Timeline: Before 1692 | January 1692 | February 1692 | March 1692 | April 1692 | May 1692 | June 1692 | July 1692 | August 1692 | September 1692 | October 1692 | November/December 1692 | 1693 | The Aftermath
September 1692
September 1: Samuel Wardwell was examined in court by John Higginson. Wardwell confessed to telling fortunes and making a pact with the devil. He later recanted the confession, but testimony from others about his fortune telling and witchcraft cast doubt on his innocence.
September 5: Jane Lilly and Mary Colson were examined by John Hathorne, John Higginson and others.
September 8: Deliverance Dane confessed under examining.
September 9: The court found Mary Bradbury, Martha Corey, Mary Easty, Dorcas Hoar, Alice Parker and Ann Pudeator were pronounced guilty of witchcraft and sentenced to hang. Mercy Lewis testified as a witness against Giles Corey. He was formally indicted on the charge of witchcraft and continued to refuse to plead either guilty or not guilty.
September 13: Ann Foster was accused by Mary Walcott, Mary Warren and Elizabeth Hubbard.
September 14: Mary Lacey Sr. was accused by Elizabeth Hubbard, Mercy Lewis and Mary Warren. She was indicted on the charge of witchcraft.
September 15: Margaret Scott was examined in court. Mary Walcott, Mary Warren and Ann Putnam Jr. gave testimony on September 15 that they had been afflicted by Rebecca Eames.
September 16: Abigail Faulkner, Jr., age 9, was accused and arrested.
September 17: The court tried and convicted Rebecca Eames, Abigail Faulkner, Ann Foster, Abigail Hobbs, Mary Lacey, Mary Parker, Wilmott Redd, Margaret Scott and Samuel Wardwell, and they were condemned to be executed. Dorothy Faulkner, age 12, was accused and arrested. She and her sister, Abigail Faulkner Jr., confessed and accused their mother. Martha Tyler, Johannah Tyler, Sarah Wilson Jr. and Joseph Draper also confessed.
September 17-19: Under the law, an accused person who refused to plead could not be tried. It has been speculated that Giles Corey realized that if he could not be tried, in a situation where he would most likely be found guilty especially in the wake of his wife's conviction, then the property he had signed over to his daughters' husbands would be less vulnerable to seizure. In an attempt to force Giles Corey to plead either guilty or not guilty, which he refused to do, he was pressed (heavy rocks were placed on a board on his body). He asked for "more weight" to end the ordeal more quickly. After two days, the weight of the stones killed him. Judge Jonathan Corwin ordered his burial in an unmarked grave.
September 18: With testimony from Ann Putnam, Abigail Faulkner Sr. was convicted of witchcraft. Because she was pregnant, her hanging was to be delayed until after she gave birth.
September 22: Martha Corey (whose husband had been pressed to death on September 19), Mary Easty, Alice Parker, Mary Parker, Ann Pudeator, Wilmott Redd, Margaret Scott and Samuel Wardwell were hanged for witchcraft. Rev. Nicholas Noyes officiated at this last execution in the Salem witch trials, saying after the execution, "What a sad thing it is to see eight firebrands of hell hanging there." Dorcas Hoar, also condemned to be executed, had been granted a temporary stay at the urging of ministers, so that she could make a confession to God.
September: the Court of Oyer and Terminer stopped meeting.
