First of all, there is no empirical evidence of any witches at all....

First of all, there is no empirical evidence of any witches at all. Every accusation is from other people, so-called witnesses, and essentially just people pointing fingers. At the beginning of the play, Betty's sickness is attributed to the girls' involvement with witchcraft, but it could easily be attributed to a virus or simply the stress of being caught dancing in the woods at night.  In court (in Act Three), Mary Warren tells Danforth...