Salem (Yes the Witch One)

So I found out that we were actually very close to THE Salem, and that it's even on the way to Maine which was our next stop. So we stopped for a night in a hotel nearby and checked it out. Now for me, the story of Salem and the witch "trials" is actually quite a sad one. It's an example of what tragic things can happen if people collectively freak out. And that's what basically happened back in 1692 - mass hysteria in a small town, 200 people were accused of being witches, and in the end 20 innocent people were executed. More info here.

They also have a red line trail here, it's not as organised as the one in Boston, as it splits off in different directions at times, but it's still a good guide for tourists. It was a nice day, but you can definitely tell it's off season. A lot of shops were closed and there were not many people around at all.
 

The trail starts at the Witch House, which is the only building which still has direct ties to the trial. It's the house of judge Jonathan Corwin.

The Memorial. It's a nice little area where they have stone benches for each of the victims, arranged in a rectangle.

The only person to be executed by other means than hanging. He was pressed to death. His execution was different because he refused to enter a plea and apparently the pressing was intended to force him to enter a plea. It took three days of having the weights on him before he finally died when more weights were added. All this because a woman said his specter appeared to her and forced her to write in the Devil's book. Once she made her claim, other people said other things about him too. Ridiculous.

House of the Seven Gables, the inspiration for Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel of the same name.

We had lunch at a little place in the center of town, Gulu Gulu Cafe. We had mac & cheese, two meat & cheese boards and for dessert Simone had a chocolate strawberry crepe. Nice food, the meat should have been more plenty for the price. The mac & cheese should have been made fresh (like in Boston!!) but the taste was good. The marinated brie I had was really nice.