To the editor:

In their columns that appeared recently on the Journal’s editorial page, both Diane Dimond and Laura Hollis made appropriate reference to the Salem witchcraft trials in their excellent comments on conviction by accusation.

In the Salem trials, claims by accusers that they had seen the spirit of the accused in a vision or dream (spectral evidence) were allowed as evidence.

Imagine someone declaring that he or she had seen your spirit abusing others, or that he himself or she herself had been the victim of such abuse. How could you defend yourself?

That seems incredible to us today. Yet many now accept “hate crime” as a legitimate concept, although it entails the assumption that a mere human can actually see into another person’s heart. What kind of defense can be mounted against such a charge? (By the way, is there such a thing as a love crime?)

There is indeed ample reason to take alarm at the eerie similarities between what we see today and what history tells us of major miscarriages of justice.

One slip in Hollis’s column should be noted: She placed the large-scale execution of witches in the Middle Ages. This is a common misconception. It actually took place during the late Renaissance and the early modern period — about 1450-1750. The Salem trials took place less than 100 years before Washington became our first president.

R.E. Wehrwein

New Ulm