-  Touching the Witch (too close!). This usually happens because of Jockeys.
- Being too close .
- Staring at her for too long, or staying within her proximity too long.
- Explosions near her. Explosions will at first cause her to stumble, followed by
attacking the Survivor who caused the explosion. If a Boomer is killed within her
proximity, this will also startle her. If the Witch is not within a Survivor's line of
sight, this will not startle her. You will simply hear the Witch scream, followed by
sobbing.
- Being within the Witch's "anger" proximity. In other words, if one Survivor makes the
Witch start growling, another Survivor standing stock still and outside the Witch's usual
personal space (read: totally innocent) may startle her.
- Shooting the Witch. If you don't actually hit the Witch, shots can land quite close to
her without disturbing her, but you have to be far away; if you are too close and shoot
near her (especially with shotguns), she will be startled immediately.
- Setting her on fire. Even if another person has already startled the Witch, setting her
on fire will cause her to change targets to the one responsible. This also means that
setting the Witch on fire after she has killed her target will cause her to continue her
attack until both the person who startled her and the flamer are dead.
- Throwing a Bile bomb at the Witch.
- Medium proximity with a flashlight pointed at the Witch.