Salem’s Haunts
If you’re looking for ghosts in Salem, Massachusetts, these are a few of my favorite haunts:
Salem Witch House, also known as the Jonathan Corwin House, is the home of ghostly energy. Most of it is related to the witch trials and the people who lived in that house during Colonial times. There may also be ghosts connected to the land around the house… for entirely different reasons that I’m researching. (The house was moved to that site long after the era of the witch trials.) Salem Witch House is located at 310 Essex Street, Salem, Massachusetts 01970.
Links:
My summary of one filmed investigation at the site – Salem Witch House.
Eerie Evenings at the Witch House – Storytelling during October.
Hex is a lightly haunted shop with a delightful New Orleans style. It’s like a little piece of the French Quarter in “Witch City.” Through the altar in the shop, people regularly communicate with the dead. In addition, there may be ghostly energy in the basement below the shop. (This may be associated with other haunted and concealed underground locations throughout Salem.) Hex is at 246 Essex Street, Salem, Massachusetts.
Links:
Read my summary at Hex Marks the Spot.
Visit the official Hex website, HEX, Old World Witchery.
The Haunted Cottage was a quaint shop with at least one ghost. It used to specialize in products related to ghosts and hauntings. Look for it down the alley next to Fool’s Mansion, 127 Essex Street, Salem, Massachusetts. If it’s open, it may have a new name, but the ghosts are still there.
Fool’s Mansion and Remember Salem are among the Essex Street shops with haunted basements and ghostly tunnels from the 19th century and earlier.
While you’re at Remember Salem gift shop, sign up for one of the popular Salem Night Tours. The guides are genuinely interested in real ghost hunting. You’ll find other, tourist-oriented “ghost tours” around Salem, but this one is my favorite. The tours leave from 127 Essex Street, about a block from the Salem National Park Visitors Center, and a large parking garage.
The Salem Witch Memorial and the cemetery next to it are well-known for their ghostly energy from the past. It’s about two blocks from Essex Street, and it’s among the stops on the Salem Night Tours. Though the psychic energy at the memorial and cemetery may seem diluted by hundreds of thousands of visitors, the dead do not rest easy at these sites. [Salem City Guide - Witch Memorial]
Pickering Wharf has its own ghostly energy, and I’m researching its stories right now. Learn more about Pickering Wharf at its official website. It’s the location of several highly-respected shops for modern-day Witches and… well, the energy is interesting. I’ll be writing about this in my book.
The Hawthorne Hotel is well known for its happy (and discreet) but colorful ghosts. Generally, they appear around the first floor ballroom and the room that overlooks it, but you can ask the staff for more “ghost stories” of this elegant and wonderful hotel. The hotel is at 18 Washington Square West, convenient to Essex Street’s haunts. [Hawthorne Hotel website]
Gallows Hill is a noted landmark in Salem, but it may or may not be the actual site of the witch trial executions. (See my article, Gallows Hill – the Mystery.) Nevertheless, real-life Witches gather at Gallows Hill every Samhain (Halloween) and perform sacred rituals. Gallows Hill Park is a must-visit location for ghost enthusiasts, and it’s about a block from the intersection of Pope Street and Proctor Street. There’s something dark and ironic about a children’s playground at the site where the “witches’” bodies may have been thrown after the witch trial hangings. [Google Map]
Danvers was known as “Salem Village” in the 17th century. It is the actual location of many homes and buildings where people were accused in 1692. Some speculate that the witch trials were partly because of property disputes between residents of modern-day Danvers and Salem.
Lynn Woods is among my favorite haunted American parks. Deep in the woods of this huge and magnificent park, you’ll find Dungeon Rock. It was a famous Spiritualist gathering place in the 19th century, and the ghost of pirate Thomas Veal (or Veale) may still guard buried treasure beneath or inside the rock.
For additional information, see my Halloween 2008 post, Halloween Recommendations.
If you’d like to suggest ghostly sites in or near Salem, Massachusetts, use the Contact form linked at the left. I’m especially interested in haunted sites (or those that might be haunted) that the public can visit.
Keep visiting this site for news about my upcoming book, The Ghosts of Salem, Massachusetts. Like my earlier regional book, The Ghosts of Austin, Texas, it will be published by Schiffer Books.
My other ghost-related books include:
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