The trials didn't proceed through level wisdom, but through a series of supernatural, almost gossipy, accusations. In court, the afflicted girls testified that Proctor's spectral spirit tortured them in the evening. Then, during testimony, Abigail Williams and Mary Walcott claimed that Proctor's spirit was appearing throughout the court room, including sitting on the magistrate's lap. "I have seen the apparition of John Proctor among the witches and he hath often tortured me by pinching me and biting me and choking me and pressing me on my stomach [tell] the blood came from my mouth," said Proctor's former servant , Mary Warren. She claimed that Proctor's spirit forced her to touch the Devil's book.