How did the Salem witches trial end?
By the end of the Salem witch trials, 19 people were dead. 18 by hanging and one, Giles Corey, was pressed to death. Another 4 are known to have died in prison though there may have been as many as 13. Around 150 people were imprisoned. Many factors contributed to the ending of the trials. John Proctor, while in prison, wrote to the magistrates in Boston, asking them to move the trials there with different judges. This lead to a meeting between 8 officials from surrounding areas including Increase Mather, in which spectral evidence was banned. By the time this decision was reached- john and many others were already dead. Spectral evidence was most of the evidence used against the accused “witches” and so without it- there was no real reason to convict them. Also, doubt spread among the people when good people such as Rebecca Nurse were hanged, and also when George Burroughs perfectly recited the Lord’s Prayer before he was hung. Considering witches were not supposed to be able to hear
