Books like The witchcraft delusion in colonial Connecticut, 1647-1697 by Taylor, John M.

An authoritative account of the 1692 Salem witch trials, detailing how fear and accusation turned a Massachusetts community into a scene of hysteria and execution.

An early historical account of the Salem witch trials that examines the widespread belief in witchcraft and the legal proceedings that shaped the legacy of early Massachusetts.

The essays in this handbook, written by leading scholars working in the rapidly developing field of witchcraft studies, explore the historical literature regarding witch beliefs and witch trials in Europe and colonial America between the early fifteenth and early eighteenth centuries. During these years witches were thought to be evil people who used magical power to inflict physical harm or misfortune on their neighbours. Witches were also believed to have made pacts with the devil and sometimes to have worshipped him at nocturnal assemblies known as sabbaths. These beliefs provided the basis for defining witchcraft as a secular and ecclesiastical crime and prosecuting tens of thousands of women and men for this offence. The trials resulted in as many as fifty thousand executions. These essays study the rise and fall of witchcraft prosecutions in the various kingdoms and territories of Europe and in English, Spanish, and Portuguese colonies in the Americas.

Three sisters keep a centuries‑old wizarding secret in quiet North Hampton, but when a youngster dies their hidden powers must surface to battle dark forces threatening their town.

Rob Brotherton examines conspiracism’s history, psychology, and social impact, explaining why people are drawn to implausible theories that tap into our deepest fears and desires.

"Explores the western European idea of the witches' sabbath, based on translations of five texts dating from the 1430s, and examines how these texts went on to influence conceptions of diabolical witchcraft for centuries to come"--