When Irvington’s Magic Candle shop owner Jan DeFerbrache learned that we were heading to Salem, Massachusetts, she told my wife, “Oh, Salem is like Disneyland for witches.” She was right. As we drove into the city and saw the sign announcing that we were now entering Salem, chills ran up our spines. There are precious few places where history collides with folklore like Salem. The Salem witch hunt was a real-life American horror story. In school, it was the first time we officially heard the term “witch” used in historical context and not as a Halloween reference. If you grew up in the 60s, your vision of Salem may have been influenced by seeing the episodes of Bewitched where Samantha attends a Witches Convention. Episodes of the TV show were actually filmed in Salem in June of 1970. But all that goes out the door when you cross the ethereal boundary into real life Salem town.
We began our visit to the port city of Salem at the House of Seven Gables, made famous by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1851 novel of the same name. The house and its surrounding area are a National Historic Landmark District but I will tell you that today, it more resembles an exclusive country club than a piece of history. You have no hope of getting so much as a casual glance at the famous wooden structure unless you pony up the $12.50 admission fee. We were amazed at how many people were shooed away abruptly by the door monitor if they so much as attempted to gaze upon it without a ticket. It became a humorous spectator sport watching these encounters from afar and hearing comments like, “She said she can’t even talk to me until I get off the bricks” (Leading to the courtyard)… “No photos!”… and “Well, she’s sure got that witch thing down.” The house is surrounded by a 12-foot tall fence. The only other place we’ve ever visited with such stringent viewing restrictions was Elvis Presley’s Graceland.
However, it was a gorgeous late summer day and we were ready to walk old Salem. Salem is a pedestrian-friendly city where visitors can easily visit the many attractions downtown. The streets are well marked and there are reference maps everywhere. The downtown area is easily accessible and is an interesting, eclectic mix of shops and retail spaces. Most of the shops are predictably geared towards the “witch crowd” but we found these businesses staffed by the friendliest people we encountered on our visit.
There are unique shops selling herbal remedies and secret potions guaranteed to cure everything from bad relationships to evil spirits. We visited a magic wand shop and a Harry Potter Hogwarts emporium and school of wizardry. The food is varied and diverse and if nothing else is certain, you know the seafood is fresh and plentiful. The city is home to many of the most famous museums on the Eastern seaboard. Even if you have no interest at all in the Salem witch phenomenon of 1692, you can find plenty to do in this archetypal Massachusetts waterfront city.
Founded in 1626, Salem has a rich history that includes a key role in the East Indies spice trade and as the birthplace of the National Guard. The waterfront, while no longer a hub of trade, remains active with both recreational and commercial uses. Each year, over a million visitors from around the globe visit Salem, a quarter million of those visitors come for the “Haunted Halloween” events which run the entire month of October. The chamber of commerce description of October Salem is “a street scene that’s part new age, part party till you drop.”
If you visit Salem during any other time of the year, you’ll find it to be a busy Boston suburb of around 26,000 people, blessed with architectural gems, historic attractions, modern day witches and psychics galore, all coexisting alongside the sites and attractions devoted to the Salem witch hunts. The scarlet red line on the downtown sidewalks trace the traditional route of official sites relating to the Salem witch trials, but a fair amount of that local flavor has sprung up along the trail. The sad truth is that there are very few sites still in Salem with direct ties to the witch hunts.
The most famous structure is The Witch House, home of Jonathan Corwin, one of the judges who participated in the witch trials. It is speculated that this house might also have hosted some of the testing of victims to see if they were indeed, witches. The Burying Point Cemetery has a few graves of people who had ties to the events of 1692 and is a must-see for all who admire gravestone design. Stroll through here and you’ll quickly realize where Disney’s Haunted Mansion got the visuals for their tombstone designs. It is believed that Gallows Hill was the site of the hangings, though if you want to see the most likely location, pull in behind Walgreen’s at the foot of the Gallows Hill and look up at Proctor’s Ledge above you, rather than the official site on top of the hill. The accused were kept in the original jail, which is now the site of GTE, the location of the trials is now the middle of Essex Street, a lovely pedestrian street full of life in the evenings. The spot where Giles Corey was pressed to death by an increasingly heavy pile of stones for failing to confess was someplace behind what is now the Old Salem Jail, likely in what became the Howard Street Burial Ground, which at night still retains a good bit of the creepiness you may be searching for.
