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.
you would have to compare the more lethal methods to your own desires, and get something off of that, that's about as much as info as I can give.
I'm unclear what you're asking. Are you looking for less violent ways to treat them when suspected or found? Or are you looking for ways to prove a witch without torture?
I echo these questions and add: Witch hunting as it might be in a fairy tale (as you mention a Brothers Grimm type story) or Witch hunting in the real world that had nothing to do with fairy tale witches and everything to do with kangaroo courts.
What If each witch had an animal familiar and if you killed the animal they would loose their power or die?
If you are writing a fairy tale, you can invent whatever less cruel "tests" you like (such as "witches are burned by water", "witches, having sold their soul to the devil for black magic powers, cannot step on hallowed ground without burning their feet", "witches have a glowing rune 'devil's mark' hidden somewhere beneath their hairline" or "witches are allergic to the silver and it causes them to break out with a painful rash" or such things).
