William Stoughton (1631 – July 7, 1701) was a colonial magistrate and administrator in the
Province of Massachusetts Bay. He was in charge of what have come to be known as the
Salem Witch Trials, first as the Chief Justice of the Special Court of
Oyer and Terminer in 1692, and then as the Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Judicature in 1693. In these trials he controversially accepted
spectral evidence (based on supposed demonic visions). Unlike some of the other magistrates, he never admitted to the possibility that his acceptance of such evidence was in error.