5 Salem witch hunt victims remembered on 325th anniversary

Salem State University history professor Emerson Baker walks Jan. 11, 2016, through an area known as Proctor's Ledge that he and a team of researchers said is the exact site where innocent people were hanged during the 1692 witch trials in Salem, Mass. Salem and Danvers are holding separate ceremonies Wednesday, July 19, 2017, to mark the 325th anniversary of the hangings of five women convicted of being witches. Twenty people in all were killed. (Ken Yuszkus/File, The Salem News via AP)

Five women who were hanged as witches 325 years ago at Proctor's Ledge during the Salem witch trials are being remembered in a noon ceremony at the site of their death, pictured here, Wednesday, July 19, 2017, in Salem, Mass. Sarah Good, Elizabeth Howe, Susannah Martin, Rebecca Nurse and Sarah Wildes were hanged as witches on July 19, 1692. It was the first of three mass executions at the site on Proctor's Ledge. (Stephan Savoia/AP)

Area residents attend a memorial dedication, where five women were hanged as witches 325 years ago at Proctor's Ledge during the Salem witch trials are being remembered in a ceremony at the site of their death Wednesday, July 19, 2017, in Salem, Mass. (Stephan Savoia/AP)

Karla Hailer, a fifth grade teacher from Situate, Mass., makes a video of the Proctor's Ledge Memorial before the noon dedication of the site Wednesday, July 19, 2017, at the site where five women were hanged as witches 325 years ago today during the Salem witch trials in Salem., Mass. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)

SALEM, Mass. — Five women hanged during the Salem witch trials in Massachusetts are being remembered on the 325th anniversary of their deaths.

Salem planned a Wednesday ceremony at Proctor’s Ledge where Sarah Good, Elizabeth Howe, Susannah Martin, Rebecca Nurse and Sarah Wildes were hanged as witches on July 19, 1692. It was the first of three mass executions at the site.

The ceremony includes the dedication of a semi-circular stone wall memorial inscribed with the names of the 19 people hanged near Proctor’s Ledge, which scholars last year confirmed as the site of the hangings. Besides the 19 hangings, one man was crushed to death by rocks and five people accused of witchcraft died in jail.

“Having this site memorialized, especially as we mark the 325th anniversary of that tragic event, presents an opportunity for us to come together as a community, recognize the injustice and tragedy perpetrated against those innocents in 1692, and recommit ourselves to the values of inclusivity and justice,” Mayor Kim Driscoll said in a statement.

A descendant of Nurse was scheduled to speak, according to The Salem News.

Nurse also will be honored at a ceremony later Wednesday at the Rebecca Nurse Homestead in nearby Danvers. Danvers at the time of the witch trials was part of Salem known as Salem Village.