Emperor Rudolf II convinced everyone who was once considered mad must be a witch and would have them burned at the stake. Little evidence was needed for most people who might be found to hold a pot of ointment or bones or if a child accused you of being a witch or because you may be the child of a so called witch.

There were witchcraft scares in the provinces of Styria, Tyrol and Salzburg. A scare in Salzburg cost a hundred lives, the condemned were tortured into confessing and then beheaded, strangled or burned. In Tyrol those accused of witchcraft who may have confessed and then retracted that confession would then be sent back to be tortured again. Any legal safeguards to protect the innocent were left out due to the nature of the crime. Only those under seven years were safe.