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Spectral Evidence
Spectral evidence is a form of legal evidence based upon the testimony of those who claim to have experienced visions. Such testimony was frequently given during the witch trials of the 16th and 17th centuries. The alleged victims of witchcraft would claim to have been tormented by the spectral images of certain named members of the community; this was taken as evidence that those named were witches, and had given the Devil permission to assume their appearance. If accepted by a court, this testimony was virtually impossible to refute. However, spectral evidence was rarely used to secure a conviction, as theologians were unable to agree that the Devil could not take on the shape of an innocent person. The debate about the validity of spectral evidence rose to a climax with the Bury St Edmunds witch trial of 1662, and the Salem witch trials of 1692–93. Bury St Edmunds witch trial At the Bury St Edmunds witch trial of 1662, charges of witchcraft were brought against Amy Denny an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vision (spirituality)
A vision is something seen in a dream, trance, or religious ecstasy, especially a supernatural appearance that usually conveys a revelation. Visions generally have more clarity than dreams, but traditionally fewer psychological connotations. Visions are known to emerge from spiritual traditions and could provide a lens into human nature and reality. Prophecy is often associated with visions. Categories Evelyn Underhill distinguishes and categorizes three types of visions: # Intellectual Visions – The Catholic dictionary defines these as supernatural knowledge in which the mind receives an extraordinary grasp of some revealed truth without the aid of sensible impressions and mystics describe them as intuitions that leave a deep impression. # Imaginary – In Teresa of Avila's ''The Interior Castle'', an imaginary vision is defined as one where nothing is seen or heard by the senses of seeing or hearing, but where the same impression is received that would be produced upo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sarah Cloyce
Sarah Cloyce (alt. Cloyes; Towne; c. 1641 – 1703) was among the many accused during Salem Witch Trials including two of her older sisters, Rebecca Nurse and Mary Eastey, who were both executed. Cloyce was about 50-years-old at the time and was held without bail in cramped prisons for many months before her release. Background She was the daughter of William and Joanna Towne, who had emigrated to Salem from Great Yarmouth in England about 1630. Sarah, who was probably the youngest of their eight children, married firstly to Edmund Bridges, by whom she had six children, and secondly to Peter Cloyce (later Cloyes), a widower, by whom she had three more children. Salem Witch Trials On Sacrament Day in the spring of 1692, covenanted church member Sarah CloyceSister #11 walked out of the Salem Village meetinghouse soon after the pastor Samuel ParrisBrother #1 announced that the Biblical text would be John Chapter 6 verse 70, "Have not I chosen you twelve, and one is a devil." Sar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giles Corey
Giles Corey ( August 1611 – September 19, 1692) was an English-born American farmer who was accused of witchcraft along with his wife Martha Corey during the Salem witch trials. After being arrested, Corey refused to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty. He was subjected to pressing in an effort to force him to plead—the only example of such a sanction in American history—and died after three days of this torture. Because Corey refused to enter a plea, his estate passed on to his sons instead of being seized by the local government. Corey is believed to have died in the field adjacent to the prison that had held him, in what later became the Howard Street Cemetery in Salem, which opened in 1801. His exact grave location in the cemetery is unmarked and unknown. There is a memorial plaque to him in the nearby Charter Street Cemetery. Pre-trial history Giles Corey was born in Northampton, England. He was baptized in the church of the Holy Sepulchre on August 16, 1611. Gil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nathaniel Saltonstall
Col. Nathaniel Saltonstall (also spelled Nathanial Saltonstall; – May 21, 1707) was a judge for the Court of Oyer and Terminer, a special court established in 1692 for the trial and sentence of people, mostly women, for the crime of witchcraft in the Province of Massachusetts Bay during the Salem Witch Trials. He is most famous for his resignation from the court, and though he left no indication of his feelings toward witchcraft, he is considered to be one of the more principled men of his time.Moody, Robert. ''The Saltonstall Papers, Vol. I: 1607-1789'', pp. 48-50. Early life Saltonstall was born in Ipswich, Massachusetts, in about 1639, to Richard Saltonstall (1610–1694) and Murial (née Gurdon) Saltonstall (1613–1688), a daughter of Brampton Gurdon. He was the grandson of Sir Richard Saltonstall who led a group of English settlers up the Charles River to settle in what is now Watertown, Massachusetts in 1630. His grandfather was a nephew of Richard Saltonstall, the L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Stoughton (judge)
William Stoughton (1631 – July 7, 1701) was a New England Puritan magistrate and administrator in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. He was in charge of what have come to be known as the Salem Witch Trials, first as the Chief Justice of the Special Court of Oyer and Terminer in 1692, and then as the Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Judicature in 1693. In these trials he controversially accepted spectral evidence (based on supposed demonic visions). Unlike some of the other magistrates, he never admitted to the possibility that his acceptance of such evidence was in error. After graduating from Harvard College in 1650, he continued religious studies in England, where he also preached. Returning to Massachusetts in 1662, he chose to enter politics instead of the ministry. An adept politician, he served in virtually every government through the period of turmoil in Massachusetts that encompassed the revocation of its first charter in 1684 and the introduction of its ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Calef Robert Calef (baptized 2 November 1648 – 13 April 1719) was a cloth merchant in colonial Boston. He was the author o''More Wonders of the Invisible World'' a boo |
