BEVERLY — With its 200,000 visitors and reputation as the center for all things related to witches, neighboring Salem has the market cornered on October tourism.
But the city of Beverly also played a role in the witchcraft era, and the Beverly Historical Society plans to mark that history with two events at the end of the month.
Both will take place at the Hale House, where the Rev. John Hale wrote his book on the 1692 witchcraft hysteria, "A Modest Enquiry Into the Nature of Witchcraft."
Hale believed in witches and testified at the trials of two women accused of witchcraft. But five years later, in 1697, he began to write his book looking back on the trials and expressing regret for "the tortures and lamentations" of the accused.
"There were a number of people from Beverly who were involved in some way in the witchcraft hysteria, but clearly the most important person was John Hale," Beverly Historical Society Director Susan Goganian said.
On Thursday, Oct. 29, the Historical Society will host a poster contest for children at Hale House from 3 to 5 p.m. Children will be given tours of the house and provided art supplies to make a poster about John Hale and his role in the trials. Prizes will be awarded.
On Friday, Oct. 30, also from 3 to 5 p.m., Beverly resident Pat Bridgman will portray one of Hale's descendants, Elizabeth Hale Ives, in a dramatic retelling of the era. A prize will be awarded to a child in the best Colonial costume.
Bridgman, who has also portrayed Abigail Adams, has been developing the character of Ives for a year, Goganian said.
"It's wonderful for us because it gives us a chance to tell the Hale story from the perspective of another member of the family," she said.
For both events, the cost is $5 for adults and no charge for children 12 and under. Hale House is at 39 Hale St.
The Beverly Historical Society is also selling a new book, "Beverly Bedeviled: One Town's True Connections With the Witchcraft of 1692" by Beverly resident Ed Brown, as well as earlier books on the subject, "John Hale, A Man Beset by Witches" and "Thieves, Cowbeaters and Other True Tales of Colonial Beverly."
Staff writer Paul Leighton can be reached at 978-338-2675 or pleighton@salemnews.com.
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