#haunted cemetery

Old Burying Point Cemetery

Salem, Massachusetts

In Salem, Massachusetts, you’ll find the second oldest cemetery in the country, the Old Burying Point Cemetery. The Burying Point was established in 1637. For its age, every occupant at the Burying Point unquestionably holds historical importance. But, one of the most interesting names etched into the ancient gravestones belongs to John Hathorne.

Along with Hathorne, you’ll find most of the names associated with the Salem Witch Trials at Burying Point. From the memorial for the wrongfully accused to the headstones of their pious chastisers, Old Burying Point Cemetery is a step back into a time when the line between the wicked and the innocent blurred. Others who were laid to rest at Old Burying Point include Mayflower passenger, Captain Richard More, and the last governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Simon Bradstreet.

Since the first bodies were laid to rest at Old Burying Point, there have been many strange occurrences. The occurrences were widely believed to be supernatural, as this was the era of the witch. It is also because of this era that many choose to discredit these accounts of paranormal activity as a good case of hysteria.

Nathaniel Hawthorne once wrote, “There is a fatality, a feeling so irresistible and inevitable that it has the force of doom, which almost invariably compels human beings to linger around and haunt, ghostlike, the spot where some great and marked event has given the color to their lifetime; and still the more irresistibly, the darker the tinge that saddens it.”

Paranormal Activity at Old Burying Point

Sensitives who have visited Old Burying Point have reportedly become overwhelmed with the sensation of sadness and despair. Even while just walking through the graveyard, the heavy feeling of depression descends and sends innocent passerby into feeling as though there is little hope to be found in the world.

Over the years people have successfully captured EVP of voices from the beyond at Old Burying Point. Also captured at the cemetery via photographs are mysterious shadows, emanating lights, orbs, white mist and even apparitions.

One of these apparitions belongs to Mary Bright Corey, who died on August 28th, 1684. She was the second wife of Giles Corey, who later became an unfortunate victim of the Witch Trials. Giles died from his inflicted torture on September 19th, 1692, just after the eighth anniversary of Mary’s passing.

Another ghost that has been seen is the figure of a woman who appears in the back corner of the cemetery. She is usually spotted wearing a powder blue dress, whilst holding a picnic basket in hand. Sometimes, she is also accompanied by a young boy. It is the believed the two spirits were mother and son, and died in a fire.

The Ghostly Lady in White

In addition to the other ghosts spotted at Old Burying Point, another apparition that has been seen with great frequency is a Lady in White. However, she seems to be a bit camera shy, as there is little photographic evidence of her manifestations.

Normally, once the cameras come out, the Lady in White transitions into bright orbs or vanishes altogether. Although, on at least one occasion, an expertly timed photograph was slightly able to capture an image of her figure.

The Lady in White has allegedly even been spotted in the parking lot to the cemetery, as well as near by in buildings and restaurants. Though, it’s entirely possible these sightings are of different spirits.

Howard Street Cemetery and Salem Jail
Salem, Massachusetts

Salem has a long history of darkness. Since it was among the earliest communities of European settlers in the United States, the ethics and morals of its leaders were not always terribly democratic.

Quakers were beaten in the streets of Salem and good people were hung as “witches” after being wrongly accused by young children in the Salem Witch Trials. Salem was a petri dish in which new American’s learned some important “life lessons” that helped shape many of our countries beliefs about right and wrong. Little things like one’s right to defend oneself in a court of law that is separate and distinct from the church and freedom of religion became more salient as important pieces to the American Dream following the drama of the Salem Witch Trials.

The Salem Jail was built in 1813. It has been abandoned since 1991 and is currently slated to be restored into townhouses or condos.
The Salem Jail and Howard Street Cemetery is considered to be one of the most haunted places in Salem, Massachusetts. There are 100 prison cells and prisoners were executed here. Indeed, the famous execution of Giles Corey took place here.

Giles Corey and his wife Martha were accused of witchcraft. The laws in Salem at that time were pretty twisted at the time. People accused of witchcraft were pretty much screwed no matter what their plea. But if they didn’t enter a plea of guilty or not guilty, they would, at least be able to pass along an inheritance to their children. A plea meant that the city could take away a person’s belongings and distribute them among the city’s leaders. In this case, Sheriff George Corwin was the main benefactor when it was time to go gather up the belongings of community members accused of witchcraft.

Giles Corey was laid on a pile of rocks in the field that has become known as Howard Cemetery. Two boards were placed on top of him and then, large, heavy stones were placed on the boards one by one. Giles was slowly crushed to death by Sheriff George Corwin who was ultimately in charge of the execution.

Giles Corey, according to local lore, kept uttering, “more weight”. But in his dying breath he is recorded to have said, “Damn you Sheriff. I curse you and Salem!”

Local Salem historian and former High Sheriff of Essex County Robert Ellis Cahill discovered some time ago that the curse of Giles Corey may have some authenticity in events of late. Cahill has noted that each and every Sheriff down from George Corwin to himself, each headquartered at the Salem Jail overlooking the place where Corey was killed, has died while in office or has been forced out of his post as the result of a heart or blood ailment. George Corwin himself died in 1696, 4 years after Corey’s execution, of a heart attack. Cahill recently suffered a heart attack himself but thankfully was only forced into an early retirement whereupon he started looking more closely at the strange stories about Salem’s past.