More accusations.

By May 1692, mounting accusations had filled area jails with suspected witches. The English Governor of Massachusetts, Sir William Phips, established the Court of Oyer (to hear) and Terminer (to decide) to determine the fates of these individuals.

During the trials, the "afflicted" girls continued to break into fits of hysteria (state of extreme emotion or fear). Their wild behavior convinced the judges that the accused, who now included Rebecca Nurse and Bridget Bishop, had "bewitcheded" the girls.

Bishop was another easy target, a woman with a bad reputation who ran a tavern. The court took little time to decide that she was guilty of witchcraft. As punishment she was hanged, in June 1692.

Nurse's case was more troubling. A 71-year-old woman at the time of her trial, she was a respected community member and the mother of eight children. Villagers were stunned when young Ann Putnam accused her of witchcraft. More shocking still, Ann's mother claimed that spirits had told her Nurse was a killer. As she said in court: "Immediately there did appear to me six children in winding sheets ... [who] told me that Goody [Mrs.] Nurse had murdered them."

Mrs. Putnam did not say that Nurse and her family were among many who spoke out against the strict ways of Parris and the Putnam family. At first, the jury found Nurse innocent of wrongdoing. But the chief justice instructed them to reconsider their decision, and Nurse was declared guilty.

She was soon executed. Her two sisters, found guilty by association, were also hanged.