The Massachusetts Bay Colony Court That Executed Twenty People for Witchcraft in 1692 on the Basis of Adolescent Girls' Spectral-Evidence Testimony
Between February 1692 and May 1693 the Salem Massachusetts witchcraft proceedings investigated 200 accused witches and executed 20 — 14 women and six men. Five more died in prison awaiting trial. The court accepted "spectral evidence" — the testimony of accusers who claimed to see the accused's spirit form harming them — over the explicit objection of senior Massachusetts clergy. The legal foundation collapsed in autumn 1692 and the colony issued a formal apology in 1697.
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