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Carl Sagan is an excellent communicator but he relies too heavily on literary tropes and popular fiction.

The issue of witchcraft is not unchecked beliefs, but the combustible mixture of politics and economics.

Early witches weren't old women performing secret rituals in dense forests. They were the bourgeoisie, who found themselves newly rich during a time of political and economic uncertainty.

The "Malleus Maleficarum" never caught on among the religious elite. Why would they care about the imagined threat of witches when Protestants were out in the open and gaining ground amongst all levels of society?

Where the book did catch on was amongst secular courts. The book provided a convenient justification for condemning political and economic opponents. There it was used to great effect.