‘Bewitched’ statue in Salem, Massachusetts targeted by vandalism
By Zoe Sottile, CNN
The Salem witch trials may be long over, but at least one witch in Salem, Massachusetts, is still facing attacks.
A statue paying tribute to the “Bewitched” TV sitcom in Salem was vandalized on Monday, according to the Salem Police Department.
The 9-foot bronze statue, located in Salem’s Lappin Park, shows the character Samantha from the 1960s show. Samantha, the show’s protagonist who was played by Elizabeth Montgomery, is a witch living an otherwise innocuous life as a suburban housewife. The seventh season of the show was filmed in Salem, a fitting location given the town’s famous history of witch trials in the late 1600s.
Several witnesses reported seeing a man spray paint the statue with red paint at around 4:50 pm on Monday, according to John Burke, a captain in the Salem Police Department.
One witness told CNN affiliate WHDH that he first realized what was happening when he smelled the spray paint.
“We were eating and we actually smelled the paint in the air, and my wife said, ‘What is he doing?'” Richard Rennard told WHDH. “I got up and yelled, and one of our friends got up and called the police.”
Burke told CNN that officers dispatched to the area quickly identified a man matching witnesses’ description. The man began to run away from officers but eventually stopped and laid down, said Burke. After two witnesses identified the man as the person who had spray painted the statue, he was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, and vandalism, said Burke.
“There’s nothing to indicate a motive” for the vandalism, said Burke.
The-CNN-Wire
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