PEABODY — With Halloween just three weeks away, owners of the Proctor House on Lowell Street couldn’t have timed the home sale any better.
In the 1690s, John Proctor and his wife, Elizabeth, who lived in the 11-room home, were accused of witchcraft. Now, Joseph Cipoletta, an agent for J. Barrett & Co., has listed the historic Colonial for $600,000.
The controversial Salem Witch Trials began during the spring of 1692, after a group of young girls in Salem Village claimed to be possessed by the devil and accused several people of witchcraft, according to history.com.
John Proctor and 18 others were hung. His wife, pregnant at the time of the trial, was spared.
The Proctors’ case centered on testimony by Mary Warren. The 20-something maid in the Proctor household began having fits in March of 1692. But John Proctor dismissed it as nonsense and threatened to beat her if she didn’t behave.
Historians say Proctor cured her fits with a good whipping and maintained that the other girls could be cured with similar treatment.
Many of the afflicted girls accused the Proctors of witchcraft, and Warren testified at the Salem Witch Trials that the couple made her sign and touch the book of the devil. She would later be accused of being a witch herself along with Bridget Bishop, Giles Corey and Abigail Hobbs.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the 3,910-square-foot eight-room home features three bedrooms, two baths, an oversized built-in pool, and a two-car garage.
