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He's the most terrifying serial killer you've never heard of. Haddon Clark has confessed to several murders, but investigators say he could have over 100 victims. At the center of the mayhem, a cellmate of Haddon's that was able to get key evidence into Haddon's murder spree across America...
because hadn't thought he was Jesus Christ. Born Evil: The Serial Killer and the Savior, an I.D. true crime event, premieres Monday, September 2nd at 9:00. Watch on I.D. or stream on Max. Set your DVR. For those who were accused of being witches in Salem, 1692 was a terrifying year. Numerous accused received execution sentences as a result of their alleged actions during the long and drawn-out trials.
But more than simply witchcraft came to a head during these trials. Numerous additional issues had long plagued Salem, and these may have influenced the trials. Numerous tragedies, fatalities, and illnesses were attributed to witches in the late 1600s. Women who spent their days trying to help the sick with their natural remedies, or to help aid in childbirth, were suspected of witchcraft.
People who were cranky, outspoken or had numerous children without dying during birth were also suspects. Because they did not fit into society, awkward or introverted people were frequently labeled as witches too. Most if not all of these accusations were unfounded and numerous people were wrongly accused of working for the devil. Welcome to Destination Terror, your passport to the scariest places in the world.
From haunted hotels to locations of unexplained creatures sightings, we will travel to places that will provide excitement, adventure and horror. Today we are discussing the town of Salem, Massachusetts and the eerie history that made it famous. So if you are into travel and all things scary, listen close and you might just discover your next exciting adventure destination. But hopefully not your final destination.
Destination Terror is an EerieCast original podcast hosted by me, Carmen Carrion. If you would like to send us a suggestion or submit a story with your own experience, you can email them to carmencarrion at gmail.com or follow me on Twitter at Carmen Carrion. If you enjoy the show, please follow and rate Destination Terror on Spotify and Apple Podcasts to help us grow. Also, check out eeriecast.com for more scary podcasts.
such as tales from the break room featuring allegedly true and terrifying stories that happened on the job. Sherry woke up in a dark hotel room. The smell was somewhere between pleasant and musky. She stretched while yawning and slowly swung her feet to the floor. Excitement began to course its way into her foggy mind. She stood up and started making coffee with whatever her chosen establishment had provided.
It seemed a one-cup coffee pot with some off-brand coffee would be what she got. Sherry preferred K-cups, but this would have to do. Today, she would be getting to see and experience a new place with lots of old things. So this small inconvenience in her favorite morning beverage wouldn't be enough to dampen her mood. As the coffee maker trickled, she grabbed a quick shower and got dressed in the comfy warm clothes she had set out the night before.
She slammed the less than satisfying drink, brushed her teeth and was out the door. As she rounded the hallway towards the elevator, she thought to herself, all the planning work and saving was finally about to pay off. It all started more than a year ago. Her best friend Amanda asked her if she would like to join her on a trip to Salem, Massachusetts for Halloween. At first Sherry hadn't thought much of it and tried to think of a way to respectfully bow out.
She had always been more of a Christmas kind of girl, and a trip of that magnitude seemed wasted on such a place. Though, after a lot of begging and pleading, Amanda had got her way. She had always been into the spirits and witch stuff, and rightfully so, as she was into Wicca. Something Sherry didn't understand, but had always just accepted, because they had been friends since childhood. And after Sherry had started doing some research, she started getting more and more interested.
The location was in fact beautiful that time of year. They could see the coast and the lighthouses. Even the architecture of the family homes was breathtaking, as far as Sherry could tell. So it was decided. They would go for a week and Sherry would do the witch thing with Amanda. And Amanda would in turn go sightseeing with Sherry. The perfect plan. Or so it seemed. So they both put in for vacation with their jobs and started pinching pennies.
They booked a few tours and mapped out the places they wanted to go and see. The big day finally came, and they boarded the flights that had been booked way in advance. It was a later flight because it was a little cheaper, a fact that both girls would come to regret because they didn't land in Boston until 11 o'clock that night. Exhausted, they traversed their way to the rental car and then to the hotel and pretty much went straight to sleep.
But now, Sherry was well-rested, and the fact that she was finally here felt surreal. She waited for quite a while as Amanda was always a heavy sleeper, and Sherry knew she would be late. She sat in a big armchair in the lobby, took out her phone, and went ahead and started her GPS up for their first destination. A little while went by, and finally, Sherry heard Amanda's sleepy voice standing over her.
