The pattern is even more clearly demonstrated when domestic violence and the - frequently studied - prosecutions for witchcraft are considered.
One clearly remembered and immediate outcome was a remarkable increase in witchcraft suspicions and a lack of mutual trust among neighbours.
Witchcraft of this sort must of course be fought against.
When this happened, the family suspected a neighbour for witchcraft.
The ramifications, therefore, reach beyond the history of witchcraft to the history of mentalities.
Not unexpectedly it proved particularly effective in cleansing societies of substances associated with witchcraft.
The linking of witchcraft and a trade in child's body parts is a seemingly common phenomenon.
In the same vein, witchcraft trials appear to have started earlier and reached higher intensity in areas containing major towns or trading centres.
