Salem Uncovered Tours — Local services in Salem

My wife and I have been coming to Salem for the past six years as an annual pilgrimage. We've always wanted to take a tour but the guides we've seen weren't very enthusiastic and seemed to us like they could have just been off-duty cab drivers. We didn't have a very positive idea of these tours. This feeling changed after listening to Salem: The Podcast and hearing Jeff and Sarah's passion for story telling. We took a tour with Jeff this weekend and had a great time listening to his performance and storytelling of the 1692 witch trials. He provided the locations of the first two stops in his confirmation email which helped us navigate to him in our tardiness after battling October-Salem's traffic. His meeting point and end point are well designed and allowed us to return to sight seeing and shopping at some of our favorite shops once the tour concluded. His information was not only accurate but also incorporated his fun personality which helped a modern audience stay engaged. We also appreciated his briefcase with the "Better Than Fiction" logo in large print which helped us located him among the sea of tour groups operating in the city. This was especially helpful since we were late. Would certainly recommend this tour for history-lovers who are dragging their not-so history lovers (or children) with them to hear an engaging and fun oration of Salems heritage. I am certain Sarah Black's (the other S:TP host) tour groups are just as good but we chose Jeff's company since he was also a USMC veteran. Next trip we will join one of Sarah's tours, but for our day-trip to Salem, Better Than Fiction...

This ended up being the highlight of my Salem visit. Jeff's background in history and passion for this city were very evident, and his storytelling was superb. A lot of these reviews are mentioning the tour's moments of humor, but Jeff's moving coverage of the witchcraft trials were what impressed me. This tour covers several eras and topics but in Salem, you can't get away from the trials of 1692, and Jeff did a great job of driving home the complexity of the topic and the humanity--in both positive and negative ways--of the subjects, while not letting anyone off the hook, and I appreciated the nuanced portrayal of history. As a result, I've taken out a few library books on the trials--I grew up out-of-state where the events were given only a cursory treatment in school, and most of my knowledge of the trials comes from the Arthur Miller play, The Crucible--because while I arrived for the tour more interested about other topics, Jeff's unique coverage of it clearly evoked parallels to other moments in American history, and you know what they say about failing to know your history. I was also impressed that when a church tower bell decided to go off for about 2-3 minutes, Jeff was comfortable projecting his voice over it and not missing a beat. The addition of a local house with a ghost story from the 1980s--complete with a Polaroid image of the supernatural phenomenon!--was a nice way to finish off the tour. I hope to visit Salem again soon, and the other Better Than Fiction tour, dedicated specifically to the witchcraft trials, will definitely be on...

Hi! This review is going to be about both of Jeff's tours (Salem Witchcraft and Dark Salem) as I've been able to attend both.

I've been visiting Salem for about 8 years now. Fell in love with the city so much that I actually moved here about a year ago. I mention all that to say that I've been on a fair share of tours here. Definitely can't say that I've done them all, but most. And I have to say in my most honest opinion that Jeff has become the best tour in town.

I recently hosted some family who were visiting Salem for the first time, and I wanted them to see some spots downtown and get a better idea of some of the more interesting stories from Salem's past (witchcraft trials and beyond). I also wanted to do a new/different tour for myself as well. And you can just tell how much Jeff loves Salem and its weird history. He's a great story teller, a well of knowledge, and speaks with character and humor. He even told us some stories that were totally new to me (which is nice when you kind of hear the same stories from other tours).

With all of that said, I highly recommend Jeff. Super nice guy, super informative, and well...