Not long ago, I wrote a post on this blog about the use of spectral evidence in a criminal trial. Spectral evidence was testimony in which witnesses claimed that the accused appeared to them and did them harm in a dream or a vision. The Court of Oyez and Terminer that presided over the Salem witch trials permitted this form of evidence to be presented in support of accusations of witchcraft. According to Reverend John Hale, who witnessed those proceedings, the court based its decision to use spectral evidence on the opinion of Matthew Hale, one of the leading legal authorities in England. In this post, I take a look at the case that the Salem judges relied on and the record of the instructions Matthew Hale gave in that trial.
The trial was one of two well-known witch trials ending in conviction that took place in Bury St. Edmunds, England, in the mid-17th century. The earlier trial, which was instigated by Matthew Hopkins