From Mid-March to early April, Martha Corey, Rebecca Nurse, Elizabeth Proctor, and Sarah Cloyce were accused of witchcraft. Soon after Corey, Nurse, and proctor were examined before Magistrates Hathorne, Corwin, Deputy Governor Thomas Danforth, and Captain Samuel Sewall. During this analysis, John Proctor was also jailed. Then Abigail Hobbs, Bridget Bishop, Giles Corey and Mary Warren were taken into account. The only one to confess was Hobbs. On April 22, Nehemiah Abbot, William and Deliverance Hobbs, Edward and Sarah Bishop, Mary Easty, Mary Black, Sarah Wildes, and Mary English were examined before Hathorne and Corwin. Only Nehemiah was cleared of all charges. On May 2, Sarah Morey, Lydia Dustin, Susannah Martin, and Dorcas Hoar were examined and later attempted to make an escape. On May 10, Sarah Osborne died in a Boston prison. George Jacobs Sr. and his granddaughter Margaret were examined by Hathorne and Corwin. Margaret would comment later," They told me if I would not confess I should be put down in a dungeon and would be hanged, but if I would confess I should save my life," she also testified that her grandfather and George Burroughs were both witches too.
On October 8, after 20 had been executed in the Salem witch hunt, Thomas Brattle wrote a letter denouncing the trials. This letter had great impact on Governor Phips, who ordered that faith in abstract and vague evidence would no longer be allowed in trials. At last Governor Phips discontinued the courts at Oyer and Terminer. On November 25, the General Court of the Colony fabricated the Superior Court to examine the remaining witchcraft cases, which would take place in May 1963. During theses trials no one was convicted. .
These trials ignited controversy because you cannot stake a persons life upon the accusations and opinions of children with imaginative minds. By 1963 it was recognized that incorrect procedures and invalid proofs had been used.