In May of 1692, Governor William Phipps established a special court of oyer and terminer, meaning to hear and to decide. The first case brought to this court was a women named Bridget Bishop. Her plea of innocence was "I am as innocent as the child unborn," but her plea did not convice the judges because less than a month later she was hanged. The hill where she was hanged would later be known as Gallows Hill.(Blumberg, 2007)

 

Soon after Bishop's hanging, minister Cotton Mather, wrote a letter to the court urging it not to use the testimony of dreams and visions as evidence. The court ignored this suggestion and eighteen more people were hanged in the months following. Increase Mather, the father of Cotton Mather and the president of Harvard at the time, denounced the use of this type of evidence after the last hangings.(Blumberg, 2007) He said that it was better for ten witches to run free rather than one innocent person be hanged.

 

After hearing of Mather's plea and having his own wife accused, Governor Phipps prohibited further arrests and released many accused men and women. He also replaced the Court of Oyer with the Superior Court of Judicature. This new court did not allow the testimony of dreams and visions and only condemned three out of 56 accused villagers. In May of 1963, the governor released all those accused of witchcraft.

 

In the time following the tradegies that struck Salem village those of higher authority began to correct the wrong doings.(Blumberg, 2007) One judge named Samuel Sewall confessed to his errors and his guilt. Within the next twenty years after the trials ended they were finally considerd unlawful and a bill was passed to restore the rights and good names of those accused. Reparations were given to the heirs of those accused. 

                                                                                                                              (info from: smithonianmag.com)