Abigail

So though I didn't have access to the Documentation Kit in Salem, somehow I miraculously did the work Anyway. In this blog I am transfering stuff from my notes, to the web. Particularly in relationship to the interactive part of the Museum and the Gift Shop in the Museum.

There are no videos to watch at the Salem Witch Museum, but everything is sort of Video-like. The main presentation with sculptures and lighting, dramatized script and sound effects may as well be a video, just one you happen to be seated squarely in. The Music in the beginning is dramatic organ music that is kind of cheesy, but still rather terrifying. The only source of light in the room is a red circle in the middle of the floor with the names of all 19 of the victims on it. It glows eerily as people take their seats on benches or the floor. The presentation begins with a description of the beliefs of the puritans concerning the devil , and a large model of the devil with glowing red eyes is lit up, haunting laughter playing faintly behind the narrator. At the end of this monologue, the lights fade, leaving only the devils glowing red eyes staring out at you from complete darkness. Each scene is similar, with lighting used to distinguish which figure is being describes and also to set the tone. In the trail scene, when the girls make a ruckus after Rebecca Nurse is found not guilty, their mannequins, placed in contorted poses upon the bench, are lit up. Also in a prison scene in each cell a number of victims are described their cell is lit up. I do not think a movie could do a better job of really capturing the interest and imagination of the audience. Though it is cheesy at times, the addition of the sound of a fire crackling as the girls sit around Tituba’s fire, or of Abigail’s proclamation of John Proctor being a witch really make the experience a memorable one.

The gift shop is a strange combination of Halloween store, Wicca store, and book store. There are books on herb-lore and candles that go with different Wicca rituals, as well as serious academic books on the Witch Trials (including all of the ones I checked out from the Evergreen Library), there are disgusting things like organ putty, or sticky eyeballs, as well as friendly looking crafted witches that might sit in Martha Stewarts home during Halloween. Anything and everything that might be linked to Witches, real or otherwise, seems to be available.