History

Hidden History of Salem available for Pre-Order on Amazon!

May 23, 1914 Luna Park on Coney Island opens its summer season with a “spectacular” depiction of the Titanic Disaster “in three amazing acts.” Note the people falling off the end of the ship.  And the heads bobbing in the water. Way to keep it classy, Coney Island of 1914….

I’m under deadline, so I’ve been away (I apologize). Found this during research, though, and had to share. Can you imagine what being a doctor was like when the possibility of saving two-thirds of your patients was the best, most exciting thing an advertisement could say about its medicine? So…

“If, instead of charging Salem with dullness, Mr. James had accused it of brilliant wickedness, he would have come nearer the mark… Imagine a community in which abound young men, rich, well educated, having free run whether for business or pleasure among all the savage tribes and oriental nations of…

“I had rather sit under my own “vine and fig tree” in Salem, than in the most stately edifice in Washington.” – Nathaniel Silsbee, 1817 (Massachusetts Representative to United States Congress)

Today in Salem History: On April 24, 1792, Abraham Solis advertised “Haerlaemer Oil” with “Dutch explanations of its use” in the Salem Gazette. This was probably Haarlem Oil, a diuretic made in Holland since 1672 and still in demand in the early 20th century. So popular was this remedy, practically…

Scarily enough, there really was a time when people truly believed that too much education would drive a female insane.

Say you’re on a jury in 1801 Massachusetts. On trial is a young man accused of killing his sweetheart. Her family did not approve of their connection. On the day in question, he had told two witnesses he passed on the road that he was on his way to her…