Witch, Witch, You're a Witch

Salem, Massachusetts

This dramatic statue is of Roger Conant, who is considered to be one of the founders of Salem. In the cloak and with the stick I thought it had something to do with Witchcraft but it turns out there is more to Salem than witches.

My time in Boston has almost ended (very sad.....disappointing...etc......I know) but I finished work yesterday and had a beautiful weekend in front of me so I figured I would check out a couple more things before I left. My adventure today took me a little North-east of Boston to a fun little place called Salem. Of course it was my love of history that brought me here because it is the site of the 1692 Witch Hunt (cue creepy music here). I have been wanting to come here for about 4 years but the timing never seemed right. It was either winter or ball season or it just didn't workout. No excuses this weekend so I made the short 45 minute drive from Braintree.

Salem is not a big place (I would have to guess about 60,000 people....give or take a few) but there are a whole lot of museums. Let me just name a few. There's The Witch Dungeon Museum, The Witch History Museum, The Peabody Museum and the New England Pirate Museum (yes there are guys out front dressed as Pirates singing songs). There are also a lot of stores and restaurants....a lot of which have Witch themes to them. Lots of psychics too. Interesting place. Everything is within walking distance (my kind of town) so once I found the Visitor Information Center and got a map I hit the sidewalks to explore. As usual, the map was totally useless to me......so I got a little turned around (future gift ideas.....a map reading class) but since the place is so small it didn't really matter.

One of the stores I wandered past. This is actually an import wine store but it still had a hint of "Bewitched" to it.

Now I think a lot of people think of Harry Potter when we think of witches (at least that is my first thought these days....although we all know Harry is a wizard, not a witch, but Hermonie is a witch.......the smartest witch of her age in fact). Wicca is a religion and just like many others, the beliefs and practices of Wiccans vary greatly by group. In reading about Wicca I found how truly involved and complicated the religion really is. Of course some Wiccans do believe in and practice magic (often spelled magick) and will cast spells for things like healing and protection but it is considered by most to be "white magic" versus "black magic". I'm not going to go into much more detail than that and I will leave the "good" versus "evil" arguments up to you but if you ever have a free moment, Google Wicca. It is an interesting read.

This is the old Town Hall in Salem. It is inside this building that many of the Witch Trials took place. That little sign with the pink writing you can see is directing me to yet another a psychic. Some cities have Starbucks on every corner.........Salem has psychics.

The very first Wiccans were probably nurses (ironic I know) or midwives who used items found in nature (plants, herbs, bark, weeds etc) to help with healing and treating illness. It was later that Wicca became thought of as evil which lead to the death of many a young lady (and man) after being convicted of witchcraft.

This is the Howard Street Cemetery. It sits next to the Old Salem Jail. I do like to visit old jails but unfortunatly this one is currently under restoration so I couldn't see it.

The Salem Witch Trials of 1962 took part in many small towns in the Boston area although Salem seemed to be the epicentre of the events. Truth be told, I really don't know that much about this event in time. The story goes that local girls including Betty Parris, Abigail Williams, Ann Putnum and Elizabeth Hubbard complained of being pinched and pricked with pins, screamed, threw things and went into hysterics but there was no physical evidence of a cause of these ailments. When other girls in the village starting exhibiting similar symptoms it was blamed on witchcraft. The first accused of afflicting the girls were 3 women, Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne and Tituba, who was a slave belonging to the Parris family. Tituba eventually confessed and even accused others in her confession and made the suggestion that the Devil was among them. Tituba was not a Puritan so was an obvious target for accusations. I think in the end she knew there was no way out for her, so she decided to take some people down with her, including some beloved church going ladies in the area. Not sure she knew how far things would go because many people were hanged, burned at the stake, held (some even died) in prison and even crushed to death when accused of witchcraft and were unable to prove their innocence or refused to confess.

The Salem Witch Museum is said to be the most visited Museum in Salem so I decided to visit there. Not sure it was the best choice in the end. Not much to look at, just a few displays that you look at while someone tells you the story. It did give an interesting timeline of the evolution of the witch though from midwife, to Wiked (like in all those Hollywood movies) and now to childhood hero. You might be interested to know that the robes you see worn in Harry Potter are actually pretty close to the ceremonial robes that Wiccans will wear on Seasonal Celebrations known as Sabbats. Not everyone who lives in Salem is a Wiccan but Salem does have one of the highest populations of Wiccans in the US. I doubt that is a coincidence.

No you are not mistaken......that house is sitting next to a really old cemetery. Not sure about you but I could never live that close to all those tombstones. Referred to as The Burying Ground, this is the oldest burying ground in The City of Salem. Justice John Hathorne who was a judge in the Witchcraft Court is buryied here along with a few other notable Salemites.

One of the tombstones in that cemetery. Seriously.....could you live next to this? I think this is really creepy.

In the end it is believed that around 1,000 people lost their lives during the year the Witch Trials took place. That is small compared to the hundreds of thousands who are believed to have lost their lives in Europe. Many believe that all this started due to boredom. The young girls had nothing else to do, were told some stories and they let their active imaginations.....and apparently excellent acting skills do the rest. It is also another example in history where:

Fear+Trigger=Scapegoat

What's also fun about Salem is that although many people know it only for the Witch Trials, the town also has a very extensive Maritime history. Roger Conant (one of the founders.....I mentioned him earlier) actually belonged to a group of fishermen who founded that town back in 1626. Back then the town was called Naumkeag. I think Salem was a good change. Salem was considered one of the most significant seaports in early America. This was true until around the War of 1812 after which boats became too large to travel into the shallow harbour. Eventually cities like Boston and New York became bigger, better and more important.

See there's a boat (I mean a ship) now. I was expecting to see a few more but it is still early in the spring. This is a replica of the ship Friendship originally built in 1812. She sits just off the Derby Wharf which is part of the Salem Maritime National Historic Site.

Hanging out down Derby Wharf.

Not excited about the slop but anytime there is a place to shop you know I'm going to take a look.

Not sure which one is Hilliard and which one is Brenckle but I love the costumes. They did lose me a bit when they pulled out some Dunkin Donuts cups but I'll let it go.

This is the Customs House. This is where Nathanial Hawthorne wrote The Scarlett Letter. It sits right across the street from Derby Wharf.

And that was my day in Salem. Just like so many others....today was a good day.

Julie