Tompkins Harrison Matteson. Trial of George Jacobs, Sr. for Witchcraft, 1855. Oil on canvas. Peabody Essex Museum, Gift of R. W. Ropes, 1859. 1246. Courtesy of Peabody Essex Museum. Photo by Mark Sexton and Jeffrey R. Dykes.

Dan Lipcan, head librarian at the Peabody Essex Museum’s (PEM) Phillips Library, wasn’t expecting to feel so much emotion as he and his team prepared to show the world’s largest collection of Salem witch trial documents for the first time since the 300th anniversary of the trials in 1992. 

But then he found himself in the middle of a pandemic, much like the smallpox scare that preceded the witch hunt in Salem in 1692. And he was reading original handwriting, penned by a woman from her jail cell, shortly before being put to death.

Mary Esty wrote: “I petition to your honors, not for my own life, for I know I must die and my appointed time is set. But the Lord, he knows it is, that if it be possible, no more blood, innocent blood, may be shed.”

This official document declared Esty’s innocence and pleaded for a stay of execution. “As you read these words, you can see that she knows her destiny is set and there’s not much she can do about it,” says Lipcan. “Which is really, really sad.” 

Amid this sadness and desperation is the resolve that history will not be repeated. This fall, in addition to the documents, some of the personal possessions of Salem’s 17th-century residents will also be on view. This includes the two canes of George Jacobs, an accused man who suffered from arthritis and was later depicted in a painting by Tompkins Harrison Matteson that details the pandemonium in the courtroom as the drama unfolds. The man’s own granddaughter points an accusing finger. Both are part of PEM’s collection and bring to life the true story that more than one million tourists visit Salem every year to learn more about. 

While in Salem, visitors can take a walking tour to see PEM’s 22 historic houses, one of which, the Ward House, stood across from the Salem Jail in 1692. Though the home had little to do with the trials, the family would have no doubt discussed the tragic events over dinner, says Steven Mallory, PEM’s manager of historic structures and landscapes. “The people who lived in the house most likely would have heard the cries of people in the jail next door who were living in terrible circumstances,” says Mallory. “Just like the coronavirus, the paranoia and fear surrounding Salem’s crisis in 1692 was invisible, the evidence was invisible, who could get accused or afflicted next was invisible.” 

The Salem Witch Trials 1692 is on view at PEM from September 26, 2020 through April 4, 2021. To learn more, visit pem.org. Tune into the museum’s podcast, the PEMcast, to hear how the Salem witch trial legacy still impacts us today, featuring interviews with curators, historians, and Salem community members. Available on all podcasting apps.