One building survived Salem’s witch trial era and it belonged to the judge

It’s the judge’s old house

Salem, Massachusetts, has one building left from the 1692 witch trials, and you can walk through it.

The dark-painted house sits at the corner of Essex and North Streets in downtown Salem, all steep gables and a central chimney that anchors the whole structure.

The City of Salem runs it as a museum now, with self-guided tours year-round. It landed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the McIntire District.

But the real draw is what happened inside these walls, and who lived here when it did.

The judge who questioned the first three accused

Judge Jonathan Corwin bought this house in 1675 from Captain Nathaniel Davenport, back when the building was only half finished.

Corwin came from a wealthy Salem family, born in 1640, and he grew into one of the colony’s most prominent merchants. He lived here for more than 40 years.

When the witch trials broke out, Corwin and fellow magistrate John Hathorne examined the first three people accused: Tituba, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne.

Some accounts say Corwin questioned accused witches right here in the house, though historians haven’t confirmed it.

Four rooms, low ceilings and a massive fireplace

Your tour starts in the kitchen, where a brick fireplace stretches across nearly the whole wall. The house has four main rooms on two floors: a kitchen, a parlor and two bedrooms.

Every ceiling hangs low, and diamond-pane windows let in thin light through exposed timber framing. The furnishings are real 17th-century pieces, chosen to match the era, though none belonged to the Corwin family.

Staff members stand in each room ready to answer questions and fill in the history you won’t find on the signs.

Shoes hidden in walls to stop witches

Display cases throughout the house hold objects tied to 17th-century folk magic and superstition.

You’ll see witch bottles that people once filled with hair and pins, then hung over fireplaces to ward off evil spirits.

One case holds a concealed shoe pulled from inside a colonial house wall, placed there because people believed hidden shoes could protect a home from witches.

Poppets, small dolls thought to be tools of witchcraft, sit nearby. These dolls served as evidence during the trials.

Old medical recipes round out the collection, including a painkiller called snail water.

Over 200 accused and 25 dead in 15 months

The Salem witch trials ran from February 1692 to May 1693 across Salem and neighboring towns. More than 200 people faced accusations of practicing witchcraft.

Nineteen went to the gallows. One man, Giles Corey, refused to enter a plea and died under heavy stones pressed onto his chest.

At least five more people died in jail before they ever saw a courtroom.

Corwin himself served on the Court of Oyer and Terminer, stepping in after Judge Nathaniel Saltonstall resigned in protest following the first execution.

Dreams counted as evidence in court

The whole thing started in Salem Village, now called Danvers, when a group of young girls began acting strangely. A local doctor said the girls were bewitched, and the accusations spread fast across multiple towns.

The court accepted spectral evidence, which meant testimony based on dreams and visions. If someone said your spirit visited them at night, that counted against you.

By October 1692, authorities started questioning this standard.

Governor William Phips dissolved the special court by the end of that year, and all remaining prisoners walked free by May 1693.

Steep gables and a two-story entry porch

The Witch House ranks among the finest examples of First Period colonial architecture in New England.

You’ll notice the steep gables first, then the projecting two-story entry porch that juts out from the front of the house. That massive central chimney you see from the street served every room.

A restoration project stripped away later additions, including a 19th-century pharmacy storefront, to bring back the original 1600s character.

In all of Salem, only the John Ward House and the House of the Seven Gables come close to matching it for preserved 17th-century construction.

A pharmacist gave it the name that stuck

George Farrington, a pharmacist, bought the house in 1856 and built an annex for his shop. He started calling it the “Witch House,” and the name caught on with tourists right away.

Farrington claimed the witch trials had taken place in the parlor, though historians pushed back on that story.

Before him, people knew the property as the “Roger Williams House,” after the minister who left Salem for Rhode Island. By the late 1800s and early 1900s, the building had been carved up into apartments and shops.

Citizens raised $42,500 to save it from demolition

Salem nearly lost the house in the 1940s. The city planned to widen North Street, and the Witch House sat right in the path.

A group of residents formed Historic Salem, Inc. in 1944 and raised $42,500 to move the entire building about 35 feet back from its original spot.

Architects Frank Chouteau Brown and Gordon Robb then restored it to its 17th-century appearance, peeling away centuries of changes. The museum opened to the public in 1948 and has run without interruption since.

Admission runs $12 and tours take half an hour

Self-guided admission costs $12 for adults. Seniors 62 and older and kids ages 6 to 14 pay $8, and children under 6 get in free.

From April 1 through Nov. 14, you can visit daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with last entry at 4:45 p.m. Winter hours shrink to Thursday through Sunday, noon to 4 p.m., from Nov. 15 through March 31. Most people spend 20 to 30 minutes inside.

If you’re going in October, buy tickets online starting Sept. 27, released each morning at 8 a.m. for that day only.

Skip the camera and the car in October

Salem pulls in more than a million visitors during October for Haunted Happenings, a month-long Halloween celebration that takes over the city.

During October, the Witch House bans photography, videography and electronic devices inside. Parking downtown is tight year-round and worse in October, so leave the car behind.

The commuter rail from Boston drops you at Salem Station, and the Witch House is a short walk from there. For a quieter visit, go on a weekday morning any other month.

Stone benches honor the 20 people who died

The Salem Witch Trials Memorial sits right next to the Old Burying Point Cemetery, with 20 stone benches, one for each person executed.

Around the corner on Washington Square, the Salem Witch Museum walks you through the 1692 events using life-size stage sets.

The Peabody Essex Museum holds one of the world’s most important collections of witch trial objects. The Old Burying Point Cemetery itself dates to 1637, making it one of the oldest burial grounds in the country.

Down along Salem Harbor, the House of the Seven Gables, built in 1668, inspired Nathaniel Hawthorne’s famous novel.

Visit the Witch House in Salem, Massachusetts

You can find the Witch House at 310 Essex St., right on the corner of Essex and North Streets in downtown Salem.

It’s the only building left in the city with a direct connection to the 1692 witch trials, and it stays open year-round with seasonal hours. October is packed, so plan around it if you can.

Salem sits about 20 miles north of Boston, and you can drive or hop on the commuter rail. Check the official website for current hours and October ticket availability before you go.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

Read more from this brand:

• Before Salem meant witches, it meant this 1668 harbor mansion with a hidden staircase
• The last witch trial house in Salem is still standing 330 years later
• Salem, Massachusetts turns 400 this year and it’s so much more than the witches