Salem Witch Museum

Massachusetts is home to many of history’s most momentous events, some of them tragic.  Among these last were the notorious Salem Witch Trials, during which many women and a few men were accused of being, yes, witches or wizards — and were executed for it.

During that time, it was a common aspiration of anyone facing death to attempt a true spirit of forgiveness.  This, they believed, might  help them not to appear before God in a state of anger or malicious wrath.  One of the accused, Sarah Good, was confronted by a reverend who tried to exact a last minute confession from her so that she would not die having been a liar.  Instead, she told him that it was he who was lying, and if he took her life away “God will give you blood to drink.”  It was an odd coincidence, many believe, that at the time of his death, he was found with a mouth filled with blood following a ruptured artery.

The bodies of the dead, many that there were, were temporarily buried at the rocky execution site where they had been killed. This place was difficult to reach, and required a boat to get in and out of.  The dead “witches” were not to be allowed to be buried on hallowed ground or family land, but were to remain segregated to the place of their deaths.  However, some families of the dead secretly sent after the bodies of their loved ones, exhuming them after dark and bringing them home for proper burial.

The witch trials were a black mark on the face of early American history.  Fueled by misplaced religious zealotry, fears of the slave cultures brought in from the islands, and superstition, this tragic episode in Massachusetts has nonetheless taught a valuable lesson on the frailty of humanity in its temporal nature — that much of the evil carried out by man is initiated by a desire for good.

When visiting Salem, Massachusetts, a trip to the Salem Witch Museum would be well worth your time.  If you are a lover of history, even more so.