Salem Sinners: Book Two of the New England Series

By Gloria H. Giroux

1975. The Vietnam War ends with the Fall of Saigon. John N. Mitchell, H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman are found guilty of the Watergate cover-up. In Sacramento, California former Manson girl Lynette Fromme attempts to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford on September 5th but is thwarted by a Secret Service agent. Ford survives a second assassination attempt on September 22nd, this time by Sara Jane Moore in San Francisco. The 729-foot-long freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald sinks during a storm 17 miles from the entrance to Whitefish Bay on Lake Superior, killing all 29 crew members on board. NBC airs the first episode of Saturday Night Live (SNL). The Lutz family moves into 112 Ocean Avenue, Amityville, Long Island, New York only to flee from the house after 28 days, which will go on to inspire the story of The Amityville Horror.
In Salem, Massachusetts, AKA the “Witch City,” a young woman is building a life for herself and her young daughter, unaware that forces outside of her world are converging to drag them into a series of crimes that breach the boundaries of horror. Haunted by a past that more than brushed up against true evil she is challenged to move forward with promise and hope. As she is drawn into the miasma of crimes that test the skill of law enforcement she comes to realize that people around her are also burdened with sins that are erupting into the light and will change everything for everyone. As if that wasn’t enough her daughter is a special child whose remarkable powers constantly force her to walk the thin, tenuous line between darkness and light.
The mother and daughter find themselves at the center of a diverse group of people who have their own secrets and sins, and who may or may not be involved in the crimes taking place in the infamous town in which they live. All concerned in the roiling, interlocking experiences that defined their pasts and might define their futures find themselves battling the consequences of sin in the struggle to overcome evil and emerge into the light.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Nov 30, 2022
• ISBN: 9781663247896

Gloria H. Giroux

Gloria H. Giroux was born in North Adams, MA. Raised in Hartford, CT, she graduated from Bulkeley High School, the University of Connecticut and the Computer Processing Institute subsequently embarking on a double career of IT and writing. The author of nineteen fiction novels, Keene Retribution is homage to a special place in her life in New England. She currently lives in Arizona where she is working on her next book.

Book preview

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Epilogue

By the author

Fireheart: Volume One of the Chay Trilogy

Whitefire: Volume Two of the Chay Trilogy

Firesoul: Volume Three of the Chay Trilogy

Bloodfire: Prequel to the Chay Trilogy

Copper Snake, Volume One of the San Francisco Trilogy

Voices of Angels, Volume Two of the San Francisco Trilogy

Out of the Ash, Volume Three of the San Francisco Trilogy

Bloodline in Chiaroscuro, Prequel to the San Francisco Trilogy

Saguaro, Volume One of the Arizona Trilogy

Crucifixion Thorn, Volume Two of the Arizona Trilogy

Devil Cholla, Volume Three of the Arizona Trilogy

Ironwood, Sequel to the Arizona Trilogy

Santa Fe Blood, Volume One of the New Mexico Trilogy

Santa Fe Bones, Volume Two of the New Mexico Trilogy

Santa Fe Heat, Volume Three of the New Mexico Trilogy

Santa Fe Secrets, Sequel to the New Mexico Trilogy

Hartford Wicked, Book One of the New England Series

Salem Sinners, Book Two of the New England Series

This book is dedicated to my siblings who provide love,

support, and encouragement for my life and my writing:

Brother Tucson

Sister-in-law Betty

Sister of the Heart & BFF Helen

"What New England is, is a state of mind, a place where dry

humor and perpetual disappointment blend to produce an ironic

pessimism that folks from away find most perplexing."

— Willem Lange

New England is comprised of six states in the farthest northeastern region of the United States: Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. In terms of size, they range in the lower 25% of percentages, and include the smallest state in the Union:

In terms of proportional size, four New Englands could fit into the state of Texas. The region borders the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island Sound, Canada, and New York.

The earliest inhabitants of New England were not the European colonists but the Native Americans that lived there for many hundreds of years. The region was populated with many diverse tribes including the Abenakis, Mi’kmag, Penobscot, Pequots, Mohegans, Narragansetts, Pocumtucks, Androscoggin, and Wampanoag.

Population-wise, New England began burgeoning in the 17th century. The regional economy grew rapidly in the 17th century, thanks to heavy immigration, high birth rates, low death rates, and an abundance of inexpensive farmland. The population grew from 3,000 in 1630 to 14,000 in 1640; 33,000 in 1660; 68,000 in 1680; and 91,000 in 1700. Between 1630 and 1643, about 20,000 Puritans arrived, settling mostly near Boston; after 1643, fewer than 50 immigrants arrived per year. The average size of a family between 1660-1700 was 7.1 children; the birth rate was 49 babies per year per thousand people; and the death rate was about 22 deaths per year per thousand people. About 27% of the population was composed of men between 16 and 60 years old. Currently, New England boasts a population of over fifteen million.

The etymology of each state’s name found its source either in names associated with the first colonists or the Native American tribes already occupying the land that someday soon would no longer be theirs. This stands true of many towns, which share their etymology with names derived mainly from Great Britain.

