The purpose of a memorial is to serve as an aid for memory of something, usually a person or event. Memorials are all around the world, and can be anything such as a structure, cenotaph, monument or statue. Not only are memorials nice to look at, but they can also bring a feeling of calmness, respect, mourning, gratitude, and hope. The Salem Witch Trials Memorial located in Salem, Massachusetts is originally thought up by Elie Wiesel and designed by Maggie Smith and James Cutler; the memorial stands to provide both an educational and emotional experience for individuals who visit. The design of the Salem Witch Trials Memorial not only provides the visitors with history, but also evokes pathos effectively because of the reason it was created, the location, and the way visitors can envision the trials from the stone and planted scenery.
The Salem Witch Trials were a series of executions evoked by the odd behaviors of a group of young girls. It all started in 1692 when the group of girls wanted to find out their future husbands by doing an experiment, involving dropping egg whites into a glass of water. One of the young girls learned about this experiment from her ancestors in Barbados. The girls all of a sudden started acting strange, claiming to have the feelings of people pinching them and falling to the floor. The girls were then examined by the town doctors, who could not figure out why the girls were acting as they were. Since the girls hadn't been diagnosed with anything by the doctors, they were declared as bewitched, which was punishable by death. This problem soon grew to be an epidemic, and the "hunt" was on. The young girls started accusing other people of bewitching them, and all of these innocent people were held captive until execution. The odd behaviors of the young girls consisted of interrupting church meetings by falling to the floor, and screaming randomly through the town. In this time, the town looked for any reason to call someone a witch. Since there was no real witchcraft going on, the "symptoms" of being a witch involved not showing up to church or town meetings, being a rude neighbor, and raising your voice at people. There were three consequences for being a "witch." You could be jailed and starved, pressed to death by large boulders or rocks, or hanged, which was most common. Though the Witch Trials were a popular story in American history, historians, sociologists, and psychologists searched for a reason for the puritan's hysteria. It is believed that the odd behaviors came from a poisoning in the puritan's food, called "Ergot." Ergot is a fungus found in rye grain, which was a popular meal in the time of the Witch Trials, and is found to cause paranoia, hallucinations, spasms, and other strange behaviors. (Talk).
The reason why the Salem Witch Trials Memorial was created not only plays an important role for the visitors to know, but it also helps the visitors gather some emotions which was one of Wiesel's priorities. The Salem Witch Trials were an act of genocide, much like the Holocaust in 1933. Elie Wiesel was a survivor of the Holocaust who realized that the Salem Witch Trials were much like the Holocaust in the sense that many innocent people were executed for the wrong reasons. Elie thought up the idea to build the Witch Trials Memorial because of the significance of the Holocaust, compared with the Witch Trials. Elie Wiesel came to be a global activist, and a Nobel Prize-winning advocate years after surviving the Holocaust, and ended up holding a dedication ceremony for the Salem Witch Trials Memorial to it's home in Salem, Massachusetts. Elie really wanted to get the point across to the people about how it feels to be accused of your beliefs. During his dedication speech, he claimed innocence of the dead, and told people about the strong connection that he felt between the Holocaust, and the Salem Witch era. Much like Hitler executed the Jewish citizens because of their different beliefs, the town of Salem executed the "witches" because of their different behaviors. Wiesel really helped to give people the feeling of respect and hope by using a similar slogan from the Holocaust on the Witch Trials Memorial. The slogan from the Holocaust was "never again," compared to the slogan for the Salem Witch Trials Memorial "never again the burnings." (Carnalys). By incorporating this slogan into the memorial, people can relate what happened in the Holocaust to what happened in the Witch Trials, through the creative use of similar words.
When Elie Wiesel dedicated the memorial, he knew that the visitors would feel better educated and intrigued if the location was just right. The fact that the Salem Witch Trials Memorial is in the very exact spot that everything took place, adds sentimental value to the people because it provides the real life visual though the trials were hundreds of years ago. People that visit this memorial can walk on the same ground that the executed citizens walked on, and feel sorrow or excitement because of the executions. The viewers also receive an adventurous feeling, because of the fact that there is so much history at one location. One big piece of the history at the Salem Witch Trials Memorial is the Gallows Hill, which is where the hangings took place. Though the hill is not on the actual grounds that the memorial is on, it is close by and brings fascination to its viewers. The town since the executions has changed it's name to Danvers, in spite of making it seem more like a welcoming place. Having the name of the town stay "Salem," would bring forth the feeling of the executions, and not so much peace when people visited (Jenrette). Just the fact that people can go to this memorial and realize that a disturbed, yet functioning town survived there, is a cool experience for the viewers since most memorials are not on the exact grounds that the history happened.
