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With an extensive collection of books on the Salem witch trials and many locally made treats, we offer tried, true and quirky products to appeal to young and old alike. The Salem witchcraft trials took place between February 1692 and May 1693. More than 200 people were accused, 59 were tried, 31 were found guilty, and 20 were executed.
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The house is an excellent example of seventeenth-century architecture. Judge Corwin, buried in the nearby Broad Street Cemetery, purchased the structure in 1675 when he was 24 years old and lived there for more than forty years. This historic site offers public tours and educational programs. The Witch House, listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of Salem’s historic McIntire District, was built between 1642 and 1675. It is the only home in modern Salem with direct ties to the witchcraft trials of 1692.
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The Witch House is thick with black timber, two-and-a-half stories tall. Located at 310 Essex Street in the McIntire Historic District of Salem, the house stands in testimony to the Witch Trials of 1692. The Witch House is the only surviving structure with direct ties to Salem’s Witch Trials — architecturally extraordinary, historically essential. Purchased in 1675 by Judge Jonathan Corwin, magistrate of Salem’s Witch Trials, the Witch House remained with the Corwins until the mid-1800s. The “Corwin Curse” marked the house by 1718; eight Corwin lives were lost to premature death, catastrophically crippling the Corwin estate. SALEM (CBS) - After nearly three centuries of conflicting beliefs, the city of Salem confirms a team of scholars verified the site where 19 innocent people were hanged during the 1692 witch trials as Proctor's Ledge.
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Those final unfortunates were hanged, and one man was crushed to death while being tortured. The Witch House never had any accused witches living in it, but it does offer a fascinating glimpse into the daily life of a person of means in 17th Century New England. Open to the public, there are guided and self-guided tours available. In 2022, lawmakers exonerated Elizabeth Johnson Jr., clearing her name 329 years after she was convicted of witchcraft in 1693 and sentenced to death at the height of the Salem witch trials. Johnson is believed to be the last accused Salem witch to have her conviction set aside. The ceremony came 325 years to the day when Sarah Good, Elizabeth Howe, Susannah Martin, Rebecca Nurse and Sarah Wildes were hanged at a site in Salem known as Proctor’s Ledge.
The Witch House, as it is now known, was his home and is the only structure still standing in Salem, Massachusetts with direct ties to the Salem witch trials of 1692. The house was bought by Judge Corwin in 1675, when he was 24 years old, and he lived there for more than forty years. The house remained in the Corwin family until the mid-19th century. Many structures with ties to the witch trials that made it through the fire were torn down or destroyed.
She also mentioned that, despite what we think today, Puritans didn’t wear black and white. Just like the paint, black clothing was also very expensive at the time. She told me that black paint was very expensive back then and that the house was actually dark because of multiple coats of linseed oil. Along the opposite wall sat a table with several books and documents from the Salem Witch Trials, including a tattered copy of Memorable Providences, Relating to Witchcraft and Possessions written by Cotton Mather. The interior of the house was dark, and the floors creaked as I walked over to the gift shop counter. I scanned the walls, looking at all The Witch House souvenirs.
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The historic site is an area located in between Proctor and Pope Streets in Salem, Massachusetts. The Witch House is a beautiful building which gives a great insight into the life of a rich 17th-century family. The Witch House also offers a small glance into the witch trials in which Jonathan Corwin played a large part in.
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The author, a Puritan minister, living in Boston, wrote several books about witchcraft that were responsible for the people of Salem catapulting themselves into the hysteria of the witch trials. Little witch pins, dark postcards showing The Witch House in spooky foggy lighting, books on the history of the witch trials and all sorts of other witch merchandise lined the walls. I stood there thinking how appalled Jonathan Corwin would have been, knowing that this was what his home had turned into. Despite its significance in the witch hunt of 1692, Andover has always labored “in the shadow of Salem.” The reality is that 45 residents of Andover were accused of witchcraft in that fateful year, more than from any other town. No fewer than twenty-three inhabitants of Andover involved themselves in accusations in one way or another and that spilled over into neighboring towns – including Billerica, Boxford, Haverhill, Reading, and Rowley.
Visitors to the Witch House claim to hear disembodied voices; some feel the chill of an unseen specter. Even Ghost Adventures investigated the Witch House during the nineteenth episode of their fourth season. In Pownal, Vermont, a town that borders Massachusetts and New York, a dedication ceremony was held last month for a historical marker recognizing the survivor of Vermont’s only recorded witch trial. Widow Krieger was said to have escaped drowning in the Hoosic River when tried as a witch in 1785, according to the Legends and Lore marker. Among those accused of witchcraft in Boston was Ann Hibbins, sister-in-law to Massachusetts Gov. Richard Bellingham, who was executed in 1656. A character based on Hibbins would later appear in Nathaniel Hawthorne's “The Scarlet Letter,” published in 1850.
Among the judges who convicted the witches (based on “spectral evidence,” evidence based upon dreams or visions) was Jonathan Corwin. He took the place of Judge Nathaniel Saltonstall, who resigned after the execution of Bridget Bishop. Corwin served on the Court of Oyer and Terminer, which ultimately sent nineteen to the gallows.
The poppet, found in the nearby house of Bridget Bishop, may retain residual energy from Salem’s Witch Trials. Historic Salem likewise relocated the house thirty-five feet to the west, saving the Witch House from demolition. North Street, or State Route 114, was to be widened to accommodate traffic. The expansion of North Street would sacrifice the Witch House. Citizens collected $42,000 for the relocation of both the Witch House and neighboring Bowditch House, the former residence of the founder of modern maritime navigation.
Although Corwin’s reputation apparently survived the witch trials intact, a long run of tragedy befell his household. Jonathan and Elizabeth married in their mid-20s, when she had given birth to four children, one of whom had already died. Soon after they moved into the house, her 12-year-old daughter Margaret died, and of the 10 children Elizabeth bore Corwin, only two reached adulthood, most dying in the first few years of life.
Numerous books have been written about the events of 1692, but this one is the first to illuminate the major role that Andover played in the process. Salem’s only building with direct ties to the witch trials, the 17th century home of Judge Jonathon Corwin. The museum store offers a wide assortment of items from educational materials to attractive apparel.
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“It was quite grand by Salem standards, befitting the station of Corwin and his wife,” says Elizabeth Peterson, director of what has come to be known as the Witch House. In 1944, the threatened destruction of The Witch House became the catalyst that launched a new wave of restoration in Salem. A group of concerned citizens raised the $42,500 needed to move and restore the building. Judge Corwin received a strongly argued letter from Salisbury’s Major Robert Pike in September of 1692, in which Pike questioned the use of spectral evidence to convict people of witchcraft. For more information on the happenings in Salem visit Destination Salem for tourism information, Haunted Happenings for all things Halloween, and Creative Collective for Salem Arts and Culture and event information. The Witch House also possesses a poppet, a doll used for spell-casting or “sympathetic” magic.
Self-guided admission is $8.25 for adults, $6.25 for seniors (60+), $6.25 for veterans, $4.25 for youths (6-14), free for children under 6. The Witch House was marked by the witch hunt, permanently touched by his intolerance. With eight Corwin lives lost to premature death, this “Historic Home” has testified to tragedy, terror, and tall tale. The Witch House was even uprooted and relocated, mystifying an already mysterious two-and-half-story home. Those wrongly accused of witchcraft, or those caught by the “Corwin Curse”?
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