The history of New England revolves around the first colonists coming to the new world and settling in what became the Massachusetts coast and spreading out north, west, and south. In 1620 the Pilgrims set anchor at Plymouth, formerly found and named by Captain John Smith. The group of Puritan Separatists was initially known as the Brownist Emigration, who came to be known as the Pilgrims. The colony spread out into a wide range of related towns:

The Revolutionary War began in the thirteen original colonies and resulted in the creation of an independent country replete with opportunities to actualize manifest destiny. White settlers clashed with tribes in what was called the Indian Wars to solidify their hold on land that never should have belonged to them. Colonists were far from righteous; they held slaves and indentured servants and discriminated against their own race— No Irish Need Apply was a familiar sign in towns. White settlers were separated by class and ethnicity.

By the end of the eighteenth century the boundaries of New England were well-defined.

1795, John Russell & H.D. Symonds

New England is famous for its rocky coastline; its splendid autumn colors; its crystal-clear lakes, rivers, and streams; its dense forests; its stunning mountain ranges; its magnificent Victorian, Georgian, and Cape Cod houses; its population centers ranging from the large and cosmopolitan (Boston, MA) to its quaint little towns (Troy, NH) to its towns soaked in history and spiritualism (Salem, MA) to its seaside villages (Madison, CT) to its exclusive enclaves reeking of wealth and old money (Newport, RI). People enjoy pumpkins and Halloween and leaf-peeping and skiing and hiking and driving on backroads that seem stuck in time. New England people are often referred to as Yankees and rather than an insult that term is a source of pride. The most plausible theory of that term’s origin comes from the Dutch, where "Jan Kees" was a term used in a derogatory manner by southern Dutch towards northern Dutch, and then adopted as an insult by British colonists.

New England has produced a swarm of famous people who have made their marks in academia, politics, the military, the legal arena, medicine, entertainment, literature, and film.

Connecticut: Ethan Allen, Benedict Arnold, P.T. Barnum, Mark Twain, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Nathan Hale, Samuel Colt, Dorothy Hamill, Adam Clayton Powell, Ella Grasso, Charles Ives, Totie Fields, Meg Ryan, Treat Williams, Noah Webster, Brian Dennehy, Paul Giamatti, Christopher Lloyd, Michael Bolton, Glenn Close, and the inimitable Katharine Hepburn.

Massachusetts: John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Samuel Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Louisa May Alcott, Elmer Bernstein, Alexander Graham Bell, George H. W. Bush, Bette Davis, James Spader, Kurt Russell, Matt Damon, Emily Dickinson, Dr. Seuss, Nathaniel Hawthorne, John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Edgar Allen Poe, Paul Revere, Winslow Homer, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Henry David Thoreau.

Rhode Island: Harry Anderson, Ruth Buzzi, Viola Davis, Nelson Eddy, David Hedison, Van Johnson, Ted Knight, George M. Cohan, Julia Ward Howe, H.P. Lovecraft, Mr. Potato Head, Horace Mann, Gilbert Stuart, Henry Giroux, and Roger Williams.

Maine: Dorothea Dix, Dustin Farnum, Hannibal Hamlin, Stephen King, Nelson A. Rockefeller, Margaret Chase Smith, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Patrick Dempsey, Judd Nelson, Linda Lavin, and John Knowles Paine.

New Hampshire: Robert Frost, John Irving, Christa McAuliffe, Franklin Pierce, Alan B. Shepard, Earl Silas Tupper, Samuel Bode Miller, Mandy Moore, Adam Sandler, Seth Meyers, Steven Tyler, and Eleanor Porter.

Vermont: Chester A. Arthur, Orson Bean, William H. Macy, Calvin Coolidge, John Deere, John Dewey, Brigham Young, Rudy Vallee, Elisha Graves Otis, Henry Wells, and Ben Cohen & Jerry Greenfield (Ben & Jerry).

New England has also had its share of notoriety in both solved and unsolved murder and disappearance cases.

•Lizzie Borden in Fall River, Massachusetts

•The murders on Smuttynose Island off the coast of New Hampshire

•The massacre of colonists in Prouts Neck, Maine

•The woodchipper murder in Connecticut

•A swath of unsolved murders in Vermont such as Lynne Shulze, Annette Maxfield, Leslie Spellman, and the I-91 serial murders of six women

•In Rhode Island, the unsolved murders of Benjamin Bailey, Wendy Lee Madden, and Kathy Perry

New England has a wealth of history and mystery, of the old and new, of wealth and poverty, of a population of every race, ethnicity, and religion. It experiences all four seasons, from brutal winters to mild springs, humid summers, and refreshing autumns. Each state has its own accent, with most Massachusetts people dropping their R’s. As Chief Brody once said, They’re in the yahd not too fah from the cah. There are many instances of slang that relates only to New England. For example, it’s a GRINDER, not a hoagy or a sub! People in New England bang a uey (instead of making a U-Turn), applaud people who are wicked smart, and remote controls are clickers. People from more than one state often tack an R onto the ends of words; for example, they don’t have ideas, they have idears. And when they need to acquire alcohol they make a packie run.

One can start out driving in the early morning in Hartford and return there after driving through all six states. One can be at a Rhode Island beach in the morning and near the top of Mount Washington later in the day. One can find unique little antique stores where some merchandise could easily be a hundred years old.

