Witch Town is This?

Diane crosses the road like an American.

We made our way to Boston on the East Coast to pick up friends who flew over to join us. We all noticed on the map that Salem is only a few miles further Northwest from the airport, so the next day we set off to see where the "witches" were tried and convicted of consorting with the devil in 1692.

It's not what you do, it's the year you do it in...

First of all we just had to visit a museum, which was in a street of beautiful houses, most of which were built in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

This is a great museum which I won't tell you about.

We had a really delightful and informative tour; just the four of us with an enthusiastic docent.

Possibly English origin?

But by now I'm sure you don't want to know about another museum - so on to Salem itself.

It's a port, and echos of the past still abound on the seafront, with the wharves and all the usual paraphernalia of days gone by.

The original site of the dock's warehouses.

It was all pleasant enough, but the real purpose of Salem is now sitting on the historical shoulders of the long dead "witches".







Years ago I walked through Tintagel in Cornwall, and was bombarded with King Arthur paraphernalia. Salem is now in the same vein. The whole town is given over to witchcraft and things spiritual - in a huge way.






It seems that the whole history of Salem comes down to making a buck.

I imagine the throngs were all the greater because it was only a couple of weeks from Halloween. (Here the run up to Halloween seems to start at the beginning of August.)




One of the saddest things about all this was the memorial to all those who were wrongly accused and put to death.

The memorial square.

Next to it was a graveyard, and the massed ranks of the weekend crowd were tramping over the graves.

Still it was all good natured, and there was a carnival atmosphere about the place. People just love to be spooked by scary apparitions.

But ironically, the one place where it all started and made everything seen today possible, had disappeared.

The courthouse was just about where this car is now.

The courthouse where the "Witches of Salem" were tried and sentenced to death, has been swept away. No trace of it remains.