From More Wonders of the Invisible World (1697)

Reprinted in American Literature: A Prentice
Hall Anthology, Volume 1 in 1991

Boston merchant Robert Calef (see biography entry) was one of the chief critics of the Salem witch trials. In 1697 he wrote More Wonders of the Invisible World in response to Wonders of the Invisible World, a justification of the trials written by Cotton Mather in 1693. Mather, in turn, had based his own evidence on works written by his father, Increase Mather (see Cotton Mather's biography entry and primary source entries for both). The Mathers had been largely responsible for encouraging the witch-hunts that began in the mid-1680s. Calef's book contained evidence that had not been presented either by the Mathers or at the trials—such as jurors' and judges' apologies, accusers' confessions...