The Witch House

The only surviving structure in Salem with direct ties to the 1692 witch trials. This was the home of Judge Jonathan Corwin, who conducted pretrial examinations of accused witches in these very rooms. The house remained with the Corwin family until the mid-1800s.

The Witch House at 310 Essex Street is the only remaining structure in Salem with direct ties to the Salem witch trials of 1692 -- and it was home to one of the judges who sent nineteen innocent people to their deaths. Judge Jonathan Corwin purchased the house in 1675 from Captain Nathaniel Davenport, completing its construction and moving in with his family. Corwin had inherited a substantial Puritan fortune, and when accusations of witchcraft erupted across Salem in February 1692, he was called upon to serve as a magistrate. Some historians believe that pretrial examinations of the accused may have been conducted inside the house itself, though no primary source explicitly confirms this. What is documented is that on March 24, 1692, Corwin, along with fellow magistrates John Hathorne and John Higginson, examined four-year-old Dorothy Good -- the youngest person accused during the trials -- at the prison keeper's house. The child told them she had "a little Snake that used to Suck on the lowest Joint of her Fore-Finger," where they observed a deep red spot about the size of a flea bite. Dorothy spent nearly nine months in custody before being released on bond for fifty pounds. Corwin went on to serve on the Court of Oyer and Terminer that sentenced twenty-eight people to death, replacing Judge Nathaniel Saltonstall after he resigned following the execution of Bridget Bishop, the first person hanged on June 10, 1692. Notably, Corwin was the only judge who never apologized for his role in the persecutions.

What followed in the years after the trials became known as the Corwin Curse. Between 1684 and 1690, Jonathan and Elizabeth Corwin lost five children in rapid succession: John died at nine weeks, Margaret at six months, Jonathan Jr. at three months, Herbert at eight weeks, and Anna at age nineteen. The pattern of premature death continued to haunt subsequent generations -- Reverend George Corwin died in 1717, his wife Mehitable followed in 1718, and Jonathan Corwin himself died that same year, his family catastrophically diminished. Whether this sequence of tragedies was mere coincidence or some form of retribution for Corwin's role in the trials has been debated for over three centuries.

The house nearly met its own end in 1944, when it was slated for demolition to accommodate the widening of North Street. Historic Salem Inc. raised funds to relocate the building thirty-five feet from its original position, and architect Gordon Robb oversaw a restoration to its presumed seventeenth-century appearance, including diamond-paned windows, center chimney, and gable roof. The museum opened in 1946. During restoration and subsequent preservation work, several artifacts of seventeenth-century superstition were discovered within the walls: a black shoe, believed to have been placed as a ward against witches; "witch bottles" containing human hair, pins, fingernails, and urine, used as counter-magic against curses; and a poppet doll originally found at the home of Bridget Bishop, which was presented as evidence of her practice of image magic at her trial.

Visitors to the Witch House today report a range of unsettling phenomena. Disembodied voices are frequently heard throughout the property, and many visitors describe an intense chill crawling up and down their bodies as they navigate the dark, low-ceilinged rooms. Cold spots appear in specific areas without explanation, and electronic devices have been known to malfunction inside the house. There have been multiple reports of hearing the voice of a little girl -- possibly connected to young Dorothy Good, whose examination Corwin oversaw -- echoing from empty rooms. Some visitors have reported being physically touched by unseen hands, and the apparition of a man in a black suit, believed to be Judge Corwin himself, has been spotted accompanied by heavy footsteps and doors slamming shut.

The Ghost Adventures television crew investigated the Witch House during the nineteenth episode of their fourth season in 2011, recording what they described as the spirit of Bridget Bishop attempting to communicate her story, as well as capturing an unexplained child's voice on their equipment. As early as 1900, the house attracted those seeking contact with its spirits: Carrie Peabody Bly claimed she was "bewitched by spirits in the house and could communicate with them," spending time in the upper chambers attempting spiritual communion. Today the Witch House operates as a museum managed by the City of Salem, drawing visitors who come both for its unmatched historical significance and for the chance to encounter the restless spirits that, according to many accounts, have never left the home of the judge who condemned them.