Do witch hunters really still exist? Are there really people out there who purposefully try to find witches? If they happen to find one what do they do? I read that there are still some hunters around but whenever I try to research I only find fictional movies and books.
Yes. Witch hunts still happen. However, they usually take place in more tribal areas like Papua New Guinea. Some still occur in the U.S and Europe. They aren't as common nowadays as they were centuries ago.
Nowadays, there is still stigma around witchcraft, particularly in third world countries, where witchcraft is still demonized and blamed for many natural occurrences.
The people that have prejudice towards witches aren't so much "witch hunters", but normal people who are fearful of witchcraft and things that cannot explain, this is likely the reason you are only finding fantasy books on the topic. These people have however, even in the modern age, acted out towards people they believe to be practitioners and can injure, imprison or even kill those they believe to be practicing witchcraft.
Online there are many news articles about people killed or imprisoned for their believed use of witchcraft, I would suggest altering the words and terms you use to search the internet, to avoid finding fantasy novels.
yes and no. Other countries do have issues with people being attacked and evil killed for being 'witches' [Look up African witch hunts for example] in countries like America, Canada, UK so on, there are places where people have negative stigmatism about witchcraft and people can get fired, evicted, threatened, property damage, and vandalism because of it. most recent example I can think of is two sisters near Chicago who own their own shop, ran it for years, someone reported them and they need a new permit to run their shop, and one of the things they had to do was go to their neighbours in a 2-3 block radius [one being a church] and basically say 'hi we're witches, we run this shop and are applying for this permit. If you wish to dispute us our court case is this date/time'
But if you're afraid some Van Helsing looking person will hunt you down and killing you, no, that doesn't happen. You just need to assess the situation and decide for yourself if it's worth it to be a loud proud pagan or quiet and observant.
