This Day in History: Puritan pastor John Hale was born on this day in 1636. He was one of the most prominent and influential ministers associated with the Salem witch trials, being noted as having initially supported the trials and then changing his mind and publishing a critique of them.
His book, A Modest Enquiry Into the Nature of Witchcraft was published posthumously, two years after his death. The book provides an alternative Christian theory for what actually happened in Salem in 1692, with Hale theorizing that demons impersonated the accused and appeared in their forms to the afflicted. He most likely changed his views about those executed for "being witches" due to the fact that his own wife was accused as being a witch, though never prosecuted.
As a child, Hale had witnessed the execution of Margaret Jones, the first of 15 people to be executed for witchcraft in New England, between 1648–1663. He was present at the examinations and trials of various people who were accused of witchcraft in the Salem witch trials of 1692, and supported the work of the court. However, on November 14, 1692, 17-year-old Mary Herrick accused his second wife, Sarah Noyes Hale, and the ghost of executed Mary Eastey of afflicting her, but his wife was never formally charged or arrested. A later commentator on the trials, Charles Upham suggests that this accusation was one that helped turn public opinion to end the prosecutions, and spurred Hale's willingness to reconsider his support of the trials.
After the trials Hale began writing his book "A Modest Inquiry into the Nature of Witchcraft", in which he suggested the fear of witchcraft was so great that it impaired the judgment of everyone involved in the trials, possibly resulting in the death of innocent people. Hale died at the age of 63 in 1700, and the book was published two years later.
John and his wife Sarah Hale are the Great Grandparents of U.S. patriot Nathan Hale.
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