A
witch-hunt is a search for witches or evidence of
witchcraft, often involving
moral panic, or
mass hysteria. Before 1750 it was legally sanctioned and involving official
witchcraft trials. The
classical period of witchhunts in
Europe and
North America falls into the
Early Modern period or about 1480 to 1750, spanning the upheavals of the
Reformation and the
Thirty Years' War, resulting in an estimated 40,000 to 60,000 executions.
The last executions of people convicted as witches in Europe took place in the 18th century. In the Kingdom of Great Britain, witchcraft ceased to be an act punishable by law with the
Witchcraft Act of 1735. In
Germany, sorcery remained punishable by law into the late 18th century. Contemporary witch-hunts have been reported from
Sub-Saharan Africa, India and Papua New Guinea. Official legislation against witchcraft is still found in Saudi Arabia and Cameroon. The term "witch-hunt" since the 1930s has also been in use as a metaphor to refer to moral panics in general (frantic persecution of perceived enemies). This usage is especially associated with the
Second Red Scare of the 1950s, with the
McCarthyist persecution of communists in the United States.