The House of the Seven Gables
Built in 1668 for sea captain John Turner on Salem's waterfront, the Turner-Ingersoll Mansion passed to mariner Samuel Ingersoll in 1782, and his daughter Susanna later inspired her cousin Nathaniel Hawthorne to immortalize the house in his 1851 novel. Today it stands as a museum, its dim rooms and famous hidden staircase still drawing visitors centuries on. Some report a man's shadow climbing and descending that secret stair to the attic, accompanied by phantom footsteps that fade at the top. Others describe Susanna herself as a woman in black drifting room to room as though still tending her chores, sometimes watching from the upper windows. In the attic, a giggling boy is said to play among unseen toys, vanishing the moment anyone follows.
📍 115 Derby St, Salem, MA 01970, Salem, MA · Get directions