She apologized for being late and asked if she had time for coffee. Sherry replied with, "No biggie. We aren't on a time limit today." Amanda had her coffee and soon they were off. The scenery was almost shocking to them as they passed by buildings and businesses that were so much different from back home. The drive took about 45 minutes and once they arrived parking was a bit of an issue. The streets were narrow and full.
Finally, they found a small spot with a parking meter and settled for it, even though they would have to come back every two hours to feed it. They decided to stop for real coffee and get their bearings before beginning the journey. The sidewalks were just as narrow as the streets, and it made for a long walk trying not to bump into all the other tourists. A small price to pay to see one of the oldest places in the US. They passed by so many interesting shops and witch-themed places.
This place was the Mardi Gras of Halloween. They playfully argued while sitting in the coffee shop about what attraction they should see first. It was finally agreed that the old Burying Point Cemetery would be the best place to start. Sherry had to download an app to book a reservation to get inside. It was free, but there were so many people touring it that you couldn't just walk in. They walked up to the gate and had to show the reservation on their phone for the young man to let them in.
He told them the rules were not touching the gravestones and they had to stay on the paths that were made. Sherry and Amanda agreed and began walking. These graves were the oldest either of them had ever seen. Some of the headstones had the old skull with wings at the top of them, which was something they both thought was only in movies. Apparently it was something they really used to do in the 16 and 1700s. As the girls continued to move about, they noticed the trees were large and beautiful.
Sherry had just opened her phone to grab some pictures when Amanda let out a gasp. She ran over to a grave that was right beside the pathway. Sherry quickly followed, asking, "What is it?" Amanda explained that they were standing by the grave of the judge who had convicted all those innocent people of witchcraft and had sentenced them to death. She told Sherry that he had never shown any remorse and thought he had in fact helped rid the world of evil. Sherry smirked and said,
Well, what a lovely person he must have been. Suddenly, Amanda grabbed the top of his headstone and was whispering something under her breath. Sherry reminded her that she wasn't supposed to touch the headstones. The young man was watching from the gate and he yelled out and asked her to take her hand off it. Amanda stood there for another few seconds and Sherry grabbed her arm to pull her back. That's when Sherry felt a small jolt that seemed like it started with Amanda and moved into her.
For only a second, Sherry felt cold and sad. It felt like the air was sucked from her lungs by some unknown force. The feeling of dread and hopelessness was almost unbearable. Once that moment passed, Sherry felt like she came back to her senses. She was still holding Amanda's arm, and Amanda was saying her name. Once she realized this, she answered with, "Did you feel that?"
Amanda, making a very strange face, said that she hadn't felt anything. She asked if Sherry was alright, and Sherry said she thought so. The young man was walking toward them, asking if there was a problem. Amanda grabbed Sherry and said it was time for them to go. While walking down the street, Sherry inquired as to what Amanda had been saying while touching that grave. Amanda laughed and said that it was just some old curse she had read in one of her books.
She said she thought it would be ironic for someone to use a witch's curse on him 300 years later. Sherry, still shaken, asked what the curse was. Amanda explained that it was another language and she couldn't remember what it meant and that she probably wasn't even saying it right. Sherry couldn't help but notice a bit of nervousness in Amanda's voice. With some anger, Sherry made the accusation that Amanda felt the horrible feeling as well.
After bickering a few minutes, Amanda finally admitted that she, in fact, had. Amanda told her that it was probably nothing more than being tired from the trip and feeling sad for those poor people. She suggested that they take a break from the heavy stuff and check out some of the shops. Sherry was starting to feel better and agreed. They spent the rest of the day laughing and trying on the pointed witch's hats and clothes. It was getting late in the evening and they decided it was time to head back to the hotel.
As they walked down one of the many narrow pathways to the car, Sherry saw something out of the corner of her eye. It looked like a man dressed in very old-style clothes. As soon as she saw him, the same feeling from the cemetery hit her again. But only this time, she heard a deep, rageful voice in her head say, with an accusing tone, Witch!