Hollywood has used the region for a plethora of films, documentaries, and TV shows including Christmas in Connecticut, The House of the Seven Gables, Yankee Doodle Dandy, The Thomas Crown Affair, Love Story, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Other, The Paper Chase, The Dead Zone, Baby Boom, Judging Amy, Pet Sematary, Boston Legal, Newhart, Murder She Wrote, Breaking Bad, and, of course, the inimitable daytime soap opera Dark Shadows with its loyal fans devoted to the one and only New England vampire, Barnabas Collins.

New England is a place of creation and dreams, of sturdiness and flexibility, of tradition and acceptance of innovative ideas.

It is a place to proudly call home.

And proudly call oneself a Yankee.

"I shall enter on no encomium upon Massachusetts; she

needs none. There she is. Behold her, and judge for yourselves.

There is her history; the world knows it by heart. The past, at

least, is secure. There is Boston and Concord and Lexington

and Bunker Hill; and there they will remain forever."

— Daniel Webster

The Bay State.

            The Codfish State.

                        The Old Colony State.

                                    The Baked Bean State.

                                                The Pilgrim State.

Like its New England sister state of Connecticut Massachusetts has multiple nicknames. The name of the sixth state admitted to the union, again, like Connecticut, was derived from a Native American word. The original name of the area was the Massachusetts Bay Colony, named after an indigenous tribe, the Massachusett. The name of the tribe was likely derived from an Algonquin word muswachasut, translated as near the great hill, by the blue hills, at the little big hill, or at the range of hills. The official name of the state is the Commonwealth of Massachusetts although that titular designation confers no practical implications or powers that exceed those of all other states. Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Virginia also use the Commonwealth designation.

Residents of Massachusetts are known as Bay Staters.

The state’s motto is Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem, Latin for By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty.

Massachusetts is bordered by Boston Bay, Cape Cod Bay, the Gulf of Maine, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Vermont and New Hampshire to the north, New York to the west, and Connecticut and Rhode Island to the south. There are several small islands that are part of the state, and two large ones south of Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard. In terms of size the state comes in at #45 in the country at 10,565 square miles, 5,000 square miles larger than its Connecticut neighbor.

Like its sister state, Connecticut, Massachusetts has multiple topographical regions. The eastern section of the state that includes the greater Boston area plus Cape Cod is a coastal plain, a low-lying land adjacent to an ocean or sea. Further west is the hilly, rural region of the state’s center, which extends to the Connecticut River Valley (like Connecticut the river bisects the state). The state’s highest elevation is at the farthest western end near the New York border with the Berkshires, which helps form the tip of the Appalachian Mountains. Mount Greylock is perhaps the most famous of the mountain ranges within.

The state is comprised of 312 towns and 39 cities. The oldest town is Plymouth, which was incorporated in 1620; the nearby town of Kingston was settled in the same year. The first dozen Massachusetts towns settled are, in order, Plymouth, Kingston, Gloucester, Rockport, Chelsea, Duxbury, Hull, Boston, Quincy, Beverly, Peabody, and Salem. Due to their proximity to Boston and the Atlantic Ocean, the arm later known as Cape Cod blossomed with towns such as Provincetown (at the tip), Chatham, Eastham, Truro, Wellfleet, Orleans, Brewster, Dennis, Harwich, Barnstable, Yarmouth, and, of course, Hyannis. Edgartown on Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket are not only grand tourist towns but also some of the most expensive real estate in the state.

Although the earlier towns were clustered in the coastal area of Boston, they spread out west, leading to the well-known towns of Worcester, Sturbridge, Springfield, Agawam, Holyoke, Northampton, Greenfield, North Adams, and Pittsfield. Route 2 west between Greenfield and North Adams is famously known as the Mohawk Trail.

Within all of these cities Massachusetts boasts a vast number of excellent colleges and universities, many of whose names are known around the world. Harvard University, Boston College, Boston University, Radcliffe College, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Brandeis University, Cambridge College, New England Conservatory of Music, Mount Holyoke College, and the American International College are only a few of the hundred-plus institutions of higher learning.

Like Connecticut, Massachusetts provides an extensive number of opportunities for recreation. With over 3,000 lakes and ponds residents and tourists can swim, fish, picnic, and boat; similarly, the state’s coastline offers the same opportunities. Joshua Pond in Oster on Cape Cod is known as the cleanest lake for enjoyment. There are fifteen National Park Service sites in the state. The annual Eastern States Exposition (AKA, the Big E) held in West Springfield each fall provides historical information as well as rides such as roller coasters and Ferris wheels, plus food from every state to tempt the palate. Formerly known as Riverside Park (until 1995), initially opened in 1870, Six Flags in Agawam provides an enhanced suite of fun games and rides including a world-class roller coaster.

The state is rife with museums and historical sites including the Museum of Fine Art in Boston; the Harvard Museum of Natural History; the New Bedform Whaling Museum; the Salem Witch Museum; the Peabody-Essex Museum; the Basketball Hall of Fame; the Provincetown Museum; the Lizzie Borden House; Old Sturbridge Village; and the Springfield Armory. The Yankee Candle complex in South Deerfield provides year-round shopping enjoyment, but particularly at Halloween and Christmas. Sports is a big deal in the state with die-hard fans rooting for their favorite football team, the New England Patriots, and their beloved baseball team, the Red Sox.

