Pair 2: The Power of the Unseen

Number 22 in 101 Treasures is this warrant for the arrest of two Haverhill women on charges of witchcraft in Salem, in the then-Province of Massachusetts Bay. Signed by four judges on July 28, 1692, the document orders the Essex County sheriff or Haverhill constables to apprehend Mary Green and Hannah Bromage on charges of committing “Sundry acts of Witchcraft on the Bodys Timothy Swan of Mary Walcot Ann Putnam &c whereby great hurt hath benne donne them.” At the bottom, a constable named William attested to their arrest.

The examinations of Mrs. Green and Mrs. Bromage included testimony with “spectral evidence”—claims that the spirit of the Satan-guided “witch” appeared and acted on the accuser, while the accused was physically located elsewhere. The use of supernatural evidence in the courtroom was accepted during the Salem Witch Trials, though trial documents are not extant for either woman.

During Hannah Bromage’s examination, Ann Putnam and Mary Walcott “wer struck into fitts” when Bromage looked at them. Putnam claimed during one of her violent fits, two other women saw the accused in spectral form, stabbing Putnam with a spear. Testimony in Mary Green’s case included accusations of owning a real or spectral pig, convincing Martha Emerson to not confess witchcraft, being angry when Emerson would not lie about it, and proclaiming that Emerson would be one of the number of the beast.

The examination of Mrs. Bromage included testimony with “spectral evidence”—claims that the spirit of the Satan-guided “witch” appeared and acted on the accuser, while the accused was physically located elsewhere. The use of supernatural evidence in the courtroom was accepted during the Salem Witch Trials, though trial documents are not extant for either Bromage or Green.

Nevertheless, spirits continued to find their way into American courtrooms, well into the nineteenth century. In the fall of 1878, James V. Mansfield (1817-1899) took the stand in New York City. Mansfield was a spiritualist writing medium, who for a fee would contact a specified deceased person and then his hand would automatically write the words of the spirit. This he could accomplish by mail. Send him a letter with questions for spirit and without opening it, he would write and return answers from beyond the grave. After the death of railroad industry giant Cornelius Vanderbilt in 1877, legal issues surrounding his will stretched on for years. Vanderbilt was one of Mansfield’s clients and so the spirit medium ended up a witness in the case. While in court, Mansfield withstood harsh and condescending questioning by the prosecution respecting Mansfield’s misleading use of “Dr.” before his name and about spiritualism in general.