John Hale

John Hale is played by Xander Berkeley (as Magistrate Hale) in the 2014 TV series Salem.

In the 1957 screen adaptation of Miller's piece, he was depicted by Yves Brainville. In the 1996 film version of the play, he was portrayed by Rob Campbell, as a much younger man than would have been historically accurate, as Hale was fifty-six at the time of the trials; however, the play itself isn't entirely historically accurate, particularly with ages. For instance, Diane E Foulds (along with many others) affirm that Abigail Williams would have been closer to 12 than 17, and that John Proctor would have been near 60, so this change in age for the film version is not entirely out of line with the source material of the play.

In Arthur Miller's 1953 play The Crucible, a fictional portrayal of Hale appears in Act I in a request from Samuel Parris that he examine his daughter, Betty Parris. Hale's quick visit to help with Betty actually causes him to become one of the main characters in the play.

John Hale was born on February 5, 1926 in Woolwich, London, England as John Barry Hale.

His book, A Modest Enquiry Into the Nature of Witchcraft, shown above, was published posthumously, two years after his death. The book basically provides an alternative Christian theory for what actually happened in Salem in 1692. Hale's theory was that demons impersonated the accused and appeared in their forms to the afflicted. He probably most likely changed his views about those executed for "being witches" due to the fact that his own wife (the second one) was accused as being a witch, though never prosecuted.

John Hale (June 3, 1636 – May 15, 1700), was the Puritan pastor of Beverly, Massachusetts, during the Salem witch trials in 1692. He was one of the most prominent and influential ministers associated with the witch trials, being noted as having initially supported the trials and then changing his mind and publishing a critique of them.