Visiting Salem, Massachusetts today, you would never know that it was once a place of paranoia, injustice, and horror where no one was safe. Salem is a city on the north coast of Massachusetts, above Boston. Founded in 1626 by Roger Conant and a group of immigrants from Cape Ann, the settlement was first titled Naumkeek, but the settlers preferred to call it Salem, derived from the Hebrew word for peace.
Salem, the city of peace, holds the proud distinction of being not only the second oldest settlement in New England, but also the second incorporated city in Massachusetts. Walking through the history of Salem to understand how the witch trials came about, you have to go back to the beginning. In 1627, The Guide to the Grand Jury Men is published by the English Puritan Reverend Richard Bernard in England.
which included guidance for prosecuting witches. The text was used by the judges in Salem. The first colony of 100 settlers arrived in Salem in 1628 under the leadership of Captain John Endicott. In 1638, a small group of people settle about five miles outside of Salem in what became Salem Village. Three years later, England establishes a capital punishment for witchcraft.
For many years, Salem Village tried to gain independence from Salem Town. The town, which depended on the farmers for food, determined crop prices and collected taxes from the village. Despite the three-hour walk between the two communities, Salem Village did not have its own church and minister until 1674. The hysteria that eventually overtook Salem started farther away and years earlier. Elizabeth Loews was an English woman executed for witchcraft.
She is known as the first woman to be executed for witchcraft in England, after the passing of the Witchcraft Act in 1563. The idea of witchcraft, curses and serving the devil came with early settlers to America from England. During the years preceding the trials, books were published and laws were made regarding witchcraft, further pushing the ideas of witches to the forefront of settlers' minds.
As a wave of hysteria spread throughout colonial Massachusetts, a massive witch hunt began. Whenever one was accused of witchcraft, they were only allowed two options: confess or deny being a witch. If you confessed, your life was spared, so long as you named other witches. If you denied being a witch, you were tested, tortured, and eventually hanged. The hangings were not an easy, quick affair.
There were no calculations of how long the rope should be, no breaking of the neck for a quick merciful death. Instead, hands and legs bound, the victims strangled and writhed at the end of a rope. Convicted of witchcraft, the victims were denied a Christian burial and thrown into the rock crevices near the execution site. The families were said to have returned at night to retrieve their loved ones' bodies from the pile and buried them, unmarked, near home.
I originally planned to relay the history of the Salem Witch Trials, but instead, I decided to memorialize the victims, because that is what they were. They were mothers, fathers, daughters, brothers, friends and neighbors during a time of confusion and fear. More than 150 men, women and children
In and around Salem were jailed on charges of exercising certain detestable arts called witchcraft and sorceries. Nineteen people, including five men, were eventually convicted and hanged on Gallows Hill. And an additional male, Giles Corey, was pressed to death. The first hanging took place on June 10, 1692.
Bridget Bishop, widowed twice, though a remarried mother of three, two dying in infancy. Though a church member, she drank, worked a tavern, and had been in trouble for cursing and fighting back with her abusive husband. She dared to wear artsy, colorful bodices, which was considered showy in Puritan New England. She had been accused, though acquitted, of witchcraft 12 years before.
She was hanged at 59 or 60 years old, the very first of the Salem accused to be killed. Though married, she was poor and pregnant, with a baby who would die with her in the dungeon shortly after birth, known to go begging door to door asking for handouts.
Being so poor was a bitter pill, after growing up well-to-do. It was complained that she murmured curses to those who denied her pleas for food and shelter. Sarah's other child, four-year-old Dorothy, would be accused and jailed as a witch herself, being chained in the dark, filthy jail as were the adults. On the gallows, asked once more to confess, Sarah replied,
You are a liar. I am no more a witch than you, and if you take away my life, God will give you blood to drink. She was hanged at only 39. It is said that the man to whom she made this reply, Reverend Noyes, died years later of a hemorrhage, choking on his own blood. Elizabeth Howe from Topsfield, married to a farmer who went blind at 50, a mother of six,
She had been accused a decade before of witchcraft after a family dispute with a neighbor. Though she was not arrested, she was well-liked in town prior to that. She tried to join the church in Ipswich, but was blocked by the accusing neighbors, fueling the witch rumors that began to plague her, even though the afflicted neighbor girl later recanted the claims. "If it was the last moment I was to live, God knows I am innocent."
