SALEM, Mass. — Nearly 325 years after 19 people accused of witchcraft were hanged near the now well-known village of Salem, a group of scholars has finally confirmed the place where they met their fate.

The Gallows Hill Project, a group of seven scholars, says they were able to definitively identify the location — a site known to current Salem residents as Proctor’s Ledge — after five years of research, using court records, maps, ground-penetrating radar and aerial photographs.

In 1692 and early 1693, Puritans living in Salem investigated, prosecuted and executed numerous neighbors on charges of witchcraft. The hysteria of the witchcraft trials continues to play a part in the national consciousness, including being the subject of a 2015 bestseller, “The Witches: Salem 1692,” by Stacy Schiff. 

Now the city intends to mark the location of the executions with a memorial, according to Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll.

The discovery didn’t come as a shock, said Emerson “Tad” Baker, a history professor at Salem State University.

Proctor’s Ledge, a wooded, city-owned area, and described as a “rocky ledge … at the base of the hill,” has been considered the most likely spot since the early 1900s, when historian Sidney Perley conducted research and settled on that location.

“There was never really a ‘eureka’ moment,” Baker said. “I think most of us — we’re talking about a number of scholars who were working on this — we knew Perley’s research was really good.”

What Perley’s research lacked was modern technology, Baker said.

Around 1,000 documents survive from the time of the trials, Baker said, making it “one of the best recorded events in early American history.” But missing are eyewitness accounts of the hangings, he added.

Gallows Hill, but where?

Traditionally, the hangings have been described simply as occurring at Gallows Hill, but that covers many acres of land. To determine exactly where the executions took place, a group of scholars was assembled in 2010 to examine the evidence.

They included Baker; Elizabeth Peterson, director of Salem’s Corwin House, aka The Witch House; Tom Phillips, who directed and produced “Salem Witch Trials: Examine the Evidence”; Marilynne Roach, a witch trials author and historian; Peter Sablock, a Salem State geology professor; Benjamin Ray, a religion professor at the University of Virginia; and Shelby Hypes, chairwoman of the Salem Award Foundation.

They were able to combine their research and knowledge of the 1692 events, explore the possibilities, and also rule out that anything occurred on top of Gallows Hill.

“We’re pretty certain there’s nothing up there,” Baker said.

To memorialize the people who died there, the city is seeking Community Preservation Act funds to install a plaque there, as well as to clean the site up and prepare it for tourist traffic.

This is a sharp contrast from what was planned back in 1892 — a large memorial lookout tower, according to Baker.

At least 25 people died in the Salem Witch Trials. In addition to the 19 hanged, five died in prison awaiting trial. Another, Giles Corey, was crushed to death when rocks were placed on his chest in an effort to make him cooperate with the court.

“Salem, long known for a dark time in our past when people turned on each, is now a community where people turn toward each other,” Driscoll said in a prepared statement. “Having this site identified marks an important opportunity for Salem, as a city, to come together and recognize the injustice and tragedy perpetrated against 19 innocent people.”

MacNeill writes for the Salem, Massachusetts News.