The words “witch”, “witchcraft”, and most recently the political-related “witch-hunt” are commonly used in cultures and societies across the world.

But there once was a time in the medieval era of Europe and the Americas later that the term witch and witchhunt had a real-life meaning serious consequences.

The following Statista Archive infographic takes a closer look at the toll of actual witch-hunts that reached their zenith in the Early Modern period between 1450 and 1750 when witchcraft led to moral panic and mass hysteria.

Peter T. Leeson and Jacob W. Russ published “Witch Trials” in the Economic Journal and it provides an interesting overview of witch-trial activity across European countries between 1300 and 1850. The toll of trials and executions is now presented in the context of the continent’s modern borders. During the above period, 16,474 people were put on trial for witchcraft in Germany and close to 7,000 were put to death.

Even though the notion of witch-hunts and trials may seem absurd today, contemporary witch-hunts have been reported in Sub-Saharan Africa and Papua New Guinea. Official legislation against witchcraft is still in place in Saudi Arabia and Cameroon today. In 2011, a woman was beheaded in Saudi Arabia for allegedly practicing witchcraft and sorcery, an event human rights organizations described as “extremely shocking”.

source statista

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