Welcome to Haunted Road, a production of I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild from Erin Manky.

Listener discretion is advised.

331 years ago, 19 people were executed in Salem, Massachusetts.

18 of them were hanged in front of hordes of enthralled onlookers.

One unfortunate soul was crushed to death after being pinned under boulders for three long days,

in an effort to extract a plea from the accused man.

Their crime? Witchcraft? Or so their accusers said.

Among those hanged was John Proctor, a local farmer and tavern owner.

Proctor and his wife Elizabeth were both accused of witchcraft.

Today, a house bearing his name stands just outside the modern borders of Salem.

It may technically be in the next town over, but the John Proctor house looms large over

the darkest parts of Salem's history, and it is absolutely full of ghosts.

Not only of those who were touched by the witch trials, but by generations of spirits who are

there for a reason you might not expect. I'm Amy Bruney and this is Haunted Road.

Born in England in 1631, John Proctor Jr. emigrated to America when he was just three years old,

with his parents John Sr. and Martha Proctor. The family settled in Ipswich, a town in the

Massachusetts Bay colony, about 12 miles north of Salem. The elder Proctor was well respected in Ipswich.

He owned many properties and was one of the town's wealthiest residents.

Despite a life of prosperity, the younger John Proctor's life was marked by loss.

He married his first wife Martha in Ipswich in 1652. They had four children together,

but in 1659 Martha died in childbirth. Only one of their kids Benjamin survived into adulthood.

After Martha's death, Proctor married Elizabeth Thorndijk in 1662, with whom he had seven more children.

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