![]() The city doesn’t want visitors tramping through private backyards looking for the spot, she said. The city plans to place a marker at the site but also wants to respect the rights of the people who live in the area, Mayor Kim Driscoll said. More than likely, the executioners tossed a rope over a large tree.īaker also stressed that there is no evidence that any of the victims were buried at Proctor’s Ledge – it’s too rocky and the soil is too shallow. They determined there probably never was a gallows at the site. The team made other interesting discoveries. To determine the spot, the team looked at eyewitness accounts of the hangings, then used modern-day aerial photography and ground penetrating radar not available a century ago. Proctor’s Ledge is at the base of Gallows Hill. ![]() The top of nearby Gallows Hill had long been thought of as the site of the hangings, but there was no evidence to support that, Baker said. Nineteen were hanged, and one man was crushed to death by rocks. Twenty people suspected of witchcraft were killed in Salem in 1692 during a frenzy stoked by superstition, fear of disease and strangers, and petty jealousies. They are important centers of knowledge and of community.The current research, known as the Gallows Hill Project, was about correcting the misinformation many people have about one of the most tragic episodes in American history. What do you feel about the future of our local libraries?Īs a former library director, I believe strongly in the past, present and future of our local libraries. They also mark the first large government cover up in American history, and beginning of the American tradition of distrust in government. They mark the beginning of the transition from Puritan to Yankee. I believe the Salem witch trials were a turning point in American history. What do you hope readers will discover in your latest book? I will be signing my new history of the Salem witch trials, A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience. Tell us about the book you will be signing at Books In Boothbay this year? My research and writing focuses on the early colonial history of Maine and New England, particularly the English settlers and their interaction with the other major populations of the region: the French immigrants, and the Native peoples who had inhabited the region for thousands of years. What are the most important themes in your work? Since my specialty is the history of Maine and New England, I can’t imagine a better place to live and write. ![]() What is your favorite thing about writing in Maine? My wife is from Maine, and her two college roommates were both from Boothbay Harbor, so we still enjoy occasional trips back there. So, I have many happy memories of Boothbay, as well as Dogfish Head in Southport. As an undergrad, many of my classmates would find summer jobs in Boothbay Harbor, and my first job out of college was as an archaeologist at nearby Pemaquid. In fact, I live in York, but commute to Massachusetts to teach at Salem State University. I came to Maine in 1977, as a freshman at Bates College, and it has been my home ever since. ![]() What are your ties to Maine and the Boothbay Peninsula? He is the award-winning author of many works on the history and archaeology of early Maine and New England, including The Devil of Great Island: Witchcraft and Conflict in Early New England. Emerson "Tad" Baker is a professor of History and former dean of the graduate school at Salem State University. ![]()
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