The legend of Witches flying at night on broomsticks has its origin in shamanic practices that survived well into the Middle Ages. The witches rubbed the ointment onto a staff, then they rubbed their genitals on it to enter a trance state where they could communicate with demonic entities:

Some sources have claimed that such an ointment would best be absorbed through mucous membranes, and that the traditional image of a female witch astride a broomstick implies the application of flying ointment to the vulva>

Probably 99.99 % of all women persecuted for Witchcraft in Europe and the New World colonies were completely innocent. But the remaining part knew exactly what they were doing.