Contextual Background The Salem Witch Trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions between 1692 and 1963 in Colonial Massachusetts. Around 200 people were accused of witchcraft which was often referred to as 'Devil's Magic' and 20 people were executed. Many also died while awaiting or on trial. There was a lot of rivalry and quarreling in the town of Salem and the Puritans' mistook this for being a sign of the work of the 'devil'. In January 1692, three women were accused of possessing and controlling 3 young girls who were having fits and seizures. The women were taken before a magistrates where 2 pleaded that they were not guilty but one confessed. She said "The Devil came to me and bid me serve him." She also claimed that a 'black man' told her to sign his book and she did it while 'other witches' watched her. In May of that year a special court was established for the purpose of trying these so-called witches and soon enough a woman was hung for supposedly being a witch. By the end of September, 18 more women had been killed under the presumption that they were all witches. On October 3rd, the president of Harvard asked for 'spectral evidence' (testimony about dreams and visions) to not be used in these courts. The Governor responded to this by stopping all future arrests and releasing the 'witches' who were being kept in prison. A new court was set up which didn't use spectral evidence and only 3 out of 56 defendants were found guilty but by this point almost 200 people had died/been killed. After these trials, many judges asked for forgiveness and 'publicly confessed error and guilt' and on January 14th 1697, the General court ordered a day of soul searching for the tragedy that had occured in Salem and by 1711 a bill was passed which compensated the families of those there were unlawfully killed. In 1957 a formal apology was issued by Massachusetts for what occurred in 1692.