A governor's letter ends the Salem hangings

By October 1692, the accusations in Salem had spread far past the original circle of young girls, reaching into Andover and Topsfield and naming prominent citizens whose guilt strained even true believers. Governor William Phips, after ministers and his own circle questioned the reliability of spectral testimony, wrote a letter ending the special Court of Oyer and Terminer and forbidding further arrests on spectral evidence alone. Nineteen people had already hanged and one man had died under torture. The letter did not undo the deaths, but no one else was executed for witchcraft in Massachusetts after it…