Not coincidentally, Arthur Miller wrote and published his play The Crucible, of the Salem Witch Trials, in the early 1950s, as the House of Representatives’ Committee on Un-American Activities, led by Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy were in full swing on a Communist Trial of their own. The events, nearly 300 years apart, do bear semblance: in Salem, Massachusetts, a war brought an influx of displaced refugees, which strained tensions. In the midst of that, the strange behavior of a young daughter of a Salem local was construed to be the work of the Devil, setting off a hysterical citywide search for other witches. This led to a number of unfounded accusations of witchcraft against women.

On this day, October 12, in 1692, after the hysteria died down, the trial concluded. But the damage was severe: 200 of the suspected witches were imprisoned — or worse; the whole town for a span of months drove away its good citizens based on unfounded testimony and spectral evidence.

Massachusetts Governor William Philipps, who first set up the special courts, stepped in to dissolve them and pardon the accused. He was supported in his decision by several influential residents, including some who suggested the Devil could just as easily take the guise of an innocent person, and the father of the chief prosecutors of the trials, who said it would be “better that ten suspected witches should escape than one innocent person should be condemned.”