Salem Oracle

Maya Rook of Illusory Time chronicles the day-by-day unfolding of the Salem Witch Trials. January 1692 to May 1693.

[Salem Oracle @Salem_Oracle]

It’s true.

[Salem Oracle @Salem_Oracle]

Feb. 6, 1693: In Salem Village, Reverend Samuel Parris and the church committee visit those who have been missing from public worship. The absentees do not explain why they’ve missed services but agree to a conference tomorrow.

[Salem Oracle @Salem_Oracle]

Tonight after service, a committee (composed of Rev. Samuel Parris, Nathaniel Ingersoll, Edward Putnam, Nathaniel Putnam, John Putnam Sr., and Bray Wilkins) is selected to speak with these absentees.

[Salem Oracle @Salem_Oracle]

Feb. 5, 1693: Some of the family members of those executed and accused have been avoiding public worship, such as Rebecca Nurse’s son Samuel Nurse; her son-in-law John Tarbell; and John Willard’s father-in-law Thomas Wilkins.

[Salem Oracle @Salem_Oracle]

Feb. 4, 1693: In England, readers are enthralled by Cotton Mather's Wonders of the Invisible World and its account of Salem.

Read it for yourself here: https://t.co/NPAt3ZTlAW

[Salem Oracle @Salem_Oracle]

Feb. 3, 1693: Jane Lilly and others are cleared by proclamation on this last day of the court at Charlestown.

[Salem Oracle @Salem_Oracle]

Feb. 2, 1693: Timothy Swan of Andover dies today at the age of 30. Cause of death? Unknown. Over the last year he was oft-afflicted and accused many others of witchcraft.

[Salem Oracle @Salem_Oracle]

Thomas Danforth takes over for the Superior Court. Today they clear six witchcraft charges and try five cases. Martha Toothaker, Mary Taylor, Sarah Cole, Sarah Dustin, and Lydia Dustin are all found not guilty.

[Salem Oracle @Salem_Oracle]

Feb. 1, 1693: Word of Governor Phips’s decision to reprieve the executions makes its way to Charlestown, and Chief Justice William Stoughton is pissed.

[Salem Oracle @Salem_Oracle]

He states, “We were in a way to have cleared the land of these! Who is it obstructs the cause of Justice I know not, but thereby the Kingdom of Satan is advanced. The Lord have mercy on this country.”

[Salem Oracle @Salem_Oracle]

In Boston, Governor Phips contemplates the execution warrants. He decides to revoke Stoughton’s order and sends a reprieve to Salem. Before sending anyone else to the gallows, Phips wants to wait until he receives word from England.

[Salem Oracle @Salem_Oracle]

Jan. 31, 1693: In Charleston, the Superior Court for Middlesex County begins today and the Grand Jury is sworn in.

[Salem Oracle @Salem_Oracle]

Jan. 30, 1693: With executions for eight convicted suspects of witchcraft on the horizon, authorities order graves to be dug. The gravediggers upturn the frozen winter ground of Salem in preparation.

[Salem Oracle @Salem_Oracle]

Jan. 30, 1693: With executions for eight convicted suspects of witchcraft on the horizon, authorities order graves to be dug. The gravediggers upturn the frozen winter ground of Salem.

[Salem Oracle @Salem_Oracle]

Jan. 28, 1693: Prisoners Sarah Cole, Mary Toothaker, and Mary Tyler are transported back to the Cambridge jail today where they will wait for the Superior Court for Middlesex County to convene and consider their cases.

[Salem Oracle @Salem_Oracle]

She names her infant son John, after her husband who hanged months earlier.

[Salem Oracle @Salem_Oracle]

Jan. 27, 1693: Elizabeth Proctor, imprisoned since April and awaiting execution since a guilty verdict in August, gives birth today to a son in the Salem prison.

We can only imagine the horrific conditions of her environment where others already succumbed to illness and death.

[Salem Oracle @Salem_Oracle]

They approve “stopping the proceedings against the witches in New England” and order “in all future proceedings against persons accused of witchcraft or of possession by the devil, all circumspection be used so far as may be without impediment to the ordinary course of justice.”

[Salem Oracle @Salem_Oracle]

Jan. 26, 1693: Remember when Governor Phips wrote to the Crown in England requesting advice on the witchcraft cases back in October?

[Salem Oracle @Salem_Oracle]

Stoughton signs a warrant for their execution, along with Abigail Hobbs, Abigail Faulkner Sr., Elizabeth Proctor, Mary Bradbury, and Dorcas Hoar, who have awaited their fate since the Court of Oyer & Terminer condemned them.

The court’s decisions are sent to Gov. William Phips.

[Salem Oracle @Salem_Oracle]

Jan. 14, 1693: Sarah Cole’s husband bails her out for £50, and Mary Marston is released from prison today as well.

[Salem Oracle @Salem_Oracle]

During the last two weeks, over 50 witchcraft cases have been heard. The court declared 30 of these cases ignoramus for lack of evidence.

Three out of 21 trials resulted in guilty verdicts—Elizabeth Johnson Jr., Mary Post, and Sarah Wardwell.