The Best Things to Do in Salem, Massachusetts

Each autumn, when the leaves start to turn, visitors flock to New England in search of chowder, quaint scenery, and colorful foliage. But there’s a subsection of visitors that makes a beeline for Salem, Massachusetts—a town where the past is so deliciously spooky it could make even the most jaded visitor raise an eyebrow.

In colonial America, Salem was not the charming seaside town it is today. In fact, it was to its settlers the grim, precarious edge of the known world. Spirits, the supernatural, and, yes, witches were considered as real and reliable as the changing of the seasons. Then came the hysteria: between 1692 and 1693, over 200 people were accused of witchcraft. Many were tried, 19 were executed, and Salem cemented itself in one of the more obscure annals of American history