Salem Museum of Torture

Salem Museum of Torture An immersive journey through history’s cruel and unusual punishments. Open Thurs-Mon 10am-6pm

Isobel Gowdie was a Scottish woman from the village of Auldearn near Nairn who, in April and May 1662, voluntarily gave ...
06/05/2026

Isobel Gowdie was a Scottish woman from the village of Auldearn near Nairn who, in April and May 1662, voluntarily gave four remarkably detailed confessions describing her life as a witch.

She recounted making a pact with the Devil (whom she called “the Man in Black”), joining a coven of thirteen that met at places like the Auldearn kirk and Downie Hill, performing malefic magic to harm neighbors and ruin crops, shape-shifting into animals such as hares, cats, and crows, flying through the air on enchanted straws or beanstalks, and consorting with the Queen and King of the Fairies.

Her testimony blended Christian diabolism with older folk beliefs, including charms, rhyming spells, and sexual encounters with demons, all delivered with vivid clarity and apparent lack of physical torture. Though the final record of her fate is lost, she was almost certainly convicted and executed (likely strangled and burned at the stake) shortly afterward.

Her confessions remain one of the richest surviving sources for understanding 17th-century Scottish witchcraft beliefs and popular magic.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

🧙‍♀️We’re open today from 10 to 6 PM. 30 Federal St., Salem, MA 01970. Tickets can be purchased in our gift shop, or online at www.salemtorture.com 🧙‍♀️

The skeleton of serial killer William Burke.William Burke (1792–1829), along with his accomplice William Hare, was an Ir...
05/31/2026

The skeleton of serial killer William Burke.

William Burke (1792–1829), along with his accomplice William Hare, was an Irish immigrant in Edinburgh, Scotland, infamous for murdering at least 16 vulnerable people (mostly poor lodgers, pr******tes, and beggars) between late 1827 and 1828. They lured victims into lodging houses, plied them with drink, and smothered them—a method later called “burking”—to supply fresh corpses without visible injuries to anatomist Dr. Robert Knox for use in medical lectures amid a severe shortage of legal bodies for dissection.

Burke was arrested in November 1828 after the murder of Margaret Docherty; Hare turned king’s evidence and escaped punishment, while Burke was tried, convicted, and hanged on January 28, 1829, before a crowd of around 25,000. His body was publicly dissected at the University of Edinburgh, after which his skeleton was preserved and remains on display today in the university’s Anatomical Museum alongside his death mask.

In a final macabre twist, pieces of Burke’s own skin were tanned and fashioned into souvenirs such as a pocketbook and a calling-card case.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

💀 We are open today from 10-6PM. 30 Federal St., Salem, MA 01970. Tickets can be purchased in our gift shop, or online at www.salemtorture.com 💀

Religious self-flagellation is the ritual practice of self torture - whipping or beating oneself as a form of spiritual ...
05/30/2026

Religious self-flagellation is the ritual practice of self torture - whipping or beating oneself as a form of spiritual discipline, penance, or devotion. Historically rooted in ancient ascetic traditions, it gained significant prominence in medieval European Christianity (most notably among the Flagellant movement during the Black Death) as a means to mortify the flesh, repent for sins, and emulate the suffering of Jesus Christ.

The practice also exists in other faiths, such as the acts of communal mourning and ritual chest-striking or whipping (tatbir or matam) observed by some Shi’a Muslims during the Remembrance of Muharram.

While many modern religious authorities discourage or prohibit extreme physical mortification, promoting symbolic gestures or spiritual discipline instead, active public and private flagellation rituals still persist today in specific traditional communities worldwide.

🩸We are here to shelter you from the wind and rain from 10-6PM. 30 Federal St., Salem, MA 01970. Tickets can be purchased in our gift shop, or online at www.salemtorture.com 🩸

On this day (May 28, 1606), the brilliant yet dangerously volatile Baroque master Caravaggio committed murder in the str...
05/29/2026

On this day (May 28, 1606), the brilliant yet dangerously volatile Baroque master Caravaggio committed murder in the streets of Rome.

In a heated brawl (possibly triggered by a disputed tennis match, gambling debts, or rivalry over a pr******te) Caravaggio attacked Ranuccio Tomassoni, a local enforcer and pimp. He delivered a violent sword blow to Tomassoni’s groin, severing the femoral artery. Tomassoni bled out rapidly, with contemporary accounts suggesting Caravaggio may have intended to castrate him as an act of humiliation.

Condemned to death by the Pope, Caravaggio fled Rome that same night and spent the last four years of his life as a fugitive. He moved between Naples, Malta, and Sicily, producing some of his darkest and most powerful paintings while evading justice, surviving imprisonment by the Knights of Malta, and escaping their dungeons. He died under mysterious circumstances in 1610 while trying to secure a papal pardon.

Caravaggio’s life and art were drenched in violence and shadow. His revolutionary chiaroscuro (dramatic light struggling against darkness) perfectly reflects the torment, rage, and genius of a man forever on the run from his own demons.

🎨 We’re open today from 10-6PM. 30 Federal street Salem, MA 01970. Tickets can be purchased in our gift shop, or online at www.SalemTorture.com 🎨

Oakum picking was a form of psychological and physical torture disguised as labor, deliberately engineered by Victorian ...
05/28/2026

Oakum picking was a form of psychological and physical torture disguised as labor, deliberately engineered by Victorian authorities to break a prisoner's spirit through agonizing, repetitive pain.

