Alice Molland was executed in Exeter, generally considered the last person executed for witchcraft in England. Her case came as attitudes were shifting toward greater skepticism about witchcraft evidence, marking the end of an era of legal persecution even though popular belief in witchcraft persisted.

The end of witch executions in England coincided with changing literary treatments of the supernatural, moving from realistic portrayals of witchcraft as genuine threat to more symbolic or psychological interpretations. Poets and writers increasingly used witchcraft imagery metaphorically rather than literally, reflecting evolving cultural attitudes.