Visiting Salem, MA

Monday, May 27, 2013

Creepy, creepy Salem, Massachusetts; the town known for witch trials and deaths. Who would dare step foot into such a town? Of course, we would! ;)

They have several 'Witch Museums' in Salem, and we visited the "Salem Witch Museum." The guy at the National Park Service Visitor Center of Salem said that they were all pretty much the same and that it didn't matter which one you visited.

Mike wasn't very impressed. I thought it was interesting. It was basically just a refresher class on history. They took us into two different rooms (it was a 'guided museum'). In the first room, there was different life size scenes set up around the room. They shut off all the lights and had a spotlight on one single scene at a time. A narrator told us a story, the history of the Salem Witch Trails, including the specific people in the scenes that were accused of being witches and died as a result. As we walked out of this room, this bloody circle was lit up on the floor with the names of all the people who passed away.

The next room that they took us into was a history, or a timeline, of witches. The guide told us how witches transformed from simple herbal healers and midwifes into the creepy Halloween Witch that is commonly portrayed today. There was a wall of witches throughout history that included Samantha from Bewitched, Glinda the Good Witch and the Wicked Witch of the West (named Elphaba in Wicked) from the Wizard of Oz and a number of others.

After talking about society's views of witches we went through the timeline of the witch trials in Europe and America. I didn't realize that witch-hunts started in England as early as 1480. From that time until 1750 there were an estimated 40,000-60,000 executions due to the accusations. I always imagined there to be a great number of deaths in Salem but actually, there were 23.

During the Salem Witch Trails, 14 women and 5 men are hanged in Salem on charges of witchcraft. One man is pressed to death, and 3 others die in prison.

The one man who was pressed to death was Giles Corey. Before I went to Boston, I was telling my coworker that I was headed out there. She said, "My ancestor is from there!" I said jokingly, "Were they accused of being witches and killed?" She said, "Yes!" I thought, "Shoot, shouldn't joke around with sensitive subjects." She said that he was the one person who was 'pressed to death.' They put a board over the top of him and then kept placing more and more rocks on top of him, waiting for him to plead guilty or not guilty, which he never did. So after some time, the weight of the rocks killed him. His wife, Martha Corey was also accused and hung. He is the one husband that was willing to testify against his wife and testified that she was a witch. They had a scene about them in the first room that we went into, but since his death was a unique one, he is well talked about.

After visiting the museum, we walked around Salem for a bit. We were told that we should visit the Salem Witch House. It's the former home of the Salem Witchcraft Trial Judge Jonathan Corwin. The National Park Service guy said this is the one place in Salem that actually has a historic link to the Salem Witch Trails. (The rest were just built and tell stories.)

The guide also suggested that we walk two blocks South and look at the houses built 100 years later. The difference in home styles, built so close to one another and in such a short time time frame, were supposed to be so different and so interesting to see.

Walking around Salem viewing all of the Witch Paraphernalia:

We visited the Salem Witch Trails Memorial Park which is a rectangular plot of grass with a wall on either side. The walls hold 20 granite benches which are inscribed with the name of the accused Witch or Wizard, the date of their execution, and the means by which they were killed.

Bordering the Salem Witch Trails Memorial Park is "The Burying Point" - the oldest burying ground in the City of Salem. I think everything gets the name for being the first or the oldest of something in Massachusetts. Nonetheless, it was neat to walk around and look at the headstones and the dates of the people who lived during this time and imagine their lives.

"Here lyes buried the body of Mrs. Mary Andrew wife to Mr. Nath. Andrew who died Oct Y 3 1747, in Y 39th year of her age."

"Here lyeth buried Y body of Mr. Timothy Lindall aged 56 years & 7 Mo. Deceased January Y 6 1698."

We continued our journey through Salem and ended it by walking the Central Wharf leading to Salem Harbor and seeing yet another light house. It was pretty, but by the end, we were hot and tired and ready to go grab some lunch and head on to Quincy.

Salem was fabulous, but my recommendation would be to go at night, and to go as close to Halloween as possible. It seems the best tours all happen at night, and the real special tours and stories take place around Halloween. If I lived close, I would go back and check out a few different tours.