According to Wendel Craker, no court ever convicted an accused of witchcraft on the basis of spectral evidence alone, but other forms of evidence were needed to corroborate the charge of witchcraft.

The law did not then use the principle of “innocent until proven guilty” – if you made it to trial, the law presumed guilt. If the colony imprisoned you, you had to pay for your stay. Courts relied on three kinds of evidence: 1) confession, 2) testimony of two eyewitnesses to acts of witchcraft, or 3) spectral evidence (when the afflicted girls were having their fits, they would interact with an unseen assailant – the apparition of the witch tormenting them). The colony created the Court of Oyer and Terminer especially for the witchcraft trials. The accusers claimed the witchcraft came mostly from women, with the notable exception of four-year old Dorcas Good. Rumors spread through the village attributing the fits to the devil and the work of his evil hands. In Salem, the accusers and alleged victims came from a small group of girls aged nine to 19, including Betty Parris and Abigail Williams. In January 1692, Betty and Abigail had strange fits. Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.” Exodus states: “Thou shall not suffer a witch to live.” Leviticus prescribes the punishment. Witches and wizards “shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them.” And Deuteronomy states: “There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch.

11.” The statute encompasses passages from the Bible written circa 700 B.C. According to Mark Podvia (see Timeline, PDF), the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony adopted the following statute in 1641: “If any man or woman be a WITCH, that is, hath or consulteth with a familiar spirit, they shall be put to death. The law of the Salem Witch Trials is a fascinating mix of biblical passages and colonial statutes. The Salem Martyr Thomas Slatterwhite Noble, 1869

The witches salem 1692