Why was there such a large number of witch trails in the 17th Century?

What were the reasons for such a large number of witch trails in the 17th century? Witchcraft has been a fascination through out the centuries. In the 17 century Witchcraft grew from superstition. Witchcraft became the common name for anything unexplained, so anything at all out of place or out of the ordinary was at risk, this is probably one of the contributing factors for such a large number of confessions. This essay shows how and …

…found religion to be the only thing that was always there. This would of led to religion becoming extreme, and the only way to protect this from an air of superstition was to remove anyone slightly different from the community. By doing this they created a mass hysteria and through the press this would have been ripe on peoples minds. Leading to a state of panic and confusion, in which many innocent people got killed.