What kind of testing was in the Salem Witch Trials?
Virtually none. At least no testing that would pass as a viable way to determine if someone was a witch. The witch hysteria came about at the surface level as a result of wild behavior from “bewitched” girls, but on a deeper level the Puritan community was undergoing a lot of turmoil at the time and felt that they had incurred God’s wrath. The witchhunt was a way of scapegoating people who were supposedly a cause of this. A great way to ruin your enemy or get rid of the villag weirdo was to accuse them of being a witch. They would then be determined to be a witch through “witness testimony” and “evidence examination” and other proceedings worthy of the quotes of sarcasm. In reality there were no tests given, it was all based on heresay, just a manipulative match of pointing fingers that imprisoned or hung a lot of innocent people.
