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Spectral evidence
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===Initial accusations=== The [[Salem witch trials]] began in February 1692, when four children of [[Salem, Massachusetts|Salem]], Massachusetts, began suffering from fits, and complained of being "bitten and pinched by invisible agents".{{sfn|Le Beau|1998|page=63}} When pressed to name their assailants, they accused [[Sarah Good]], [[Sarah Osborne]], and the slave [[Tituba]],{{sfn|Le Beau|1998|pages=63β64}} crying out "that they or specters in their shapes did grievously torment them".{{sfn|Hale|1914|page=414}} Brought before the magistrates, Good and Osbourne denied the charges, but Tituba confessed. She claimed to have been coerced by the devil into hurting the children; she had also been threatened by a tall man in black clothes, who made her sign her name in a book. She said that Good and Osbourne were also witches, and described their [[familiar]]s, which no-one else could see; Good's was a yellow bird, and Osbourne's were two grotesque creatures. While this testimony was being given, the children broke out into fits, and Tituba claimed to see the spectre of Sarah Good attacking them.{{sfn|Le Beau|1998|pages=71β72}}{{sfn|Norton|2002|pages=27β28}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/n125.html |title=SWP No. 125: Tituba |publisher=Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive |accessdate=6 October 2021}}</ref> All three women were indicted, and were returned to jail to await trial. This was the beginning of a mass hysteria which saw numerous residents of Salem and surrounding towns arrested on charges of witchcraft. Tituba's confession had a far-reaching influence, and set the tone for later claims made against the accused. It was often said that apparitions of the suspected witches had tried to compel their victims to write their names in a book,{{sfn|Norton|2002|page=52}} and both the man in black and the yellow bird were seen in the company of several of the accused, including [[Martha Corey]], [[Rebecca Nurse]], and [[Sarah Cloyce]].{{sfn|Le Beau|1998|pages=78, 80, 86, 93}} Another prominent form of spectral evidence was the appearance of the spirits of the dead, as minister [[Deodat Lawson]] wrote:{{sfn|Lawson|1964|page=263}} {{quote|They affirm'd, That they saw the Ghosts of several departed Persons, who at their appearing, did instigate them, to discover such as (they said) were Instruments to hasten their Deaths; threatening sorely to afflict them, if they did not make it known to the Magistrates.}} In May 1692, a [[Oyer and Terminer|Court of Oyer and Terminer]] was established to try these cases. However, the court faced the problem of how much weight to give to spectral evidence. During the pre-trial hearings, various other types of evidence had been brought against the accused β including evidence of "ordinary witchcrafts" (i.e. the casting of spells resulting in injury or property damage),{{sfn|Weisman|1984|page=43}} the discovery of [[poppet]]s, [[witches' mark]]s, and signs of unusual physical strength β but only the spectral evidence had been gathered for every case.{{sfn|Weisman|1984|page=150}} Furthermore, of the 156 people taken into custody before the court suspended its activities in September, 79 were charged on the basis of spectral evidence alone.{{sfn|Craker|1997|page=337}} The strength of spectral evidence was based on the assumption that the Devil could not assume another person's shape without their consent. Deodat Lawson stressed this point in a sermon preached on 24 March. He also explained that the Devil, wherever possible, binds into his service "those that make a Visible Profession" of holiness, in order to "more readily pervert others to Consenting unto his subjection".{{sfn|Lawson|1964|page=240}} This was an attempt to allay doubts about the fact that some of the accused, such as Nurse and Corey, were well-respected community members with a reputation for piety.{{sfn|Le Beau|1998|pages=87β89}} However, Puritan minister [[Cotton Mather]] took a different view. In a letter to magistrate [[John Richards (Salem witch trials)|John Richards]], Mather advised the court not to place too much stress upon spectral evidence, because "it is very certain that the devils have sometimes represented the shapes of persons not only innocent, but also very virtuous". He suggested that spectral evidence should be taken as a presumption of guilt, but would not in itself be sufficient for a conviction.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/letters/to_richards1.html |title=Letter to John Richards |publisher=Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive |accessdate=6 October 2021}}</ref>
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