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| BrainPOP: Salem Witch Trials |
Your ancestor Rebecca Towne Nurse died on July 19, 1692 on Gallows Hill in Salem, Massachusetts. This was her home.
On July 19, 1692, Rebecca was bound, put into a cart with seven others and driven up a rough, rocky road west of Salem. From that bare hill, they could look down on bay, river, ocean, farm, field and forest. A large tree stood before them. There they were hanged to death and thrown off into a shallow pit. Her sons took her body under cloak of night, probably by water, and buried it secretly on their farm near Danvers, which is now a historical landmark open to the public.
Her grave is marked by a tall stone and a poem about her by John Greenleaf Whittier:
O Christian Martyr who for truth could die
When all around thee owned the hideous lie!
The world redeemed from Superstition's sway
Is breathing freer for thy sake today.
