Cultural depictions of the Salem witch trials abound in art, literature and popular media in the United States, from the early 19th century to the present day. The literary and dramatic depictions are discussed in Marion Gibson's Witchcraft Myths in American Culture (New York: Routledge, 2007) and see also Bernard Rosenthal's Salem Story: Reading the Witch Trials of 1692
In literature Salem, an Eastern Tale (1820), by an unknown author, published serially in three instalments of the New York Literary Journal and Belles-Lettres Repository, a New York-based literary journal Rachel Dyer (1828), by John Neal (1793–1876) American poet John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) wrote many poems about the events, starting with "The Weird Gathering"(1831), and later, "Calef in Boston" (1849), about the public debates between Robert Calef and Cotton Mather in the aftermath of the trials Young Goodman Brown is a short story published in 1835 by Nathaniel Hawthorne The Salem Belle: A Tale of 1692, anonymous. Tappan & Dennett, Boston, 1842 Witching Times (serialized 1856–57), by John William De Forest (1826–1906) Lois the Witch (1859), a novella by Elizabeth Gaskell (1810–1865), is based on the Salem witch hunts and depicts how jealousy and sexual desire can lead to hysteria. She was inspired by the story of Rebecca Nurse whose accusation, trial and execution are described in Lectures on Witchcraft, by Charles W. Upham, the Unitarian minister in Salem in the 1830s. Historical figure Cotton Mather makes an appearance in the story. Giles Corey of the Salem Farms (1868), a play by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) Salem: A Tale of the Seventeenth Century (1874), a historical novel by D. R. Castleton (Harper, New York) "Giles Corey, Yeoman" (1893), a play by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman (1852–1930) The Witch of Salem, or Credulity Run Mad, by John R. Musick. New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1893. Historical fiction set during the witchcraft trials.
Ye lyttle Salem maide, a story of witchcraft (1898), a novel by Pauline Bradford Mackie (1873–?), Lamson, Wolffe and Co., Boston, 1898. The Witch Hunter's Wards; or The Hunted Orphans of Salem by Richard R. Montgomery, Pluck and Luck No. 151, April 24, 1901. Dulcibel: A tale of old Salem by Henry Peterson, Philadelphia: John C. Winston, 1907. Historical fiction. Various stories by H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937) are set in the fictional town of Arkham, Massachusetts, said to have been founded by refugees from the Salem trials. For example, in The Dreams in the Witch-House, the witch Keziah Mason is said to have fled Salem. A Witch of Salem: Grand Opera in Two Acts (1926), book by Nelle Richmond Eberhart, music by Charles Wakefield Cadman A Mirror for Witches (1928) by Esther Forbes (1891–1968) Road to Endor (1940) by Esther Hammand The Devil in Boston (1948, premiered 1953 in Los Angeles), translated by June Barrows Mussey from the original German "Wahn oder Der Teufel in Boston" (1948, premiered 1949 in Frankfurt a. M.), a play by Lion Feuchtwanger (1884–1958), a German-Jewish writer in exile in the US. Main characters are Cotton Mather (1663–1728) and Hanna Parrish, Feuchtwanger's adaptation of Elizabeth Parris. Depicts the dynamics of the witch hunt and the interests of the Mathers. A fictional character represents Enlightenment thought. The Crucible (1952), a play by Arthur Miller (1915–2005). Arguably the most famous cultural depiction, uses the trial events to reflect on the actions of the House Committee on Unamerican Activities and Senator Joe McCarthy. Tituba of Salem Village (1956), a children's book by Ann Petry The Witchcraft of Salem Village (1956), a children's book by Shirley Jackson The Crucible (1961), an opera by Robert Ward (1917–2013), based on the 1952 play by Arthur Miller The Pariah (1983) by Graham Masterton takes place in Salem and attributes the trials to the presence of the Aztec demon Mictlantecuhtli Witches' Children (1987), a young adult novel by Patricia Clapp, told from the perspective of Mary Warren, one of the young accusers I, Tituba: Black Witch of Salem (1992), translated from the original French Moi, Tituba, sorcière noire de Salem (1986), by Maryse Condé. Condé freely imagines Tituba's childhood and old age, endows her with a contemporary social consciousness, and allows her to narrate the tale. A Break with Charity (1992), a young adult novel by Ann Rinaldi (1934–2021), takes the Salem trials as its main setting The Secret Circle Trilogy (1992) is a young adult book series by L.J. Smith, which takes place in New Salem. The series focuses on Cassie Blake, a 16-year-old girl who is drawn to a group of high school teenagers who are witches and are hunted by witch hunters. Acceptable Risk (1994), an adult medical thriller novel by Robin Cook (born 1940), with a plot that attributes the afflictions in Salem to an unusual mold that is rediscovered by present-day medical researchers. Beyond the Burning Time (1996), a young adult novel by Kathryn Lasky, which depicts the trials through the eyes of a fictional young woman, Mary Chase. Gallows Hill (1997) by Lois Duncan (1934–2016) is young-adult fiction in which main character Sarah, and many others, turn out to be reincarnations of those accused and killed during the trials. In the Doctor Who Past Doctor Adventures novel The Witch Hunters (1998) by Steve Lyons, the First Doctor, his granddaughter Susan Foreman and their companions Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright visit Salem in the midst of the witch trials. Historical figures such as Reverend Samuel Parris, Rebecca Nurse, Abigail Williams, Ann Putnam, Jr. and John Proctor are major characters in the novel. Both the third and fourth books in the Harry Potter series (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (1999) and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2000), respectively) make slight references