Stories from Dr. Vitka

Have you ever felt history come alive? In Salem, it does more than that—it reaches out through the mists of time on haunted tours. Let the spirits of the past guide you through stories of witch trials and eerie legends, making Salem’s history speak in a way you’ve never heard before. Stepping Into Another Era…

You may have overheard some of this story as you walked by a nighttime ghost tour group. Beneath the bustling city streets there exists a secret labyrinth, a series of ghost filled secret tunnels built by pirates, tunnels that lead from the waterfront to the basements of the city’s most prominent homes, tunnels so nefarious that the old timers have been sworn under the penalty of death to never admit exist. Or perhaps read the stories on one of the many, many questionable Salem sites online. It is intriguing, filled with murder and mystery, and still rooted in the real world enough to be believable. Plenty of other old cities have well documented, previously hidden tunnels, so why not Salem, right? It seems like a perfect fit. A hidden world of nefarious activity hidden right beneath our feet! That does…

Experience has shown that children are far more in touch with the spirit world than are most adults. It is not because there is anything inherently special about kids, it is simply that they have not yet been conditioned to disbelieve what they experience. Think about it, I bet throughout your life you have heard people say “there’s no such thing as ghosts”, or “it’s all in your imagination”! Whether you do or do not believe in ghosts is beside the point, the not so subtle societal conditioning seeps into a person’s mind! The majority of people, by the time they reach elementary school age have been taught not to believe in the supernatural and as a result they start to doubt their own experiences and keep it to themselves. In some cases these poor souls convince themselves they are…

Before I assumed ownership of Spellbound Tours I traveled with two different carnival freak shows. Out of time as it may seem, yes, a handful of them still exist playing out in various locations across the United States. Even right here in Massachusetts on occasion our own Topsfield Fair, just a short drive from Salem, plays host to such shows. Not that long ago they displayed the world famous Bat Boy, and the alleged World’s Smallest Woman. One of the shows I worked with was comprised mostly of variety performers, magicians, sword swallowers, that kind of thing performance artist, as well as the occasional human oddity or freak. The other one was largely a museum. It had wax figures of famous freaks, and preserved specimens of strange people and animals. Some of it, like the BP Oil Spill Mermaid and…

As a paranormal investigator and a folklorist I hear a lot of wild ghost stories from clients, it is one of my favorite parts of the job. Most of the time, the people telling the stories are entirely sincere about the fact that something strange has happened to them. We record their stories and when possible try to prove or disprove whether what happened was really supernatural in nature or not. Most of the time it is just misinterpreted natural phenomena or a trick of the mind. On rarer occasions the incidents do turn out to be legitimately ghostly. But verifiable or not the stories are interesting and important to the people who lived through them and we listen with a sympathetic ear. However, the next series of incidents was so startling and bizarre I would be hard pressed to have believed…

The best way to learn about Salem, the Witch Trials, and paranormal phenomena is of course Spellbound Tours, the top rated ghost tour in town. But what should a visitor to Salem experience before or after the Voodoo, Vampires, and Ghosts Tour? People ask me every day, so I have put together a list of some of the best things to do in Salem. Soon we will be putting up a list of shops and restaurants worth visiting as well. Enjoy Salem! The Salem Witch House- Located at 310 Essex Street, this is an essential location to visit when in Salem. Built in the 1600s this is the only building still standing with direct ties to the Salem Witch Hysteria. Despite the name no witches lived within, but Judge Corwin one of the judges in the Witch Trials, resided here….

Salem has something for visitors of all tastes: haunted tours like the Spellbound tour, beautiful architecture, a wealth of historic colonial, revolutionary, and maritime locations, a thriving restaurant and night life scene, and of course, our main attraction, the infamous Witch Hysteria. Visitors to Salem walk charming cobblestone streets and enjoy the year-round Halloween atmosphere. On the surface Salem appears to be a normal, if a little spooky, New England tourist town. It is a lot of fun, but sometimes our visitors want something darker, rawer, more intense, and for a while the Life & Death In Salem curiosity shop provided that welcome darkness. For a few short years Life & Death In Salem was the go-to spot for all things morbid. Nestled in a dark corner of a decaying downtown mall, Life & Death was a homegrown version of…

Sheriff Corwin’s reign of torture ended abruptly a few years after Salem Witch Trials. He died at the age of only thirty of an unexpected heart attack. Some people believe his death was caused by a curse placed on him by Giles Corey. Corey had been accused of witchcraft and refused to plead innocent or guilty and without a plea being entered his trial could not proceed. Corey believed refusing to plead could stall his trial and he would be able to wait out the Witch Hysteria and eventually walk free. Sheriff Corwin was not about to let that happen. To force Corey to confess Corwin employed a particularly cruel form of torture called pressing. Corey was dragged from the dungeons to an adjacent field. A pit was dug (some say Corey was forced to dig his own grave), Corey…

Salem’s most infamous historic haunted home looms grimly above busy Washington Street, visitors on tours and townspeople pass by every day, largely unaware of the horrors that may lurk inside. Some Salem residents know the history, or whisper rumors about the land’s former owner as they pass. Most walk by unaware on their way to Dunkin’ Donuts or the gift shops next door. Those in the know shudder when they pass at night. The Joshua Ward House occupies land that was owned by cruel Witch Trials high sheriff George Corwin. It is alleged that he used his private home as a sadistic torture dungeon for the innocent victims of the Witch Hysteria and that his violent spirit still stalks the land now hundreds of years later. The Joshua Ward House was constructed on footprint of Corwin’s home in 1784 for…