witch finder
Hunter of crones
A witch finder was a person who identified suspected witches, especially during the European and colonial American witch trials of the 16th and 17th centuries.
Witch finders used dubious methods—searching for "devil's marks" on the body, conducting swimming tests, extracting confessions through torture.
The term now applies figuratively to anyone who pursues ideological enemies with zealous certainty: The committee acted as witch finders, rooting out suspected communists.
- inquisitorHarsh, probing questioner
- trialJudicial examination of claims
- SalemCity or name
- burningCombustion in progress
- stakeSharpened post or share
torture · confession · accusation · heresy · puritan · Hopkins · ducking · stool · swimming test · pyre · persecution · moral panic · devil · familiar · spectral · evidence · hangman · accusers
- witch huntsSalem trials, accusations, burning at stake, Tituba, inquisition
witch finderdefense counsel
Lawyer representing the accused
exonerator · advocate · protector · character witness · sympathizer
witch finderskeptic
One who doubts claims
rationalist · debunker · voice of reason · freethinker · empiricist
witch, finder, witches, witchcraft, witchy, bewitched, bewitch, bewitching, find