What can you tell me about witch-hunts in Scandinavia?

The real witch hunts in Sweden were very short lived. By real, I mean specifically those that were part of the witch hysteria during the later part of the 17th century, and resulted in burnings. I suppose it's fitting to start off with the justification for these burnings. This is the law as stated in Gustavus Adolphus bible (translated):

"A witch you shall not let live."

"If somebody's man or woman is a prophesier or auger: they must die/they must be stoned/their blood be above them" (there are several different endings here).

In the late 16th century, the arch bishop Abraham Angermannus started an inquisition (that he eventually had to end because of how hated he became for it) throughout Sweden in order to punish people who were bad Christians. He ordered the churchmen in each region to prepare a bunch of sinners for when he arrived, that he then could take care of. These included various crimes, usually corresponding to failure to follow God's 10 commandments. I've picked (and transcribed/translated) out a few that have to do with "witchcraft" almost a century before the great hysteria of the 17th century.

Brita Peer Matzons (name) in Näsby (location) has been rumoured to practice witchcraft. She denies it and has several times been to the thing (roughly "court"). The master man (roughly "judge") has tried her on the water, and she floated (I'm sure you're aware of that witches float in water because they are made of wood!).

Wife Brita Mårtens has been accused of witchcraft, she was sent to a worldly court (such a court could sentence people to more severe punishments than the church, so with more terrible crimes this was practice).

Joen in Korttekälla and his wife practices witchery, [a bunch of magic words are listed]. She recieved 39 slashes with birch and 9 pails of water poured over her. But he recieved 39 slashes and 3 pails of water. If they are sent there again they will be burned at the stake (the maximum punishment the church could sentence someone to was exactly 39 slashes with birch and 9 pails of cold water to be poured over them, birch was used instead of leather because the sentence was meant to be a punishment rather than torture).

There is much more of the same in his notes, as well as another bishop's diary I've read. However, as you can see, none of these came even close to being burned at the stake, let alone that number being in the 50s or 60s in each region. We actually don't know exactly why the hysteria of the 17th century started. They started in 1668 and were dying out again already at the end of the century. Theologians have tried to explain the phenomenon by pointing towards a failure from the Orthodox Christianity to explain and cure certain things in a satisfying way. The religion was formed to control the elite, and therefore it may have left much to wish for for the poorer people in society.

Another explanation that's been proposed is that the Catholic Church and the Pope were responsible. The Pope had said in a bull that everyone who didn't think like him were heretics and therefore must be exterminated. This, together with several misinterpretations by intellectuals, led to the spreading of this particular superstition.

A third explanation, proposed by a contemporary doctor, was that the people at fault were a bunch of frivolous girls and farm girls, as well as some 'lost' boys. He meant that it was their fault that these superstitions spread because one couldn't possibly correct them, like with normal boys and men. Either way, as I said, we don't know for certain.

It is quite interesting to look at which locations these superstitions spread in, but unless you're familiar with the names of Swedish regions and their demography, I fear that it's a moot point to present them here. In short can be said that generally, these spread far away from the larger cities with their cathedrals, and instead concentrated in remote places far North and to the West.