Although the state’s industries began with rudimentary fishing, farming, and trading, over the centuries the state has exploded with a wide swath of new ways to make an individual living as well as make a positive impact on the world. Industries today encompass biotechnology, maritime trade, engineering, information technology, finance, tourism, and higher education. Tourism is a huge part of the state’s economy, and Boston’s Logan International Airport is one of the busiest on the eastern seaboard.

Perhaps, however, the greatest contribution to the United States of America was the development of the seed of independence from England. Puritans came to the new country to escape religious persecution and the longer the colonists had to grow and think and desire they found the restrictions by their mother country and the kings to chafe on their sense of independence. They resented heavy taxes without any representation, with decisions made by people who weren’t even present. Their resolve and actions led to the birth of a new, independent nation whose epicenter was in Boston.

Despite the positive actions and results of the people and organizations of the state, Massachusetts has a very infamous past as far as evil deeds and their repercussions go. The Salem Witch Trials that took place in 1692 live in historic infamy with the religious zealotry that destroyed dozens of lives, whether by execution or by participative side effects. Lizzie Borden and her ax cut their way into infamy. Albert DeSalvo, the Boston Strangler, is one of the country’s most infamous serial killers. Ferdinando Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were anarchists who were convicted of murdering two men during a 1920 armed robbery in South Braintree, Massachusetts. One of the most notorious murders in Boston was the 1989 case involving Charles Stuart, a Reading, Massachusetts fur store manager who shot his pregnant wife in the city, then blamed it on a fictitious African-American assailant, inflaming racial tensions in the city.

Lady of the Dunes is the nickname for an unidentified murder victim discovered on July 26, 1974, in the Race Point Dunes in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Badly mutilated with her hands removed (no doubt to eliminate fingerprints), she remained a Jane Doe for nearly fifty years. She was finally identified in November, 2022 as Ruth Marie Terry, age 37. Authorities believe that her new husband, Guy Muldavin, may have been her killer; he died in 2002. The case is still open.

The Patriarca crime family, also known as the New England Mafia, the Boston Mafia, the Providence Mafia, or The Office is an Italian-American Mafia family in New England. It has two distinct factions, one based in Providence, Rhode Island, and the other in Boston, Massachusetts. The family is currently led by Carmen The Cheese Man Dinunzio, who is part of the Boston faction. The family is primarily active in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut.

More recently, a stunning assault on Boston took place. The Boston Marathon bombing was a domestic terrorist attack that took place during the annual Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013. Two terrorists, the brothers Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, planted two homemade pressure cooker bombs, which detonated 14 seconds and 210 yards apart at 2:49 PM, near the finish line of the race, killing three people and injuring hundreds of others, including 17 who lost limbs. Luckily, Tamerlan was killed in a shootout with police. Dzhokhar was convicted and sentenced to death. That sentence was later overturned but on March 4, 2022, the Supreme Court overturned the reversal and he was resentenced to death.

Massachusetts has produced a number of famous people in all disciplines from literature to entertainment, either being born there, or working there, or associated closely with the state. In addition to those listed in the next section as originating from Salem, these include entertainers such as Leonard Nimoy, Bette Davis, Conan O’Brien, Amy Poehler, Uma Thurman, Billy Squier, and Rob Zombie. Famous writer Jack Kerouac was born in Lowell, and beloved children’s author Dr. Seuss was born in Springfield. The state has produced a large number of writers including Louisa May Alcott, Emily Dickinson, Henry David Thoreau, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Addison Brown.

Considered one of the first beachheads in establishing the United States, Massachusetts has produced a vast number of early heroes that fought for independence even before the Revolutionary War began: Governor John Winthrop, Thomas Dudley, Roger Williams, John Adams, Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, James Otis, William Dawes, John Fellows, Seth Pomeroy, and William Monroe. Although most people are unaware, several thousand black soldiers and Native American soldiers fought alongside their white counterparts. In more modern times the Kennedy clan has dominated the political landscape, partially by keeping deep, dark secrets and spinning negatives.

The state contains several of the earliest residential homes in the United States; those early churches and monuments built in the western part of the country are excluded from this timeline. It is believed that the first such house was built in 1639, the Thomas Bourne House in Marshfield; the second oldest house, the Richard Sparrow House, was built in Plymouth in 1640.

Hollywood has used the state for a number of films, documentaries, and TV shows including Jaws, Summer of ’42, Chappaquiddick, Manchester by the Sea, Moby Dick, The Group, The Harrad Experiment, The Haunting, Hocus Pocus, Black Mass, Plymouth Adventure, The Scarlet Letter, The House of the Seven Gables, Shutter Island, Legally Blonde, Little Women, The Legend of Lizzie Borden, The Thomas Crown Affair, The Dunwich Horror, The Departed, The Accused, The Practice, Boston Legal, Salem, Lovecraft Country, Rizzoli & Isles, Leverage, Dawson’s Creek, Wings, Who Do You Think You Are?, The Bridgewater Triangle, and Titicut Follies.

In addition to its important historical facts the state is known for a lot of unusual facts. Massachusetts has the second-largest cranberry crop in the nation! In fact, the leading cranberry cocktail maker, Ocean Spray, is headquartered in Middleboro, Massachusetts. The state beverage is cranberry juice, and cranberry is even one of the official state colors.

Many years ago, it was common to serve baked beans every Sunday. This weekly tradition gave Massachusetts the nickname of the Baked Bean State.

