With Halloween fast approaching, we lean into the mysterious and the sense that something lurks just around the corner. It’s time for the ancient and unsettling, alluring and unknown. It’s time for ghost stories and all things witchy. And no place reflects that more than Salem, Massachusetts.
Salem needs no introduction. Synonymous with witches and the hysteria of the 17th century witch trials, Salem’s dark history lends itself to modern-day fascination with the macabre. Shops promising witchy goods and psychic messages from the great beyond line the streets, luring patrons from around the world into Salem’s midst all year long, but especially each October. Halloween and witchcraft are, naturally, the main draws, but Salem has more to offer than ghoulish delights—a literary history almost as rich as its haunted happenings.
New England, and specifically Massachusetts, is abundant in literary history. From Louisa May Alcott and Robert Frost to Henry David Thoreau and Emily Dickinson, many pillars of classic literature were born and raised in New England. These writers were shaped by the landscape and societies around them, letting them echo throughout their work. Nathaniel Hawthorne, who called Salem home several times throughout his life, is no different.
In 1804, Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem to a family whose roots and legacy within the city go back to before the Witch Trials. After the death of his sea captain father when he was only four years old, Nathaniel’s mother was left with no means of caring for her three children and had to move her family in with her wealthy relatives. Though Nathaniel grew up with his mother’s family, it was his father’s family that most impacted his work.
After publishing his first novel, Fanshawe, at his own expense soon after graduating college and later deeming it unworthy and trying to have all copies destroyed, Hawthorne began writing short stories that showcased his unique style, voice, and view more to his satisfaction. Young Goodman Brown, a short story which is set during the Salem witch trials and explores themes of Puritan fear, faith, and stiff code of morality, was published in 1835—a taste of what was to come in his most famous and lasting works The House of the Seven Gables and The Scarlet Letter.
The Scarlet Letter was written upon Nathaniel’s return to Salem in 1845 after he’d moved his young family to Concord. He pulled some strings to get appointed as the surveyor of the Custom House by the Polk administration, but lost his job three years later when the Whigs took power under Zachary Taylor. Though bitter about the loss of his job, Nathaniel managed to write The Scarlet Letter in only a few months’ time.
The House of the Seven Gables, his other most prominent work, was written after Hawthorne left Salem for good, though his inspiration still lay within the city’s dark past and his own family’s involvement. Once again set in Salem, The House of the Seven Gables explores themes of hereditary sin, guilt, and curses as it follows the Pyncheon family. It’s believed that Hawthorne was inspired by his cousin’s gabled house that he used to visit. Though the house only had three gables when he visited, his cousin allegedly showed him where the four other gables existed in the past and the phrase “seven gables” sparked something in Nathaniel’s mind. He later wrote in a letter, “The expression was new and struck me forcibly… I think I shall make something of it.” He was more inspired by the phrase “seven gables” than he was the actual house, but the idea of a family curse that passes through the generations certainly had solid foundations within his own family’s unsettling history.
Hawthorne’s own great-great grandfather, William Hathorne (an earlier spelling of their last name), was Nathaniel’s earliest American ancestor, arriving in New England in 1630. He established himself as a successful merchant in Salem before becoming a deputy within the House of Deputies and, later, becoming its first elected Speaker. He eventually became a judge on the highest court and was elected assistant to the governor. He was a powerful man within Salem and used that power to ruthlessly prosecute Quakers, who he believed were heretics. He is remembered for ordering the whippings of several Quakers, most notably the brutal public flogging of Ann Coleman as she was dragged half-naked through Salem’s streets. Nathaniel’s great-grandfather and William’s son, John Hathorne, was also a powerful man within Salem—and a judge during the Witch Trials. He found over 100 women guilty of witchcraft. When Sarah Good, accused witch, was about to be executed, she spoke a curse against the Reverend Noyes: “I am no more a witch than you are a wizard, and if you take my life, God will give you blood to drink.” Though it may just be legend, it’s said that Noyes went on to die of a hemorrhage in 1717—choking on his own blood.
Later generations of Hawthornes, or at least Nathaniel, seemed to worry that his family had also suffered a curse. Though Sarah Good’s curse wasn’t aimed directly at John Hathorne, the family’s loss of wealth and land over generations prompted rumors, mingling with Nathaniel’s supposed guilt over his ancestors’ abhorrent actions. While we cannot be sure if Nathaniel truly did believe his family cursed (and perhaps rightfully so), we can surmise that, at the very least, Sarah Good’s curse likely inspired Maule’s curse on the Pyncheons within The House of the Seven Gables.
