When we were in Cape Cod, we drove up to Portland, Maine & broke our journey with a stop in historic Salem. Anyone who's read Arthur Miller's The Crucible will already be familiar with the terrible Witch Trials that occurred there in the late 1600's. Basically, if anyone didn't like you (for whatever reason!) they could denounce you as a witch, say that you had caused their illness or their animals to die or anything at all...and you'd be tried and probably hanged. Visiting the old Burial Ground and the site of the original court where these poor (usually) women were sentenced to death on the most trivial of grounds made me go cold...
However, Salem is a beautiful place and home of the Peabody Essex Museum which is worth a special trip there on it's own. The museum also has one of the best gift shops I've ever seen..great for buying early Christmas presents! Salem also gave us a fantastic lunch (Thanks to all at Lyceum Bar & Grill!)and the worst ever public lavatory in the history of the world (not in the restaurant, in a shopping mall!)
But over it all hangs the spectre of those long gone but terrible times, and the horrible truth of what took place there....
There's a lot that's wrong with the world now, but visiting a place like this reminds me of just how lucky we are in most ways!
Yes, they were terrible times, unfortunately it still goes on in other parts of the world even today. Mind you, thinking about it, it's quite a handy way to get rid of someone that's really bugging you! The USA has such a fascinating history it's a shame that people focus on the negative nowadays, because it's a beautiful country. xxxx
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