Not only is the location remarkable, but the inscribed stone walls and the scenery itself helps the visitors feel like they are actually in the era of the witch trials, and invites them with an emotional experience. Walking into the memorial the visitors see three sides of handcrafted, granite drywall with inscriptions of quotes from the accused "witches." One quote that stands out to the viewers is one by a wronged citizen, "I am innocent, I am wronged" (Danna). On the stone wall, protrude twenty granite benches. Each of these benches is inscribed with the name of an executed person, their date of death, and how they were executed. When people look at the names on the benches, they can almost sort of picture the accused people being right there and feel the mourning that took place back in the Witch Trial era. The memorial also has six planted locust trees in a courtyard, representing social indifference to the persecutions that took place. Locust trees are known to symbolize affection beyond the grave, which is exactly what this memorial is trying to achieve as well by remembering the loss of accused loved ones. Around the courtyard are the trees still standing from the era of the Witch Trials, and gravel paths that lead visitors around smoothly. Walking the gravel paths wile being surrounded by all of the old trees, people can understand the environment from years ago, as well as the symbolic meaning behind everything that happened during the time of the Witch Trials.
Altogether, the Salem Witch Trials memorial provides the visitors with history and feeling through the background on the creation, the wonderful location, and the stone and planted scenery. Known for being on of the most famous formidable cases of genocide in American History (Langley), the memorial is a highly visited, and questioned place. There are still some questions about the Salem Witch Trials, such as the ancestry, why exactly the girls were acting strange, and why did it take so long to stop the executions? But visiting the site of the actual Witch Trials gives people more closure, and really helps them feel like they are in the era of the executions. The memorial itself and even the museum featured on the site, does a really great job at giving the visitors knowledge all throughout the grounds. Whether it is the tangibility of the stone and nature, or the placement and setting, people can feel almost accomplished to have been there, but more importantly they can feel sentimental and like they are in an important environment. The Salem Witch Trials Memorial is a very important part in American history because of the genocide fascination tied in with the Holocaust, and it is a great landmark to see how cultures have changed throughout the past. With this, the memorial will remain providing hope, and emotion to the visitors while always remaining a historic experience.
The Salem Witch Trials were a series of executions evoked by the odd behaviors of a group of young girls. It all started in 1692 when the group of girls wanted to find out their future husbands by doing an experiment, involving dropping egg whites into a glass of water. One of the young girls learned about this experiment from her ancestors in Barbados. The girls all of a sudden started acting strange, claiming to have the feelings of people pinching them and falling to the floor. The girls were then examined by the town doctors, who could not figure out why the girls were acting as they were. Since the girls hadn't been diagnosed with anything by the doctors, they were declared as bewitched, which was punishable by death. This problem soon grew to be an epidemic, and the "hunt" was on. The young girls started accusing other people of bewitching them, and all of these innocent people were held captive until execution. The odd behaviors of the young girls consisted of interrupting church meetings by falling to the floor, and screaming randomly through the town. In this time, the town looked for any reason to call someone a witch. Since there was no real witchcraft going on, the "symptoms" of being a witch involved not showing up to church or town meetings, being a rude neighbor, and raising your voice at people. There were three consequences for being a "witch." You could be jailed and starved, pressed to death by large boulders or rocks, or hanged, which was most common. Though the Witch Trials were a popular story in American history, historians, sociologists, and psychologists searched for a reason for the puritan's hysteria. It is believed that the odd behaviors came from a poisoning in the puritan's food, called "Ergot." Ergot is a fungus found in rye grain, which was a popular meal in the time of the Witch Trials, and is found to cause paranoia, hallucinations, spasms, and other strange behaviors. (Talk).
The reason why the Salem Witch Trials Memorial was created not only plays an important role for the visitors to know, but it also helps the visitors gather some emotions which was one of Wiesel's priorities. The Salem Witch Trials were an act of genocide, much like the Holocaust in 1933. Elie Wiesel was a survivor of the Holocaust who realized that the Salem Witch Trials were much like the Holocaust in the sense that many innocent people were executed for the wrong reasons. Elie thought up the idea to build the Witch Trials Memorial because of the significance of the Holocaust, compared with the Witch Trials. Elie Wiesel came to be a global activist, and a Nobel Prize-winning advocate years after surviving the Holocaust, and ended up holding a dedication ceremony for the Salem Witch Trials Memorial to it's home in Salem, Massachusetts. Elie really wanted to get the point across to the people about how it feels to be accused of your beliefs. During his dedication speech, he claimed innocence of the dead, and told people about the strong connection that he felt between the Holocaust, and the Salem Witch era. Much like Hitler executed the Jewish citizens because of their different beliefs, the town of Salem executed the "witches" because of their different behaviors. Wiesel really helped to give people the feeling of respect and hope by using a similar slogan from the Holocaust on the Witch Trials Memorial. The slogan from the Holocaust was "never again," compared to the slogan for the Salem Witch Trials Memorial "never again the burnings." (Carnalys). By incorporating this slogan into the memorial, people can relate what happened in the Holocaust to what happened in the Witch Trials, through the creative use of similar words.
