Flashback to Salem

Five Kenyan elders were burnt to death for their suspected practice of witchcraft:

"They include four women and a man in their 80's who were accused of having abducted a child," Kisii deputy police Commander Manasseh Musyoka said yesterday.
...
In March last year, 12 people, mainly elderly men and women were burnt to death in Nyamira district in similar circumstances.

I'm confused about the logic leap from child abduction to witchcraft, and I am also bummed to see our lack of civilizational advancement in the last 400 years.

(h/t The Huffington Post)