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Case of Conscience Concerning Evil Spirits Personating Men
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Case of Conscience Concerning Evil Spirits Personating Men

work by Mather
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A Case of Conscience Concerning Evil Spirits Personating Men is a 1693 work by Increase Mather. This text addresses the issue of evil spirits impersonating individuals, a concern during the period of the Salem witch trials.1

Mather, a prominent minister and educator in New England, along with his son Cotton Mather, believed in the existence of witches. However, they expressed caution regarding the use of "spectral evidence" in witchcraft trials. This type of evidence, which relied on victims' testimony about spirits appearing as the accused, was distrusted by the Mathers because they recognized that a witch could assume the form of an innocent person. Their insistence on discrediting spectral evidence contributed to the eventual end of the trials. Mather's work served as a defense of his and his son's role in these events.12

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2 Britannica Sources
  1. Increase Mather
  2. Cotton Mather

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