The Salem Witch Trials followed a fairly formulaic pattern in all the cases. You can check out The Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive to read all the court records. A lot of documents are missing from the surviving records so for this process I'll draw examples from multiple accusations and trials. If you want more, check out Hoffer, The Salem Witch Trials: A Legal History; Baker, A Storm of Witchcraft; and Norton, In the Devil's Snare.
- First, it starts with an accusation that someone makes against another person. This happened before most court records documented anything, but a few primary sources outside the courtroom capture this stage. Rev. Deodat Lawson'sA Brief and True Narrative gives an example of this (I edited the spelling and grammar for ease of Redditors):
Abigail Williams, (about 12 years of age,) had a grievous fit; she was at first hurried with Violence to and fro in the room; (though Mrs. Ingersoll, endeavored to Hold her,) sometimes making as if she would fly, stretching up her arms as high as she could, and crying Whish, Whish, Whish! several times; Presently after she said there was Goodwife Nurse and said, "Do you not see her? Why there she stands!" And she said Goodw. Nurse offered her THE BOOK, but she was resolved she would not take it, saying Often, "I wont, I wont, I wont, take it, I do not know what Book it is: I am sure it is none of God's Book, it is the Devil's Book, for ought I know." After that, she run to the Fire, and begun to throw Fire Brands, about the house; and run against the Back, as if she would run up Chimney, and, as they said, she had attempted to go into the Fire in other Fits.
Not every accusation came from young girls like Williams, although most of them, and the most significant ones, often did. The most likely explanation of this behavior is Williams and other girls acted out on their own. There is no reasonable physiological explanation that has been put forward. Once the girls were diagnosed as bewitched, adults began to ask who these witches were. Either the girls knew that mom and dad hate the neighbor down the road and respond with a name to satisfy the parents, or the parents ask "Is Sarah Good the witch?" and the girls can agree. The origin of most accusations were tied to gossip, politics, and family feuds that other accusers. If Abigail Williams made an accusation, it benefits Ann Putnam Jr. to also name the suspect least people become suspicious that only one accuser saw a specific suspect. I've found data to back this up- accusations from towns outside of Salem/Salem Village really only went somewhere if/when the Salem accusers validated them.
- So you have the name of a witch, now what? You go see a local magistrate to file a complaint. Complaints like this one by Thomas and John Putnam were generally standard. One or more relatives and neighbors collected a few accusations and went to an official to put it on record. This actually meant going to the home of that magistrate- often these were John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin. Corwin's house is still standing in Salem and was the first of these two houses that you would pass coming from Salem Village so you can still go stand in the room where some of these complaints were likely filed. Essentially this part of the process was just to say "my daughter and these others named this witch" and so the legal process began.
Gossip likely reached accused suspects before complaints were officially made. Edward Putnam and Ezekiel Cheever visited Martha Corey to check out an accusation before making a complaint, but Corey's foreknowledge convinced them of her guilt.
- Arrest the suspect. Warrants for arrest often named several suspects to be collected for examinations (see point 5). The marshal or constable would bring suspects in for a pretrial hearing. On rare occasions, the officer couldn't find the suspect and noted it on the warrant. They would try again later. A few accused suspects did run away successfully, but not many.
- Meanwhile, in anticipation of the examination, the accusers and other community members prepared depositions. These usually were 1 for each accuser. Sometimes witnesses to the witchcraft afflictions gave them. They were also often written by the parent of an accuser or an interested party. A lot of depositions were written before the examination, but supplementary ones were often given between the examination and the trial. These gave a record of the accusation, a description of the witchcraft afflicted by the suspect, and witness testimony to other afflictions.
- Now the suspect is in custody and some testimony is gathered. The magistrates hold an examination, a pre-trial hearing to determine if there is enough evidence to pursue a full trial against a suspect. The accused would face the officials and accusers to answer questions. In 1692, these basically always turned into the accusers screaming accusations while the magistrates asked "why are you a witch?" The accused would then be sent to jail to await further legal action. It was possible to decide to not go to trial, but that was extremely rare.
You can see in this examination of Susannah Martin how they normally transpired. After the accusations began flowing, there were often multiple examinations held in succession to each other.
- Now the trial preparation is underway. While others gather more testimony and depositions, a grand jury indicts suspects. Prior to October 1692, indictments were approve without question. Following a change in the admission of spectral evidence (the testimony the accusers swore in depositions that they saw the supernatural form of a suspect committing witchcraft), most indictments were rejected. Indictments were usually for each charge by accusers like this one where George Jacobs Sr. was indicted for afflicting Mercy Lewis.