Two dogs were executed during the Salem witch trials. They were treated as possible agents or familiars of the Devil amid the witchcraft panic of 1692.
The dog stories are less firmly documented than the human trials. There are no surviving legal records for formal canine trials, but contemporary observers and later historical accounts report that at least two dogs were put to death, probably in Salem Village and Andover. One dog was reportedly linked to accusations involving John Bradstreet, while another was killed after an afflicted girl claimed its specter had harmed her.
This detail shows how broadly suspicion spread: animals could be interpreted as supernatural accomplices rather than ordinary pets. The episode is also easy to confuse with the witch cake incident, in which a mixture of rye meal and urine was fed to a dog as a folk method of identifying witchcraft. That dog was part of a test, not one of the animals reportedly executed. The Salem crisis ultimately killed 19 people by hanging, plus Giles Corey by pressing, while the dog deaths remain an unusual but widely reported footnote.