Proctor’s Ledge where innocent people accused of witchcraft were hanged. Image from Salemnews.com.
Governor William Phips, unfortunately, failed to recognize the problem at the onset of the trials; that innocent people were being convicted and hanged based on spectral evidence alone. Remember, spectral evidence was the testimony based on visions and dreams by the accusers and not valid evidence. Despite warnings by respected minister Cotton Mather and his father, Increase Mather, then president of Harvard, who both cautioned against allowing spectral evidence, it wasn’t until Governor Phip’s wife was accused of witchcraft that he took any notice. Increase Mather suggested “"It were better that ten suspected witches should escape than one innocent person be condemned." (1) Phips eventually pardoned all those accused of witchcraft and they were released from prison by May, 1693. However, the destruction was complete: 19 were hanged on Gallows Hill, one man was pressed to death and many more died in prison.
List of Hanged on gallows hill
June 10, 1692
Bridget Bishop, Salem
July 19, 1692
Sarah Good, Salem Village
Rebecca Nurse, Salem Village
Susannah Martin, Amesbury
Elizabeth How, Ipswich
Sarah Wilds, Topsfield
August 19, 1692
George Burroughs, Wells, Maine
John Proctor, Salem Village
John Willard, Salem Village
George Jacobs, Sr., Salem Town
Martha Carrier, Andover
September 19, 1692
Giles Corey, Salem Farms, pressed to death
September 22, 1692
Martha Corey, Salem Farms
Mary Eastey, Topsfield
Alice Parker, Salem Town
Ann Pudeater, Salem Town
Margaret Scott, Rowley
Wilmott Reed, Marblehead
Samuel Wardwell, Andover
Mary Parker, Andover
Died in Prison
Sarah Osborne, Salem Village
Roger Toothaker, Billerica
Lyndia Dustin, Reading
Ann Foster, Andover
There may be up to 13 more who died in prison but records differ on the exact number.
Only one of the six accusers ever publically apologized, Ann Putnam Jr. The others went on to live normal lives without being held accountable in any way, perhaps not even realizing what they had done or more possibly choosing to ignore what they had done. Of the 62 people Ann Putnam accused, 17 were executed. Her public apology finally came in 1706 as a requirement for her requested admittance to the Salem Village Church:
I desire to be humbled before God for that sad and humbling providence that befell my father's family in the year about ninety-two; that I, then being in my childhood, should, by such a providence of God, be made an instrument for the accusing of several people for grievous crimes, whereby their lives was taken away from them, whom, now I have just grounds and good reason to believe they were innocent persons; and that it was a great delusion of Satan that deceived me in that sad time, whereby I justly fear I have been instrumental, with others, though ignorantly and unwittingly, to bring upon myself and this land the guilt of innocent blood; though, what was said or done by me against any person, I can truly and uprightly say, before God and man, I did it not out of any anger, malice, or ill will to any person, for I had no such thing against one of them; but what I did was ignorantly, being deluded by Satan.
And particularly, as I was a chief instrument of accusing Goodwife Nurse and her two sisters, I desire to lie in the dust, and to be humble for it, in that I was a cause, with others, of so sad a calamity to them and their families; for which cause I desire to lie in the dust, and earnestly beg forgiveness of God, and from all those unto whom I have given just cause of sorrow and offense, whose relations were taken away or accused. (2)
Ann Putnam Jr died ten years later at the age of 37 of unknown causes.
“A period of atonement began in the colony following the release of the surviving accused witches. Samuel Sewall, one of the judges, issued a public confession of guilt and an apology. Several jurors came forward to say that they were "sadly deluded and mistaken" in their judgments. Reverend Samuel Parris conceded errors of judgment, but mostly shifted blame to others. Parris was replaced as minister of Salem village by Thomas Green, who devoted his career to putting his torn congregation back together. Governor Phips blamed the entire affair on William Stoughton (my note: Chief Justice and member of the court during witchcraft trials as well as an agressive witch hunter). Stoughton, clearly more to blame than anyone for the tragic episode, refused to apologize or explain himself. He criticized Phips for interfering just when he was about to "clear the land" of witches. Stoughton became the next governor of Massachusetts”.(3)
Restored home of Peter and Sarah Clayes on Salem End Road. Photo borrowed from Zillow.com.
There are many different accounts regarding Sarah’s imprisionment, release and/or escape. The website framinghamhistory.org offers that after being sent to Ipswich in August 1692 to await hanging, Sarah escaped with the help of her husband Peter Cloyce and then was hidden by friends. Eventually, she and Peter made their way to land owned by Thomas Danforth (acting governor before Phipps and sympathetic to the accused witches) in what is now Framingham, Massachusetts . Upon relocating, they changed their last name to “Clayes” and soon many other family members joined them. The Peter and Sarah Clayes home still stands and has recently been restored and sold-657 Salem End Road. It’s hard to sort out which stories are true since there are so many. However, the Clayes did remain in this area until their deaths, Peter in 1708 and Sarah 1703. Just weeks before her death, Sarah presented evidence to the magistrates-a map and a list of 20 people who opposed the hiring of Reverend Parris. The map of the town had a line drawn through it and marked the farms of the accusers and accused; all the accusers lived west of the line and accused east. And of the list of 20 people who opposed Reverend Parris, 17 were accused! A coincidence??? Although the magistrates could not directly decide on guilt or compensation they did give Sarah three symbolic gold sovereign coins, one for each life that suffered as documented in the PBS film “Three Sovereigns for Sarah” in 1985. Finally, in 1711 Sarah’s sisters names were cleared and reparations made. Mary Esty’s family received 20 pounds sterling and Rebecca Nurse’s family received 25 pounds sterling. Many of the other victims’ names were cleared as well and total reparations was 600 pounds. Two hundred sixty-five years later in 1957 Massachusetts formally apologized for the witch trials and in 1992, the 300th anniversary, a memorial was unveiled.
Footnotes
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/a-brief-history-of-the-salem-witch-trials-175162489/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Putnam
http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/SAL_ACCT.HTM
Sources
https://historyofmassachusetts.org/ann-putnam-jr/
https://framinghamhistory.org/biographies/sarah-towne-clayes-1638-1704/
Additional Reading
Proctor’s Ledge in Salem Confirmed as Witch Execution Site
The Crucible by Arthur Miller