Yes. Charter Street Cemetery is a real public cemetery in use from 1637 to the end of the 19th century.

Nope. The scenes in Hocus Pocus were filmed using a combination of soundstages and Old Burial Hill in Marblehead, MA.

Charter Street was an active cemetery during the time of the Witch Trials, but it did not fulfill any specific function related to the trials. Some individuals buried here have connections to the Witch Trials, most notably Judges Bartholomew Gedney and John Hathorne.

All kinds of people. Charter Street Cemetery, as a public cemetery, did not have any particular religious or social prerequisites to be buried within. Serious exceptions, such as having been executed for a crime, could cause one to be excluded, but otherwise, not even Salem residency was a requirement. That being said, the wealthier the person, the more likely it is that their grave marker was made well enough to stand the test of time, biasing the surviving stones to a certain social stratum.

Some of the headstones in Charter Street are quite small, as not all people had the income or interest in having a large stone made. However, some of the stones are Footstones, stones that mark the feet of the deceased in addition to the Headstone on the other end. Footstones can typically be identified by having only the names or initials of the individual, rather than any biographical information.

The oldest stones go back to the 1670s, with Doraty Cromwell’s being the oldest death date (1673), although the inscription had to be redone in the early 20th century due to extensive damage to the stone. The next oldest stone would be Sarah Higginson (1675), wife of Rev. John Higginson. The most recent stone was put up in 2008 for William Cash, although the most recent stone at the time of interment is Elizabeth Peele in 1882.

The vast majority of stones are made from slate, although some are made from other materials including marble and sandstone.

They are not. While Charter Street Cemetery is not consecrated ground, it was still municipal property and those executed by the state would not be buried there. Additionally, many of those executed for witchcraft in 1692 did not live nearby to this cemetery and most would not have chosen to be buried here even under normal circumstances.

Unclear. There are some firsthand accounts of the deceased being buried in shallow graves at or near the site of their hanging, but the unsuitability of that ground for burials and a lack of complaints from the family in the aftermath seems to imply that this was temporary. It seems likely that the majority of those executed would have been buried at some point by their families, as was customary. Two grave sites are believed to be known for individuals executed for witchcraft: Rebecca Nurse, who has a grave marker on her homestead in Danvers, and George Jacobs, who was uncovered on his family property and reinterred in the Nurse family cemetery as well.

Those are known as Chest or Box tombs, an at one-point fashionable design for a family tomb. When they were active, the tombs could be open and the lids removed, allowing access to the crypt below. These chambers could be surprisingly large, and this style of tomb can contain anything from a single individual to several generations of an entire family.

We have a database of surviving headstones on our website, which lists them alphabetically and with images. Keep in mind that many stones have not survived and many individuals who are buried in Charter Street may not have surviving headstones.

If you are interested in further research or have any questions, please contact us at info@charterstreetcemetery.com.

Yes. Broad Street Cemetery (established 1655) and Howard Street Cemetery (1801) are historically significant cemeteries in the downtown area and are located on Broad Street and Howard Street respectively.