Visitors to Salem can visit The House of the Seven Gables for themselves. Since 1910, the house has been open to the public and today offers tours through the house and the grounds. Visitors can also enjoy audio tours as well as occasional writing workshops like the upcoming Following in the Footsteps of Hawthorne & Lovecraft: A Place-Based Writers Workshop.
Learn more about visiting The House of the Seven Gables
Book lovers visiting Witch City can’t miss the Salem Athenaeum. The word “athenaeum” derives from Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom; these are places of literature where the pursuit of knowledge was fostered in an environment that encouraged study and discussion. The Salem Athenaeum goes back as far as 1810, but has roots in two other organizations in Salem that were founded decades earlier. The Social Library was founded in 1760 as an outgrowth of one of the many clubs that were popular amongst wealthy residents at the time, The Monday Evening Club. Members of the club pooled 175 guineas to create a library for their shared use and donated books from their own personal libraries, as well as acquiring new books from London booksellers. Membership cost 11 pounds a year (about $1,500 today). During the Revolutionary War, however, the Social Library suffered as the cost of living soared and members needed to consider their own interests and wellbeing before all else. In 1781, another library, the Philosophical Library, was founded in Salem from the spoils of a ship captured by a privateer sailing out of nearby Beverly. The Duke of Gloucester, a ship, was headed for Bristol, England from Galway, Ireland when it was captured by the privateer’s ship the Pilgrim. The Duke of Gloucester had the library of Richard Kirwan, a prominent man of science who had recently been named a Fellow of the Royal Society for his work in chemistry, on board. Upon its capture, the 116 volumes that comprised the library were auctioned in Salem. A local reverend heard of the auction and organized associates to aid him in purchasing the library and thus the Philosophical Library was created. The library’s collection increased threefold over time, but the yearly membership costs were high, which became a contributing factor, along with the fact that there was a lot of overlap in membership, to the merging of the Philosophical Library with the Social Library into the Salem Athenaeum in 1810. Notable members of the Athenaeum have included Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edward Augustus Holyoke, a physician and founder of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.
After forty years without a permanent residence, a building was built to house the Athenaeum in the 1850s. That original building is now home to the Peabody Essex Museum and the Athenaeum nows resides in a building that has been its home since 1907. Today, the Athenaeum has over fifty thousand volumes within its collection.
The Salem Athenaeum is open to the public free of admission. The public is also invited to use the library (for reference only) and the Reading Room for studying, reading, or writing. The Athenaeum also hosts writing groups, concerts, and a number of other events. Most recently they hosted Practical Magic author Alice Hoffman’s launch of her newest novel.
Learn more about the Salem Athenaeum
The Salem Athenaeum is also the primary presenter of the Salem Literary Festival and has been since 2017. The festival began in 2008 to “inspire and promote literacy and a love of books and reading by creating connections through sharing stories.” The festival is held over one weekend each autumn and offers a range of events for book lovers and writers to attend, including writing workshops, discussion panels, and readings. Local authors who have been recently published are highlighted, but many authors are featured as speakers. Keynote speakers of the past have included such names as Madeline Miller, author of Circe and The Song of Achilles, and Lisa Genova, author of Still Alice, in 2018.
Visitors to Salem should also make a stop at Wicked Good Books. An independent bookstore, Wicked Good Books replaced another popular bookstore when it was established in 2013. Renowned for its claustrophobic, chaotic atmosphere with towering piles of books, Wicked Good Books’ predecessor, Derby Square Books, had been serving the Salem community for almost 40 years before new owners brought fresh life to Salem’s most well-known bookstore. During renovations, an underground system of tunnels was discovered, connecting the bookstore to a warehouse in Derby Square. The tunnels were used for a variety of reasons, from smuggling goods to allowing “gentlemen” to frequent brothels undetected to possibly being part of the underground railroad to help people escape slavery. As with many buildings in Salem, this bookstore doesn’t get away without rumors of ghosts haunting its halls. Whether or not you’ll spot a ghost while perusing the shelves, you will find a mix of used books and new releases, along with mugs, t-shirts, and collectibles. There’s a little something for everyone at Wicked Good Books.
For those searching for witchy thrills and history on every street, there’s no better place to visit than Salem, but look a little closer and you’ll find a literary history that’s just as intriguing. Just like the rest of Salem, the city’s literary ties are steeped in the events of centuries past, tied to the witch trials that define the city even today. Many of the witchy books we read during this season take us to Salem, but if you ever get the chance to walk the streets for yourself, take it.