Salem Village, Massachusetts Was The Instigating Place.
The October 2015 edition of the ABA Journal has an interesting article about the history of witch trials in Salem Village (now, Danvers) and other nearby towns in Massachusetts Bay Colony during English rule.
In May 1692, William Phips, the newly appointed governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, commissioned a court of oyer and terminer to adjudicate accusations of witchcraft sweeping through the area. (Oyer and terminer allowed jurisdiction to be conferred upon a grand jury type of tribunal to adjudicate criminal offenses, often carrying the death penalty as the witch trials obviously did.)
These witch trials through the court of oyer and terminer allowed the sitting members to consider “spectral evidence”—testimony about paranormal phenomena. Hangings then began for convicted persons; between August 5 and September 17, 1692, 20 defendants were tried and condemned for witchcraft (19 were hung and 1 was pressed to death under a rock for refusing to confess).
However, in early October 1692, Governor Phips declared the use of spectral evidence illegal in the court of oyer and terminer, eventually disbanding the court altogether on October 29. Those awaiting trial were released and those condemned to death were pardoned. In 1711, the Massachusetts legislature voted to absolve those accused of witchcraft and offered restitution. In 1957, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts apologized for what had taken place in Salem and adjoining villages under color of law.
Case of Conscience Concerning evil Spirits by Increase Mather. (Boston, 1693). Library of Congress.
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