When Elie Wiesel dedicated the memorial, he knew that the visitors would feel better educated and intrigued if the location was just right. The fact that the Salem Witch Trials Memorial is in the very exact spot that everything took place, adds sentimental value to the people because it provides the real life visual though the trials were hundreds of years ago. People that visit this memorial can walk on the same ground that the executed citizens walked on, and feel sorrow or excitement because of the executions. The viewers also receive an adventurous feeling, because of the fact that there is so much history at one location. One big piece of the history at the Salem Witch Trials Memorial is the Gallows Hill, which is where the hangings took place. Though the hill is not on the actual grounds that the memorial is on, it is close by and brings fascination to its viewers. The town since the executions has changed it's name to Danvers, in spite of making it seem more like a welcoming place. Having the name of the town stay "Salem," would bring forth the feeling of the executions, and not so much peace when people visited (Jenrette). Just the fact that people can go to this memorial and realize that a disturbed, yet functioning town survived there, is a cool experience for the viewers since most memorials are not on the exact grounds that the history happened.
Not only is the location remarkable, but the inscribed stone walls and the scenery itself helps the visitors feel like they are actually in the era of the witch trials, and invites them with an emotional experience. Walking into the memorial the visitors see three sides of handcrafted, granite drywall with inscriptions of quotes from the accused "witches." One quote that stands out to the viewers is one by a wronged citizen, "I am innocent, I am wronged" (Danna). On the stone wall, protrude twenty granite benches. Each of these benches is inscribed with the name of an executed person, their date of death, and how they were executed. When people look at the names on the benches, they can almost sort of picture the accused people being right there and feel the mourning that took place back in the Witch Trial era. The memorial also has six planted locust trees in a courtyard, representing social indifference to the persecutions that took place. Locust trees are known to symbolize affection beyond the grave, which is exactly what this memorial is trying to achieve as well by remembering the loss of accused loved ones. Around the courtyard are the trees still standing from the era of the Witch Trials, and gravel paths that lead visitors around smoothly. Walking the gravel paths wile being surrounded by all of the old trees, people can understand the environment from years ago, as well as the symbolic meaning behind everything that happened during the time of the Witch Trials.
Altogether, the Salem Witch Trials memorial provides the visitors with history and feeling through the background on the creation, the wonderful location, and the stone and planted scenery. Known for being on of the most famous formidable cases of genocide in American History (Langley), the memorial is a highly visited, and questioned place. There are still some questions about the Salem Witch Trials, such as the ancestry, why exactly the girls were acting strange, and why did it take so long to stop the executions? But visiting the site of the actual Witch Trials gives people more closure, and really helps them feel like they are in the era of the executions. The memorial itself and even the museum featured on the site, does a really great job at giving the visitors knowledge all throughout the grounds. Whether it is the tangibility of the stone and nature, or the placement and setting, people can feel almost accomplished to have been there, but more importantly they can feel sentimental and like they are in an important environment. The Salem Witch Trials Memorial is a very important part in American history because of the genocide fascination tied in with the Holocaust, and it is a great landmark to see how cultures have changed throughout the past. With this, the memorial will remain providing hope, and emotion to the visitors while always remaining a historic experience.
works cited
Carnalys. "Memory in Salem; Contradiction" Wordpress.com. Imagining Genocide
April 23, 2012, Oct. 16, 2014
Danna, Jen. J. Blog - The Salem Witch Trials Memorial ― Remembering Those Lost in 1692." Jen J. Danna - Skeleton Keys - Blog - The Salem Witch
Trials Memorial Remembering Those Lost in 1692. N.p., 9 Aug. 2011. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.
Jenrette, Jerra, et a;. "Teaching the Salem Witch Trials through Place and Time." Historical Journal of Massachusetts 40-1.
(2012) 212-xIII. Proquest. Web. 14. Oct. 2014
Langley, Michele. "The Salem Witch Trials." Junior Scholastic.Sep 15, 2003; 14-7.
Proquest.Web.14 Oct 2014.
Talk, Jstrom. "Salem Witch Trials Memorial."-salwiki.N.P., 18 Apr. 2014.
Web.14 Oct. 2014
April 23, 2012, Oct. 16, 2014
Danna, Jen. J. Blog - The Salem Witch Trials Memorial ― Remembering Those Lost in 1692." Jen J. Danna - Skeleton Keys - Blog - The Salem Witch
Trials Memorial Remembering Those Lost in 1692. N.p., 9 Aug. 2011. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.
Jenrette, Jerra, et a;. "Teaching the Salem Witch Trials through Place and Time." Historical Journal of Massachusetts 40-1.
(2012) 212-xIII. Proquest. Web. 14. Oct. 2014
Langley, Michele. "The Salem Witch Trials." Junior Scholastic.Sep 15, 2003; 14-7.
Proquest.Web.14 Oct 2014.
Talk, Jstrom. "Salem Witch Trials Memorial."-salwiki.N.P., 18 Apr. 2014.
Web.14 Oct. 2014