Salem, Massachusetts -
The Witch Dungeon Museum

The Witch Dungeon Museum

Features a live witch trial -- well, partly live; most of the cast are showroom dummies -- right where it all happened back in 1692. Roadsideamerica.com Report...

Salem Witch Dungeon

A bunch of friends, my brother and I were on our way to Maine for our senior trip when we stopped in Salem. We saw some signs for the Salem Witch Dungeon and thought it sounded cool. Our first tip that this was going to be horrible was the sign posted outside the building. This sign said something about how this was the place where the people who were accused of witch craft during the witch crisis were held, but next to that sign was another sign which read "This sign was moved from ---, where the original dungeon was."

We paid $6.50 and went into what looked like a church with a stage. Out came the first actress, she was more like a narrator. Then the curtains opened to reveal 5-6 horrible decrepit dummies who were suppose to be the judge and jury in a court room. Then the two actresses came out, they acted out a scene showing how the testimony was based on nothing...yadda yadda, at the end of it, my brother (a 22 year old with a masters degree and is working for a large company, but has a little odd streak) yells out "BURN HER!"...with this the one actress storms off the stage muttering "Obviously he didn't get the point!" Then the first actress, the narrator, comes back on and reprimands my brother (not directly) and said something to the extent that he did not know how to act in a "theater environment".

After this they led us down to this horribly lit basement with dummies set up in "dungeon cells" (the stones on the wall weren't even real, they were plastic). All in all this thing was NOT worth the money, I hear the Cry Innocent play is way cooler, because you're allowed to heckle, and there's more than three actresses. [Becky, 08/24/2002]

[RA: You malcontent roadtrip greenhorns... sounds like it was well worth the admission price! When we saw the Witch Dungeon show years ago, there were only TWO live performers, the same decrepit dummies -- and it was still great.]

Salem Witch Dungeon

I just returned from a weekend trip from Boston and Salem, MA. One of your sights listed was the Witch Dungeon Museum in Salem, at 16 Lynde Street. In my opinion this place was a big dud. It was not scary at all, and there was no climax when the witch, ranting incoherently, plunges into the crowd,and then whacks the pressure bar on the nearest exit door, this never even happens. This place is not worth seeing. [anon, 10/01/1997]

[RA: as witnessed on our visit several years ago]