stice Nathaniel Saltonstall also apparently disagreed with the ways of the court because he resigned from his position after the first witchcraft trial. Chief Justice Stoughton, however, thought that the evil spirits would not disguise themselves to people who were willing to cooperate with them. The trials now became even more complicated because people would confess out of fear of the magistrates' accusations and the girls' convulsions. Now that the accusations were flying back and forth in full swing, anybody and everybody came to the court to put their two cents in. Hundreds of these local residents came into the court to help testify against the crimes alleged witches had committed years, and even decades before. Although many people volunteered to come forward and speak out against these witches, they were very concerned about maleficium, the ability of a witch to do harm to another person through supernatural means. They were afraid that after testifying against the witch that she might put an evil spell on them. Another concern was that the possessed would be forced to sign a satanic pact, and if they did not do so then the witches would inflict pain upon them until they did. The number of accusations is what made the Salem case different from any other case of witchcraft. After the executions began in 1692, officials began to deal with the problem of credibility by ignoring any accusations made against the wealthy, well-to-do members of the Salem society. At this point, close to two hundred people had been accused of witchcraft, and more than twenty-five people had died because of the trials. The trials in themselves were a big contradiction. People who pleaded innocent were tortured until they "confessed" that they were guilty. One form of torture was the accused would be pressed by a heavy weight until they confessed. Giles Corey, husband of Martha Corey, was pressed to death when he refused say that he was involved with the ...