She was hanged at 56 or 57 years old. Susanna Martin of Amesbury mothered eight children, accused of witchcraft twice before. But the charges were dropped both times and she sued the second accuser of slander. The third time was no such luck. Her husband died eight years before the third accusations against her, leaving her poor and widowed, even though her husband was an extensive landowner.
She had the courage to laugh during examination at the accusing girls' fits and claims because they were "such folly." She was confident in her innocence, outspoken and defiant, quoting the Bible throughout her trial, saying, "Amen, amen. A false tongue will never make a guilty person." She was a pious older woman and must have been distressed and humiliated to be disrobed and have her body examined. She was hanged at 70 or 71 years old.
Rebecca Nurse Rebecca was a Puritan grandmother, mother to eight children of her own, who also took an orphan into her home to raise. She was well liked and respected among town, considered to be a pious, deeply religious woman. Once accused, forty prominent friends and neighbors petitioned the court and even the governor, attesting to her devout and godly character, risking their own lives in a time where it was very dangerous to testify for an accused witch.
She was originally found not guilty, until the accusers acted out and the judges changed their minds. She was hanged as a witch at 71. A frail and deaf, godly woman. Her body is buried in the family cemetery at the Rebecca Nurse homestead. Sarah Wilds of Topsfield. She married a judge, mothering a child of her own and eight motherless stepchildren.
Even so, the family of the children's dead mother spread rumors about Sarah and treated her as an enemy. Most of the evidence used against her was from this family and their friends. Before the witch accusation, her husband had threatened defamation against them. Sarah's husband and son, a constable, were her only supporters, both testifying in her defense. Her son testified that she always instructed him well in the Christian religion and ways of God. She was hanged at 65.
But even her death didn't stop the accusations and attempts to defame her. A year after her death, her husband remarried to George Jacobs Sr.'s widow, another executed victim of the witch accusations. August 19th, Reverend George Burroughs of Wells, Maine, formerly of Salem Village, widowed twice, previously the minister of Salem Village, before Reverend Parris came to the same church and brought the storm.
Reverend Burroughs had escaped the Indian Wars of Maine with a three-year-old orphan he rescued. Mercy Lewis, the orphan he saved, later became a Salem witch accuser herself, accusing even him after Burroughs had saved her life among the wars and wilderness of Maine.
He had already returned to Maine two years before being accused, but they tracked him there and captured him, stealing burrows away from his family dinner table at home with no explanation or prep and dragged him back to Salem, when Mercy accused him. When pressed whether his previous house was haunted, he denied it, but admitted it had toads, which was viewed as an unnatural relationship with nature and more evidence of his guilt.
A well-educated Harvard grad, Reverend Burroughs gave a moving speech at his execution and perfectly recited the Lord's Prayer, something it is believed that a witch was unable to do. Drawing tears and emotion, it gave the crowd such doubt of his guilt that the crowd pressed forward and cried out to stop the execution, but were turned back by the leaders. He was hanged at the age of just 42. Martha Carrier of Andover
A Puritan woman, Martha's mothered at least six children. To the girls accusing her of killing over a dozen people with disease and of inflicting them with pain, she said, "You lie. I am wronged." To the judges, she addressed, "It is a shameful thing that you should mind these folks that are out of their wits." Martha's teenage sons were also accused and arrested and subjected to torture until they falsely confessed their mother's guilt to escape the pain.
Five days after being found guilty, her 10-year-old son was accused and arrested, then blaming his mother to save his own life. The following day, Martha's 8-year-old daughter was accused and arrested, and terrified into also accusing her mother. She saved herself the same way. Martha was adamant about her innocence, even on the gallows.
She was hanged at age 42 to 49 years old, then dragged and thrown into a mass shallow grave with the other hanged accused that day. John Willard, a married father of three and deputy constable, involved in the arrest and transport of the previously accused. He quickly became so filled with guilt and doubt in his duties making their arrests, he quit the job.
He went and appealed to one of the main accusers who he knew well, only to find himself accused by her the very next day. In his examination he said, "I fear naught but the Lord, and His due time will make me as white as snow." When offered the chance to defend himself, he was shut down by the magistrate, saying he wouldn't allow him to preach. Then pressed again to confess, Willard replied, "If it was the last time I was to speak, I am innocent."