Because the old maritime ropes were heavily saturated with dried, rock-hard pine tar, inmates had to use their bare hands, fingernails, and teeth to painstakingly pry the fibers apart for up to ten hours a day. This relentless friction systematically shredded the skin on their fingers, causing fingertips to split, blister, and bleed, while the stinging chemical tar continuously infected the open wounds.

Enforced under the crushing weight of strict daily quotas—where failure meant solitary confinement or starvation—the task was uniquely cruel because it combined agonizing physical mutilation with the soul-crushing despair of performing completely monotonous, exhausting work that required zero skill or intellect.

🧶 We’re open today from 10 to 6 PM. 30 Federal St., Salem, MA 01970. Tickets can be purchased in our gift shop, or online at www.salemtorture.com 🧶

On this Memorial Day, we remember the soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and guardians who gave their lives defending t...
05/25/2026

On this Memorial Day, we remember the soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and guardians who gave their lives defending the freedoms we hold dear.

We owe them a debt that can never be repaid—only remembered with gratitude and humility.
Thank you. May we never forget. 🇺🇸​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

If you are paying your respects at the cemetery today, you may notice coins on the headstones, a silent signal of: “I was here. Someone remembers.” Different denominations often carry specific significance, especially at veterans’ or service members’ graves.

🪙 We are open today from 10-6PM. 30 Federal St., Salem MA 01970. Tickets can be purchased in our gift shop, or online at www.SalemTorture.com 🪙

A cast of the face and hands of Albert Pierrepoint (1905–1992), Britain’s most prolific 20th-century executioner, who se...
05/24/2026

A cast of the face and hands of Albert Pierrepoint (1905–1992), Britain’s most prolific 20th-century executioner, who served as an official hangman for His Majesty’s Prison Service from 1932 until his resignation in 1956.

Pierrepoint is estimated to have carried out between 435 and 600 executions (his own accounts varied), including hundreds in the UK for murder and, notably after World War II, over 200 N**i war criminals in Germany (such as at Hameln Prison), as well as high-profile cases like Ruth Ellis, the last woman executed in Britain.

By day, he ran a pub (and was known to have hanged one of his own regular customers in 1950). In later life, after retiring amid a payment dispute, he became a vocal opponent of capital punishment, arguing it was not a deterrent, and published an autobiography titled Executioner: Pierrepoint. He died in 1992 at age 87.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

⚖️ We’re open today from 10 to 6 PM. 30 Federal St., Salem, MA 01970. Tickets can be purchased in our gift shop, or online at www.salemtorture.com ⚖️

In 1872, two young boys were locked in the stocks on Old Street, London, as punishment for theft.Stocks were a common pe...
05/23/2026

In 1872, two young boys were locked in the stocks on Old Street, London, as punishment for theft.

Stocks were a common penalty for minor offenses like drunkenness, petty theft, swearing, or cheating. The goal wasn’t just physical discomfort — it was public humiliation. Passersby would jeer, mock, and often pelt the offenders with rotten food, refuse, or whatever else was at hand. Punishments could last from several hours to several days.

Old Street lay in one of London’s poorest and roughest districts, plagued by poverty, child labor, and survival-driven crime. Juvenile offenders were frequently subjected to public shaming or sent to reformatories, though many eventually found themselves in adult prisons.

🍅 We’re open today from 10-6PM! 30 Federal St., Salem, MA 01970. Tickets can be purchased in our gift shop, or online at www.salemtorture.com 🍅

This painting, known as Maskenball (Danse Macabre) (Masked Ball / Dance of Death), is a 20th-century work (circa 1949) b...
05/22/2026

This painting, known as Maskenball (Danse Macabre) (Masked Ball / Dance of Death), is a 20th-century work (circa 1949) by German artist Arthur Kampf.

Its core meaning is a modern allegory of the Danse Macabre—a medieval artistic and literary motif reminding us that death is the great equalizer, lurking behind life’s pleasures, illusions, and festivities.

The painting blends seduction and menace to evoke a haunting warning: behind the glamour and revelry of existence lies mortality, and the “dance” of life ends the same for everyone.

💃 💀 We’re open today from 10-6PM! 30 Federal St., Salem, MA 01970. Tickets can be purchased in our gift shop, or online at www.salemtorture.com 💀 💃

On this day (May 21, 1650), James Graham, Earl of Montrose, was hanged in Edinburgh. He was executed because he had retu...
05/21/2026

On this day (May 21, 1650), James Graham, Earl of Montrose, was hanged in Edinburgh. He was executed because he had returned to Scotland on behalf of the exiled Charles II to raise a royalist army against the ruling Covenanters, but was quickly defeated, captured, and handed over to his political enemies.

After his death, his head was spiked on the Tolbooth and his limbs nailed to the gates of Stirling, Glasgow, Perth, and Aberdeen. Following Charles II's Restoration, his remains were gathered and buried with honor in St. Giles' Cathedral. His direct descendants are the present-day Dukes of Montrose.

🗡️ We’re open today from 10-6PM! 30 Federal St., Salem, MA 01970. Tickets can be purchased in our gift shop, or online at www.salemtorture.com 🗡️

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30 Federal Street
Salem, MA

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 6pm
Thursday 10am - 6pm
Friday 10am - 6pm
Saturday 10pm - 6pm
Sunday 10am - 6pm

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