15. You were childless: When children fell ill for no apparent reason, it was often believed that the local childless woman had cursed them out of jealousy or spite
Many accusations of witchcraft were made after a child, or several children had fallen ill or even died suddenly for no obvious reason. Indeed, the most famous witch trial of all, the Salem Witch Trial, came about after small children in the Massachusetts village started suffering from seizures. Almost without fail, childless women would be blamed. It was commonly believed that such women were simply jealous of mothers with their children and used their black magic to make them suffer. Notably, this extreme suspicion of childless women is still evident in some parts of the world even today.
Eunice Cole, sometimes also known as ‘Goody Cole‘ was a New Hampshire woman accused of witchcraft on three occasions during the 1660s and 1670s. On each occasion, the fact that she and her husband didn’t have children of their own was brought up as proof that she was a witch. While she escaped execution, Cole served three spells in prison. Moreover, when she died, it’s believed her neighbors drove a stake through her heart and buried her in an unmarked grave so that their children would be safe from her malicious spells.