. The most well known was the water trial. An accused witch was tied up and thrown into the water. If he or she sank, that was too bad, but proved the person's innocence. But if the "witch" stayed afloat, it was proof that they were associated with the devil and practiced his craft. In this case, the now guilty person would be hanged or executed in some other way.
Another popular test was checking for a devil's mark. Supposedly, all witches had some type of mark on them from the devil. Searchers looked for a spot of some kind on the body, usually in the shape of an animal such as a mouse or a toad. Those unlucky enough to have a birthmark were in trouble for certain in those days. And don't you think for a minute that a person would be considered innocent if a mark could not be found - that would be absolutely wrong! If a devil's mark couldn't be found, it was assumed that it was invisible, and blood could not be drawn from it. So they would prick the person with long needles, and if in one spot there was no blood, then the person was "obviously a witch." However, some devil's mark testers later confessed that their trade was nothing but a fraud. They simply knew where in the body blood was scarce, and they found that spot.
One more sign of witchcraft was the person's inability to cry. Certain things would be done, and if no tears came, that was considered evidence of witchcraft.
Now, in my personal opinion, these so-called witch testers were all phonies. I think they gathered information from those close to the "witches", and then decided which tests to perform. For example, they might ask a family member if the person got teary from onions. If the answer was no, then they would use an onion for the crying test. Or if they heard that the person could swim, they would do the water test, and so on.
After a while, people went absolutely crazy about killing witches. In a certain German town, at the end of a witch-hunt there were no women or girls left. They were all killed.
In Salem, Massachusetts, 1692, a witch-hunt mania took place. A group of girls claimed that they were being possessed by local witches. Historians say that approximately 200 people were jailed, 55 tortured, 19 put to death on the gallows, and one man, Giles Cory, was crushed to death with stones for refusing to plead either guilty or innocent. Believe it or not, even a baby was accused of witchcraft and killed for it in Salem!
During trials, if someone refused to confess, they might be forced to under torture. Probably the most well known torture device was the echelle, which stretched the body on a rack. There was also the strappado, which pulled the person into the air and back down violently. And the witch chair was a chair with hot spikes that the supposed witch was forced to sit on. There was one device that crushed the leg and was either called the leg screw or the Spanish boot. The "witch" would be tortured in one of these ways, or others, until a confession was given. You can see that once one was accused of witchcraft, there was no proof of innocence left. People just went to more tests or torture devices until they had good, hard "proof."
Between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries, there was a time called the "Burning Times." During this time period, "witches" would be burned alive, screaming and pleading. Of course, this was done only after the very scientific witch tests. Sometimes, the accused would be drugged right before the flame was set, so they would not die too very painfully, but on other occasions, they were set too high for the executioner to drug them without being noticed (this is what happened to Joan of Arc on May 30, 1431).