A closer look
Witch hunters during the European and American trials fervently believed that the devil provided witches with familiars, which were demonic spirits shape-shifted into everyday animals like cats, dogs, or even frogs, to help them perform dark magic; if a lonely elderly woman was caught talking to her pet cat or feeding scraps to a stray dog, it was frequently used as legally binding court evidence that she was actively conspiring with the lord of darkness to destroy Christendom, acting as a terrifying testament to religious paranoia that thousands of people were executed largely because medieval society simply could not comprehend the concept of a single woman enjoying the quiet company of a household pet without being romantically involved with Satan
