I seem to recall that most of the victims (that is, witches) were people the community was happy to be shed of, for various reasons.
Nothing helps a little hysteria, or drug induced behavior, or girl pranksters like a little social consensus.
divorce was illegal at the time, burning a witch (the intended divorcee) was an acceptable alternative.
Well ya know, I never thought of it as a means of getting a
"quickie divorce" Dys, but - that sure does make alot of
sense under the circumstances. This could make it extremely
easy for a man to hop from wife to wife to wife - WITH the
community's blessings!!! Not to mention all of those local folk
who felt so terribly sorry for this "poor guy" - after ALL he
had been through.
