Pre-Colonial Times: The Salem Witch Trials

If the American court system only allowed the victims of the crime to testify in court, while neglecting all other evidence and hardly paying attention to the accused, how different would it be compared to trials today? For Salem, Massachusetts, this method of prosecution organization led to one of the most infamous events in pre-Colonial times: The Salem Witch Trials. This incident began in February 1692, and by the time it ended in May 1693, twenty citizens were sent to the gallows, and over one hundred others sat in prison, waiting to be tried for months at a time. What made these trials distinguishable was the judges’ decision to allow spectral evidence. Spectral evidence, by definition, is the testimony of a witness who claimed that the

When Elizabeth “Betty” Parris, Abigail Williams, and the other young girls started to experience strange fits and hallucinations, doctors struggled to find the cause, as Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. History explains, “The girls began having hallucinations and strange physical ailments, some of them babbling incoherently. Doctors were called in and diagnosed witchcraft”. Most of them had never heard of an extreme case like Salem was encountering, so it was hard for them to diagnose exactly what the problem was. Eventually, “they [doctors] deemed the symptoms to be so unusual as to be supernatural, essentially passing the problem on to religious leaders. From that point the problem was viewed as a spiritual one, and the ministers became involved” (Carlson 51). This means that any medical evidence couldn’t be allowed in court, since they can only blame it on the Devil and not the victims’ health

For example, a man named Johann Weyer wrote a book denying the existence of witchcraft. It’s talked about in A Fever in Salem, where Carlson writes, “Weyer’s book was among those to claim that witches and sorcerers should not be put to death, the authorities considered his writing ‘not very important, for he is a physician and not a jurist.’ Critics alleged he was probably a sorcerer himself” (68-69). This is a prime example of what the courts thought of medical professionals; they denied Weyer’s theory simply because he wasn’t a lawyer, and since they believed their idea of witchcraft is supreme, they don’t need to listen to new scientific ideas. However, years later, the most likely cause for the girls’ illness was determined: “Modern psychologists have identified the fits, hallucinations, and other afflictions described by the Salem girls as consistent with a classified psychological disorder called severe hysteria and related panic attacks” (Global Events: Milestone Events Throughout History). So, it turns out that witchcraft wasn’t the problem afterall. If the court would’ve taken this mental disorder theory into consideration, and stopped accepting just spectral evidence, many more innocent lives would’ve been saved. In fact, the trials probably wouldn’t’ve taken place at