Blue witch nightshade (Solanum dulcamara) is a type of flowering plant belonging to the Solanaceae family. It is also commonly known as bittersweet, climbing nightshade, or woody nightshade. This plant is native to Europe and Asia, but it can also be found in North America, particularly in moist habitats such as riverbanks, forests, and wet meadows. Blue witch nightshade is a perennial vine that can grow up to 6 feet in height. It has thin, trailing stems that can twine around other plants or structures for support. The leaves are oval-shaped with pointed tips, and they are arranged alternately along the stem.

The Real Salem Witch Hanging Site Was Located

The leaves are oval-shaped with pointed tips, and they are arranged alternately along the stem. The flowers of this plant are purple or blue-violet, with five petals fused together to form a bell shape. They bloom from June to September and are followed by small red berries that resemble cherry tomatoes.

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Salem witch trials photo via Wikimedia Commons

After many years of uncertainty, the true location of the Salem witch hangings was determined this week.

Referred to as Proctor’s Ledge, the hanging site was pinpointed as the spot between Proctor and Pope Streets. The Boston Globe reports that the wooded area overlooks a Walgreens situated on Boston Street.

Visitors often mistakenly believe that the site of the hangings was near Gallows Hill, where Salem purchased land for a “witch memorial” in 1936, but never followed through with making it official. Proctor’s Ledge is a far cry from the grassy green patch.

The Salem Witch Trials Memorial is often mistaken for the site of the hangings. / Photo via Wikimedia Commons

Researchers confirmed that Proctor’s Ledge is where 19 people accused of witchcraft were put to death in 1692. These researchers, part of a group known as the Gallows Hill Project, used eyewitness accounts, court records, ground-penetrating radar, and aerial photography to confirm the spot. The Gallows Hill Project notes that since executions were meant to be public (and fear mongering), it would have been easier for citizens to reach Proctor’s Ledge rather than a place such as the top of Gallows Hill.

Eyewitness accounts like the one from Rebecca Eames of Boxford were used in the Gallows Hill Project research. Eames describes a day when she was brought to Salem for questioning. The Globe cites that Eames was escorted along Boston Road, and was kept in a house while her guards could watch nearby executions. Eames later describes being at “the house below the hill” while seeing a group of people at the execution, enabling researchers to establish her vantage point.

One scholar of the Gallows Hill Project, Emerson Baker, writes on the Oxford University Press blog, that Salem mayor Kim Driscoll plans to clean up the heavily wooded Proctor’s Ledge and install a “tasteful plaque or marker.”

“I believe that marking and maintaining this site is a long overdue step in Salem’s acknowledgement of the role the community played in the loss of innocent lives in 1692,” writes Baker. “The healing process continues 324 years after the trials.”

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Researchers confirm location of Salem witch trial hangings behind a Walgreens

A team of researchers using historical documents and 21st-century archaeological techniques has confirmed the exact site where 19 innocent people were hanged during the Salem witch trials more than three centuries ago.

The site, known as Proctor’s Ledge, is a small city-owned plot of woods nestled between two residential streets and behind a Walgreens pharmacy, said Salem State University history professor Emerson “Tad” Baker, a member of the seven-person team, which announced its findings this week.

Historian Sidney Perley had pinpointed Proctor’s Ledge nearly a century ago as the site of the hangings by using historical documents, but his findings were lost to time and were replaced by myth, misconceptions and conspiracy theories, Baker said.

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.

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. Nineteen were hanged, and one man was crushed to death by rocks.

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. Proctor’s Ledge is at the base of Gallows Hill.

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.

The team made other interesting discoveries. They determined there probably never was a gallows at the site. More than likely, the executioners tossed a rope over a large tree.

Baker 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.

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. The city doesn’t want visitors tramping through private backyards looking for the spot, she said.

Instead, she encourages visitors to go to the memorial and museum downtown.

Baker said a memorial at the site is important.

“We need to have that exact spot marked so it can never be lost again,” he said.

Researchers pinpoint site of Salem witch hangings

Salem’s witch trials were a memory by the time artist Thomas Satterwhite Noble painted “The Salem Martyr” in 1869. He portrays a young girl found guilty of witchcraft walking to the gallows with the hangman and her stern judges.

SALEM — The wooded spot overlooking Walgreens on Boston Street is unremarkable. The rocky ledge of knotted trees is surrounded by houses, and the path to the top is unpaved.

But the days of anonymity for the site known as Proctor’s Ledge are over. Researchers announced this week they have confirmed the plot is where 19 people accused of witchcraft were hanged in a wave of hysteria that swept this seaside city in 1692.

Salem plans to mark the ignominious spot, Mayor Kimberley Driscoll said. The memorial is expected to be modest, the mayor said, given the lack of easy access or parking at the site.

Still, Driscoll said: “This is part of our history, and this is an opportunity for us to be honest about what took place.”

The quest to confirm the precise spot of the hangings started in 2010, though it was not the first time historians examined the question, said Emerson “Tad” Baker, a Salem State University professor who helped pinpoint the location.

