hi, I am doing research for a brothers grimm style series of shorts.

I am looking for the less violent/cruel ways witch hunters would hunt down witches. Also the typoes of equipment they would use.

Hmmm... a "less violent/cruel" way might not be easy to come up with. I couldn't find anything that was actually done historically. I'll give it some thought.

they generally left it up to their neighbors to narc on them. Read the Mallius Maleficarum. It is available through Dover. It tells you everything you want to know about witch-hunters. And believe me, there were all sorts of ways to accuse a person of witch-craft that you would not think of. Certain marks on the body, anything unusual, any kind of dream the neighbor had, knots, jars (protective spells), anything odd happening to the animals, weather, the all time greatest hits: if you turned someone on. If they wanted you to be a witch, they would find you, frankly. I mean, this was real life though, not Brother Grimm stories. In Grimms tales witches are more like fantasy characters, so I imagine they used fantasy witch hunting devices.