Theinquisitorswererequiredtoaskthesuspectedwhethertheyhadmidnightmeetingswiththedevil？whethertheyattendedthewitch’ssabbathontheBrocken？whethertheyhadtheirfamiliarspirits？
whethertheycouldraisewhirlwindsandcalldownthelightning？andwhethertheyhadsexualintercoursewithSatan？
Straightwaytheinquisitorssettowork；Cumarius，inItaly，burnedforty-onepoorwomeninoneprovincealone，andSprenger，inGermany，burnedanumberwhichcanneverbeascertainedcorrectly，butwhich，itisagreedonallhands，amountedtomorethanfivehundredinayear。Thegreatresemblancebetweentheconfessionsoftheunhappyvictimswasregardedasanewproofoftheexistenceofthecrime。Butthisisnotastonishing。Thesamequestionsfromthe“MalleusMaleficarum，“wereputtothemall，andtortureneverfailedtoeducetheanswerrequiredbytheinquisitor。Numbersofpeoplewhoseimaginationswerefilledwiththesehorrors，wentfurtherinthewayofconfessionthaneventheirtormentersanticipated，inthehopethattheywouldtherebybesavedfromtherack，andputoutoftheirmiseryatonce。Someconfessedthattheyhadhadchildrenbythedevil；butnoone，whohadeverbeenamother，gaveutterancetosuchafranticimagining，evenintheextremityofheranguish。Thechildlessonlyconfessedit，andwereburnedinstanterasunworthytolive。
ForfearthezealoftheenemiesofSatanshouldcool，successivePopesappointednewcommissions。OnewasappointedbyAlexanderVI，in1494；anotherbyLeoX，in1521，andathirdbyAdrianVI，in1522。
Theywereallarmedwiththesamepowerstohuntoutanddestroy，andexecutedtheirfearfulfunctionsbuttoorigidly。InGenevaalonefivehundredpersonswereburnedintheyears1515and1516，underthetitleofProtestantwitches。Itwouldappearthattheirchiefcrimewasheresy，andtheirwitchcraftmerelyanaggravation。BartolomeodeSpinahasaliststillmorefearful。Heinformsusthat，intheyear1524，nolessthanathousandpersonssuffereddeathforwitchcraftinthedistrictofComo，andthatforseveralyearsafterwardstheaveragenumberofvictimsexceededahundredannually。Oneinquisitor，Remigius，tookgreatcredittohimselfforhaving，duringfifteenyears，convictedandburnedninehundred。