'Witches are icons': Americans embrace their family ties to Salem trial victims

[Jilly_in_VA]

What do Hollywood actor Humphrey Bogart, Senator Mitt Romney and half the US presidents have in common?

They are all alleged descendants of someone involved the 1692 Salem witch trials, in which an infamous outbreak of religious hysteria resulted in 19 early settlers hanged and one pressed to death.

Salem, Massachusetts, is America’s Halloweenville.

Every October thousands of tourists in costume flood the streets, buying “spell books” and snapping selfies in cemeteries.

Behind the shops, almost entirely divorced from the town’s main industry, lies the memorial with 20 stones carved with familiar names like John Proctor and Rebecca Nurse, who were immortalised in Arthur Miller’s 1953 “red scare” parable, The Crucible.

Alongside the tours, however, are a growing stream of visitors from as far as California paying their respects.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/oct/29/salem-witch-trials-americans-embrace-family-ties
__________________________________________________________________
I once knew a Rebecca Nourse (they spelled it differently) who was a descendant of one of the Salem "witches" and she was very proud of her name and descent. She said there had always been a Rebecca in the family.

[Bayard]

1. I did the tour there many years ago

I remember the houses being very small, but interesting decor. And of course, witch paraphernalia everywhere!

"Religious hysteria," is a fitting description of what we see from rethuglicans.