The red circle in the center of the Salem Witch Museum’s main exhibit room is symbolic and quite dramatic. It’s a spotlighted area used during the museum’s immersive presentation. It functions narratively as the focal point of the story being told — like the eye of the storm. Visitors sit around it in the darkened room while the story of the 1692 witch trials unfolds through lights, narration, and life-size scenes that light up one by one around the perimeter.

The red circle itself contains the names of the 20 people who were executed during the Salem witch trials — 19 by hanging and one by being pressed to death. It’s a stark reminder that real people suffered and died during the hysteria, and it anchors the presentation in historical reality.

The names of the 20 victims:

Hanged (all in 1692):

1. Bridget Bishop – June 10
2. Sarah Good – July 19
3. Elizabeth Howe – July 19
4. Susannah Martin – July 19
5. Rebecca Nurse – July 19
6. Sarah Wildes – July 19
7. George Burroughs – August 19
8. Martha Carrier – August 19
9. George Jacobs Sr. – August 19
10. John Proctor – August 19
11. John Willard – August 19
12. Martha Corey – September 22
13. Mary Eastey – September 22
14. Ann Pudeator – September 22
15. Alice Parker – September 22
16. Mary Parker – September 22
17. Wilmot Redd – September 22
18. Margaret Scott – September 22
19. Samuel Wardwell – September 22

Pressed to death:

20. Giles Corey – September 19