The official witch of Salem as I understand it goes like this...in the mid 70's Mike Dukakis then governor ,I think, appointed Laurie Cabot as t he official witch of salem. He did this for a few reasons, one the town of salem was looking to promote witches to attract tourists to the city. I think Cabot had the first..or only witch shop in salem at the time. Cabot had also worked for many many years to promote a positive image of the modern witch as well as bring to light the injustice of the hysteria of the witch trials in 1692. Today, there are lots of practicing witches in salem, but she was one and very vocal when it wasn’t cool or trendy. If you talk to some of the witches working in the stores in salem..and I have…most scoff at her official title…but if you look at her history…she did a lot to change perceptions of WICCAN or if you will witchcraft. Of course that is just my opinion.