Salem Cemeteries Tour (2022)

Death, Ritual, and the Afterlife

What happens after death? The event is inevitable and yet our beliefs around it - what it is and what comes after - has changed across time and directly reflects how we as a society choose to live…

Join local clairvoyant and DIY historian, Melissa Nierman, for an immersive, small-group adventure through our relationship with Death. Together, we’ll journey across Salem’s walkable downtown district to visit 5 unique burial sites with graves spanning from the 17th through the 20th century and representing a variety of spiritual and religious belief systems. Each burial site will serve as our living/ non-living classroom as we explore evolving views on the life cycle and challenge our own understanding of “occult” topics, such as ghosts, mediumship, the afterlife, reincarnation, Time, and what it means to live in a finite human body. 

HIGHLIGHTS

• Compare 5 unique Salem burial sites - both popular and those off-the-beaten path

• Understand how to interpret gravestones and funerary art as living artifacts 

• Learn about Salem’s non-confirming groups and movements - political + spiritual

• Explore the intersection of race, gender, and economics in our understanding of death

• Discuss how colonization has shaped our relationship with the spirit realm

• Follow the commercialization of death and mourning culture as an industry 

• See the connection between technology, death, and what we label as the “occult”

2 hours. 10+ sites. 6 people max.