PEABODY — On a rocky ledge on the outskirts of Salem Town on August 19, 1692, a crowd gathered as Rev. Cotton Mather prayed for the souls of five men sentenced to hang for witchcraft.
As the noose tightened around John Proctor’s neck, he asked for his sins and the sins of his accusers to be forgiven.
“For historians, this is normally the point where the story of the witch trials ends, but it didn’t end there for John Proctor’s family,” said Kelly Daniell, curator of the Peabody Historical Society Museum. Proctor was one of six accused and three people executed during the Salem witch hysteria of 1692 from the portion of Salem Village that is now Peabody.
Daniell gave a standing-room only lecture on the life and death of Proctor at the historical society’s Smith Barn on Wednesday. By next year, the story of Proctor and what happened to his body after he was hanged on that rocky ledge could reach a much larger audience.
“In May 2017, the Peabody Historical Society was approached by a production company interested in working with us on the topic of the Salem Witch Trials,” said Daniell.
Maine-based Lone Wolf Media, which produces documentaries shown on major cable outlets such as The History Channel, The Smithsonian Channel, and National Geographic, was interested in the story of John Proctor. More specifically, in what happened to Proctor’s body after his death.
The story of Proctor, who was accused of witchcraft and sentenced to hang along with his third wife Elizabeth, is well-covered historical territory. But less well known is what happened to the bodies of Proctor and the other victims of the witch trials after they were executed.
“The production company asked if anyone had ever located (Proctor’s body) and what happened to the bodies of the witch trial victims,” Daniell said. “None of the official documents refer to what was done with the bodies after they were executed.”
Part of the sentence of those accused of witchcraft was the denial of a proper burial. And removing the bodies after the execution was considered a criminal offense, although it is widely assumed that the families of Proctor and other victims removed the bodies of their loved ones under the cover of darkness.
“Do we know where the bodies of any of the victims ended up? The short answer is no,” said Daniell. “Those records are lost to history, if there were records. But what we do have is oral history and the traditions of the families.”
Thanks to those oral traditions, in 1904, W.P. Upham published a pamphlet for the Peabody Historical Society that seemed to narrow down Proctor’s final resting place to a 15-acre plot of land he owned near the current site of Peabody Veterans Memorial High School.
Using that obscure publication as the basis of where Proctor might be buried, Daniell said her next step was to check out the potential burial site herself.
“That same week, Lone Wolf Media called about their interest to know more about John Proctor,” she said.
While a release date and network for the program hasn’t been officially been set, Daniell said the documentary will focus on that search for Proctor’s final resting spot.
Most signs point to Proctor being buried within the rocky outcrops of the 15 acre spot near the high school off Lowell Street. Although that land is owned by the city, Daniell said the land may be too rocky and worked over to do a proper archeological dig.
“Did we find John Proctor’s final resting place?” Daniell asked. “We may not be able to definitely answer that, but we certainly got a lot closer.”
