Spectral evidence facts for kids

Spectral evidence is a type of proof used in court where people claimed they saw spirits or ghosts. These spirits, called "specters," were said to be doing bad things, and the people seeing them would accuse real people of being witches.

This kind of evidence was often used during witch trials in the 16th and 17th centuries. People who said they were being tormented would claim they saw the ghostly forms of certain people. This was then used as proof that those people were witches. If a court accepted this, it was very hard for the accused person to prove they were innocent.

However, many people, especially religious leaders, disagreed about whether spectral evidence was fair. They worried that the Devil could trick people by making an innocent person's ghost appear. The debate about spectral evidence became very important during the Bury St Edmunds witch trial in 1662 and the famous Salem witch trials in 1692–93.

The Bury St Edmunds Witch Trial

The Bury St Edmunds witch trial happened in 1662 in England. Two older women, Amy Denny and Rose Cullender, were accused of being witches. This trial became very important because a famous judge named Matthew Hale was involved. The way this trial handled spectral evidence set a pattern for future cases. A report about the trial, called A Tryal of Witches at the Assizes Held at Bury St. Edmunds, was even used by judges during the Salem witch trials about 30 years later.

Amy Denny and Rose Cullender were accused of putting spells on several children in their neighborhood. The children reportedly suffered from strange fits, couldn't walk well, lost their speech, and sometimes even coughed up pins. The main proof against Denny and Cullender came from the children themselves. They said they were often threatened by the ghosts of these two women. For example, a man named Samuel Pacy said about his two daughters:

In their fits they would cry out, There stands Amy Duny, or Rose Cullender; and sometimes in one place and sometimes in another, running with great violence to the place where they fancied them to stand, striking at them as if they were present; they would appear to them sometimes spinning, and sometimes reeling, or in other postures, deriding or thretening them.

Not everyone at the trial believed this evidence. Some lawyers, including John Kelynge, questioned it. They argued that even if the children were truly under a spell, it couldn't be blamed on the accused women just because the children imagined it. They said that if such imagination was allowed as proof, no one would be safe.

Judge Hale told the jury to consider two main questions: "First, Were these Children Bewitched? Secondly, Were the Prisoners at the Bar Guilty of it?" Even with the doubts, the jury found Denny and Cullender guilty of most of the accusations. They were sentenced to death.

The Salem Witch Trials

How the Accusations Started

The Salem witch trials began in February 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts. Four young girls started having strange fits and claimed invisible forces were biting and pinching them. When asked who was hurting them, they accused Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, and a slave named Tituba. The girls cried out that these women, or their specters, were tormenting them.

When brought before the judges, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne said they were innocent. But Tituba confessed. She claimed the devil had forced her to hurt the children and that a tall man in black clothes made her sign a book. She also said that Good and Osborne were witches and described their spirit helpers, which no one else could see. Good's helper was a yellow bird, and Osborne's were two scary creatures. While Tituba was talking, the girls had more fits, and Tituba claimed to see Sarah Good's ghost attacking them. All three women were sent to jail to await trial.

Tituba's confession started a wave of fear and accusations in Salem. Many people were arrested for witchcraft. Her story influenced later accusations. People often claimed that the ghosts of suspected witches tried to make them sign a book, and the "man in black" and "yellow bird" were seen with other accused people like Martha Corey, Rebecca Nurse, and Sarah Cloyce. Another common type of spectral evidence was seeing the spirits of dead people. Minister Deodat Lawson wrote that the accusers said:

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 special court was set up to handle these cases. However, the court struggled with how much to trust spectral evidence. Other types of evidence were sometimes used, like claims of spells causing harm, finding small dolls (poppets), or strange marks on the body. But spectral evidence was used in almost every case. In fact, out of 156 people arrested, 79 were accused based only on spectral evidence.

The belief in spectral evidence was strong because people thought the Devil could not take on someone's shape without that person's permission.

Disagreement Among Judges

The first person tried by the court was Bridget Bishop, who was found guilty and executed. But after this, the judges started to disagree. Spectral evidence had been a big part of Bishop's conviction, and this made some people question the court's methods. The judges asked for advice from local ministers. Twelve ministers, including Increase Mather, wrote a document called "The Return of the Several Ministers Consulted." They again advised caution:

Presumptions whereupon persons may be committed, and, much more, convictions whereupon persons may be condemned as guilty of witchcrafts, ought certainly to be more considerable than barely the accused person's being represented by a specter unto the afflicted; inasmuch as it is an undoubted and notorious thing, that a demon may, by God's permission, appear, even to ill purposes, in the shape of an innocent, yea, and a virtuous man.

They even suggested that being more careful with spectral evidence might stop the troubles in Salem. However, the document also ended by recommending that those who had broken God's laws should be quickly punished. This made the message unclear. Robert Calef, who criticized the trials at the time, said the document was "perfectly ambidexter," meaning it seemed to support both sides. The main judge, William Stoughton, took it as a sign to continue as before. Most other judges agreed, except for Nathaniel Saltonstall, who resigned from the court.