"A witch hunt is a search for people who have been labeled witches or a search for evidence of witchcraft."
"In current language, 'witch hunt' metaphorically means an investigation that is usually conducted with much publicity, supposedly to uncover subversive activity, disloyalty, and so on, but with the real purpose of intimidating political opponents."
"Witch hunts can also involve elements of moral panic and mass hysteria."
"Belief in witchcraft has been shown to have similarities in societies throughout the world. It presents a framework to explain the occurrence of otherwise random misfortunes such as sickness or death, and the witch sorcerer provides an image of evil."
"Reports on indigenous practices in the Americas, Asia and Africa collected during the early modern age of exploration have been taken to suggest that not just the belief in witchcraft but also the periodic outbreak of witch hunts are a human cultural universal."
"Witch hunts were often conducted by vigilantes. A popular method called 'scoring above the breath' meant slashing across a woman's forehead in order to remove the power of her magic... A kind of emergency procedure which could be performed in absence of judicial authorities."
"Witch-hunts still occur today in societies where belief in magic is prevalent. In most cases, these are instances of lynching and burnings."
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