in europe in the late medieval/early modern period, catholics, protestants, and state leaders became very afraid of the power of witches. there were large witch-hunts in many places. people believed that the devil was using witches to try to overthrow christianity, so tens or hundreds of thousands of people were killed, and others were put in prison, tortured, and had lands and possessions taken away from them. most of these witches were women, because people believed women were more likely to be witches.