Linda,

Thank you for replying.

I think Miller's 'The Crucible' provides more of a psychological edge to the Witch Hunts: jealously, revenge, acquisition of property, the power of office, and the subsequent role of legal precedent: "we've already hung two witches based on the children's testimony and therefore the rest of the accused must also suffer the same fate."

IOW, once the bandwagon is on a roll, let's spend the next 350 years sanitizing 'our flocks' by killing innocent but expendable human beings, the majority of whom were women or later...communists a la McCarthy.

Lastly, the whole 'craze/moral panic' witch hunts are also akin to a study, sorry can't remember the source, wherein two anthropologists looked into the role of human sacrifice amongst Pacific Islanders.

The main reason they found was that it strengthened the hierarchy. Since most of those about to be sacrificed were from the lower classes, if not the slave class, it made sense to keep them in their places by letting the blood flow.