St. Mary's Cemetery

With a legend of being one of the most haunted cemeteries in all of New England, Saint Mary's Cemetery is actually located right across the border in Peabody, MA. Many people have heard strange sounds there, including what sounds like a dog running on a cement sidewalk when no dogs can be seen. An overwhelming sense of unease in the cemetery and a constant feeling of being watched is normally experienced by visitors. Strange lights such as orbs are often seen and captured on film. The general consensus of haunted St. Mary's is that the ghosts are negative, making people feel unwanted and heavy when on the cemetery grounds.

St. Peter's Episcopal Church and Grounds

The church was founded in 1733 at its Salem location on land on that was donated by Phillip English, a wealthy merchant who had been jailed in the past both for not paying taxes to support the Congregational church. English was also an accused witch during the Hysteria of 1692. The original church was actually wooden structure and the stone structure we see today was built in 1833. A chapel was built onto the St. Peter's facility in 1871 over the old graveyard associated with the church. While the bodies remained underground where they were initially buried, their headstones were moved to new locations including in the chapel walls. Some were moved in front of the church created what looks to be two small cemeteries on both sides of the front door. There is an abundance of ghost stories linked to St. Peter's due to the building we see today being constructed right over the cemetery without relocating any of the bodies, hindering just, peaceful resting place. Inside the church parishioners have heard footsteps, knocking sounds and moaning but when they seek out who is creating said noises, there is no one to be found. Around the grounds of the church they say at certain times of the night floating, radiating ghostly figures are seen hovering over the grass and parking lot where the old graves are still situated. In the front 'cemetery' the ghost of a man has been witnessed crouching in the corner as if he is fearing a dreadful beating. On the Brown Street side of the church, visitors can view an original piece of the Congregation before the 1833 structure was built; the wooden door. The door is a haunt for the ghost of a woman who tends to "hang out" of the door as if she's in shackles of sorts. Also witnessed repeated by the door are a couple of ghostly men who lean against the frame as they observe the living going about their business.

Salem Hospital

The hospital is as busy as any city hospital would be, located on an active street. A wing of the hospital proves to be tremendously dismal. Deaths in hospitals are not a rare occurrence, but for one unfortunate woman who died in childbirth, it seems to be her eternal dwelling. She can be seen up and down the wing in which she died years ago. People are overcome with sadness and grief, and electrical issues are not uncommon. In this wing particularly, for hospital staff deals with equipment malfunctioning on a daily basis since the death of this young would-have-been mother.

Salem Inn

Comprised of three different historical homes, the Salem Inn has been restored to encompass the past's charm with today's dexterity and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Built in 1834 and now conveniently located near the Salem Commons, visitors who lodge at the Inn are within walking distance of the infamous Witch Museum, Essex pedestrian mall and unique palatable restaurants. In room 17 of the Captain West House, guests experience a ghostly woman sitting on their bed. People in the same house have been kept awake from loud pounding and banging noises on the walls and ceilings throughout the night. Though other rooms throughout the three houses are believed to be haunted, room 17 in the Captain West House seems to be the most actively haunted.

Salem State University, Bowditch Hall

A main dormitory in Salem State University is named after Nathaniel Bowditch, an early mathematician who is remembered for his documented expertise on ocean navigation. After his death in 1838, he has since been credited as the founder of modern maritime navigation. First published in 1802, his book The New American Practical Navigator, is still carried onboard every commissioned U.S. Naval vessel. Room 222 within Bowditch Hall is well-known to college students and locals alike for its terrifying tales of paranormal activity. As the story goes, three college students that were roommates in Bowditch Hall in the 1970's were found viciously murdered. Students who share room 222 ever since the murders, report experiences including their beds shaking in the middle of the night and loud banging on the walls. These experiences can only be heard inside room 222 and are never heard in the neighboring rooms and hallway.

Salem State University, Mainstage Auditorium

The 700 seat Auditorium produces up to four major performances a year which includes a major musical. Along with the talented students fashioned toward professional acting and successful theatre opportunities, it also houses the ghost of a boy named Tommy. Two different stories are told about the boy with differing ages. Both theatre professors and students have experienced the young ghost who once lived as a lively child that crawled into the area above the auditorium one night in the 1960's. One night he fell through a loose spot in the ceiling and was found dead sprawled on the seats below by a professor the following day. Another story claims the boy fell through the ceiling in the 1970's and he was actually a teenager who was illegally drinking and playing around throughout the Auditorium with his friends. Regardless of when or how old Tommy was, the part of the Auditorium where the boy fell has been sealed off long ago and is currently used for storage, but little Tommy still haunts that area. People tell of eerie encounters resulting from mischievous ghostly Tommy including odd noises, items being moved and relocated and unexplainable equipment problems. When technicians are working high up on ladders they are adamant that they feel Tommy putting pressure on their backs protectively, to prevent anyone else from falling to their demise like Tommy did decades ago.

Samuel Pickman House

Standing on the corner of Charter and Liberty Streets, directly next to the Witch Memorial and the Old Burying Point, the Pickman House built as early as 1664 is one of Salem's earliest original structures. Also owned by the Peabody Essex Museum, it too contains a dark, fatal history according to legend. One ghastly story tells of a husband and wife who lived in the house with a young daughter of 7 years old. The 'demons' were believed to have caused the husband to go insane, chaining his daughter up in the attic, torturing and starving the child. He then tied his wife to a tree outside and killed her by pouring boiling hot wax over her body, leaving her to die a slow, painful death. He then fled , leaving the child who died in the attic and his waxed , dead wife tied to the tree. People take photos of the house claiming it is still inhibited by a demonic force and now the ghost of the young girl who is sometimes seen looking out the attic window to the life below. Paranormal anomalies are the results of photographs showing what looks to be the girl looking out the window while people look in, and orbs and other odd lights are captured on film.

Witch Dungeon Museum

Visitors can pay to observe a quick yet powerful performance of the court trial during the Salem witch hysteria and then tour the basement where an original beam from a witch dungeon is on display. The entire reenactment and tour takes place in an old church, the tour taking guests through a dark maze of exhibits depicting the sizes of dungeons the innocent 'witches' were kept in until their death or the end of the witch hysteria. The Witch Dungeon Museum also creates a visual and feeling for visitors as you walk through their fully created streets in Salem Village, 1692. The idea of cramped, damp, cold dungeons and the "hanging scene" is enough to cause anyone a chill or two, but the real ghosts can cause bona fide fear in some. If you see a shadow figure moving in the basement while walking through the old Salem Village depiction, don't be surprised when you realize that shadow is not another person in your tour group, but a ghost of a monk who once lived in or possibly practiced his religious profession on the historical church grounds.

Witch Hysteria Dungeons (actual) Location/Office Building

Corner of Federal and St. Peter Streets stands a rather modern building housing offices for assorted local businesses. Across the street is the Old Salem Jail and the Howard Street Cemetery, and to the south is St. Peter's Episcopal Church. This office building is the actual site of the original witch dungeons where the accused were imprisoned during the Salem witch hysteria in 1692. Back then the banks of the river were closer to where the prison and building stand so when flooding occurred, the lower dungeon cells and bottom floor of the prison often flooded with water, sewage and rats. Today the people employed in the office building are hesitant to go down to the basement and race out the door so as not to be the last person who has to shut off the lights. In the basement people hear shuffling noises as well as crying, moaning and coughing when no one else is in the room with them. Lights flicker, doors open and close by themselves. Most of the activity takes place in the basement but some of the poltergeist-like activity has been reported on other floors of the building as well.