An important example of this was the increased suspicion of witches and witchcraft during this time period. The Elizabethan era, along with the renaissance of learning, also saw a period of renewed interest in the supernatural which led to the belief that some people possessed supernatural abilities (Alchin, "Witchcraft and Witches"). This led to mass hysteria and witch paranoia, witchcraft, witchcraft trials and mass murders of many innocent lives. People used the witchcraft explanation as a scapegoat to explain events such as the death of people or animals, a poor growing season, and even burning houses. A major historical example that people during the Elizabethan era used witchcraft as a scapegoat was during the outbreak of the bubonic plague. Because people at the time could find no good evidence to explain why this happened, they turned to witchcraft as the only explanation (“Witchcraft in the Elizabethan