05.03
There were many factors which caused the hysteria and horror of the Salem Witch Trials. Politics, religion, family feuds, fear and superstition all contributed to the atmosphere that spawned the one of the darkest moments in American history. In a few short months, as many as 200 people would be jailed, 19 hanged, and 1 tortured to death in this small New England town.
Salem Village, Massachusetts, in 1692, was a thriving community of 600 God-fearing citizens of the Puritan faith. They were a stern and somber lot, adhering very strictly to the letter of God’s law. Pious though they were, the population was split between those town dwellers who believed that the city of Salem Town should rival Boston as a center of commerce, and the village should be part of that, and those who believed that such a course of action was too individualistic and in opposition to the communal tenets of the Puritan faith. These separatists wished for it to remain a simple farming community, and wanted to form a separate community to make it so. Tensions between the two factions had been intense in the years preceding that dreadful summer.
A village meetinghouse was built, and hired for its minister was one Samuel Parris, who was, by all accounts, a greedy and grasping man who used the word of God to justify his less-than-scrupulous behavior. His loyalties lay with the wealthy farmers, led by the Putnam family, who had been instrumental in hiring him and setting his controversial contract. The usual agreements of the day would provide a minister with a modest salary, use of a house, and firewood. Parris’s contract included these things, but at his insistence, also included the deed to the parsonage and the land surrounding it. Those citizens who wished to remain part of Salem Town, objected strongly to this, refused to attend the village meetinghouse, and withheld their local taxes, which were used in part to pay the minister’s salary and provide his firewood. In October, 1691, a new Village Committee was elected, mostly comprised of Parris’s opponents, and they voted to withhold his salary. Parris was forced to rely on private contributions to provide for his family, and the Putnam family was worried about losing their pet minister, and the support from his congregation for separating from Salem Town.
Young Puritan girls, aside from household chores, had little to do during the winter months. Play was discouraged, because it was a form of idleness, and especially in the Reverend Parris’s view, the idle mind was the devil’s playground. The girls, instead, formed reading circles, and would gather to read and discuss books of interest. During those winter months of 1691-1692, the popular topic of discussion was fortune telling and prophecy. In the Parris household, his nine year old daughter, Betty and her twelve year old cousin, Abigail Williams formed such a circle with their friend Ann Putnam, age twelve, and Ann’s friends Mercy Lewis, seventeen, and Mary Walcott, seventeen. The Parris family slave, Tituba, an Indian woman who had been purchased in Barbados, joined in the discussion group, and told the girls the stories of magic and witchcraft, spirit animals and demons, that were told by her people in South America. The circle of girls practiced fortune telling, to determine things like the trade of their future sweethearts. At one such gathering, Ann claimed to have seen an apparition of a specter in a coffin. It was after this incident that Betty, Abigail and Ann began to exhibit strange behavior, contorting and writhing, presumably in pain, speaking in gibberish and crawling under furniture. A doctor was called in, but could find no explanation for the girls’ symptoms, and no explanation, to a Puritan family in 1692, could only mean one thing…WITCHCRAFT!
In 2009, The National Retail Foundation conducted a survey of 8,526 consumers to determine the most popular Halloween costumes of the year. While the average holiday spending per person dropped about $10 from the previous year, costume sales were strong. The top ten costumes for adults in 2009, reflected trends in other entertainment categories. The recent popularity of vampire books, movies and television programs prompted a surge in vampire costume sales as well. Politically themed costumes and masks, which had great success in 2008, dropped out of the list entirely. Another surprise was the increased popularity of athletic and sports themed costumes, which garnered them a spot on the top ten list.
Here is the list, compiled by the NRF, along with the average amount spent for each costume:
Conspicuously absent from this year’s list were the Nurse costume and the French Maid. Also increasing in popularity, but not quite up to top ten standards were Gangster costumes, Fairy Costumes, particularly Tinkerbell, and Princess costumes.
There is no more traditional Halloween treat than a crispy, chewy caramel apple. You will want to make extra for unexpected holiday guests! Here is a simple recipe for this harvest delight.
In 1883, Major Thomas Hays had a one room school house built for his daughters’ education, in the rolling hills of Kentucky, near Louisville. The teacher he hired, loved the peaceful setting so much, she named it Waverly School, after her favorite novel by Sir Walter Scott. Major Hays approved, and named his entire property Waverly Hill. In 1908, when the property was purchased by the Board of Tuberculosis Hospital, they kept the name. 
Waverly Hills has been called one of the most haunted places in the world, one of the top ten most haunted places in America, and the world’s most haunted hospital. Over it’s long history, Waverly Hills treated thousands of patients. Most did not survive the “White Plague”, as tuberculosis was called, prior to the use of antibiotic treatments. It is estimated that, in its 50 year history as a tuberculosis hospital, somewhere between 6,000 and 8,000 deaths occurred there. In addition to the spirits of the many patients that are said to haunt the site, Room 502 has it’s own ghost. Legend has it that a nurse on the hospital staff learned that she had contracted the disease. Knowing the lengthy, futile battle she was facing, she chose instead to hang herself in room 502.
At the height of the epidemic, many patients died every day. To keep patient morale up, the hospital administration needed a discreet way to remove the dead. A tunnel, used also to receive deliveries of supplies and as a walkway for employees coming up or going down the hills to work in the winter months, was used to transport bodies from the hospital to hearses and trains waiting below the hill. The tunnel, called the Body Chute, or Death Tunnel was built before electricity was available, so, after descending about 30 feet, there is total darkness, except for whatever sunlight filters through the small circular vents that are spaced every 100 feet. Despite popular legend, bodies were not “dumped” into the Body Chute and allowed to bounce and roll down the hill to be disposed of at the bottom. Gurneys on rails were used to lower the bodies down the 500 foot tunnel. Paranormal investigators claim to have encountered many spirits on the long, dark walk. 
The hospital has been featured on SyFy channel’s “Ghost Hunters” during their regular season, and they returned to Waverly for their Halloween live special in 2007. The movies “Death Tunnel” and “Spooked” were both filmed there. The French comic book series “Pandemonium” is based on the paranormal legends of Waverly Hills. Both French and British television Halloween specials have featured the Sanatorium and its history.