John Hale (3 June 1636 – 15 May 1700) was the Puritan pastor of Beverly, Massachusetts and one of the critics of the Salem Witch Trials.
Biography[]
John Hale was born on 3 June 1636 in Charlestown, Massachusetts, and he was educated at Harvard College in Cambridge. In 1663, he began a career as a Puritan preacher, and on 20 September 1667 he became the pastor of Beverly when the parish church there separated from Salem. In 1692, he made a quick visit to Salem to help Betty Parris, the afflicted daughter of Reverend Samuel Parris, but he believed that it was the work of the Devil; this led to the Salem Witch Trials. He saw it as his duty to seek out the witches and save their souls, being a kind man, and he was alienated by Judge Thomas Danforth's insistence on hanging alleged witches who professed their innocence. When Mary Warren accused John Proctor of being a witch, Hale famously proclaimed "I denounce these procedings. I quit this court!", and Hale was angered when Proctor was hanged for refusing to nail his confession of witchcraft to the church door. The chief accuser in the trials, Abigail Williams, later fled town after her accusation of Hale's wife of witchcraft destroyed her credibility.