Located in Boston Harbor is the oldest lighthouse in America. The Boston Light was built in 1716 to warn of approaching enemy vessels.

The Paper House is a unique home made almost entirely out of newspapers. In 1922, Engineer Elis F. Stenman began building the paper house as a summer home in Rockport, Massachusetts. The walls, the floor, and the furniture are all made from newspapers. Inside, there is even a paper piano, paper desk, paper chair, and more.

Located near the Connecticut border is Webster Lake. Its original name was:

Char­gogg­a­gogg­man­chaugg­a­gogg­chau­bun­a­gung­a­maugg

In the Loup language that means you fish on your side of the lake and I’ll fish on mine.

Fig Newtons. These beloved treats were invented in Cambridge in 1891. They were almost called Fig Shrewsbury, but Newton won.

Retired rocking horses can be found at a spot called Ponyhenge in Lincoln, Massachusetts.

Like every other state, Massachusetts also has a few outlandish laws that are still on the books. For example, did you know that the use of tomatoes in clam chowder is prohibited? Or that celebrating the Christmas holiday was once against the law? And another thing, if you want to take a lion to the movies or put a gorilla in your backseat, don’t do it!

Massachusetts is a keystone state drenched in history and tradition, beautiful farms, hills, mountains, rivers, lakes, and beaches. It is an easy driving distance to New York, the other five New England states, Cape Cod and the northwestern Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts. This sixth of the New England states to be admitted to the union is held in reverence not only by its residents and tourists, but by an entire country whose hard birth originated in what had been the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

"Salem is in part a story of what happens when a set of

unanswerable questions meets a set of unquestioned answers."

— Stacy Schiff, The Witches: Salem, 1692

Salem, a coastal city in Essex County in the North Shore region, was founded in 1626 by Roger Connant, who failed on Cape Ann of running a fishing company and sought new opportunities with a pack of hardy followers. Although the settlement was originally named as a Native American word, Naumkeag, the European settlers rejected that name and chose instead the name Salem, derived from the Hebrew word for peace (usually articulated as shalom). The Naumkeag were Eastern Algonquian-speaking Native American people who lived in northeastern Massachusetts. Three years later in 1629 the settlers were granted a charter specifying autonomy and self-rule. Building of homes and civil structures was robust, and the Reverend Samuel Skelton went into history as the first pastor of the First Church of Salem, the original Puritan church in North America. Sadly, although the settlers in the new world sought religious freedom and tolerance they did not necessarily extend that to others of different faiths and beliefs.

In barely ten years after its establishment Salem flexed its port city muscles and began cod trading with the West Indies. The town grew and in 1637 the first cemetery was established and known as the Old Burying Point Cemetery. Today it remains one of the oldest colonial burying grounds in the country. A militia was mustered and Fort Pickering was built at Salem Harbor in 1644. In 1649 the Custom House was built to facilitate trading contracts and taxes.

The famous House of the Seven Gables was built by the Turner family, wealthy merchants, in 1668. It was later sold to relatives of author Nathaniel Hawthorne, who wrote his famous novel of the same name.

As the decades rolled by Salem grew and prospered, and eventually became a key lynchpin in the American Revolution. In 1774 Boston’s General Court was moved to Salem, and in 1775 Salem initiated the first armed resistance to the British when its militia blocked British Lt. Colonel Leslie and his troops from appropriating ammunition stored in the city.

Over the centuries and mainly because of the infamous 1692 witch trials Salem became a mecca for those fascinated by or engaged in supernatural or wiccan pursuits. Stores blossomed to sell witchy souvenirs and books, candles and Ouija boards. Halloween was the holiday to visit the city which became clogged with tourists from all over the country and, indeed, all over the world. The Witch City was a flashpoint for every person who considered Wicca the definitive religion, was obsessed by the 1692 trials, was curious about the history and legends of New England in general, or simply liked to dress up in an outlandish costume that had to outdo the ones worn on the previous year. Salem was so much more than that.

Most people are unaware that Salem was the birthplace of the Army National Guard. During World War II (1939–1945), air crews from Salem flew neutrality patrols along the coast, and the Air Station roster grew to 37 aircraft. Anti-submarine patrols flew regularly. In October 1944, Air Station Salem was designated as the first Air-Sea Rescue station on the eastern seaboard. The Martin PBM Mariner, a holdover from the war, became the primary rescue aircraft. In the mid-1950s, helicopters came, as did Grumman HU-16 Albatross amphibious flying boats (UFs).

Salem was and is home to marvelous expressions of architecture, particularly those designed Federal-style. Although a robust center of shipping and fishing Salem’s industries changed over the centuries and moved into manufacturing. Industries included tanneries, shoe factories, and the Naumkeag Steam Cotton Company. The Great Salem Fire of 1914 destroyed over 400 homes and left 3,500 families homeless but spared the historic concentration of Federal architecture on Chestnut Street. A memorial plaque on a drugstore building marks the former site of the Korn Leather Factory, which burned in the fire.

As the city grew in terms of buildings and industry, so grew the population:

Salem was incorporated as a city on March 23, 1836, and adopted a city seal in 1839 with the motto "Divitis Indiae usque ad ultimum sinum," Latin for To the rich East Indies until the last lap.