He was hung at 35. George Jacobs Sr. 72-year-old arthritic man who walked with two canes. Father of three and grandfather with long white hair, unusually tall. His son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter were accused as well. His granddaughter falsely pled guilty to being a witch and joined in accusing her grandfather to save her own life.
She later recanted saying that she was told confessing and accusing would save her, but her horror of conscience would not let her sleep, fearing the devil would carry her away as well for telling such horrid lies. She wrote her grandfather a letter begging for his forgiveness. His body was retrieved from Proctor's ledge by the family and night, and buried at home. John Proctor, father of five with one on the way, owned a tavern and much land.
Wealthy John was accused by an employee. His pregnant wife, Elizabeth, reminded the accusing girls that it is a sin to lie before God and that they would face judgment, for which she was quickly rewarded by being accused a witch herself. The accusing employee, who had put their father in jail, broke the news to the Proctor children, home alone. Both parents jailed and accused as witches.
Though even the children were later accused, John told the judges and the jury that they were under the delusions of the devil and that we are all innocent persons. They were undeterred and John was hanged at age 61, even though his accuser recanted four months before. September 22nd, the last hangings of the Salem Witch Trials. Alice Parker, a fisherman's wife, Alice is believed to have possibly suffered from cataplexy.
rendering her suddenly unconscious or momentarily paralyzed, sometimes mistaken for seizures, which was evidence used against her. Cataplexy is often brought on by emotional or intense events, which a trial as a witch would certainly induce. Baffled by the many accusations and wild fits of her accusers, she was asked why she tormented them. Bewildered and mortified, she sputtered, "If I do, the Lord forgive me."
Mary Parker of Andover, a Puritan widow, mother of nine. She was hung with seven others on what was to be the final executions of the Salem witch hunt. For these final eight, the largest group yet, time hung brittle in the air as their cart got stuck in the mud on the way up to the hangman's noose. Then they had to watch as others were hung, the bodies adding up, all still hanging from the tree. They waited on their own turn to climb those steps to the noose to add one more.
Mary declared her innocence once more at the foot of the noose. She was around 55 years old. Anne Pudiater, mothered five, widowed twice, was a nurse and a midwife, being blamed a witch by her accusers from patients she was unable to cure of disease. The few ointments found at her home upon arrest were claimed to be evidence of witchcraft. She pointed out that one of her accusers had previously been whipped and on record as a liar.
Wilmot Redd of Marblehead, a fisherman's wife known as Mammy. She was not well liked. She was poor, cranky and unfriendly.
Red's Pond in Marblehead has been named for her, which is near where her small shack existed. She was the only resident from there named in Salem as a witch. Her son-in-law, Reverend George Burroughs, was hung as a witch in Salem just a month before. Wilmot herself had been accused of being a witch previously five years before. Margaret Scott of Rowley, about 77 years old, birthed six children, but only three survived. Grandmother to 11.
Samuel Wardwell of Andover
a carpenter and father of eight. He was an eccentric man who sometimes dabbled in fortune-telling and had married above his means. His wife and daughter-in-law were accused as well. Samuel and his wife were forced to leave their young children on their own. The sheriff had confiscated the farm animals and straw and corn, leaving the kids in vulnerable poor condition. Eventually it was petitioned to give them temporary homes and all four were split up.
Wardwell, his wife, and daughter-in-law, all three actually confessed to the crime, since they saw that those who confessed were likely to be kept alive, so that they could be used in future questioning. Pleading not guilty tended to earn a quick conviction and execution. During trial, however, Samuel recanted saying he wanted to clear his conscience before he was hanged. He was hanged at 49. Martha Corey
accused in the middle of a church service, that she and the accusing girl were both attending. Though she had a racy past, she was allowed into the church under new, much less restrictive rules, which displeased many people. She was also guilty by association of her husband's sordid reputation, Giles Corey. Though she believed in her Puritan religion and the other main tenets of Christianity, she didn't believe in witches or the devil and said so publicly.
She also was outspoken in her disdain for the trials, the accusers, and the judges. Talking against the accusers put a target on your own head. Even though she was respected, accepted, and the first of the Covenant church members to be accused when it was unthought of for church members to possibly be a witch, let alone accused. Aside from the topic, being vocal or critical publicly was not considered appropriate for a Puritan woman of the times.
