Page 8 - 2023 SALEM Haunted Happenings Guide

Which Witch is Which
Salem, Massachusetts is known as “Witch City'', but what gives our city this distinctive name? In 1692, 19 innocent people were sentenced to death by hanging, and one was pressed to death. This genocide of people was brought further into the light through Arthur Miller’s 1953 play The Crucible which follows the events that took place in 1692 as an allegory for social “witch hunts.”
Eventually, the concept of Witchcraft changed through the pop culture zeitgeist. TV and movies such as The Simpsons, Charmed, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and Hocus Pocus continued to
play into the idea of what a witch is. In the 1970s, Bewitched highlighted the “Salem Saga” episodes which were filmed on location when a studio fire destroyed the production’s Hollywood set. These episodes are still commemorated today here in Salem with a statue of the show’s main character Samantha atop a broomstick floating in our very own Lappin Park.
Often when we think of the Witch, an image of a green faced woman comes to mind. This idea was born from the classic and beloved film the Wizard of Oz (1939). The Wicked Witch of the West was a product of the Technicolor revolution, which saw brightly colored scenes acted out on the big screen. This Hollywood interpretation of this fictional character trope does not resonate today with modern-day witches.
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