Which accused man was released when accusers said he was not the right specter?

Nehemiah Abbott Jr. was released after the Salem accusers said he was not the specter who had afflicted them.

Abbott was among the people arrested during the widening wave of accusations in 1692. The accusers claimed that apparitions, or “specters,” of suspected witches tormented them. In Abbott’s case, they concluded that the apparition they had seen was not his, so he was freed rather than held for trial.

This episode shows how unstable spectral evidence was. The court treated visions as meaningful evidence, yet even a small change in the accusers’ identification could determine whether someone remained imprisoned. Mary Eastey experienced a related but more complicated reversal: she was initially released when the accusers failed to identify her, then arrested again after they changed their claims.

Abbott’s release should not be confused with an acquittal after a full trial. He was cleared during the investigative arrest stage, before the formal court proceedings reached their height. The broader crisis eventually ended after officials restricted spectral evidence and Governor William Phips halted the prosecutions in 1692–1693.