Salem, of course, is famous for being home to the witch trials--many folks hanged or pressed to death because three girls made up a story to avoid getting into trouble with their father. As the hysteria grew, so did their power...and they kept on accusing people. Finally, politics put an end to it...the girls accused the governor's wife of being a witch. He made it a law that "spectral" evidence was no longer sufficient to warrant prosecution.
The town wasn't all I had expected to see. I expected more of an historical something...which it was, but whatever the something is it wasn't the thing I was expecting. Anywho...there was a mix of colonial and new buildings. Mostly beautiful, with narrow, cobblestone streets and bricked sidewalks that are wavy and wonky. I'll bet twisted ankles were prevalent in the day--I couldn't walk straight and I kept tripping over myself.
There were witchcraft stores--that were really just themed souveneir shops...trinkets you could likely buy at any Halloween shop. And then there was HEX...true voodoo shop run by three witches. I had to go inside. All sorts of potion ingredients, voodoo dolls, pre-made magic and what-not. It smelled like the three witches had argued over which ingredients to throw into a brew. Bleah. It was cool, though.
Odd thing is that there were no witches in Salem at the time of the trials. It was all a lie. Had a hard time comprehending why all the "witch" vibe exists now, other than to make money. There were witches walking about, some of them would occassionaly bend to the ground and scoop up stuff into tiny glass jars and then go about their way.
There is a memorial dedicated to the victims of the trials...a stone wall with these bench-like slabs jutting out. The slabs are like headstones--naming who, when and how they died. Pressed to death. The stupid things people do on behalf of God. By the time I had finished the memorial I felt really sad. Which, I guess, is the point. I went to take a picture of the slab for Sarah Good, and my camera battery--which is new--just died. Weird, I thought. I then walked the cemetary and later went through the memorial again. Battery died on Sarah Good again. Creepy.
The cemetary was so old it had at least one body that had sailed over on the Mayflower.
It was odd being able to see and touch houses that are older than our country. The architecture here is just amazing. There are streets lined with block-shapped mansions, three stories high, end to end with windows. Just neat.
Traffic in Salem sucks. So much of it, very narrow roads, too few stop signs, and stop lights that don't make any sense. Everybody was incredibly agressive...and I suddenly figured out why. I had to make a left onto a street that had full traffic moving slowly in both directions. I knew I would never get an opportunity to turn, so I waited till I had a chance to cut people off--block traffic from the left, edge into the left lane. That's how it's done here. Oh...and for some reason, when there is a really, reallly long line of cars, people just hop into the line like it's a bread line or something. Never mind that the left lane is completely empty...except for me, zooming past all the stupid people.
On my way out I had about 3 miles of road to navigate to the highway--all backed up and not moving. I turned on GPS Ron and went down the side roads. And then Ron started dying again and I didn't have my laptop with me. After a bit, he said nothing. "Ron," I said, tapping the box. "You, still with me? Say something." And finally, Ron says, "After 300 yards, turn right." Relieved, I said back, "That's right, Ron, after 300 yards we'll turn right. And then we'll go anywhere you want me to go. You just stay with me and keep talking. Don't give up on me, Ron."
I'm testing out a custom control, so don't mind the "trial" text that appears. If you move the mouse to the left and right sides of the box below, navigation buttons will appear to help you flip through the pictures. If you click on the images themselves, you'll see the caption for what you're seeing.