The city is a small eighteen square miles, nearly evenly divided by land and water, and is only fifteen miles north of Boston. Salem lies on Massachusetts Bay between Salem Harbor, which divides the city from much of neighboring Marblehead to the southeast, and Beverly Harbor, which divides the city from Beverly along with the Danvers River, which feeds into the harbor. Between the two harbors lies Salem Neck and Winter Island, which are divided from each other by Cat Cove, Smith Pool (located between the two land causeways to Winter Island), and Juniper Cove. The city is further divided by Collins Cove and the inlet to the North River. The Forest River flows through the south end of town, along with Strong Water Brook, which feeds Spring Pond at the town’s southwest corner. The town has several parks, as well as conservation land along the Forest River and Camp Lion, which lies east of Spring Pond.

Salem has produced a number of famous people in all disciplines from literature to entertainment, either being born there, or working there, or associated closely with the city. Nathaniel Hawthorne is probably the most famous resident. He is joined by such historical personages as Endicott Peabody, Benjamin Peirce, Timothy Pickering, Frederic Ward Putnam, Charles Lenox Remond, William Gardner Choate, and George Cabot.

Perhaps amongst the most notorious of Salem residents were those involved in the 1692 Witch Trials, a stain not only on the city but also on humanity. Judges included Jonathan Corwin, John Hathorne, and Colonel Bartholomew Gedney, the most prestigious and fervent of the seven judges.

Although Salem was famous and remarkable for many things and people, the events that most defined it in the history books were the 1692 Salem Witch Trials, led by religious zealots, desperate people, and teenage girls. Women and men were accused of being the devil’s disciples. The town embraced a psychotic hysteria where lives, families, and reputations were lost. By the end of the trials nineteen people had been hanged for witchcraft and one had been pressed to death with rocks. The trials ceased only when Governor William Phipps disbanded the court after his wife was accused of being a witch herself.

Too often lost in familiar history are the names of the twenty executed victims of the trials: Bridget Bishop, Sarah Good, Elizabeth Howe, Susannah Martin, Rebecca Nurse, Sarah Wildes, Martha Carrier, Alice Parker, Mary Parker, Anne Pudeator, Wilmot Redd, Margaret Scott, Mary Easty, Martha Corey, Giles Corey, Samuel Wardwell, John Proctor, George Jacobs Sr., John Willard, and the Reverend George Burroughs. Giles Corey was pressed to death with stones; the other nineteen were hanged. Playwright Arthur Miller wrote a play in 1953 about the witch trials, The Crucible, which was also turned into a movie.

As history roamed past the decades other infamous crimes occurred in the Witch City. In 1830 a wealthy, retired merchant named Captain Joseph White, age eighty-two, was murdered by brothers Joseph and Frank Knapp. They were prosecuted by lawyer and statesman Daniel Webster and were hanged in front of a crowd of thousands at the Salem jail. In 1991 a talented young artist named Martha Brailsford went for a sail with her neighbor Tom Maimoni; he returned to Salem alone and said a huge wave had washed her overboard. Six days later Martha’s body was found with an anchor tied to her foot and a lead diving belt encircling her waist. Her body was nude. Maimoni was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. He died there in 2017.

But, if anything, Salem is the mecca for tourists, academics, and scientists that study the supernatural, enjoy the occult, and, perhaps sometimes, cheer for the wicked.

The Witch City

City of Peace

NOTE: Several descriptive sections are attributed to Wikipedia, which specifies the sources. This includes the sections on New England, Massachusetts, Salem, and other textual components for locations and events.

Chapter One

May 26, 1975

Salem, Massachusetts

Memorial Day wasn’t always Memorial Day until 1971. In that year Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act and assigned the official name as well as the observance date, the last Monday in May. Prior to that the day was called both Memorial Day and Decoration Day and overall was celebrated on May 30th.

The origins of Memorial Day are complex and occasionally murky. At least twenty-five locations claim to have established the day. In retrospect, it can be said that the custom of decorating the graves of soldiers goes back millennia although not necessarily as part of a ritualized observance. In the United Sates the concept was born out of the Civil War both during and after the conflict.

Precedents in the South during that period included people decorating the graves or death sites of deceased Confederate soldiers. Generally considered the first such occurrence in June 1861 the grave of the first Confederate soldier killed in the war, John Quincy Marr, was decorated with flowers in Warrenton, Virginia. In Savannah, Georgia in July 1862, fallen soldiers who died in the battle of Manassas had their graves decorated with flowers by the town’s women. Similar occurrences happened over the course of the war in Jackson, Mississippi; Charleston, South Carolina; Columbus, Georgia; and Columbus, Mississippi.

The North had its share of graveyard decorations and small services. Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in 1863 was a key example. Another remembrance event takes place there annually since 1868 to memorialize Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Local historians in Boalsburg, Pennsylvania claim that the first true Memorial Day celebration took place there but there is no credible evidence that this is so and may simply be one of the many myths surrounding the war.

The push for an established day of remembrance really began in 1868. Union General John A. Logan called for a proclamation for a national, annual Decoration Day to honor the dead from the recent war. He adopted the ad hoc practices in the South during the past three years. The northern states enthusiastically approved. In that year 183 events were held in 27 states; in the following year, 336 events.

In 1871, Michigan made Decoration Day an official state holiday and by 1890, every northern state had followed suit. On May 26, 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson designated an official birthplace of the holiday by signing the presidential proclamation naming Waterloo, New York, as the holder of the title. That probably didn’t thrill many southerners that felt the honor was due them. Damn Yankees!

