Thousands of people had their lives ruined. And many more lived more rigid and less free lives to remain free of suspicion. I once, while going through a difficult time in college, had a therapist try to convince me that I had been molested. Today, I think, we are most susceptible to hysterical thinking. As Americans we seem to be trading liberty for security out of fear of crime because it has risen so much in the last 3 decades.
Most violent crimes are robberies or minor assaults where no one gets hurt at all or very little.
So many of us are very suspicious of anyone who doesn't fit in and is doing anything that might be a criminal activity. I think that all of you are forgetting that this was a different time. I think that if I was there, I would've been called a witch. It seemed like no one was safe. The Giles Corey thing was so sad.