In a nutshell.

Across the world and throughout history, people have believed in magic and special powers.

Those who have these powers might be able to heal the sick with herbs, bring good luck, tell fortunes or encourage plentiful harvests.

But others are said to be evil, seeking to harm people with curses or terrible storms, written records of which is stretches far back as ancient Greece and Rome.

But it was in early modern Europe that the idea of a which as an evil old woman became common among Christians people at this time we're in something of a witch, Crace.

They believed they lived in a world of invisible spirits such as demons, angels and saints, as well as magical objects and materials.

The most powerful people in society were very concerned with witches.

King James the first even wrote a book all about, Um, women, and sometimes men were accused of being witches.

They were thought to use their magical powers for harm on, was sent to have made a pact with the devil, which is in England, were often thought tohave familiars, small animals that accompanied them everywhere.

The which looked after the familiar and in return, it would help them with their magic.

Familiars were often depicted as black cats but could also be rats, dogs, ferrets, birds, frogs or rabbits.

If someone was accused of being a witch, they might be subjected to a swimming trial.

They were stripped off their clothes, had their thumbs tied to their toes and were thrown into a river or a lake.

If they sank, they were declared innocent and usually rescued.

If they floated, they were judged to be a witch.

Witchcraft was made an official crime in England in 15 42.

Most of the people arrested were poor elderly women.

In 15 66 Agnes Waterhouse became the first person in England to be executed for witchcraft after she was accused of being a witch by her sister, Elizabeth.

It is thought that around 500 people in England were executed for witchcraft.

Records exist for about 12,500 executions across Europe, although the true death toll is likely to be far higher.

In England, people found guilty of witchcraft were hanged.

In Scotland, they were tied to a wooden pole and burned grim.

Despite Aled these deaths, people still worried about witches, some engraved or burns letters and shapes into wooden beams and doorways to protect themselves against fire and witchcraft.

They used special objects to today.

People repairing old houses often find strange things hidden inside chimneys or under doorways.

These include which bottles filled with things like metal nails, thorns, urine, human hair and nail clippings.

People also head shoes, clothes, knives and animal hearts stuck with pins, which were thought to stop witches and other spirits from entering the house.

So why were people so afraid of witches?

Well, at the time when most witch trials in England took place, the country was rife with war sickness, plague on conflicts, about religious beliefs.

The weather also became much colder at this time.

In a period known as the little Ice Age, harvests often failed on.

People were hungry.

They needed someone to blame and so turned against their elderly neighbors.

Eventually, changing attitudes meant that people stopped accusing others of being witches on the law against witchcraft was changed in 17 36 but the image often old witchy woman with her broomstick, black cat, pointy hat and cackling laugh has endured.