The accusations that had begun formally with the legal complaints of February 29 continued steadily through March, April, and May. Then, as if to pause forthe trial and execution of Bridget Bishop in early June, the flow of accusations diminished to the point where, after June 4, no warrants for arrest were issued until July 1. By the end of May, seventeen of the twenty people who would be executed were already in prison. July saw relatively little in the way of new accusations until around the middle of the month, at which point the main activity shifted away from Salem Village to Andover.

Although the first Andover accusation had occurred in May against Martha Carrier, July saw a dramatic outpouring of accusations and confessions in Andover.According to Calef, an Andover constable, Joseph Ballard, invited Salem Village accusers to Andover to uncover the cause of his wife's illness. Ann Putnam, Jr., and Mary Walcott came to Andover and continued their accusations of witchcraft. On July 19, the date of five executions, Ballard complained against Mary Lacey, Sr., whose mother, Ann Foster, had been examined on July 15 and had confessed, although not to hurting Ballard's wife.

By the time of Mary Lacey's examination Abigail Williams had quietly dropped out; but Lacey's daughter, 15-year-old Mary Jr., entered the picture as a new and vigorous accuser.