This gets into etymological arguments about what a "witch" is. > The sisters, who were known to be herbal healers, swore their revenge, the story goes. A "wit

This gets into etymological arguments about what a "witch" is. > The sisters, who were known to be herbal healers, swore their revenge, the story goes. A "witch" in certain contexts could be an evil apothecary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witchcraft#Hebrew_Bible https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witchcraft#Hebrew_Bible > The precise meaning of the Hebrew כָּשַׁף, usually translated as "witch" or "sorceress", is uncertain. In the Septuagint, it was translated as pharmakeía or pharmakous. In the 16th century, Reginald Scot, a prominent critic of the witch trials, translated כָּשַׁף, φαρμακεία, and the Vulgate's Latin equivalent veneficos as all meaning "poisoner", and on this basis, claimed that "witch" was an incorrect translation and poisoners were intended Witch hunts and witch trials normally involved framing people for bullshit reasons, but that doesn't mean "witches" didn't exist at some point. They were just herbalists using science instead of magic.