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Nearly all those who were suspected of practicing witchcraft were women, especially old women who were lean and deformed, looking pale and melancholy, or with red hair. People used to identify witches by examining the suspects’ bodies to see whether they have “witch marks” made by the Devil, such as moles, warts, birthmarks, pockmarks, cysts, or wens on their bodies. Women with additional breasts were believed to be witches, because their additional breasts were supposed to be used to suckle familiars. A woman was also found guilty of witchcraft if she was unable to weep. In many witch trials of the 17th century in Europe and colonial America, a suspected witch was tied up and thrown into water. If she sank, she was considered a witch -- and was executed.
In the early Christian centuries, the church was relatively tolerant of magical practices. But in the late Middle Ages European people began to look upon those women who tried to cure diseases by using magic as witches, or the followers of Satan. Many women accused of practicing witchcraft were tortured or even burned to death. Most of them were obviously innocent.
The belief in witchcraft declined at the beginning of the 18th century when people began to examine their old beliefs again with a skeptical eye.
