The Salem witch trials spectral-evidence controversy

Record summary

During the Salem witchcraft crisis, accusers and magistrates debated whether visions, apparitions and alleged invisible attacks could establish witchcraft. Courts convicted and executed people before colonial authorities curtailed the proceedings, and later ministers and officials criticized the use of spectral evidence. The episode is important for comparing demonological interpretation, courtroom standards, contagious testimony and post-event repentance. Uncertainty concerns individual motivations, medical or social explanations for symptoms and the uneven preservation and interpretation of depositions.