The period of witch hunts (like the crusades, actually) only occupied about two centuries out of the two millennia of church history.
Germany and Scotland had the highest death tolls as I recall. Eight thousand and four thousand respectively.
James I of the United Kingdom, patron of the King James Version, was earlier James VI of Scotland and was very much anti-witch. (He was also very much anti-tobacco, interestingly enough.)
Less than three dozen were killed in the colonies that became the U. S. Mostly in Massachusetts, mostly in Salem.
It should be noted that the magistrates responsible for the executions in Salem later repented of their actions and did so publicly. This is unusual and commendable.
The execution of witches was generally acceptable throughout Western Christendom at that time, as crusades were for a while in earlier church history.
It is arguable that the cause of the great witch hunts was the lack of employment among certain church bureaucrats.
Those responsible for rooting out heresy at the time were running out of heretics.
So two of the under-employed bureaucrats wrote a book suggesting that Christendom should start doing something about all those witches in the midst.
And many found that they had an odd neighbor or two that they could do without.
