After 325-years, the site of the Salem witch trial hangings has a memorial marker.

The original memorial, with a bench for each victim.

For most of those 325-years, residents of Salem, MA, always went to a spot in town called Gallows Hill to commemorate the hangings. "Gallows" alone suggests hangings after all. In 1992, even famed Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel spoke at the original Salem witch trial memorial dedication during the 300th anniversary. Yet, in the years since, new research has found that the nearby Proctor's Ledge was the actual site of the mass hangings.

The reason? According to The Smithsonian, after hanging and death, the bodies were thrown down below the ledge into "the crevice," a spot where families of the deceased could gather the body late at night and bury it privately. Based on historical records, Proctor's Ledge would be used to coincide with "the crevice."

Proctor's Ledge is named after one of the families affected by the witch trials. John Proctor was one of the 19 hanged, as he was a vocal critic of the hysteria at a time when it was best to keep quiet and maintain a low profile. Years later, his grandson bought the property where the hangings occurred, and it was named after the family.

The Proctors were such a key component to the entire debacle, they featured mightily in Arthur Miller's version of events when he wrote his famed play The Crucible about the trials. Three-time Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis, known to be highly choosy on roles he'd accept, found so much value in the trials, and specifically John Proctor, that he played the man in the most recent film adaptation of Miller's work.

On July 19th, Salem's mayor, Kimberley Driscoll, will dedicate a memorial at "the crevice" to commemorate the deaths that happened at Proctor's Ledge. The date aligns with the hangings of the first five victims, Sarah Good, Elizabeth Howe, Susannah Martin, Rebecca Nurse, and Sarah Wildes, who died July 19, 1692.

Proctor himself wouldn't be killed until a month later on August 19th.