News from Massachusetts could not reach England, but it could still reach New York. Members of the Anglican Communion found the matter rather amusing. Who would have thought that Cotton Mather's claim two years earlier—that Satan was painstakingly plotting to overthrow the colony occupied by the Puritans—would come true? The witch hunt had indeed sharply reduced Massachusetts's population. Many people fled New England with their families and settled elsewhere. According to New York newspapers, more than a hundred suspects had been imprisoned, most of them church members. One minister had died in prison, as had another minister's daughter, while yet another minister's wife had been accused of witchcraft. In total, more than seven hundred people were implicated.
The reports were clearly distorted, though that was understandable given the speed of travel and information at the time. People were deeply shocked. The former governor, Increase Mather, had certainly been disliked, but he had not driven the population into exile. The new government's performance made those who had opposed him seem highly suspicious. Fifty-three-year-old Nathaniel Saltonstall was one of them, and he had spent fifteen days in prison for it.
Saltonstall was from Ipswich, the grandson of an early leader of the Bay Colony and a sitting judge in Massachusetts. He had once lobbied for New England alongside Increase Mather. He was also a highly popular militia captain who had served on the Maine frontier.
He had left the court the day after Bridget Bishop was hanged, and soon afterward rumors began spreading that his ghost was committing evil deeds. As the Gospel of Luke said, "Whoever is not with Jesus and his work is against him." Before that, Cotton Mather had already been anxious that rumors would say the Devil had possessed his body and impersonated him.
The eight ministers who