What did witches look like in the 1600's?

Answer 1

They looked like everybody else.

Since what was called witchcraft was primarily a remnant of pre-Christian religious practice it was more commonly found amongst peasants and country-folk because they were less subject to social change and the ruling classes had an investment in a version of Christianity that validated their power.

The stereotype of witches as elderly women probably comes from two things.

The village wise woman and midwife, who predates the 1600's. A woman who did not fit the structure of male domination of religion and medicine would have been perceived as a threat. Physicians of the 1600's certainly sought to push these women out as they sought to professionalize medicine and witchcraft was an easy accusation.

Secondly, elderly women died by the thousands in the 1600's because they didn't have sufficient male protection to protect them from a grab for their property under the guise of the accusation of witchcraft. If a woman was found guilty of witchcraft then her accuser obtained part of her property.