We are neighbors, practically, our little town and the good citizens of Salem, MA, including its considerable Witch or Wiccan community.  It’s about a 45-minute ride into the center of Salem to visit the Peabody Essex Museum or grab lunch at Pickering Wharf.  Or, best of all, a couple hours to explore the old city center, the narrow streets, quaint old inns and houses, and the dozens of boutiques and restaurants with their intriguing names and clever, arty window displays – at least half of them on the theme of witches.  Witches, witches, everywhere. Yes, the hokey, wart-nosed, story-book type. And the for-real, spell-casting, Samhain-celebrating witches. And, too, the so-called witches, several dozen or so people, who were tried and hung in Salem in 1692.

There is no end to the fright fest which is Salem, MA in October.  Haunted Happenings Magazine publishes a guide of all things witch-related: The Witch Dungeon Museum, The Witch History Museum, The World of Witches, and the Witches Cottage. Let us not forget the Witches Hide, The Witch Mansion, and “Cry Innocent”, a reenactment of the 1692 trial.  Along the marked trail, tourists can also find Frankenstein’s Lab, Count Orlok’s Nightmare Gallery, Terror Fantasies, and Salem’s 13 Ghosts. I’m not making this stuff up.  If there’s a way to make a buck off the spooky and supernatural, someone has figured it out.  Somewhere along the line, the fright aspect of Halloween in Salem became commercial and festive. With costumes, decorations, and candy, the darker aspects of the history of witches in America were white-washed and defanged.

And yet, real witches do live and practice in Salem. I picked up a pamphlet published by the Witches’ Education League, a non-profit organization whose purpose is “to educate society about the truth of Witches and their beliefs” by answering FAQ’s such as “What is a Spell?” and “Is every Witch in a Coven”?  In addition, they have a website and a list of charities they donate to.  In Haunted Happenings Magazine, one of the events for October 31 is the 15^th Annual Samhain Feast, a Dumb (Silent) Supper, and Witches Magic Circle on the Salem Common, featuring ritual drummers and a candlelight procession. These witches are serious, they’re public and they’re a definite presence among the festivities in the city. While not seen as dangerous or subversive to mainstream society, they still are seen and see themselves as those apart.

Both of these developments stem from and refer back to the witch trials of 1692 – still a mystery to historians and students of human nature. From the 21^st century point of view, it doesn’t seem likely that an active coven of witches in the Salem (Danvers) area truly conspired to cause harm and mayhem. Today, we think it likely the “hysteria” arose from fear, repression, anger and jealousy – the constraints, particularly on women, of living in Puritan New England. As I wandered through the memorial stones of those women (and a man) that were put to death by their neighbors, I wonder what the truth is. I don’t believe any of them were in pact with the devil to cast evil spells. On the other hand, it’s possible that the practice of Wiccan or witchcraft was carried across the sea by some women. Or that Tituba, or other slaves, developed an underground market in herbs and rituals. That part of our society, the secret knowledge of women, has existed for thousand of years, and will continue, as long as needed. And the fear and persecution of those perceived as different or a threat to the power structure will last as long. But I don’t believe there was evil in 1692, until the judges agreed to murder; when mercy is lost, the devil has won.

What I take away from this latest visit to Salem is a particular memory – a note inside a plastic holder placed on the memorial stone of one of those hanged women. A woman had come there to appeal to other visitors, if they might be related, cousins, descendents of that woman who died as a witch. The note writer had done some genealogy research and traced her line back to that other woman, long dead. She had children, and they had children, and their gggg grandchildren walk the earth today. A most human story, nothing supernatural about it.