SALEM, Mass. - This "Witch City" lures hundreds of thousands of visitors a year with psychics, ghost tours and haunted houses. But its playful take on a serious past has limits.

The city Parks and Recreation Commission recently denied a request by a group of paranormal investigators from Rhode Island to search for ghosts in the so-called "Witch House." The 17th century building is the former home of Jonathan Corwin, a judge involved in the Witch Trials held here in 1692. The house is now owned by the city and operated as a museum.

The board decided it would be in bad taste to allow ghost hunters to go inside an historic house tied to such an important and tragic event.

"We have to have respect for the gravity of the injustice that occurred in 1692," member Chris Burke said.

After the rejection, Spirit Finders Paranormal Investigators said they were "severely disappointed."

They asked questions that others have asked through the years: How could a city that licenses psychics, sends its children to Witchcraft Heights School and sells official Salem blood during Halloween turn down a "scientific" investigation of one of its most historic witch properties?

Where does Salem, also a historic seaport rich with arts and culture, draw the line?

In an interview after the meeting, there was even a suggestion that the city is being hypocritical for calling the North Street property the "Witch House."