The Salem Witch Trials: The Account by Mather

In May 1692, Governor William Phips of Mas-
sachusetts appointed a Court of Oyer and Termi-
ner (“hear and determine”) in the cases against
some nineteen people in Salem accused of witch-
craft.
Mather had long been interested in the
subject of witchcraft, and in this work, written at
the request of the judges, he describes the case
against the accused. Mather, like many others,
saw the evidence of witchcraft as the devil’s work,
a last-ditch effort to undermine the Puritan ideal.
He was skeptical of much of the evidence used
against the accused, especially as the trials pro-
ceeded in the summer of 1692, but like a number
of prominent individuals in the community, he
made no public protest. The work was first pub-
lished in 1693; this text is from the reprint
published by John Russell Smith in 1862.

In May of the year 1692, Governor William Phips of Massachusetts did appoint a Court of Oyer and Terminer (‘hear and determine’) to address the cases against some nineteen souls in Salem who were accused of witchcraft. Mather had for long been intrigued by the matter of witchcraft, and in this treatise, penned at the behest of the judges, he doth describe the cases against those accused. Mather, as many others did, perceived the evidence of witchcraft to be naught but the work of the devil, a desperate attempt to erode the Puritan ideal. He held doubts concerning much of the evidence employed against those accused, particularly as the trials continued through the summer season of 1692; yet, like several notable figures within the community, he raised no public outcry. This work was first issued in 1693; this text is taken from the reprint published by John Russell Smith in 1862.