Cotton Mather, the Witch-Finder of Salem

Cotton Mather, born in 1663, was a man of simple but odd beliefs. He believed that an "unsupported confession after due examination was adequate evidence on which to find guilty those accused of witchcraft." He wrote:

Among the sufficient means of Conviction, the first is the free and voluntary Confession of the Crime, made by the party suspected and accused, after Examination...taken upon pregnant assumption. What needs now more witness or further Enquiry?

Throughout the 1692 New England witch trials, Mather's viewpoint dominated the courtroom proceedings. So-called voluntary confessions sent many to their deaths. These confessions were aided by sleep-, drink-, and food-deprivation, of course.

Although the number of victims was small by continental European standards, the trials became famous. Nineteen were hanged to death and one man was pressed to death after refusing to plead. By October 1692, the trials were over. Public opinion changed. A day of public mourning was held as residents struggled to comprehend what they had done. Reverend John Hale, one who had given fatal evidence against a witch, said, "We walked in clouds and could not see our way" (Farrington 62, 63).

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Cotton Mather, the Witch-Finder of Salem copyrighted 1996-1998 to Shantell Powell.