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In the late 1600's, toward the end of the Great Inquisition of Europe, scores of people were tried as witches in the theocratic American colonies of Connecticut and Massachusetts.  Many were convicted on the basis of "spectral evidence" whereby an ill-fated event was considered caused indirectly, by a person not present, through supernatural powers.

This perception of world events and its accompanying persecution of people as witches (80% of them women) was started  around 1260 by the Catholic church and then systematically instituted throughout the Christian world over a period of 500 years.  It served the church in a number of ways; first, by providing an explanation and a scapegoat for the lack of peace and common order experienced under the rule of the Holy Christian Empire; second, by justifying and demonstrating its absolute control over the private lives of women and over its dominions in general; and finally, by contributing enormously to its wealth (convicted witches had their property confiscated and absorbed by the Church, which acquired immense holdings in lands, homes, farms, businesses, personal wealth and goods).

Any wart, mole or freckle could be a "sign" that a suspect had been "kissed by Satan" and "evidence" enough to sentence them to death.  The way a woman dressed, the way she talked, her hairstyle, the way she moved her eyes, any suspicion or envy she might arouse in neighbors, any uniqueness of mind she might display for any reason whatsoever, all could be the signature of the Devil in her flesh.

Witchhunting was big business and countless European women (some among the bravest and brightest minds of their day) were handed from local priest or preacher to judge or magistrate.  Suspected witches were scapegoats for every conceivable misfortune as well as victims of their accuser's sexual obsessions.  Accused witches were shackled, tortured and sexually abused as a matter of their official interrogation, often in the presence of both priests and judges; before being publicly executed; all of these behaviors justified by the Church-dominated court system as "devil exorcism".

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