Monument planned for suspected site of Salem witch hangings

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

US | Wed Jan 13, 2016 7:15pm EST

Monument planned for suspected site of Salem witch hangings

SALEM, MASS. | BY TED SIEFER

The city of Salem, Massachusetts, plans to erect a monument near the site where historians have recently determined that 19 suspected witches were hung more than 300 years, commemorating an event that has come to define the city.

A team of academics said earlier this week they had concluded that the 19 people condemned to death in the Salem witch trials were executed near a place known as Proctor’s Ledge. The finding was the culmination of a five-year project that involved an extensive review of historical documents and the use of radar and computer-imaging technology.

Today Proctor’s Ledge is an unassuming place overlooking a drug-store parking lot. It is rocky, overgrown with spindly trees and littered with liquor bottles and trash.

Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll said on Wednesday that it was important for the city to mark the site of the hangings. “I would say the witch trials were a very notorious part of our history, a very dark part,” she said.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-massachusetts-witch-idUSKCN0US01T20160114

[niyad]

1. good.

[niyad]

2. "the witch song"

[Paper Roses]

3. Salem needs dollars for schools and other valid areas, not another monument.

Tribute is fine, perhaps one of the standing signs to indicate the spot but to spend a great amount of money on this boggles the mind. A suggestion for Salem: Save the money and help the merchants. Business is dying in this great old city. Establish free parking for those who might want to shop or eat in Salem.

Charging 75 cents an hour to park in areas where it will take you 15 minutes to walk to a store is foolish. This is a small city, People need access to retail shops. Keep up discouraging people and there will be no more shops. There are too many empty stores now. Then what? No more retail? One of the longest established stores in Salem has just closed its doors forever. The best jewelry store is closed. What is left is too much "witch" stuff.

Salem has a world class museum. It needs a vital retail base.
Forget the monument, spend the money where it is needed. No more big, bronze statues. Real dollars in the community is a better idea.