About this Event
Project 1692: The Beverly Files is a historical tour and educational collaboration between Ancestry Tour Agents and Historic Beverly that explores Beverly’s deep connection to the Salem Witch Trials. Through historic places, primary sources, and the stories of the people who lived through the crisis, the program examines not only what happened but how fear, belief, community tensions, and flawed evidence could turn suspicion into accusation.
While Salem has become synonymous with the witch trials, Beverly was very much part of the story. Several Beverly residents including Dorcas Hoar, Job Tookey, Mary Morey, Sarah Morrill, and Susanna Roots were accused of witchcraft. None were executed, but their experiences reveal the very real consequences of the 1692 panic.
At the center of Beverly’s story is Reverend John Hale, Beverly’s first minister. Initially a supporter of the examinations, Hale's perspective changed dramatically when his own wife, Sarah Hale, was accused of witchcraft. His experience ultimately led him to question the methods used during the trials, including the reliance on so-called “spectral evidence.” He later published A Modest Enquiry Into the Nature of Witchcraft, one of the important contemporary critiques of the trials.
The story reaches even further back at Balch House, where, two years before the 1692 crisis, an 18-year-old bedridden boy claimed to be tormented by local witches, a disturbing early episode that foreshadowed the accusations to come.
During Project 1692: The Beverly Files, participants will explore these stories through the historic sites and collections of Historic Beverly, including the John Cabot House, where Beverly’s 17th-century connection to the witchcraft crisis is interpreted, and Hale Farm, the 1694 home of Reverend John Hale.
This is not a tour designed to sensationalize the Salem Witch Trials. It is an opportunity to look more closely, ask difficult questions, and examine the historical record for ourselves.
Come discover the people behind the accusations, the evidence behind the stories, and Beverly’s place in the larger history of 1692.
Event venue & nearby stays
John Cabot House and Visitor Center, 117 Cabot Street, Beverly, United States
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