SALEM, Mass. — A team of researchers using historical documents and 21stcentury archaeological techniques has confirmed the exact site where 19 innocent people were hanged during the Salem witch trials more than 300 years ago.
The site, known as Proctor’s Ledge, is a small city-owned plot of woods nestled between two residential streets and behind a Walgreens pharmacy, said Salem State University history professor Emerson “Tad” Baker, a member of the seven-person team, which announced its findings this week.
Historian Sidney Perley had pinpointed Proctor’s Ledge nearly a century ago as the site of the hangings by using historical documents, but his findings were lost to time, and myth, misconceptions and conspiracy theories had taken their place, Baker said.
The current research, known as the Gallows Hill Project, was about correcting the misinformation many people have about one of the most tragic episodes in American history.
Twenty people suspected of witchcraft were killed in Salem in 1692 during a frenzy stoked by superstition, fear of disease and strangers, and petty jealousies. Nineteen were hanged, and one man was crushed to death by rocks.
“The witch trials cast a long dark shadow on Salem history,” Baker said.
The top of nearby Gallows Hill had long been thought of as the site of the hangings, but there was no evidence to support that, Baker said. Proctor’s Ledge is at the base of Gallows Hill.
To determine the spot, the team looked at eyewitness accounts of the hangings, then used modern-day aerial photography and ground penetrating radar not available a century ago.
The team made other interesting discoveries. They determined there probably never was a gallows at the site. More than likely, the executioners tossed a rope over a large tree.
Baker also stressed that there is no evidence that any of the victims were buried at Proctor’s Ledge — it’s too rocky and the soil is too shallow.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
