"Witches didn't shoot you, as a general rule. In fact, witches, real witches, didn't practice a lot of violence. A wiccan wouldn't have had anything to do with human sacrifice. But the word witch means a lot of different things. Some of them can get pretty scary, but they seldom shot you."

(The Lunatic Cafe, page 319, paragraph 6)

* Followers of the Way is a sect going back to the Gnostics who embrace all magical ability. They were nearly wiped out during the Inquisition. They consider themselves Christian witches.

* If a witch uses magic in order to kill someone, it is an automatic death sentence, usually within six weeks, even less for the trial. Once convicted, death is carried out no later than 48 hours.

* A sorcerer in Maine was able to call demons into his cell in order to break free. He was later recaptured through the combined efforts of a coven of white witches and a group of satanists.

* Agnes Simpson was the last witch to be burned at the stake. She was killed in 1953 and a series of photographs was taken of her death, the first of which won a Pulitzer Prize.