Salem Ghost Tour/witch trials
If you want the 1692 record rather than the ghost stories, the walk to book is the Secrets of Salem Hidden History Walking Tour. It runs 2 hours, where five of the eight run ninety minutes or less; it rates 4.5 out of 5 across 207 reviews, and it is the only one of the eight that publishes anything about its route. From $35. Everything below is the case for it, and the honest cases against.
This hub is about the record, not the retelling. Which of these walks stands where the court actually sat, which reaches the execution site, which crosses into Danvers where the accusations started, and which of them is a ghost walk wearing a trials title. For the evening tours that tell the hauntings instead, the ghost walking tour hub compares those.
Cheaper alternative: Witch Trial History and Salem Haunts, from $29
every walk that covers 1692
Eight listings in Salem sell the trials as their subject. They differ in three things: how long they walk, whether they stay in the downtown grid or cross to Danvers, and how much evidence sits behind the rating — two of them have fewer than ten reviews, and one has none at all. Every figure below is from the listing; where a listing states nothing, the cell is empty rather than guessed.
Daylight walk, side streets
from $35 · rated 4.5 · 207 reviews
historyhiddenSide streets and lesser-told episodes. Assumes you know the outline; first-timers start with the 1692 Walk.
Kids Not statedAdults Not statedRain Rain or shineStroller Not statedOn foot Not statedWalk, history + hauntings
from $29 · rated 4.6 · 142 reviews
historystoriesBoth halves in one walk. Neither half is as deep as a dedicated tour; fine if you have one slot only.
Kids Not statedAdults Not statedRain Not statedStroller Not statedOn foot Not statedVerdict · Our pick for the record. Names, dates, sites, no costumes. If you want a scare after, add an after-dark walk the same night.
Kids Not statedAdults Not statedRain Rain or shineStroller Not statedOn foot Not statedDaylight walk, witchcraft
from $35 · rated 3.9 · 78 reviews
historywitchcraftVerdict · Covers the trials and today's practicing community. Less courtroom detail; the 1692 Walk is stricter.
Kids Not statedAdults Not statedRain Rain or shineStroller Not statedOn foot Over a mileVerdict · Compact version of the record. Skips outlying sites; Salem Village walk covers the Danvers side.
Kids Not statedAdults Not statedRain Rain or shineStroller Not statedOn foot Not statedVerdict · A plain walk of the sites. Nothing wrong, nothing distinctive; the 1692 Walk does the same with more depth.
Kids Not statedAdults Not statedRain Not statedStroller Not statedOn foot Not statedDaylight walk, Danvers
from $25 · rated 5.0 · 4 reviews
historydanversVerdict · Starts in Danvers, the Salem Village of 1692, where the accusations began. Needs a ride out; everything else here starts on foot.
Kids Not statedAdults Not statedRain Rain or shineStroller Not statedOn foot Path to an archaeological siteLong daylight walk
from $63.75 · rated — · 0 reviews
historylongVerdict · Aims at every site in one go. Long on foot; the Witch Trial Walking Tour is the compact alternative.
Kids Not statedAdults Not statedRain Not statedStroller Not statedOn foot Not statedSelf-guided · dusk or daylight
Free · no guide, no booking
Verdict · The memorial, the old burying ground and the Witch House exterior are open air. Go at dusk and you have the mood for free. You do not get the stories, the order, or a guide who knows which door to stop at.
Kids YesRain Your callStroller Brick sidewalksOn foot As far as you likeKids, adults-only, rain policy, stroller access and distance on foot come from each listing and are shown as written there. Where the listing is silent, we say so on the review page rather than guess.
Daylight walk, side streets · best for Second visit
Two hours on the side streets rather than ninety minutes on the main ones, and the listing publishes nine historic stops — it is the only one of the eight that says anything about its route. It starts at 210 Essex Street, in the middle of the downtown grid, and rates 4.5 from 207 reviews.
Against it: the listing lists people with mobility impairments and wheelchair users as not suitable, and says it is not recommended for anyone who cannot walk more than a mile. For a shorter version of the same subject, Witch Trial History and Salem Haunts is an hour.
Daylight walk, documentary · best for The history, properly
The most-reviewed trials walk in Salem: 362 reviews, and the cheapest of the eight at from $25. Ninety minutes from 8 Central Street, and the listing states the total walking distance as a little over a mile, which is more than most of them say.
