An award-winning macabre travel author, J.W. Ocker wrote A Season with the Witch: The Magic and Mayhem of Halloween in Salem, Massachusetts. WitchesMassBay: In 2015, you spent the month of October in Salem. If you could distill one moment in …

Looking at Salem from the outside in with J.W. Ocker Read more »

A Q&A with Margo Burns, associate editor and project manager of Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt and expert featured on the Who Do You Think You Are? TV series. WitchesMassBay: What is the premise behind the idea that ergot caused the …

Why not ergot and the Salem witch trials? Read more »

Thomas O’Brien Vallor has been sharing his knowledge of the 1692 witch hunts with countless tourists for the last 15 years. Unlike ghost tours and campy attractions, Tom tells the Salem story in a way that is respectful, inclusive, and educational. And …

Witches and witchcraft with Tom the tour guide Read more »

Jean M. Roberts recently published Weave a Web of Witchcraft, the story of Hugh and Mary Parsons of Springfield, Massachusetts, who were tried for witchcraft in 1651. Below, we discuss the writer’s craft, the research involved, and how the community …

Q&A with Jeanie Roberts on Weave a Web of Witchcraft Read more »