Town file
Salem, Massachusetts
Salem, Massachusetts (Essex County, Massachusetts) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 156, "Lies Can Be Deadly" (30 January 2020). Salem, Massachusetts, in Essex County, is a coastal town of islands and old money about 35 minutes from Boston.
- Town
- Salem
- County
- Essex County
- State
- Massachusetts
- Country
- USA
- Episodes
- 156
- Approximate location
- 42.499, -70.898
Episode 156 / 30 January 2020 / 159 min / full
Lies Can Be Deadly
"we're heading up north to the northeast, we're heading to Salem, Massachusetts... This is in Essex County." about 0:04:45
The case: Murder of Martha Brailsford (July 12, 1991). Read the case file.
The figures, as told in 2020
- Population
- 43,146
- Median household income
- $65,528
- Median home value
- $389,000
- Two-bedroom rent
- about $1,620
- Religious
- 57.7%
- Property crime
- ▲ just above average
- Violent crime
- ▼ about 10% low
History, in brief
- Colonists arrived in the area in 1626, mostly fishermen, led by Roger Conant. about 0:07:27
- John Endicott replaced Conant by order of the Massachusetts Bay Company, and Conant was granted 200 acres in compensation for stepping aside. about 0:07:48
- The settlement was renamed Salem, a bastardised form of the Hebrew word for peace, in honour of the agreement between the Conant and Endicott camps. about 0:08:45
- The witch hysteria began with Abigail Adams and Betty Parris and their friends playing with a Venus glass mirror and an egg. about 0:09:13
- 19 people were executed in Salem as a result of false accusations. about 0:10:21
- Dorothy Talby, a mentally ill woman, was hanged for murdering her daughter because Massachusetts made no distinction between insanity and criminal behaviour. about 0:10:36
- On February 26th, 1775, local patriots raised a drawbridge at the North River and stopped British Colonel Alexander Leslie and his 300 troops from seizing stores and ammunition hidden in North Salem. about 0:11:16
- In August 2010 the governor designated Salem the birthplace of the National Guard; the act was approved by the House of Representatives and signed into law by Barack Obama in 2013. about 0:12:13
The reviews read out
1 star
"A lifelong resident of 70-plus years says it is disgusting how Salem has declined for its residents: traffic, neglected roads, no open space, hard parking, too many buildings and too unsafe for kids, so they are leaving for good and the city is only for tourists."about 0:13:23
2 stars
"Salem is a diverse booming tourist city, but catering to tourists rather than residents is squeezing out less fortunate citizens and making the city too expensive, so the focus should return to citizens rather than money makers."about 0:16:50
Nearest Small Town Murder towns
- Wenham, Massachusetts7.0 miles
- Wakefield, Massachusetts8.5 miles
- Needham, Massachusetts23 miles
- Salem, New Hampshire26 miles
- Marshfield, Massachusetts29 miles
- Sharon, Massachusetts30 miles
Everything here is as told in the episode, on the date it went out; figures and places may have changed since. Endings are covered: open an episode and use the spoiler switch to read them.