Salem, Mass. is a real haunting town
Located just 16 miles from Boston, Salem, Mass., is a sedate New England town - except when it comes to Halloween. Then it’s the unofficial Halloween capital of the U.S.
Here the holiday festivities last for an entire month of attractions called “Haunted Happenings” culminating Halloween.
This annual celebration attracts an estimated 250,000 visitors each year. Events include a Grand Parade, Family Film Nights on Salem Common, costume balls, ghost tours, haunted houses, and more.
There’s good reason why Salem’s Halloween festivities are so extravagant. Despite everything else that’s happened in this Massachusetts town during its more than 300 year history, it’s the witch trials of 1692 that have made the town famous—and of course, Halloween is associated with witches.
While many visitors come in October to enjoy the novelty and the festivity of Haunted Happenings, the city also offers year-round sites related to the witch trials, and these are more in-depth than the haunted houses and ghost tours during Halloween. .
For instance, the Salem Witch Museum presents a dramatic re-enactment of the trials, First, visitors enter a darkened auditorium where ominous music plays and a recorded narrator says, “If you’d lived in Salem in 1692, most likely you’d have been accused of witchcraft.”
Then the audience hears a judge proclaim the start of the trial of Sarah Goode. At age 38 and while pregnant, she was accused of being a witch by Ann Putnam, a young resident of Salem Village.
A brief drama unfolds on the stage, with live actors who play Goode and Putnam, along with dummy figures of the judge, juror and scribe.
The script is based on actual transcripts of the trial.
“You serve the devil!” accuses Putnam.
An impassioned Goode retorts: “You lie! I am not a witch - I am innocent! But if you hang me, then God shall give you blood to drink!”
After this compelling drama, visitors troop down winding, narrow steps and enter a dark basement with stone walls. It’s a replica of the dungeon that once stood on Federal Street, where those accused of witchcraft were detained.
Here a guide describes the climate of hysteria and the details of the prisoners’ lives here. The original dungeon was built to hold 50, but at the height of witch hysteria, 200 people were held here. If they didn’t confess, they were hanged. If they did, they stayed in shackles and chains in the tiny cells.
The final display, titled “Ann Putnam Confesses,” is about Putnam’s public confession, many years after the trial, when she confessed that she had falsely accused many people.
“It was a great delusion of Satan that deceived me,” she had said in her confession.
The Gallows Hill Museum also offers a dramatic history lesson. Spooky music sets the mood. Then the room goes dark, and a spotlight illuminates the first of a series of three dimensional scenes on the wall, complete with props and life-size figures.
As the spotlight moves from one scene to another, a recorded narrator relates key events in the witch hunt and trials that each scene depicted.
One scene shows the young girls who believed they were bewitched. This is followed by scenes about the accusations, trials and hangings.
The narration concludes with this thought: “We may take pride that in a world haunted by superstition, we gave way only once to our fears.”
As compelling as the exhibits devoted to witch trials are, Salem offers other noteworthy attractions. For instance, the Peabody Essex Museum has more than 30 galleries with exhibits covering centuries of art, architecture, and culture- not just from New England but from around the world.
The items on display include portraits of sea captains, decorative ship’s figureheads, displays of ship’s bells, and exotic treasures from the glory days when Salem was one of America’s major seaports and its captains traded in the Far East.
The Maritime National Historic Site located at the waterfront, with displays detailing the highlights of Salem’s seafaring days. Across from the harbor and park is the stately Custom House where author Nathaniel Hawthorne worked when he was appointed Surveyor of the Port of Salem in 1846.
Another waterfront attraction is Pickering Wharf, a charming harborside village of colonial shops and waterfront restaurants.
Not far from here, on Derby Street, is The House of Seven Gables, the oldest wooden mansion in New England. The distinctive gabled house is said to be the inspiration for Hawthorne’s novel of the same name. Tours of the house show period furnishings and portraits of the author whose imagination was fired by the dark and mysterious aspects of Salem.
On the same street is the New England Pirate Museum, where young and old can board a pirate ship and see artifacts from sunken ships and pirate treasures.
Two witch-related sites are also on Derby Street. The Salem Wax Museum displays figures related to the witch trials and also to the city’s maritime history.
Although Salem’s general attractions are worthwhile, it’s the witch-related sites that make Salem unique. This is the theme that is most intriguing to tourists, whether at Halloween or any other time, and Salem presents it in innovative and educational ways.