I was in Salem this past weekend for a family wedding, and I was able to visit the Salem Witch Memorial on Liberty Street. Having grown up in the greater Boston area and having a masters degree in US History, I’ve read several books, seen various movies and documentaries on the Trials, and visited Salem a number of times. However, seeing the benches, one for each victim of the Trials in 1692, and cut flowers on each bench, was chilling. I will share a few of the resources I have read that the Library also has to offer below.  
The North Shore has a number of cultural resources and institutions, including the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem. If it has been a while since you visited the area, borrow the PEM museum pass from the Library and plan a trip!

1. Baker, Emerson.  A storm of witchcraft : the Salem trials and the American experience.  New York, Oxford University Press, 2015.

“..."Beginning in January 1692, Salem Village in colonial Massachusetts witnessed the largest and most lethal outbreak of witchcraft in early America. Villagers--mainly young women--suffered from unseen torments that caused them to writhe, shriek, and contort their bodies, complaining of pins stuck into their flesh and of being haunted by specters. Believing that they suffered from assaults by an invisible spirit, the community began a hunt to track down those responsible for the demonic work. The resulting Salem Witch Trials, culminating in the execution of 19 villagers, persists as one of the most mysterious and fascinating events in American history.” -- Click here to find this title in Minuteman.

2. Schiff, Stacy. The Witches: Suspicion, Betrayal, Hysteria in 1692 Salem. New York, Little, Brown, and Company, 2015.

"…provides an electrifying, fresh view of the Salem witch trials... the Salem witch trials represent one of the few moments when women played the central role in American history. Drawing masterfully on the archives, Stacy Schiff introduces us to the strains on a Puritan adolescent's life and to the authorities whose delicate agendas were at risk…” -- Click here to find this title in Minuteman.

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The library will be closed Monday, January 16 in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

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Click Here To View The This week at the Winchester Library - January 12, 2023