Howard Street Cemetery
Established in 1801 as the Branch Street Cemetery and renamed in 1828 for sailmaker John Howard, this 2.5-acre burying ground holds roughly 1,100 graves of ship captains, Revolutionary War soldiers, and early members of Salem's African American community. The land was an open field in 1692, and it is widely believed to be where Giles Corey was pressed to death under stones for refusing to enter a plea during the witch trials, answering only "more weight" until he died. Legend holds that Corey cursed Salem and its sheriff as he died, and locals long attributed the heart ailments suffered by generations of Salem sheriffs to that curse, said to have lifted only when the office moved out of the city around 1991. His ghost is reported to drift among the stones before disaster strikes the town, most famously sighted shortly before the Great Salem Fire of 1914.
📍 Howard Street, Salem, MA 01970, Salem, MA · Get directions