1692 trialsFree to visit · Salem, Mass.
Salem Witch Trials Memorial
Twenty granite benches in a walled enclosure off Liberty Street, one for each person executed in 1692, each cut with the name, the manner of death and the date. It is free, it is open from dawn to dusk, and it takes ten minutes.
Salem Witch Trials Memorial
Twenty benches for twenty people, dedicated in 1992 on the three hundredth anniversary, beside the burying ground the town would not let them into.
The memorial was dedicated on 5 August 1992, three hundred years after the trials, by Elie Wiesel. James Cutler and Maggie Smith designed it.
Twenty benches cantilever out of a low stone wall. Nineteen people were hanged between 10 June and 22 September 1692, beginning with Bridget Bishop and ending with eight people on one day; Giles Corey was pressed to death on 19 September. At least five more died in jail, which brings the toll to at least twenty-five.
At the threshold, the protests of the accused are carved into the stone and run out mid-sentence under your feet — the design’s way of saying the court stopped listening.
Getting there
It shares a wall with the Charter Street Burying Point, two minutes on foot.
Liberty Street, between Charter Street and Derby Street
42.5208, −70.8929Google MapsApple MapsOpenStreetMap
Before you go
- Guides may not stand on the benches or the walls
- Groups must not block the pathways
- No candles or open flames
- Derby Square → Salem Common · 761 m, 10 min on foot
- 210 Essex Street → Salem Common · 665 m, 9 min on foot
Walks that stop here
Five of the walks we list name this place in their own description. That is the test we use — not our guess about where a route goes.
night walksHistory and Hauntings Guided Walking Tour2 hours · after sunset · ★ 4.82 · 821 reviewsfrom $36
beyond the walkBoston to Salem by Train: Walking Tour, Stay & Play All Day2.5 hours · ★ 4.6 · 42 reviewsfrom $120
night walksSalem Night Tour: Haunt and History1.5 hours · late evening · ★ 4.47 · 711 reviewsfrom $30
1692 trialsUltimate Witches and Witchcraft of Salem Walking Tour2 hours · ★ 3.91 · 78 reviewsfrom $35