to the Salem trials. The trials are further described in the Pottermore website. Dorcas Good, The Diary of a Salem Witch (1999) by Rose Earhart, is a fictional diary of remembrance by an adult character, based on her imprisonment as a child during the witchcraft trials, based on what happened to Dorothy Good. Witch Child (2000) by Celia Rees, is a fictional story about a young woman in Puritan New England who was a healer and pagan. I Walk in Dread: The Diary of Deliverance Trembly, Witness to the Salem Witch Trials, Massachusetts Bay Colony 1691 (Dear America Series) (2004), by Lisa Rowe Fraustino (born 1961), is young-adult historical fiction set during the Salem Witch Trials In The Last Witchfinder (2006), a historical novel by James Morrow (1947-living), the Salem Witch Trials feature prominently. "Oyer and Terminer", a sci-fi short story by Joe Masdon in the collection "Time Twisters" (Jean Rabe and Martin H. Greenberg, eds, DAW, 2007), is set during the Salem witch trials The Lace Reader (2008) by Brunonia Barry, is a psychological suspense novel based in Salem and refers to many aspects of the trials including the arrest of Bridget Bishop. The Heretic's Daughter: A Novel (2008), by Kathleen Kent, is a fictionalized account of the case of Martha Carrier, as told from the point of view of her 10-year-old daughter, Sarah Carrier. The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane (2009) by Katherine Howe, is a fictional account of a woman in the 21st century connecting with an ancestor, Deliverance Dane of Andover, who was accused of witchcraft during the Salem witch trials. Time of the Witches (2009) by Ann Meyers is a story that describes a fictional character, Drucilla, as she grows up during the witch trials. Many real people, including Tituba, make appearances. Supernatural: One Year Gone (2011) by Rebecca Dessertine is a story based on the TV show Supernatural in which Dean Winchester travels to Salem and discovers a journal by one of his ancestors from the time of the Witch Trials that reveals all the women hanged were innocent and that the real witches instigated the trials as a cover for their evil activities. At the end of the story, while fighting the witches, Dean summons the ghosts of all those killed in the Trials and they kill the two evil witches responsible for their deaths. Conversion (2014) by Katherine Howe describes the mass hysteria of the fictional St. Joan's Academy in Danvers, Massachusetts, interlaced with intercalary chapters from the perspective of Ann Putnam – one of the Salem accusers – as she tells the town's new reverend how the witch hunt began and escalated based on her testimony and the testimonies of the other girls. The novel explores the occurrence of modern-day hysteria through juxtaposition against the Salem Witch Trials. Witches, Secrets and Lies (2017) written by Micky Jenkins and published by Burlington Books follows 16 year old Sarah Smith and her 17 year old boyfriend Michael Howard as they traverse through the insanity of the Salem witch trials, after making enemies with Abigail Finch, the daughter of the minister. It's split between Sarah's story and Michael's story. Becky Nurse of Salem (2019) by Sarah Ruhl is a play in which a modern descendant of Rebecca Nurse examines the injustice done during the Salem witch trials and the effects those trials continue to have in the present. Ruhl also examines the historical inaccuracies that "The Crucible" by Arthur Miller has perpetuated which mask the gender and sexual politics that seem to have been at the root of Miller's play, as well as the hysteria perpetrated in Salem. The Once and Future Witches (2020) by Alix E. Harrow is set in an alternate past in which witchcraft is real, but has been banned, and in which women seek to reclaim their power through witchcraft. The action takes place in a town called New Salem, 100 miles from the original Salem (called "Old Salem" in the book), which was destroyed by witchcraft and features in important ways in the storyline. We Ride Upon Sticks (2020) by Quan Barry is set in the 1980s in Danvers, Massachusetts, which was known as Salem Village during the Salem Witch Trials. The protagonists are members of a field hockey team who take inspiration from the events of 1692, starting a coven and using what may be witchcraft to gain a winning edge. Gallows Hill (2023) by Lois Ruby, a young-adult novel that follows Thomas, a young Quaker recently arrived from England, and Patience, a young Puritan girl, and their perspectives on the trials.
In popular culture and media
Film Maid of Salem (1937): a film starring Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray, with Bonita Granville, Gale Sondergaard, Louise Dresser, Beulah Bondi, Virginia Weidler, and Madame Sul-Te-Wan as Tituba, directed by Frank Lloyd I Married a Witch (1942): a film starring Veronica Lake and Fredric March, with Robert Benchley, Susan Hayward, Cecil Kellaway and Elizabeth Patterson, directed by René Clair; a witch burned in Salem centuries ago (Lake) comes back to haunt descendants of Puritan (March) who sent her to her death. Comedy-fantasy with special effects. The Crucible (1957): a Franco-East German film, originally titled Les Sorcières de Salem, starring Simone Signoret and Yves Montand and directed by Raymond Rouleau. Its screenplay was adapted by Jean-Paul Sartre from Arthur Miller's The Crucible. Bell Book and Candle (1958): a film starring James Stewart and Kim Novak; Novak plays a witch from old Salem who is still living in 1950s Greenwich Village. Hocus Pocus (1993), a Disney comedy film, starring Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy as three sisters who were hanged as witches in colonial Salem, and who return to life in twentieth century Salem to wreak comic havoc. Coincidentally, Parker would later discover, as documented in the NBC program Who Do You Think You Are?, that her 10th great-grandmother, Esther Elwell, was charged with witchcraft in November 1692, but was not tried.