If you are speaking of the European Witch Hunts, there was no one person who began it. The Witch Hunts were based off of fear of people who believed in things that were "strange" and "foreign" to them. This led to accusations and executions of mostly women who were poor and single.
However, a couple of people who did greatly contribute to the European Witch Hunts were Sprenger and Kraemer, the authors of the Malleus Maleficarum. This gave a concept of the witches that greatly supported the already widespread witch hunt.
However, Europe was not the first to bring forth the witch hunts. Socery and Witchcraft have been put into law as early as ancient Egypt and Babylonia.
The first recorded large-scale witch hunt took place in Europe during the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern period. One of the most infamous witch hunts was conducted by the Catholic Church and state authorities in the late 15th century, led by Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger, who wrote the Malleus Maleficarum - a manual on how to identify and prosecute witches. However, belief in witches and persecution of alleged witches predates this period in various cultures around the world.
a person employed to carry out witch-hunts and identify witches.
There are witch hunts in part of Sub-Saharan Africa. India is another place that still practices witch hunts. In 2010, India had an 150 and 200 women killed during witch hunts.
in the late 1500's when the people first started the witch hunts and such.
There are actual witch hunts going on today in some parts of the world, though the people of the rest of the world know better than to hunt for actual witches. There are things metaphorically called witch hunts going on today in parts of the world where people know better than to hunt for actual witches. Sometimes the things metaphorically called witch hunts are worse. There is a link to an article on witch hunts below.
In Plilibelpia!
Unlike most European witch hunts, the Salem panic did not convict the stereotypical witch evey time. In Europe, witch hunts began when someone died unexpectedaly or something close to that happened and a person who fit the traditional view of a witch was blamed and executed. In Salem, the girls called out on people that cannot all be connected by one trait.
Witch hunt actually originates from with hunts in past centuries. From 1480 to 1750 is considered the classical period of witch hunts. The last executions happened in the 18th century.
Do you mean 1692?
Salem, Massachusetts
Old Salem, Massachussetts.
Innocent people are accused
No, there wasn't.