In addition to the laying of flowers, prayers, and speeches (along with, often, fireworks) the day, whether Decoration or Memorial, has been cemented in literature and music. Charles Ives, an American modernist composer, created a symphonic poem in 1912 called Decoration Day which depicted his childhood memories of such celebrations. Poets from the early days as well as modern times wrote accolades and sorrows to the meaning and purpose of the celebration. Francis M. Finch wrote The Blue and the Grey in 1867. In 1914 Joyce Kilmer wrote Memorial Day.

In succinct but stirring prose Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote his poem Decoration Day:

Sleep, comrades, sleep and rest

On this Field of the Grounded Arms,

Where foes no more molest,

Nor sentry’s shot alarms!

Ye have slept on the ground before,

And started to your feet

At the cannon’s sudden roar,

Or the drum’s redoubling beat.

But in this camp of Death

No sound your slumber breaks;

Here is no fevered breath,

No wound that bleeds and aches.

All is repose and peace,

Untrampled lies the sod;

The shouts of battle cease,

It is the Truce of God!

Rest, comrades, rest and sleep!

The thoughts of men shall be

As sentinels to keep

Your rest from danger free.

Your silent tents of green

We deck with fragrant flowers

Yours has the suffering been,

The memory shall be ours.

After World War I a Canadian soldier, Colonel John McCrae, wrote one of the most memorable poems ever, In Flanders Field.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly …

Poppies became the flower associated with Memorial Day and immortalized in this poem. The red color of the flower is not a symbol of blood, death, or support for war. Instead, poppies were the only flowers that grew in war-torn battlefields. When the countrysides were nothing but mud and devastation, poppy flowers sprouted up and flourished. That is what inspired McCrae to write his poem. In 1922, the poppy was adopted as the official memorial flower of the VFW. The Friday before Memorial Day was designated as Poppy Day.

Hannah Cutler placed bouquets of flowers on a few of the graves in Salem’s St. Mary’s Cemetery, which held the remains of soldiers that died in too many wars. No one she knew was buried there, but it was simply a representation of the loss of her daughter Shalimar’s father. She told Shalimar that he had died in Vietnam and had been buried in that foreign land. They made the annual pilgrimage to this cemetery in lieu of being able to visit that man’s grave outside of Da Nang.

She watched as Shalimar carefully stooped down and laid flowers on the grave of a soldier who had died at the tender age of eighteen in 1969. He had barely begun life and before he could even vote he was gone. Shalimar straightened and took her mother’s hand and looked up at her with a face too serious for an almost-six-year-old. The little girl’s eyes were a startling deep chocolate framed by long lashes, her thick, wavy hair a chestnut brown that ended way past her shoulders. Her bangs were almost down to her eyes and she had a bow in her hair, making her look like an angel. Her adorableness was only punctuated by the slight cleft in her chin. She was neatly dressed in pale peach culottes and a short-sleeved shirt with a lacy bodice. Leather sandals encased her delicate feet and showed her red-painted toenails to their best effect.

As much as she tried, Hannah couldn’t see much of herself in her child’s face. Unlike the little girl Hannah was a golden blonde with long, voluminous straight hair, deep-set green eyes, and an oval face that was perfectly symmetrical but not drop-dead gorgeous. She was tall and athletically built with swimmer’s shoulders and had long fingers with short nails nearly always painted shocking pink. It was becoming the style to have multiple ear piercings and Hannah had three; she usually wore two small studs and a dangle, that latter one today a curled-up silver mermaid. She was wearing tight bell-bottom jeans and a sleeveless tee-shirt that hid nothing of her lean figure.

Come on, honey, Hannah said and they walked back to her old 1956 Pontiac Chieftain which she had bought five years ago when she moved to Salem. For a twenty-year-old car, it ran like a dream. She had few marketable skills when she settled down in the Witch City, but finally she acknowledged her cunning, creative side to become a self-employed Spiritualist-cum-Psychic. She made enough money to lease-to-buy a splendid old Victorian off Essex Street and ensure that Shalimar had good clothes, food, and a roof over her head. She hadn’t yet started a college fund but that was on the menu for next year.

We’re home, Shalimar exclaimed as Hannah parked on the street in front of their home. The house wasn’t as large or ornate as many of the Victorians in New England, but it was spacious enough with pink trim, a turret, a wraparound porch, and mature bushes and trees dotting the fifth of an acre. Shalimar’s bedroom was on the second floor and the turret housed her playroom. She had a small balcony with French doors. Hannah’s master bedroom was on the first floor kitty-corner to the den and with a rare ensuite bathroom. There was no garage but a well-worn, narrow dirt driveway that turned to the back with parking on a weathered dirt patch that had once been lush grass. A canvas carport enclosed the car from the hot sun, the drenching rain, and the always-excessive winter snow.

Let’s have an early lunch and then we’ll head over to the town center. There’ll be a parade and some other fun stuff, Hannah said.

Are you gonna work the crowd? Shalimar asked.

Maybe. I could pick up a few clients and that’ll pay for our summer trip to Rhode Island.