But Salem’s everlasting icon is without a doubt Nathaniel Hawthorne. Born to a sea captain who died of yellow fever while at sea, his birthplace is still there, next to the House of Seven Gables, the inspiration for his most popular novel, which also dealt with the Salem witch hunts. In fact, his grandfather was one of the judges, the only one not to express regrets for his actions. The House of Seven Gables, also known as the Turner-Ingersoll Mansion, is a treasure of first period architecture, the oldest remaining mansion in the United States, and is furnished with items from the families who lived there in the years after Hawthorne trod beneath those inspirational gables.
Salem has a long history with the sea, and as a landlocked native Hoosier, that history was one of the main reasons for my visit. The Salem Maritime National Historic Site consists of nine acres of seafront, civic buildings which once administered the maritime trade, homes bought with the riches of the east, stores and shops where those riches were stored, and a replica of an 18th century merchant ship. It was beneath the masts of this ship where I enjoyed one of the finest cigars of my life while daydreaming beneath the ship’s beautiful “The Jenny Lind” figurehead on the clipper ship “Nightingale”.
It’s easy to find a sunny spot to daydream perched atop any one of the many surviving massive marble blocks that once acted as makeshift moorings for the wooden sailing ships populating Salem Harbor and Massachusetts Bay. Visions of uniformed sailors and rough hewn pirates inevitably dance through your brain and you can almost hear the ghostly voices of scallywags and swabbies as they echo through the ages.
During the American Revolution, Salem was the epicenter of privateering; also known as legalized pirating. When the 13 colonies declared independence, the Continental Navy had only 31 ships. Privateers were authorized by the government to attack foreign vessels during wartime to augment our fledgling navy. It has been estimated that some 1,700 licenses were granted privateering rights during the American Revolution. Nearly 800 vessels were commissioned as privateers and are credited with capturing or destroying about 600 British ships. BY 1790, Salem Harbor was a world famous seaport and sixth largest in the United States. During the War of 1812, privateering resumed from the port of Salem. Yes, indeed, history runs deep in this American port town.
Not long after Samantha Stevens put Salem back on the map on Bewitched, small shops catering to the witch trade and promoting modern day witchcraft in the city started popping up all over the place and these shops have blossomed over the years. Whether you’re a pagan, wiccan, garden variety witch or simply an interested observer, you’ll find a shop sure to suit your needs. Or if you’re looking to find out what fate befalls you, you have a bewitching choice of psychics to read your palm, tarot or tea leaves near that scarlet trail.
No trip to Salem would be complete without a visit and obligatory photo op with the Bewitched statue. The bronze statue of Elizabeth Montgomery as everyone’s favorite witch, Samantha Stevens, was donated by TVLand at a cost of $75,000. Officially dedicated on June 15, 2005, the statue depicts “Sam” astride a broom and framed by a crescent moon. The sculpture resides in the small, neatly manicured Lappin Park on Essex and Washington Sts. Although only two episodes were actually filmed in Salem, locals attribute the 1960s resurgence of Salem as a tourist spot to the Bewitched TV show.
If you visit, remember, there’s still a dark undercurrent flowing beneath Salem, which no matter how loud the celebration, or how much tinsel is draped over the town, it can’t escape. There’s enough early American architecture in Salem to act as a constant reminder of a much darker past but one is never far from the sad reminders of intolerance, accusation and hate from the wrong side of Colonial history. Here is where fear reigned and paranoia and madness sent 21 people to horrible, needless deaths. That’s just one of many lessons to be learned from one of America’s oldest seaports.
Next week: Washington Irving’s Sleepy Hollow.
Al Hunter is the author of the “Haunted Indianapolis” and co-author of the “Haunted Irvington” and “Indiana National Road” book series. Contact Al directly at Huntvault@aol.com or become a friend on Facebook.