Against it: 4.2 is mid-table for this page, and the listing publishes no stop list, so the route is whatever the guide chooses on the day. Secrets of Salem publishes nine stops and walks half an hour longer.
Walk, history + hauntings · best for One walk for both
One hour, from $29, and the best-rated trials walk with real weight behind it: 4.6 from 142 reviews. Its own name says it does both halves — the court record and the hauntings — which makes it the one to book if you only have one slot and want both.
Against it: an hour is the shortest on this page, and the listing publishes neither a stop list nor a distance, so you are buying the guide rather than a route. For twice the time on the same subject, Secrets of Salem is two hours.
Daylight walk, Danvers · best for Where it began
The only listing that leaves Salem: an hour and a half in Danvers, which was Salem Village in 1692 and is where the first accusations were made. It starts at Ingersoll Street by the Training Field, from $25.
Against it: four reviews is almost no evidence, and Danvers is about five miles inland, so this is a second day rather than a first booking. Nothing else on this page covers the village, which is exactly why it is here.
Long daylight walk · best for Wanting every site
The longest of the eight at two and a half hours, and the only one that starts at the Salem Station parking garage rather than in the centre — useful if you are arriving by train or leaving a car.
Against it: it has no reviews at all, so there is nothing to judge it on but the listing, and at from $63.75 it is the second most expensive here. The 1692 Witchcraft Trials Walk covers the same subject for $25 with 362 reviews behind it.
The accusations did not start in the streets the other seven walks cover. They started in Salem Village, which is Danvers today, about five miles inland — and one listing goes there: Salem Village Witch Hunt Walking Tour, an hour and a half from Ingersoll Street by the Training Field. It is the only tour on this page that leaves Salem proper.
It also carries four reviews, which is almost no evidence, so treat it as a second day rather than a first booking. For a first visit the Secrets of Salem Hidden History Walking Tour covers the downtown sites, and the ghost walking hub has the evening walks over the same ground.
what is still standing
Three of the places these walks talk about are still there and cost nothing to stand in. The Salem Witch Trials Memorial, off Charter Street, opened on 5 August 1992 — twenty stone benches, one for each person executed, with their words cut into the threshold. It is free and open from dawn to dusk, and in October the city asks visitors to reserve a free slot.
Proctor’s Ledge is the execution site itself. Sidney Perley worked out where it was in 1921, a university team confirmed it in January 2016, and the city dedicated the small memorial there on 19 July 2017. It is free, it is a short walk from the centre, and it has no parking of its own — which is the practical thing nobody tells you.
The Witch House on Essex Street is the only building still standing with a direct connection to the trials: it was the home of Jonathan Corwin, one of the judges. That one is not free — tickets start at $17 and the hours change by season. None of the eight walks above includes entry to it, so if you want to go inside, that is a separate ticket and a separate hour.
If nothing above changed your mind, this is the one to book. It walks two hours, where five of the eight walk ninety minutes or less; it is the only one of the eight that says how many stops it makes, and 207 reviews stand behind it. If your date shows sold out, Witch Trial History and Salem Haunts covers the same ground in an hour for less.
from $35 · rated 4.5 · 207 reviews
Or the cheaper alternative →The museum is not a tour and not on this page: it is a narrated presentation in one room at 19½ Washington Square North, and it runs about half an hour. It is the thing most people mean when they search for it, so it is worth saying plainly — and it is separate from every walking tour listed here. If you want a guide on the streets instead, the shortest of these is the Witch Trial History and Salem Haunts walk at one hour, from $29.
None of the eight listings publishes Proctor’s Ledge in its stop list. Only two of them publish a stop list at all, which is the honest answer: you cannot tell from the listings, and the guide decides on the day. The ledge is a short walk from the centre and free to visit on your own, with no parking of its own.
Usually, yes. These eight sell the record: the court, the accusations, the people who were hanged. The after-dark walks sell the stories the town told afterwards. Two listings sit in both camps — Witch Trial History and Salem Haunts says so in its own name, and Ultimate Witches and Witchcraft covers the folklore alongside the trials.
The 1692 Witchcraft Trials Walk, with 362 reviews at 4.2 out of 5 — more than any other trials listing, and the cheapest of them at from $25. Secrets of Salem is pinned above it because it walks two hours to that one’s ninety minutes and rates higher, but on weight of evidence the $25 walk is the one with the record.
Pictured · Secrets of Salem Hidden History Walking Tour review →
