In January of 1692, in the small village of Salem in the colony of Massachusetts, two young girls, aged 9 and 11, began having “fits.” The two girls, Betty Parris (daughter of the local preacher) and Abigail Williams, began to display odd behavior, such as convulsions, odd speech, body contortions, and acted as if they were being “bitten and pinched by invisible agents, their limbed (sic) wracked and tormented so as might move an (sic) heart of stone, to sympathize with them” (Hale, 1702 (2006), p. 413). The local doctor was called, and finding nothing physically wrong with them, concluded that the devil's hand was at work, and they were bewitched (Boyer & Nissenbaum, 1974, p. 2). The preacher and townspeople implored the girls to tell them who was hurting them, and as more girls began to display similar behavior, the two finally named Tituba, a slave living with the Parris family, and two other local women as the “witches” who were hurting them (Hill, 2002, p. 16). So begins the tale of one of the strangest episodes in American history. By the end of October of the same year, over 150 had been accused of witchcraft, 19 executed, one pressed to death for refusing to plead, and others died in jail awaiting trial. To this day, the trials are fascinating because, although we know the factual events that happened, we don't really know why as there is no universally accepted explanation (Purdy, 2007, p. 1).
Today, the city of Salem has a distinctive tourist image, including that of a sinister and macabre location where one of the most shocking and horrifying events in American history took place. This association with events and narratives surrounding death, suffering, and ghoulish folklore situates Salem as a dark tourism location. Dark tourism (as defined by Stone, 2006, p. 146) is tourism to sites associated with death, disaster, and the macabre, and is a form of tourism rapidly growing in popularity (Sharpley, 2009, p. 5). This paper investigates the story of the Salem witch trials as presented by tourist attractions in Salem, Massachusetts. Specifically, how the history of the trials is presented through live action and static historical museum displays.
Salem, Massachusetts is a small city of 42,000 located 15 miles north of Boston, in the New England area of the United States. Once America's wealthiest city, it produced America's first millionaire (Booth, 2011, p. xvi), and as the one-time largest seaport in America, it has played a substantial role in American history. Salem was founded by Puritan colonists in 1623, and early in the 18th century became the shipping capital of the young United States, until the port was no longer deep enough to accommodate newer larger ships. The decline of the shipping industry led to the rise of manufacturing during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and Salem was famous for leathers, text
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