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The sudden emergence of witch trials in early modern Europe may have been fueled by one of humanity's most significant intellectual milestones: the invention of the printing press in 1450.

A new study in Theory and Society shows that the printing of witch-hunting manuals, particularly the Malleus maleficarum in 1487, played a crucial role in spreading persecution across Europe. The study also highlights how trials in one city influenced others. This social influence—observing what neighbors were doing—played a key role in whether a city would adopt witch trials.

"Cities weren't making these decisions in isolation," said Kerice Doten-Snitker, a Complexity Postdoctoral Fellow at the Santa Fe Institute and lead author of the study.

"They were watching what their neighbors were doing and learning from those examples. The combination of new ideas from books and the influence of nearby trials created the perfect conditions for these persecutions to spread."

The witch hunts in Central Europe took off in the late 15th century and lasted for almost 300 years, resulting in the prosecution of roughly 90,000 people, with nearly 45,000 executions. Belief in witches and witchcraft had been present in European culture for centuries, but the level of systematic, widespread persecution that occurred during this period was unprecedented.

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