While there are about 1,000 records detailing the Salem witch trials, Baker said information about the executions is scant. Historians have found no evidence that gallows were constructed and surmise the accused witches were hung from tree branches, he said.

All 19 people who were executed by hanging during the witch trials are believed to have died at Proctor’s Ledge; five others accused of witchcraft died in jail, and one was crushed to death.

They focused their inquiry initially on Gallows Hill, where many believed the accused witches met their death at the peak. But the researchers concluded that the hangings happened closer to the base of the hill, on the spot known as Proctor’s Ledge.

They reached this conclusion by using eyewitness accounts from the time of the hangings, aerial photography of Gallows Hill, and images of the area generated with advanced mapping technology, the researchers said.

First, they determined where the eyewitnesses were when they saw the executions.

The researchers relied on the work of Sidney Perley, a lawyer and historian who wrote about Salem history, said author Marilynne Roach, a member of the research team.

“He must have read every deed and will in the courthouse,” she said. “He’s a very good source.”

In an article published in 1921, Perley cited a letter written in 1791 by “Dr. Holyoke.” The letter described a story told by John Symonds, who was born the year the hangings occurred.

“He has told me that his nurse had often told him, that, while she was attending his mother at the time she lay in with him, she saw, from the chamber windows, those unhappy people hanging on Gallows’ Hill, who were executed for witches by the delusion of the times,” the letter read.

Another description came from Rebecca Eames, a Boxford resident hauled into Salem for questioning Aug. 19, 1692, the same day five executions took place.

Eames’s guards escorted her along Boston Road, below Proctor’s Ledge, the researchers said. As they approached the courthouse, the guards came upon the hangings and left Eames at a nearby house while they watched the executions.

Eames later told the magistrate she was at “the house below the hill” and saw some “folks” at the execution. Roach determined the house Eames cited was probably the McCarter residence or one of its neighbors on Boston Street.

Once researchers established the vantage points for the eyewitness accounts, they turned to the mapping technology and aerial photography.

They learned the eyewitnesses could not have seen the top of Gallows Hill from where they observed the executions, but they could see Proctor’s Ledge, located in between what is now Proctor and Pope streets.

Their inquiry also concluded no victims are buried at Proctor’s Ledge, the researchers said.

“I just get this tremendous sense of history here and also kind of the burden of that history in Salem,” Baker said.

At the time of the hangings, Proctor’s Ledge was public land where residents could let sheep graze, Baker said. It is named for Thorndike Proctor, who purchased land there during the 18th century. He is a descendant of a witch trial victim, John Proctor.

Given that executions then were meant “to serve as an example of what happens to people who break the law,” the highly visible site was logical, Baker said.

“When people come [to Salem] . . . they all want to know where it happened,” said Kenneth Glover, who gives tours. John Blanding/Globe Staff

The inquiry also found Salem had considered erecting a tribute to witch trial victims on Gallows Hill going back more than a century.

Plans for a memorial there were devised in 1892 and Salem purchased a strip of land at Proctor’s Ledge in 1936 to construct a park, Baker said. Neither proposal went anywhere.

Baker said the desire by some to forget the witch trials was probably to blame.

“What a wonderful thing it is for us to finally have the city recognize this spot,” he said.

There is a memorial in downtown Salem to 20 victims.

Tom Brophy, 72, lives in front of Proctor’s Ledge. He said he gave directions decades ago to Gallows Hill to a driver chauffeuring John Lennon and Yoko Ono.

“The old timers that used to be here when I was a little kid used to talk about the witchcraft and [that] this was the probable site,” he said.

Kenneth Glover, who runs a tour in Salem, visited the site Tuesday. Now, he said, he can definitively tell visitors where the hangings occurred.

“When people come here from other places . . . they all want to know where it happened,” he said.

Laura Crimaldi can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @lauracrimaldi.

Although blue witch nightshade is an attractive plant, it is considered poisonous. All parts of the plant contain solanine and other alkaloids, which can cause symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and drowsiness if ingested. The berries are particularly toxic, and their bright color may attract children or pets. It is advised to handle this plant with caution and avoid ingesting any part of it. Despite its toxicity, blue witch nightshade has been used in traditional medicine for various purposes. The plant's berries were sometimes used to treat skin conditions, including warts and eczema. In addition, some cultures believed that the plant had magical properties and used it in rituals or as a protective charm against evil spirits. In modern times, blue witch nightshade is primarily grown as an ornamental plant in gardens. Its delicate flowers and colorful berries add aesthetic appeal to landscape designs. However, due to its invasive nature, it can become a nuisance in some areas. It spreads quickly and outcompetes native vegetation, crowding out other plants and disrupting natural ecosystems. Overall, blue witch nightshade is an interesting plant with both toxic and medicinal properties. While it should be handled with caution, its beauty and historical significance continue to make it a popular choice for gardens and landscapes. Care should be taken to prevent its spread and potential harm to local ecosystems..

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