What: beautiful, thoughtful memorial dedicated to the 20 innocent people that were executed during…read morethe 1692 witchcraft hysteria. Each bench has the name, date of execution and how they were executed on the bench. It really makes you feel so sad to walk past and read each one and know they were unfairly prosecuted. There is a lot of kitschy witch stuff around Salem, but this is a truly beautiful memorial.

A great memorial--the victims' name engravings were treated with respect and remembrance…read more I loved how people left stones/flowers/trinkets/coins/etc. I recommend coming to the memorial after you've been to one of the museums that spoke about the history of witches/witch trials in Salem

The Ropes Mansion is part of the Peabody Essex Museum. You can tour the gardens for free without a…read morereservation. They had a lot of beautiful flowers even in October.

We almost didn't make it see the Ropes Mansion before heading back home last week, but we decided…read moreour trip wouldn't be complete if we didn't see it. Do you remember in the movie when Dani and Max are outside the mansion just staring up at it in awe? That was me. The infamous mansion where Allison lives is a sight that can't be missed! It is located in a residential neighborhood at the very end of the street, but it is worth the quick detour away from the hustle and bustle of the tourist area. We came later in the evening so were only able to get a couple of night time shots - we wanted to get one of us in front of it, but a tour group was coming through at the same time and we didn't want to be too distracting. I'm not sure if they ever do tours inside, I believe the Ropes Mansion is owned by the Essex Museum, but the outside was definitely enough for me. If you're a fan of Hocus Pocus, this is a must stop!

I am about 10 years too young to have watched Bewitched when it was released, but oh my did I watch…read morethe reruns. We took a tour of Salem and this was a popular stop. The tour guide said the town was not initially receptive to the show being based/filmed in Salem because they thought it was disrespectful to the tragedy of the witch trials. It turns out Bewitched helped revitalize Salem and locals became much more accepting. Elizabeth Montgomery visited the town and our tour guide said the little girls in Salem were all trying to wiggle their nose like her. The statue is easy to find and a very cute addition to the downtown area.

Worth a look and quick picture when walking the Salem area. Especially if you are old enough to…read moreremember the TV Show.

Beautiful memorial and well attended to. Peaceful and respected and great piece of history.read more

While in Salem Massachusetts we found the Witchcraft Victims Monument in Danvers MA. There is no…read moresignage directing you towards the village when it was over played Noël Teel & I visited while Tony helped the baby! Tony Vanoy Lisa Diane Boyce-Vanoy Dale Lisa Vanoy

I visited the Salem Witch Museum with my mom when we spent a day in Salem a week or so ago. Yes,…read moreit's entirely kitschy, cheesy, and dated. But I didn't have a terrible time, and it does tell the story of the Salem Witch Trials in a way that is a pretty good introduction to the history if you haven't heard it in a long time! So why are the reviews so bad? The name of the business is probably a mistake, because museum is the wrong word for this experience (they did tell us when we walked up that they are not a traditional museum and explained what the experience was like, so people should be aware if that is their standard process). The Salem Witch Museum is really a two-part experience. The first room is a square room that functions as a theater. As the story of the Salem Witch Trials is told, different tableaus around the room are lit up. They don't move, and a narrator (a dated 1960s-sounding British narrator) uses that tableau to explain the next part of the story. The mannequins are clearly old - you can see some are not in great condition when the tableau is lit up. But I hadn't read about the Salem Witch Trials in so long that I didn't remember much of the story, and that first experience wasn't a bad introduction! And I do like a little kitsch! The second experience is more like a museum. A guide that works at the museum walks the group to different displays, using them to explain different parts of the history of witch trials. Then there's a big gift shop where you can all kinds of things relating to witchcraft and the Salem Witch Trials. I don't think this experience is bad. I do think it's cheesy and dated and not for everyone. But I think it's possible to get something out of this experience, too. I hope this review helps people figure out if the experience is right for them!

This was...not a good museum. It's essentially two rooms/exhibits. One is the main auditorium,…read morewhere they do a "show" featuring an extremely dated voiceover lighting up dioramas on the walls. The other is a small, underwhelming hallway with a handful of rare books in it and, confusingly, what seems to be a diorama of...wiccans? Like, just two regular contemporary humans, standing in the woods. There were also quite a lot of inaccuracies in the voiceover, especially when it comes to Tituba. I had thought they'd be corrected after by the guides, but it seems like this place is less interested in historical accuracy and more in macabre vibes. Pretty sure they get all their custom by having a building that looks cool from the outside.

This was a great walking tour of Salem!! I went in knowing basically nothing about the witch trials…read moreand left knowing a lot more about- and with some local restaurant recommendations. We got plenty of steps and saw a lot of Salem. I carried my baby around, and he got a great nap!!

This was an excellent tour! Sarah is the host and she is terrific! She is very knowledgeable and…read moregreat in telling the stories and historical facts and events.

It's a very interesting museum to go through. They show you're quite a bit about the trials then…read moreyou're going into the prisons where they actually kept the prisoners. Wait till you see the room. They found this jail by accident many years ago. It has its own interesting history give it a try you're gonna like it.

Really cool stop with the combined three attraction ticket! The outside is beautiful with a spooky…read moreinterior. You are celebrated warmly and the live action of the trial is so well done. The dungeon is cold and dark makes you feel like you are really there. Gift shop is amazing and affordable.

