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
Note that in Old Style dates, January through March of 1692 (New Style) were listed as part of 1691.
March 1692
March 1: Tituba, Sarah Osborne and Sarah Good were examined by local magistrates John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin. Ezekiel Cheever was appointed to take notes on the proceedings. Hannah Ingersoll, whose husband's tavern was the site of the examination, found that the three had no witch marks on them. William Good told her about a mole on his wife's back. Tituba confessed and named the other two as witches, adding rich details to her stories of possession, spectral travel and meeting with the devil. Sarah Osborne protested her own innocence; Sarah Good said that Tituba and Osborne were witches but that she was herself innocent. Sarah Good was sent to Ipswich to be confined with a local constable who was also a relative. She escaped briefly and returned voluntarily; this absence seemed especially suspicious when Elizabeth Hubbard reported that Sarah Good's specter had visited her and tormented her that evening.
March 2: Sarah Good was jailed at the Ipswich jail. Sarah Osborn and Tituba were questioned further. Tituba added more details to her confession, and Sarah Osborne maintained her innocence.
March 3: Sarah Good had apparently now been moved to Salem jail with the other two women. The questioning of all three by Corwin and Hathorne continued.
March: Philip English, a wealthy Salem merchant and businessman of French background, was appointed a selectman in Salem.
March 7: Increase Mather and Governor Phips left England to return to Massachusetts.
March: Mary Warren, a servant in the home of Elizabeth and John Proctor, began also having fits like the other girls were having. She told John Proctor she had seen the specter of Giles Corey, a local and prosperous farmer, but he dismissed her report.
March 11: Mary Sibley had been suspended from communion with Salem Village Church for giving John Indian instructions to make a witch's cake. She was restored to full covenanted membership when she confessed that she had innocent purposes in doing this folk ritual. Ann Putnam Jr. began to demonstrate behavior like that of Betty Parris and Abigail Williams.
March 12: Martha Corey, a respected community and church member, was accused by Ann Putnam Jr. of witchcraft.
March 19: Rebecca Nurse, 71 years old, also a respected church member and part of the community, was accused of witchcraft by Abigail Williams. Rev. Deodat Lawson visited several members of the community, and witnessed Abigail Williams acting strangely and claiming Rebecca Nurse was trying to force her to sign the devil's book.
March 20: Abigail Williams interrupted Rev. Lawson, delivering the service at the Salem Village meetinghouse. She claimed to see Martha Corey's spirit separate from her body.
March 21: Martha Corey was arrested and examined by Jonathan Corwin and John Hathorne.
March 22: A local delegation visited Rebecca Nurse at home.
March 23: An arrest warrant was issued for Rebecca Nurse. Samuel Brabrook, a marshall, was sent to arrest a daughter of Sarah Good, Dorcas Good, a four or five year old girl, on a charge of witchcraft. He arrested her the next day. (Dorcas is identified incorrectly in some records as Dorothy.)
March 24: Jonathan Corwin and John Hathorne examined Rebecca Nurse on the charges of witchcraft against her. She maintained her innocence.
March 24, 25 and 26: Dorcas Good was examined by Jonathan Corwin and John Hathorne. What she answered was interpreted as a confession that implicated her mother, Sarah Good. On March 26, Deodat Lawson and John Higginson were present for the questioning.
March 26: Mercy Lewis accused Elizabeth Proctor of afflicting her through her specter.
March 27: Easter Sunday, which was not a special Sunday in the Puritan churches, saw Rev. Samuel Parris preaching on "dreadful witchcraft broke out here." He emphasized that the devil could not take the form of anyone innocent. Tituba, Sarah Osborne, Sarah Good, Rebecca Nurse and Martha Corey were in prison. During the sermon, Sarah Cloyce, Rebecca's sister, left the meetinghouse and slammed the door.
March 29: Abigail Williams and Mercy Lewis accused Elizabeth Proctor's specter of afflicting them, and Abigail claimed to see John Proctor's specter as well.
March 30 In Ipswich, Rachel Clenton (or Clinton), accused by her neighbors of witchcraft, was examined by local magistrates there. None of the girls involved in the Salem Village accusations were involved in Rachel Clenton's case.
