Joshua Ward House

One of Salem's first brick homes, built in 1784 on the former property of Sheriff George Corwin — the witch trials' brutal executioner known as "The Strangler." He ordered the pressing death of Giles Corey right here.

The Joshua Ward House at 148 Washington Street sits on some of the most notorious ground in Salem. In 1784, wealthy merchant Joshua Ward built one of Salem's first brick homes here -- on the exact footprint of the former residence of George Corwin, the High Sheriff of Essex County who oversaw the torture and execution of accused witches in 1692.

George "The Strangler" Corwin earned his nickname through his preferred method of extracting confessions. According to Salem lore, he would haul suspected witches from the dungeon to his private home and strangle them until blood flowed from their mouths and their eyes nearly bulged from their skulls. Those who confessed were spared further torture; those who didn't faced death. His cruelty reached its peak on September 19, 1692, when he personally oversaw the execution of Giles Corey, an 81-year-old farmer who refused to enter a plea to his witchcraft charges.

Corwin used an ancient torture called peine forte et dure -- pressing. He stripped Corey naked, forced him to lie in a field beside the Salem jail, placed a board atop his body, and piled heavy stones upon it. For two days Corwin added weight, demanding Corey comply with the court. The old man's response became legendary: "More weight." At one point Corey's tongue protruded from his mouth; Corwin used his cane to shove it back in. Corey died without ever entering a plea, ensuring his estate would pass to his sons rather than be seized by the authorities. Before dying, legend holds that Corey cursed Corwin and Salem itself.

Corwin died suddenly of a heart attack on April 12, 1696, at only thirty years old. His family, fearing the body would be stolen or desecrated by victims' families seeking revenge, secretly buried him in the basement of his home. When Joshua Ward built his mansion nearly a century later, he may have constructed it directly over Corwin's hidden grave.

Historians who have held seances in the house conclude that three distinct spirits haunt the building. The first is George Corwin himself. Visitors to the second floor report cold hands wrapping around their throats and squeezing -- a phantom strangling that leaves them gasping for breath. One witness described his throat closing completely before escaping to find the hallway empty. The Strangler, it seems, continues his interrogations from beyond the grave.

The second spirit is believed to be Giles Corey, seeking vengeance upon the property where his torturer once lived. Employees report books being yanked from shelves by invisible hands, candles found melted into pools of wax despite never having been lit, and sudden icy drafts in otherwise warm rooms. The candles often melt into distinctive S-shaped formations -- possibly standing for "Sheriff."

The third spirit is an unnamed woman, likely one of Corwin's victims. She gained fame through a remarkable photograph taken during a Christmas party in 1981. An employee of Carlson Realty, then occupying the building, snapped a Polaroid of a light-haired coworker. When the image developed, the coworker had vanished -- replaced by a pale, dark-haired woman with rough features and a distorted face wearing a tattered black dress. No one at the party matched her description. When author Robert Cahill published the photo in his book "Ghostly Haunts," it became national news. Known as "The Lady in Black," she's been spotted in and around the house ever since. Male visitors report waking with mysterious scratches on their chests and the persistent sensation of being watched.

Today the Joshua Ward House operates as The Merchant, a boutique hotel registered as a historic landmark. Thousands visit each year hoping to encounter the spirits of Salem's darkest chapter -- the victims who suffered, the torturer who killed them, and the echoes of violence that have never left this ground.