She laughed at the judge when asked if she believed in witches and had conspired with the devil. "I am an innocent person. I never had to do with witchcraft since I was born. I am a gospel woman." Martha was hanged around the age of 74. Mary Easty of Topsfield. She was Rebecca Nurse's little sister. A third sister, Sarah was accused and jailed as a witch, but she outlived the hysteria and only she survived.
Their mother had been accused over 20 years earlier, but had never been brought to trial. Mary was a married mother of seven who, like Rebecca, was a religious woman. She was initially released after spending two months in jail, but was re-arrested two days later, being ripped from her bed in the middle of the night, when the girls doubled their efforts and accusations on her because she got away. A religious and kind woman, her loving farewell at her execution to her family caused nearly everyone to break into tears.
She was so convincing on the stand that the judge asked the accusing girls, "Are you certain this is the woman?" Mary petitioned the court, "Now I am condemned to die. The Lord above knows my innocence then and likewise does now, as at the great day will be known to men and angels. I petition to your honors not for my own life, for I know I must die, and my appointed time is set. But the Lord, He knows.
Mary claimed her innocence while offering the judges forgiveness and blessings, praying for their wisdom in future trials. The plea is said to have brought pause and more doubt and helped contribute to bringing the witch crisis to an end. Not before she was hung, however, at the age of 58. The only execution that was not done by hanging was the execution of Giles Corey.
Giles Corey refused to enter a plea and died under torture, crushed to death by stones on September 19. Corey was a wealthy farmer with an ugly past, though he had become a church member by this point in his life. He initially believed the witch accusations, even against his own wife Martha, and he testified against her. His eyes were opened, however, when he himself was charged the following month.
He refused further testimony against his wife and wouldn't cooperate with his own examination and stood mute when asked to accept a trial. He was tortured for days for refusing to finalize a plea, stripped naked and crushed under massive stones, but he refused to confess or make further statement. He knew anything he said would be twisted into an admission of guilt and he refused to allow his property to be confiscated as a convicted witch.
Giles died in agony of a painfully slow death that dragged on for over two or three days. Upon being asked once again to confess, Giles Corey, under lengthy, days-long torture, crushed by stones and could barely get a breath, responded only, "More weight." Incredibly, he was 81. The tenacity of his protest under the barbaric treatment began to cause further doubt among the townspeople.
just as Reverend Burroughs' execution had exactly a month before. George Corwin was the High Sheriff of Essex County during the Salem Witch Trials in 1692. He was the nephew of Judge Jonathan Corwin and Judge Waite Winthrop, and the grandson of John Winthrop the Younger, the Governor of Connecticut. It's not clear how Corwin obtained such a prestigious position at the young age of 25, but it may have been due to his family connections.
Corwin's duties as High Sheriff involved signing arrests and death warrants, confiscating personal property such as money, goods, housewares and livestock, and carrying out executions. One of Corwin's most infamous acts of cruelty took place on September 19, 1692, when he took Giles Corey to a field next to the Old Salem Jail, which is now Howard Street Cemetery, and tortured him until he died.
Around noon that day, Corwin took Corey to the field, stripped him naked and forced him to lay down on the ground, while he placed a board on top of him. Corwin then placed heavy rocks on top of the board while asking Corey if he would comply, to which he simply responded, "More weight." The torture went on for two days, and at one point Corey's tongue protruded from his mouth due to the pressure. Corwin borrowed an onlooker's walking stick and forced Corey's tongue back into his mouth.
After two days passed, Corey died and was buried in or near the crossroads by Butts Brook. One of the Salem witchcraft trial's most outspoken participants was Judge John Hawthorne. On modern-day Washington Street, Judge Hawthorne resided in 1692, a short distance from the townhouse, Salem Courthouse.
Hawthorne may have been one of the "Good Gentlemen of Salem", sent to the Paris home in Salem village in late February 1692 for advice on the behavior of the first affected girls, concurring with the others that it was the hand of the devil. Hawthorne was a prominent figure in the witchcraft proceedings from his initial interrogation of Tituba, during which he attempted to coerce her into confessing to witchcraft, which she eventually did under his unrelenting pressure, through the conclusion of the trials.
