Road Trip Day 7: Salem, MA

Exchange of text messages between friend Kait and I, around 1:35pm on Friday:

Kait: How you guys doing?
Carol: Double double toil and trouble.
Kait: You're a black magic woman.
Carol: Hocus pocus. This shit is wacko.
Kait: Can you cast me a spell for some fortune?
Carol: Not sure what herb that requires (that was all Jen).
Kait: Oh, I have an idea. You should do a rain dance so it holds off tonight!

Clearly, we spent part of the day exploring the Salem Witch Trial history in Salem, MA. We started our touring at the Salem Witch Museum. Here, we heard a twenty-minute account of the overall history surrounding the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 followed by some information regarding the definitions of a "witch" and the progression of a "witch" over time including present-day Wiccans. I found this to be insightful.

Our second stop was the Witch History Museum. Again, there was a general telling of the overall history surrounding the trials, but this time, the second part of the tour told 15 different stories of the major players in these events, including the black slave woman, the girls, the reverend and the sherriff.

The third stop was the Salem Witch Dungeon. This stop had a live reenactment of a trial followed by a tour of a replica of what the dungeons looked like where "witches" were held.

This whole experience was wacko. Honestly, I don't even know of a better word to describe it. Learning the details of this crazy event really was informative. Before these tours, I really didn't know too much about the Salem Witch Trials. It was interesting to ponder the happenings at each of these stops.

On a side note, the woman who gave the tour of the dungeon said that prisoners had to pay for their stay in jail. Basically, the wealthier prisoners could purchase larger cells, with pillows and blankets and other amenities. Poor prisoners were sometimes held in tiny cells and shackled to walls so they couldn't even sit down. It was absolutely morbid to think about this. I'm sharing this because I kept thinking to myself, "Interesting. Today, my tax-paying dollars support prisoners. Some prisoners get social security checks while in prison. They don't pay for a thing and sometimes get out of jail with more money to live on than many of us who actually work full time, pay taxes, and contribute positively to society. I wonder what would happen today if prisoners had to pay for their stay in actual dollars." Random thoughts, I know.

On a more pleasant note, we had another delicious lunch at a place in downtown Salem called Rockafellas. Fried Brie Salad - wonderful choice - wish it existed on more menus.