Research Delivers in Salem, Massachusetts
A writer’s life has its pros and cons. Research visits to Salem are definitely on the pro side. On that note, I recently visited the Salem Witch Museum to get a feel for the museum’s gift shop product line for a scene in my next novel, Dream Stalker: The Prisoner.
My sunny June day photo of the brick and brownstone Gothic Revival building that houses the Salem Witch Museum.
Note: Behind the Roger Conant statue
My visit began with a long wait in line, then I joined a tour group for an audiovisual reenactment of the 1620 trials. The show featured thirteen stage sets. Ranging around the darkened room, spotlighted wax figures and recorded narration retell the story.
During this part of the tour, I met two friendly women, one from Lebanon and one from Great Britain. After the first exhibit, I asked them if they enjoyed the show. One thought the show was better suited for children, the other thought it was fun. Sharing insights with these friendly world travelers still makes me smile.
Next, our tour group was divided into two groups—one group toured the Witches: The Evolving Perceptions exhibit, while the other visited the gift shop.
Next stop for me: Witches: The Evolving Perceptions. This exhibit explores the changing image of witches and witch-hunts and ends with an overview of the formula for scapegoating–fear + trigger = scapegoating. Four examples were given:
1.) In 1620, Dr. Griggs, out of fear of the Devil and damnation, diagnosed demonic possession in several young girls, leading to 150 townspeople being accused of witchcraft;
2.) During World War II, fear of Japan after Pearl Harbor led to the internment of Japanese American citizens;
3.) In the 1950s, fear of Communism triggered the McCarthyite black-listing of U. S. Citizens; and
4.) In the 1980s, fear of HIV infection triggered the scapegoating of gay Americans.
Submit your own scapegoating example here: https://salemwitchmuseum.com/witch-hunt/
Finally, it was my turn to enjoy the Salem Witch Museum gift shop. Which of the gift shop products pictured below do you think I’ll repurpose for use in my upcoming novel? Which do you think I’m hoping someone will tell my husband David to buy me?
I was thinking of telling David to just get you one of everything in the shop (:
When it comes to witches, though, I’m in the mindset of those from Quebec and Acadia at the moment. Which witches seemed to have been taken a lot less seriously than in New England in the same time periods.
There’s a book about one of my ancestors https://www.mqup.ca/possession-of-barbe-hallay–the-products-9780228014034.php, who seems to have been put to work as a means for chasing away the demons.
Another ancestor was plagued by a purported witch named Jean Campagna, who was in his 40s when he wanted to marry this 15 y-o Marie. Her mother reportedly said “no” and told him he was an idiot. He threatened that she’d pay for that in a week, and the whole thing ended up in a sorcery trial in Quebec. https://www.museeacadien.ca/post/74-jean-campagna-the-sorcerer.
Which leads me to wonder how it is that witch accusations ended up in trials and hangings in Salem, but in learning job skills and being told you’re an idiot in Canada. It’s not like the French didn’t believe in ghosts, demons, sprites, goblins, and other-worldly beings and experiences. So why the difference?