Shalimar giggled happily and flew out of the car and pounded up the porch steps, jiggling until her mother opened the front door. Before Hannah could warn her against running Shalimar tore through the living room and into the kitchen. When Hannah came in the girl began chanting, Jiffy! Jiffy! Jiffy! Honey! Honey! Honey! Hannah thought again that she had a weird kid that preferred peanut butter and honey to peanut butter and jelly. She quieted the girl down and made her a thick sandwich on whole wheat with a glass of milk to wash it down. She grabbed an apple and cider for her own version of lunch.

Spooky curled around Hannah’s ankles and purred. She reached down to scratch the cat’s head, black, soft, luxurious. Hannah had found the cat sitting on her front doorstep two years earlier. She gave her a bowl of milk. The cat lapped it up then ran off. That happened every morning for the next two weeks, at which time Hannah let the cat into the house. The cat roamed around checking out the premises. She finally stopped in front of the couch where Shalimar was sitting, stared at the little girl for a few seconds, then jumped up, curled into a ball next to her, and went to sleep. From that moment on the newly christened Spooky became the firm protector of Shalimar Cutler.

Shalimar finished her sandwich in record time while Hannah diddled over her fruit. Hannah needed a day off but she also needed to pick up a few extra bucks to take Shalimar for a few days to the pretty Rhode Island coast. That, and to open her own shop instead of sharing one with another spiritualist, the tarot card reader/Ouija board examiner Dulcinea Castañeda. They usually got along but Dulcinea had a tough edge to her personal interactions that made truly knowing her a lost battle. Still, the two women were able to establish a schedule so that they wouldn’t step on one another’s toes in their business space.

Hannah had her eye on a small shop four doors down from The Sorcerer’s Soul, the well-established shop run by Charity Dane and her husband. She might have persuaded Dulcinea to let her take on their shop alone but the other one was bigger and had a large picture window and a No-Parking sign right in front so that nothing would obstruct her view of the sidewalk and street. The landlord was holding the place for her until Tuesday and it was hers if she could come up with the security deposit and the first month’s rent. She was almost there with the money and maybe she could finish her lease money and still have some left over for the trip to Watch Hill and Misquamicut. A few naïve tourists today that needed psychic readings and she’d be all set to sign the papers. She had a name all picked out as well as a sign for the window. She was excited.

She clapped her hands and Shalimar grabbed her little shoulder bag and flew out of the front door. She was at the car before her mother could lock the house door. She wriggled in the passenger seat and waved at Spooky, who was watching his young mistress from the front bay window. Hannah told her to sit still and pulled the car away from the curb and took a few turns to bring them into Salem’s main drag. Her eyes lit up when she saw a car starting to pull out of a space across the street from Charity’s place and she quickly and smoothly made the space her very own even as the car behind her blasted his horn and flipped her the bird.

The street was bustling with residents and visitors. It would be so again in a few weeks when the Fourth of July hit, and that holiday would be punctuated with fireworks as well. She held Shalimar’s hand as they crossed the street and kept a tight grip as they meandered down the street. She stopped in front of the empty shop and knew that she was making the right move. She had a pretty gold ring that she could pawn if she needed to get the last of the cash. But, the best opportunity lay in gullible tourists that needed a psychic reading.

She was good at that and had honed her abilities in the last five years, mastering the art of the cold read. She could interpret micro facial expressions that would lead her to a revelation that would amaze the client. Hannah could analyze clothing, jewelry, body language, and other telltale physical attributes to narrow down the essence of the client and make educated guesses or turn inaccurate ones into maybes. She billed herself as a psychic but also planned to sell supernatural-oriented items and clothes that thrilled the naïve visitors as well as genuine spiritualists. She had made a handshake deal with an established importer of candles, mirrors, and other accouterments for a first shipment to arrive the following week. She had a meeting Wednesday with a clothing producer in Peabody, and she planned on setting up a separate kiosk for local people to sell their wares. She’d promised Shalimar that she’d reserve a section of the table for the colorful potholders the little girl lovingly made.

A sudden tug on Hannah’s hand told her Shalimar had spotted something and was rushing to it. Sweet, smart, serious, and usually tactful the little girl did have bursts of emotional energy. She’d head into a situation before appraising its potential for danger. Hannah was working with her on that. She walked quickly to where her daughter was standing next to a sidewalk seller who had a table full of red, white, and blue jewelry. Shalimar was admiring a necklace as her mother patiently waited.

All of a sudden a commotion and yelling erupted and Hannah turned to see a young man running in her direction and carrying a woman’s purse. A man was chasing him and she heard the word police. Just when the running man reached her Hannah threw herself at him and body-slammed him into a parked car. She tumbled to the ground next to him and grabbed the purse and rolled away just as the other man got there, snapped, You’re under arrest, and handcuffed the purse snatcher. A bystander helped Hannah to her feet and a crowd gathered around the scene.

You kicked his ass, Mommy, Shalimar exclaimed excitedly.

Don’t say ass, Hannah muttered as she brushed away the dirt on her jeans.

A police car drove up and two uniforms burst out and took charge of the purse snatcher and the purse. Another one pulled up and the policemen helped the victim into their car to take her to the station for a statement. The man who had handcuffed the perp said he’d stop by soon and add his two cents. He turned to Hannah and withdrew his wallet.

Detective Bishop Proctor, ma’am, he said in a deep voice as he showed her his shield. And you are?

Hannah Cutler.

Nice move. Are you okay?

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