BOSTON ~ SALEM

The next day, we docked at Boston. I have never been to Boston and would love to go back because I didn't get to spend much time at all there.

You see, I really wanted to go to Salem. I've always found the Witch Trials to be very interesting.

It was raining hard in Boston. Plus, it was very crowded in the morning as that was when Ted Kennedy was being buried. They had the church service in Boston before he went to Arlington Cemetery.

So, I decided to take the Salem shore excursion. It was interesting but yet it was also a let down.

Before I go any further I must say this first photo is not one I took. The one I took came out very dark due the hard rains. So, I got this one off the Internet.

This statute stands just outside the Salem Witch Trial Museum. Many people think it's shows one of the "witches" from the trials. But it isn't. This is the founder of Salem.

I found it interesting to see the way he dressed. After seeing this I can see where we get our costumes of witches these days.

Before we got to to the museum, we stopped at the cemetery/memorial from the witch trials.

Many people were surprised to find that not one "witch" was buried in this cemetery.

Only the judges were laid to rest here. The reason being is, back in 1692, if you were found to be guilty of being a witch, you were not allowed to buried in the cemetery as they felt you were possessed by Satan. Therefore, they didn't want to put that body in the blessed grounds of the cemetery.

The family members would take the body of the "witch" and go out late at night and bury the body in an unmarked graved in a spot no one would know about.

They did this to protect their loved ones. They feared if they marked the graves then some of the town's people would dig up the body and cause their loved ones never to be able to Rest In Peace.

To this day, no one knows where any of the bodies of the "witches" were buried.div>

This is the oldest cemetery in Salem. Not only are the two judges that found all the innocent people guilty of being a witch, buried here but the only known passenger on the Mayflower is also buried here.

Due to the rains we didn't get to spend much time here. I could have spent hours here reading all the head stones.

Oh, notice the orb? Not sure if that is from the rain or someone stopping by to say hi to us. It was the only photo this whole day that had an orb.div>

Some of the headstones were so old that they were falling apart so the city added some reinforcement around them to keep them from crumblingdown.

This is the headstone from Capt. Richard More, the Mayflower Pilgrim.

This is Capt. Richard More's 2nd wife. I wonder what happened to his first wife and why she wasn't buried next to him.

This is the headstone of John Hathorne, one of the judges in the Witch Trials.

This was Nathanial Hawthorne's grandfather. It is said that he never wanted to be associated with his grandfather due to his part of deaths of so many innocent people. So, he added the w to his name and become known by the last name of Hawthorne rather then Hathorne.

Since there are no headstones or burial plots of the people found guilty of witchcraft, a memorial was made for all those who were wrongly put to death.

This really touched me when I saw it. It was just a wall made out of stones with benches built in.

Nothing much to it really./div>

However, on each bench was a name. A name of a real person who died for no reason other then a lie.

This made the whole story real to me.

These were the names of people who were loved by their families. People who were just living their life. Not hurting anyone.

Yet, two little girls who made up a story in order to keep from getting in trouble, got them killed.

It's hard to read the names in my photos because the rain soaked the stones.

Under the wall, the stones are carved with sayings. These are the words spoken by the people killed, just before they were hung.

As you read the words, you notice that the wall is built on top of some of the words.

The reason this was done is to represent how the voices of these people were stopped in mid sentence as they were hung.

I couldn't help but think about what everyone would have been thinking and feeling back then.

The innocent people, knowing they were unjustly accused. The families, with pain in their hearts, as they watched their loved ones hung. The towns people, who knew they lied and made up stories that got these people killed. The men who acted as judges, knowing they ordered the death of these people./div>

As we left this area, I had tears in my eyes. My heart broke for each person these stones represented.

I said a prayer for each of them.

We then went down the way, to the Museum. I'm not sure what I expected here but whatever it was I was wrong.

If you are ever in Salem, do not bother to spend your time going here.

The building looked big and had a feeling of mystery to it. I was excited to go inside to see what could possibly in there. I was ready to learn more.

As you walked in there were names on a wall. All these names were the people who were accused of being a witch and those that were tried and found guilty.

I never knew so many people were charged.

Inside the museum, the room goes dark as you hear a man on a recording speaking.

He tells the story of how the witch trials took place. As he spoke lights went on different scenes.

It was really hokey. Very tacky in my eyes.

After the story is over, the lights come on we were then lead into the gift shop.

The only thing I felt was of any value in this whole museum was this red circle that was lite up on the floor. It had the names of all the people who were killed.

Again, it made the "story" real. This really happened. It's not just a movie or a story in some book. These were real living people. It was very sad.

We then got back on the bus and got to drive through Boston on our way back to the ship.

We saw the Boston library.

The Trinity Church. We didn't go inside. It was beautiful on the outside but I was shocked to see they charged to go inside. What kind of a church charges people to go inside?

This was the church where they held Ted Kennedy's service. Posters were up outside. At first I felt it was a nice touch to acknowledge his life. But the more I thought about it the more it felt like they were using his death as a way to get people to pay to go inside.

Something just didn't feel right.

This is the spot where the Boston marathon ends each year. I loved the figures of the rabbit and turtle. Of course, this plays on the story of the Tortoise and the Hare. Very fitting for the end of the race, don't you agree?

Now I can say I officially crossed the Boston Marathon finish line.

You can see it is still raining out.

So, I didn't get a chance to walk the Freedom Trail or see any of the historic buildings in Boston. I would love to do that one day.

Yet, I'm happy I made the trip to Salem. I hope you enjoyed it to.

Tomorrow we will go on a Victorian Walking Tour in Bar Harbor Maine. Hope to see you there.