My mom and I toured the House of the Seven Gables when we spent a day in Salem a week or so ago,…read moreand it was one of the highlights of our time in Salem. The house dates back to 1668, when it was built for a wealthy sea captain and merchant. It remained in that family for three generations before it was bought by another family. The house is mostly famous for being the setting and subject of a novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne, who was a second cousin of Susannah Ingersoll, who lived in the home for years. In 1908, the home was purchased again, this time by a woman who made it her life's mission to restore the house, protect it for posterity, and to turn into a museum that could be visited by tourists to Salem. The home was renovated many times (by different owners of the house) - it didn't even always have seven gables, but that's a part of its interesting story! We learned all of the above and more from our tour guide on a guided tour of the house. Our tour guide was great - friendly, informative, and interesting! After our tour, we explored Nathaniel Hawthorne's birthplace home, which was moved to the grounds of the House of Seven Gables to avoid demolition. It was a great way to learn a little more about Hawthorne. There was also a gift shop, where my mom and I both bought copies of The House of the Seven Gables, stamped so we always remember where we bought it. Our tour was interesting, and the house is striking and fascinating. It's well worth a visit if you're exploring Salem.

Excellent site to visit! Beautiful views! We had a great docent lead tour. Our guide shared lots…read moreof details and did a great job trying to answer our group's many questions! Learning about the different architectural phases of this property was very interesting. The Secret Staircase is special! Gift Shop was a fun stop! Friendly staff. They have their own parking lot with ample and FREE parking while you visit. Now that's a plus. Everywhere else in Salem is paid parking, including the Peabody Essex Museum (park and hike!) Highly recommend visiting The House of Seven Gables if you are in the area.

A lovely museum with the right volume and diversity of things and experiences! I loved how there…read morewas art, artifacts, furniture, and small bits of information you could walk away with. The trouble with museums is that the amount of information can be overwhelming, that you skip over the signs because there are too many. There are plenty of items to look at here, but it didn't feel too overwhelming to get a feel within a few hours. Make sure to book your tickets online to get a time for the Chinese house. I've never walked in something so old. It was interesting to see the construction and walk through it.

I visited the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) with my mom at the end of our day in Salem about a week or…read moreso ago, and we really enjoyed our visit. The museum has an extensive collection of Asian Art, but it holds more than 800,000 works of historical and cultural arts covering maritime, American, Asia, and Oceanic and African art. The highlight of our visit was visiting the Yin Yu Tang House. The house dates back to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Huang, a prosperous merchant, built this stately 16-bedroom, two story-house with a courtyard and called it "Yin Yu Tang," meaning "Hall of Plentiful Shelter." It was home to the Huang family in the Huizhou region for more than 200 years until the last of the family descendants moved from the village in 1982. In the 1990s, as part of a cultural exchange, the home and its contents were dismantled and transported to Massachusetts, where it was re-erected in the PEM. The PEM opened to the public in 2003. The house is currently undergoing work to preserve its roof tiles and masonry walls, so there was a lot of scaffolding obstructing views of the home and pictures taken of the museum. But it still well worth a visit; it's incredible. (The website says the house is closed 7/27-7/31 and 8/3-8/7, so maybe they'll have the work done by the end of those stretches!) I only wish the staff that had walked us into the house had explained exactly how much time we'd get inside the house before being ushered out for the next group, because my mom and I were using the audio guide to learn about the house as we explored. Before we finished several rooms, we were told our time was up, which was a bummer - we barely had time to peek into the rooms we hadn't gotten to yet, so I wish we'd known and could use our time better. They call it a tour on the website, but it's a self-guided experience; no museum staff walk you around the house. (FYI: You need a separate ticket for the Yin Yu Tang House, which you can buy on the website.) We explored the rest of the museum as well, including some of their interesting temporary exhibits: "Anila Quayyum Agha: All the Flowers Are for Me," "On This Ground: Being and Belonging in America," and "Beyond the Broom: Salem Short Films." Other highlights of our time were visiting the East India Marine Hall and seeing art and artifacts relating to the Salem Witch Trials. They also have a great gift shop, so save some time for that. A very nice regional art museum that is worth visiting if you have time in your Salem itinerary!

We did two walking tours in our one day we had at Salem. Crazy I know, but stay with me, I don't…read moreregret a single thing about it. Our first tour was the hocus pocus walking tour with Hilary. Amazing. Hilary was funny, knowledgable, and just a true joy to be around. That two hour walk went by faster than I thought it would. She has so many behind the scenes knowledge of the movie, I was thoroughly impressed. Oh, she also had a candy bucket! Cant ever go wrong with candy. Thank you Hilary for opening our day in such a positive way. My second walking tour was the history and hauntings of Salem. Our tour guide was Claire and she was great. She was able to keep the attention of our 13 yo son, no small feat these days. However, her story telling and live of history kept him into the walk and he didn't complain once. Thank you Claire for giving us a great tour of Salem and completing our night out!

We chose Witch City Walking Tours to introduce us to Salem. Aurelia was our guide and she was a…read morewealth of information. Unfortunately we started the tour in Derby Square and it was very loud. It was very hard to hear Aurelia and the noise was very distracting. Aurelia was a lifelong resident of the Salem area and clearly very invested in the city. Before arriving in Salem I thought it was a small town. Salem is a much larger town located just north of Boston. The tour covered about 1 1/2 miles and the walk was easy. Much of the focus was on the witch trials and the mark it left on the city of Salem. The tour ended at the memorial for the victims of the witch trials and it was very solemn. This tour gave me a new perspective on Salem and its history.