October 15th, 2017

Welcome to the final day of the #OctoberFrights Blog Hop.

I had a fabulous weekend in Salem, Mass and thought I'd make the last post
about one of the most interesting places we'd visited.

I LOVE cemeteries and the older and more mysterious the better. THE BURYING POINT is Salem, Mass oldest burying ground. It owns a lot of history as you can see from those buried there.

There's also a fairly new addition, The Witch's Memorial. Outside of the cemetery there are 20 plaques each with an executed witch's name on it and their date of death. Over 200 people were accused in the mass witch hysteria of 1692-1693 and 20 were executed.

There seemed to be three waves of execution, all on the 19th of the month. I don't know what the significance of that date is, if there is any, but 19 witches were hanged either on July, August or September 19th.
​One was pressed to death.

John Proctor, a wealthy and successful farmer and tavern owner, was the first  male to be accused of witchcraft. First, his servant Mary was accused, then his pregnant wife, then finally suspicion grew about him, because he was an outspoken opponent of the accusations, calling those accused frauds and liars. The Proctors are the basis for Arthur Miller's, The Crucible, where you can read and learn many more details of the case. 

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Giles Corey was 80 years old when he was pressed to death for refusing to enter a plea to the charge of witchcraft. English law allowed torture of a mute prisoner in order to force them to plea. His wife, Martha, was hung, I believe on the same day. I thought I had a picture of her plaque, but I don't see it in my photos now. You can also read about Giles and Martha Corey in The Crucible.

The cemetery itself was beautiful. Old, massive trees seemed to protect the graves from the elements, but for some it was too late. Many were so worn, we couldn't even read who was laid to rest. Sadly, there were many babies, toddlers and young adults in their late teens and early twenties. Life was definitely hard back then and something as simple as the common cold could turn to pneumonia and kill. 

I found this stone, over to the side, completely on its own. Not another stone anywhere around it. I wondered why and still don't have an answer. It doesn't seem her husband is next to her, but according to the engraving, which is hard to read, Mrs. Louisa was wife to Daniel (last name I couldn't make out) and someone died September 12, 1837 at age 31. At first, the way it's written I wondered if it was the husband's date of death, but I'm assuming it's the wife's. Still, I found her to be lonely in a big burying ground surrounded by many of her fellow town folk, that for some reason, she'd been separated from.

There is so much history and mystery in Salem, and we took it all in, but The Burying Point, was by far the coolest place for me.

If you'd like to be entered in my Grand Prize giveaway, a $20 Amazon Gift Card,
leave me a comment. 
I'll pick all my winners tomorrow morning to give anyone who wants to, time to comment. 
It's been great fun and I hope everyone who's hopped around has
enjoyed it as much as the authors have!
It's the final day - please hop around and visit the other authors and
​don't forget to enter the rafflecopter!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway