THE FIRST IN A RASH OF WITCH EXECUTIONS: On this day in 1692, Bridget Bishop was executed by hanging in Salem Massachusetts. Cotton Mather wrote, “there was little occasion to prove the witchcraft, it being evident and notorious to all beholders.”

About 200 people, mostly though not exclusively women, were tried for witchcraft during the period of the Salem witch trials. The number of executions was around 20.

In Europe, of course, over a longer period of time, the numbers were much worse, partly because Europe had a much larger population and partly because … well … when bad things happen here, worse things are often going on there.