Almost as soon as the Salem Witch Trials began, the hysteria was swept away. Public support and belief in the trials began to wane when respected ministers like Increase Mather (Cotton Mather's brother) began to believe that innocent people were being accused and executed with insufficient evidence. (Salem Witch Trials) After they ended, a period of atonement began in the colony following the release of the surviving accused witches. Samuel Sewall, one of the judges in the trials, issued a public confession of guilt in addition to an apology. Several jurors came forward to say that they were "sadly deluded and mistaken" in their judgments. Even Samuel Parris told of his errors in judgment, however he mostly shifted the blame to other people. (The Salem Witch Trials of 1692)