The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 Multi-Cache
Hidden : 11/13/2005
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
2 out of 5

Size: Size: regular (regular)

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Geocache Description:


The above coordinates are made up numbers. The cache is not located there.

The final cache container is located at -
N 42 33. ABC
W 70 57. DEF

This is a multi stage cache designed to teach a small bit of history about the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. It will take you on a tour of Danvers to gather information needed to find the final cache. Even though the stops can be done in any order I suggest the one outlined below. The first and second stop will have parking. For the remaining stops I suggest finding a place to park and walk. They are all close to each other.

Thank you to the Danvers Duo for letting me adopt this cache from them!

Much of the wording below was copied from the web pages of The Danvers Historical Society. The answers to the questions below can not be found there.

I included an article in the information link here. It will give you an overview of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692.

On to the cache -

Known in 1692 as Salem Village, Danvers was the scene of the outbreak of witchcraft in Essex County. The strange actions of a group of young girls, who had been dabbling in the occult, first began at the parsonage, home of Reverend Parris. A local doctor claimed they were afflicted by the " evil hand ", setting the stage for accusation of approximately 190 people for witchcraft. Some were enemies of the accusing girls families, others were outspoken or propertied men and women. Those first accused of witchcraft lived in Danvers. As the witchcraft contagion spread, however, people throughout all Essex County were accused. Many people accused of witchcraft were examined by the magistrates in the meeting house in Danvers. When the Court of Oyer and Terminer was appointed in May 1692, the trials and executions were moved to neighboring Salem, the county seat. In all 19 people were hanged and one man was crushed to death. The trials ended after 15 months largely because spectral evidence, i.e. claims of attacks by invisible witches, was declared inadmissible.



Stop 1 - One of the accused - N 42 33.518 W 70 56.970

Built in 1678, this house was the home of Francis and Rebecca Nurse in 1692. Rebecca was arrested and later tried on June 29, 1692. When the jury found her not guilty, her accusers fell into such affliction that Chief Justice William Stoughton imposed on the jury to reconsider its verdict. When the jurors returned from their second deliberation, they had changed the verdict to guilty. Although Rebecca obtained a reprieve from Governor Phips, it was withdrawn when her accusers renewed their outcries against her. She was hanged on Gallows Hill on July 19. Her body was brought secretly back to this farm and buried in an unmarked grave. A monument to her memory stands in the family cemetery located on the farm. The Nurse home is open to the public. There is an admission charge to tour inside the buildings.

Question - Near the above coords. you will find a fence with two white signs. Look at the sign on the right, the last word has how many letters? This number equals C .

Stop 2 - One of the accusers - N 42 33.642 W 70 57.512

In 1692, this house was the home of the widow Sarah Holten. Three years earlier, after Sarah's swine had uprooted Rebecca Nurse's garden, Rebecca had become so incensed that she stormed over to the Holten house and upbraided Sarah's husband, Benjamin. "All we could say to hir could no ways passifie hir, " Sarah later testified, " but she continewed Railing and scolding agrat while. " A short while later, Benjamin Holten fell ill " being much pained at his stomack and often struck blind...about a fortnight before he dyed he was taken with strange and violent fitts acting much like to our poor bewitched parsons." The quotations are from Sarah's 1692 testimony that helped send Rebecca to the gallows. The Holten house is open to the public.

Question - In the front yard there is a fountain dedicated in honor of the Danvers men.... On this fountain is the date 1AA5 - 1A83 .

Stop 3 - Where the accusations first occurred - N 42 33.982 W 70 57.717

These are the foundations of the Salem Village parsonage where the hysteria began. It was here, in the home of the Reverend Samuel Parris and his wife, Elizabeth, that the circle of girls met in the winter months of 1691-92 to listen to Tituba's tales of magic and the occult. In January 1692, the Parrises' daughter Elizabeth began behaving strangely and was diagnosed as being bewitched. In this house Tituba and John Indian baked the witch cake which promted the accusations, and eleven year old Abigail Williams, in full possession, spied the spector of Rebecca Nurse. The parsonage was built by the parish in 1681 for use by its ministers. In it lived Reverend George Burroughs (1681-83) who was hanged as a witch in 1692 , Reverend Deodat Lawson ( 1684-88) who returned to Salem Village in 1692 at the outbreak of the witchcraft hysteria, and Reverend Samuel Parris (1689-96). **Parking is not available close to this site, so you can park in front of the elementary school on Hobart St. This is a good place to park for most of the remaining questions.**

Question - How many blue signs are in the fenced area ? This number (plus 2) equals D .

Stop 4 - Where the accused were first brought - N 42 33. 884 W 70 57. 640

This building, constructed around 1670, was Deacon Nathaniels Ingersoll's ordinary, one of the most important landmarks of the hysteria. Visitors to the Village in 1692 often saught lodging here ; and here the magistrates and marshals of Essex County ate and drank during their recesses from examing accused witches. Most of those examined for witchcraft in Salem Village were brought to the ordinary and examined later in the Village meeting house down the road. It is probable that some examinations were conducted in the ordinary itself. Ingersoll's ordinary is privately owned.

Question - On both sides of the front door are small panes of glass. How many are on each side ( not the total number of both sides)? This number equals F.

Stop 5 - Where the accused were examined - N 42 33. 942 W 70 57. 498

The meeting house of the First Church in Salem Village stood here in 1692. The meeting house was the site of most of the 1692 examinations, although some examinations were held in the Salem meeting house, in Beadle's Tavern in Salem, and in Ingersoll's ordinary. Nathaniel Cary, whose wife, Elizabeth, was arrested on May 24, described the meeting house in Salem Village as " the place appointed for That work ( i.e. , the examinations )." Here magistrates interrogated, among others, the notorious " witches" Sarah Good, Tituba Indian, Martha Corey, and Rebecca Nurse. In 1701, a new meeting house was erected on the site of the current First Church and this meeting house abandoned. The Darling Prince House ( circa 1681), which now stands on the site, was moved here in the nineteenth century. It is privately owned.

Question - How many windows are on the left side of the house? This number equals B.

Stop 6 - A Memorial - N 42 33.932 W 70 57.461

On May 9, 1992 the Salem Village Witchcraft Victims Memorial of Danvers was dedicated before an audience of over 3000 people. It was the first such memorial to honor all of the 1692 witchcraft victims. The front of the memorial reads IN MEMORY OF THOSE INNOCENTS WHO DIED DURING THE SALEM VILLAGE WITCHCRAFT HYSTERIA OF 1692

Question - On the back of the monument there is a section marked ' designed by '. How many names are listed under this section? This number equals E.

Happy caching !

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

trb-boivbhf

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)


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