Important update: As of the Salem Board of Health meeting last night: Hotels, motels, Airbnbs, and short term rentals in SALEM are required to obtain your negative Covid test information upon check in and submit to the Board of Health. This applies to visitors from any HIGH RISK STATE *only*

Good morning, Salem

This past weekend, between Friday and Sunday, we ran 31 SOLD OUT tours, with 243 guests who hopefully loved Salem as much as we do. A huge thanks to all of my guides for their dedication and for sharing their passion of the city: April, Denise, Katie, Kelly, Gina, Mykaela, Ryan, Justine, Seán, Vanessa, Paige, Stacy - I cant thank you enough! You are all amazing! 🧡🖤🧡🖤🧡

On this day in history: September 22, 1692: The "darkest day in Salem's history" would see the execution of eight individuals: Ann Pudeator and Alice Parker of Salem, Martha Corey of Salem Farms, Samuel Wardwell and Mary Parker of Andover, Wilmot Redd of Marblehead, Margaret Scott of Rowley, and Mary Easty of Topsfield. “When the cart carrying the prisoners turned up the hill to the ledge, its wheels suddenly became stuck. According to Robert Calef, who attended the execution and wrote about it in his book, More Wonders of the Invisible World, while the law men struggled to get the wheels to move, the afflicted girls began to cry out that they saw the Devil holding the cart back (Calef 218). The men eventually got the oxen cart free though and the prisoners arrived at the ledge.” At the execution, the prisoners all continued to declare their innocence until their last moments. As the eight bodies hanged from the tree, Reverend Noyes proclaimed, "What a sad thing it is to see eight firebrands of hell hanging there!" “The victims were then cut down and temporarily placed in a nearby rocky crevice but it is not known what happened to their bodies after that.” September 22 would also mark the last of the executions. By October, 1692, the court of Oyer and Terminator was officially dissolved by the William Phipps, the governor of Boston, after his wife was accused of witchcraft. The irony is, it was Phipps who actually established the same court system to begin with. By January, the trials were over. However, we have what is called “due process” so people were not released immediately. In May 1693, Tituba was released from prison and sold into slavery to a new master. People who were fortunate enough to have wealthy families had to pay off their debt. Every morsel of food, every drop of water, their jail keeper’s fee, the court costs; all had to be paid in full before their release. When they were released into society, they were called a “dead man” or a “dead woman”, meaning they had no rights to their property. Elizabeth Proctor, convicted of witchcraft, was pardoned from her hanging in order to give birth in prison. The trials ended three weeks after she gave birth to her son. She spent 10 years proving to the court that she was in fact “living”, and another 10 years fighting for any kind of restitution for the property that was seized from them. The last of the names were legally cleared from the Massachusetts courts in the year 2001. Source: History of Massachusetts blog

So completely appreciative of our wonderful guests who took the time to leave these reviews...it just goes to show how much we take pride in what we do and how much we love sharing our passion for Salem!

On this day in history, September 19, 1692. 328 years ago today...Giles Corey was pressed to death in a field in Salem, Massachusetts. He was 81 years old. One of the accused victims of the Salem Witch Trials, Corey was forced into a shallow pit the size of a grave, with a board the size of a door over his chest. After being arrested and charged with witchcraft, he refused to enter a plea and "stood mute". The consequence under the crown for not standing trial was "peine forte et dure", or "hard and forceful punishment". Every hour on the hour, the officials would ask for his plea. When he did not respond, four men lifted a boulder and dropped it on top of the door. During the three days he was pressed in what is now the Howard St cemetery, Corey would scream out "more weight!" when asked how he plead to charges of witchcraft. Pressing someone wasn’t actually uncommon. This was a usual practice, especially in Europe, to make the accused confess. What was so unique about Giles’ case is that never gives a plea, even under extreme torture. For each day he lived, he received three drops of water and three crusts of bread. Right before he died, it is believed that Corey cursed the sheriff and all the people of Salem. George Corwin, the high sheriff of Salem at the time of the trials, suffered a major heart attack and died shortly after. Is there really a curse? They say over the course of 300 years, many of Salem's sheriffs have suffered from cardiac problems or blood illnesses. You be the judge! The Salem Witch Trials ended almost as quickly as they had started, and lasted less than a year. When the arrested were released from jail, after paying for the jail keeper's fee, shackles and food, they were called a "dead man" or a "dead woman", meaning they had no claims to their land or possessions that were confiscated upon their arrest. Those who could not afford to pay their debt, were transported to Boston to “debtors’ prisons”, where they were held as long is an additional seven years, accruing debt on top of that they couldn’t pay. None of the victims of the witch trials are buried in our cemeteries. Their bodies were discarded into shallow graves. Please take a moment to reflect upon this day in history.

On this day in history, September 17, 1692: Giles Corey, 81, prisoner of the Salem Gaol, accused of witchcraft, was led from his prison cell to a field, not far away. The jail where he was being held was referred to as a "suburb of Hell". Giles had refused to stand trial, which meant he would endure "hard and forceful punishment". While his 77 year old wife, Martha, remained shackled in the prison, Giles was stripped of his clothing, and forced into a pit the size of a grave. Two long boards, the size of doors, were placed on his chest. Puritans from far and wide had come to witness the event. Sheriff and executioner George Corwin, age 26, was leading the rest. "How do you plead on charge of witchcraft?" When Corey did not answer, four men lifted a boulder and dropped it on top of the door upon Corey's chest. This practice, or peine forte et dure, was a form of torture used to get someone to confess to a crime they had been charged with. Corey refused to speak. Hour after hour he was asked what his plea was, and upon silence, more weight was placed upon his chest. In fact, the only two words that Corey would yell out were "more weight"! By the end of September 17, 1692, there was so much weight on Corey's chest, his tongue was expelled out of his throat. The 26 year old sheriff came over to Corey, took his walking staff, shoved Corey's tongue back in his mouth, and polked his eyes into their sockets. This horrific form of torture, carried out in what today is the Howard Street cemetery, would go on for two more days.......

The orange lights from the filming of Hubie Halloween have become a permanent fixture on the Salem Common 🧡🖤🧡🖤🧡 . . . . . . #salem #salemma #salemmass #salemmassachusetts #visitsalem #witchcity #witchcitywalkingtours #lovewhereyoulive #bostondotcom #northofboston #northshorema #historyinsalem #historicsalem #destsalem #thingstodoinsalem #hhmagazine #visitsalem #igerssalem #lovewhereyoulive❤️ #historicsalem #salemcommon #salemcommonneighborhood #salemcommonhistoricdistrict #hubiehalloween #salemwitchmuseum #halloween #halloweeneveryday #halloweenmovies #halloweenforever

Tonight, a few of my guides and I took the night off to celebrate the end of summer with a sunset cruise aboard Mahi Mahi Cruises & Charters...it was a beautiful night on the water! ⛵️ You know that’s so special about Witch City Walking Tours? We not only work together....we are also friends ❤️