During the height of the Salem Witch Trials in 1692, the Court of Oyer and Terminer relied heavily on a controversial form of legal evidence known as spectral testimony. Witnesses claimed that the spirit or specter of an accused witch visited them to torment, pinch, or choke them. Under the legal theory advocated by judges like William Stoughton, the Devil could not take the shape of an innocent person without their permission; therefore, seeing someone's specter was deemed conclusive proof of their guilt.
This unfalsifiable standard led to the execution of nineteen people and the pressing to death of another. However, as public outrage mounted and prominent ministers like Increase Mather intervened—famously declaring that 'it were better that ten suspected witches should escape than that one innocent person should be condemned'—the legal framework crumbled. In October 1692, Governor William Phips dissolved the Court of Oyer and Terminer.
When the newly formed Superior Court of Judicature met in January 1693, spectral testimony was explicitly forbidden. Stripped of phantom witnesses, prosecutors could not secure convictions, and the remaining accused were acquitted or reprieved. The collapse of spectral evidence fundamentally reshaped American jurisprudence, reinforcing strict rules regarding evidentiary standards, cross-examination, and the presumption of innocence in colonial courtrooms.