spectral evidence
Apparition-based court proof
Spectral evidence is testimony that an accused person's spirit or spectral form appeared to the witness, typically in dreams or visions.
The concept is associated with the Salem witch trials of 1692, where accusers claimed to see the ghostly shapes of those allegedly tormenting them.
Courts eventually rejected such evidence as unreliable, since spectral appearances couldn't be verified and the accused had no way to defend against claims about what their spirit supposedly did.
- hearsayUnverified secondhand information
- apparitionsSupernatural visible manifestations
- moral panicIrrational collective fear wave
- PuritanismProtestant reform movement
- burden of proofDuty to prove allegations
admissibility · trial by ordeal · Massachusetts Bay Colony · witchcraft · legal precedent · witness testimony · judicial bias · possession · witch hunts · spirits · colonial America · hysteria · occult practices · supernatural phenomena · gallows · Salem · accuser · superstition
- American folklorePaul Bunyan, tall tales, folk heroes, John Henry, folk narratives
- paranormalghosts, paranormal, haunting, poltergeist, apparition
- ghostsapparitions, ghosts, apparition, phantoms, specters
- Salem witchcraftSalem witch trials, Salem, witch trials, accused witches, Tituba
- witch huntswitch trials, witch hunt, witch hunts, Salem witch trials, Salem trials
- witchcraftwitch, spell, spellwork, witches, spells
spectral evidencephysical evidence
Tangible items proving facts
material evidence · forensic evidence · empirical evidence · hard evidence · scientific evidence