He was a key player in the execution of 20 innocent people because he assumed guilt, led interrogation, supported the accusers, and believed in the touch test and spectral evidence. He so firmly believed he was doing the right thing, ridding the colony of the devil, that he even sent the four-year-old Dorothy Good to jail. When others began to question the use of spectral evidence and suggested the devil could take on anyone's likeness, Hawthorne sternly replied,
not without their consent. Despite the horrible acts that took place there, Salem is a wonderful place to visit today. I had the privilege myself just this past week. We stayed at 19 Beckett Street, an Airbnb and quaint three-bedroom home built by Thomas Rue, a mariner for his wife Susanna Beckett in 1784. Michael, our host, was a pleasure. He made sure we had everything we needed and he offered many tips on places we must see.
He even told us about a window that opened by itself in the house, and the possibility that the place was haunted, if not by former residents, then by the family cat that had passed the year before. The atmosphere and our host helped us to feel like we had a true Salem experience. Today, Salem is like any modern city in the United States. It is a vibrant urban community with a downtown area full of shops and restaurants.
There are many outdoor cafes, ethnic eateries, fine dining establishments, malls, department stores and open markets in their downtown retail district. Salem also has a waterfront with 18.5 miles of shoreline and seven public beaches for recreational and commercial use. Over one million people visit Salem every year. Most tourists visit the town's museums and historic architecture to learn about Salem's rich historical history.
Salem is a pedestrian-friendly city with easy access to its downtown attractions. Salem, Massachusetts is the home to grand mansions that house many of the country's first millionaires. Salem is proud to be the home of an up-and-coming artist community. There is so much to say about Salem, so many stories to tell and places to see, that I will have to go back in order to tell you more.
Sherry and Amanda arrived back at the hotel around 7.30 that evening. Amanda wanted to go have a drink, but Sherry declined. She was feeling silly for being afraid of something she had never believed in. Though afraid she was, and she couldn't shake it off, Amanda reassured her none of her little spells in her books had ever worked before and that she mainly just dabbled for fun. Sherry tried to seem reasonable and just smiled and said she was probably tired and needed to rest, even if in her mind she was losing it.
She made her way across the lobby to the elevator. She pushed the up button, the doors opened, and she got in by herself. For the first time, she wished someone else had gotten on so she wouldn't be by herself. She kind of laughed at herself and thought she was acting like a scared child. It was then that the elevator light seemed to almost dim slightly. Sherry couldn't tell if it was her eyes adjusting or something else. Then she noticed a horrible smell. Something like rotting flesh mixed with moldy clothes.
She went from being uneasy to almost frightened. The elevator reached its destination and the door opened. She quickly walked out and for the first time even the hotel hallway scared her. The dark colored carpets mixed with the cream colored wallpaper made for an eerie sight. The lighting was soft, giving the entire look to be something like a funeral home. It was almost as if something was in her mind bringing her down and making her have these macabre feelings and emotions.
Once inside her room, she slammed the door and locked it. She called Amanda, but her phone went straight to voicemail. Amanda had always let her phone die without noticing. It had always been something they laughed about until now. At this moment, Sherry wanted to cuss her. She turned on the TV to get some background noise. Maybe that could snap her back to reality. She lay on her bed and curled her feet up. As she watched the advertisements for a few minutes, she began to calm down.
telling herself that she had just gotten worked up for nothing. She then thought a hot bath would help. Sometimes taking a relaxing bath while playing on her phone was just what she needed. Sherry turned the knobs and checked the water with her hand to make sure the water was as hot as she could stand it. She then eased into the bathtub. She sank back and sighed. Reaching over and grabbing her phone from the towel she had laid it on, she opened it up and texted Amanda to let her know she was starting to feel better.
the text still wouldn't go through, and Sherry was beginning to get worried about her friend. She was starting to feel bad about letting her go to the pub by herself. She leaned back in the bathtub and thought she would relax a minute and then go look for her. A few minutes had gone by when she heard a strange noise. It sounded like it was coming from inside her room. All her senses peaked, and she looked at the crack in the bottom of the door. It looked as though the shadow of someone's feet was standing just outside the bathroom door.
That horrible, rotting smell caught her nose again as the light seemed to dim. She heard what sounded like a broken breath being drawn and then quickly realized it sounded like a death rattle. Sherry looked at the door lock and noticed she had forgot to lock it. Fear pulsed through her body as she wondered what kind of thing they had woken in the cemetery this morning. The door suddenly burst open and with that everything went dark. She could smell damp earth.
She was almost too terrified to open her eyes though she had no choice. She had to know that it was just her imagination. She would still be sitting in the warm tub, she was sure of it. She became distraught when she realized she was in fact outside. It was cool and the skies were cloudy. It seemed she was in the middle of nowhere. She felt what seemed to be clothing, but that would be absurd as just moments ago she wasn't wearing any.
She looked down and saw that she was wearing a dress. Not just any dress, but a very old one. She thought she must be somehow dreaming. As she looked around, she saw a figure in the distance, standing at the edge of a tree line. It was moving towards her. Sherry yelled out for help. She began walking to greet this person. All too soon her nightmares were made real. It was the same man from the alley.
She could now see him all too well. Most of the skin had come off his face, and he had no eyes. It seemed they had rotted out centuries ago. His arms were just about mummified. She was paralyzed with fear as he reached out and grabbed her. Now she was standing in front of a crowd of people. They were dressed like Puritans. Every one of them were spitting on her and calling her a witch.
One of the men struck her across the face, knocking her to the ground. It all came to her while she lay on the ground. The man who was haunting her was John Hawthorne, the man's grave that Amanda had cursed. The judge who had convicted all those people of witchcraft. He walked around these people while they attacked her with almost a satisfied look on his rotted face. She sprung to her feet and tried to run through them, but she was struck many more times. He spoke in a gravelly voice.
"The innocent do not run." With that, one of the men shackled her hands together. The judge stood over Sherry and told her to confess. She didn't want to speak. Strangely enough, she felt that if she did, it would make this dream somehow more real. But the pain she was feeling from being beaten was already very real. Finally, she opened her mouth and told him she had nothing to confess to. Now that she had spoken, the words started to flow.
She called him a murderer and a coward. When she did, he jumped and grabbed her. He pushed his face into hers so close she could smell his putrid breath. He told her if she didn't confess, she would be hanged. Sherry began to cry, knowing that's what would happen anyway. He started telling the small crowd of people that her and her friend were practicing witchcraft, that he had seen it with his own eyes. He told them that they must rid the world of this evil.
With that, Sherry was picked up off of her feet. Two of the men began dragging her towards the forest, with Judge Hawthorne leading them. Sherry tried to fight back, but she was struck hard with several blows all over her body. They came to a large tree and stopped. There was already a rope put in place. As the rope was put around Sherry's neck, she lost all sense of reality. She started screaming and begging to be set free.
The judge told her to confess and to admit that her friend was a witch. As fear coursed through her in an instant, she heard the word "yes" slip from her mouth. She couldn't believe she had said it. Self-preservation had won. She told them that her friend had been practicing witchcraft. With that, the judge smiled, and it was made even more menacing by the cracks in his decaying face. The rope was removed, and Sherry was knocked to the ground. The feeling of falling made her jolt awake,
As she jumped, the cold bath water splashed out of the tub. She crawled out onto the floor, still terrified, but so glad that it had been a dream. Once she stood up, she was sore from head to toe. Sherry looked in the mirror and could see bruises on her face. She looked at her arms and could see marks from where she had been grabbed. Terror quickly came flowing back. She threw on her clothes and grabbed her phone. Amanda had never answered back.
She tried calling her again, and it was still going straight to voicemail, checking the time it was 5:30 in the morning. So Sherry grabbed the keycard to Amanda's room. They had exchanged the extra keycards when they had checked in. At the time, it didn't make much sense that Amanda had wanted to do that, but now it made Sherry relieved that she had. She marched down the hallway to Amanda's room. She banged on the door so hard it almost echoed down the hallway. There was no answer.
So Sherry scanned the keycard and opened the door. She walked in, and there Amanda was. The sheet was wrapped around her neck. She had the look of agony on her pale face. Sherry screamed. Thank you for joining us to explore historical Salem, Massachusetts and its dark history. Tune in next week as we discuss another terrorific location.
I'm Carmen Carrion. Remember, you can send me suggestions of stories and haunted places to my email, carmencarrion at gmail.com or follow me on Twitter at Carmen Carrion. Be sure to check out eeriecast.com for more terrifying podcasts. Until next time, stay safe out there until I see you at our next destination.
