Live from Salem, October 2015, Part I

October 14, 2016 — Below is my Twitter feed for the October that we lived in Salem while I was researching the book, the social evidence of my existence there during that time. If for some reason, something here contradicts something I’ve written in the book, I guess that means I lied to you. Hopefully for good reasons. The only edits I’ve made to the feed is removing any tweets that weren’t Salem-focused (say, a news item link or posts from that year's OTIS Halloween Season Blog that I was simultaneously writing) and most of my Twitter conversations.

Day-long holes in the timeline are usually because of a dead phone, general social media weariness, or because I was doing something I didn’t want documented. Please excuse and enjoy all of my typos, bad punctuation, awkwardly contracted words, and the blissfulness ignorance of somebody enjoying himself without realizing he’d one day gather them all up and make a thing about it.

October 1, 11:57 am. My first Halloween Whopper...in #Salem. I'll be tacking that on to the end of every statement for the next month.


October 1, 5:09 pm. One day it's Sept. 30. The next it's this.


October 2, 9:00 pm. We just had Halloween night 30 days early... #Salem #HauntedHappenings




October 2, 9:14 am. Cold enough today that I'm wearing a winter jacket, so changing the book to Christmas in Salem.

October 2, 12:55 pm. More than 320 years ago, two girls started the #Salem Witch Hysteria right on this spot.


October 2, 4:27 pm. Pouring rain, so watching Nightmare Before Christmas...in #Salem.


October 2, 10:04 pm. TCM is doing haunted house flicks tonight. Love a B&W haunted house.

October 3, 4:32 pm. Went into Ropes Mansion today. Exterior was used for Allison's house in Hocus Pocus. Can confirm. Only exterior. Ha.


October 3, 5:50 pm. Missed it.


October 3, 11:05 pm. My favorite game is writing after taking NyQuil. It's like a race where I win either way.

October 3, 11:09 pm. Man. Independence Day is on. Now I'm regretting that NyQuil

October 3, 11:27 pm: NyQuil/ID4 update. Still awake and to the point where Fresh Prince and Uncle Phil see the alien ships over Philly. NyQuil's working.

October 4, 11:20 am: Randomly walking Salem today, so if you see me point and scream like we're in Invasion of the Body Snatchers.


October 4, 11:48 am. Walking fuel.


October 4, 12:36 pm. Sitting at the backdoor of a haunt listening to its chainsaw finale and watching visitors exit, breathless and adrenalized. Too great.

October 5, 8:37 pm. Pretty sure I'm going to be taking lots of night walks...in Salem.


October 5, 9:00 pm. RT @Lindsey_Ocker: Street conjuring, day four in Salem. @Salem, Massachusetts



October 5, 5:58 pm. "Kid: "Is that skeleton w/ the thing in his hand..."

Me: "It's a scythe."

Kid: Is that skeleton w/ the scythe a dead farmer?""

#salemconvos"


October 5, 6:35 pm. Essex Street Pedestrian Mall. #Salem


October 6, 10:32 pm. Hey, Lair of the White Worm on Encore. Hugh Grant's greatest flick.

October 6, 10:32 pm. Great costume idea in that one. I mean, you have to go topless & paint yourself blue, but for sure there'll only be one of you at the party.

October 6, 5:54 pm. So this is how I spent my lunch. #Salem



October 6, 5:57 pm. And this is how I'm spending dinner. #Salem



October 6, 7:01 pm. A destiny fulfilled. #lobstertini #Salem


October 7, 10:35 pm. Watching Evil Dead with the sound off. Makes it seem more Evil Dead somehow.

October 7, 7:44 pm. Let's do it.


October 8, 6:29 pm. Drinks with @Veggiemacabre. #Salem


October 9, 12:56 pm. Only known location of the remains of a Salem Witch Trials victim. RIP, George Jacobs.


October 9, 3:10 pm. Halloween is an intergalactic holiday. #Salem Thanks for the tip @Sloejimfizz


October 9, 3:24 pm. @HolidazeBlog @Sloejimfizz Ha. Winner of best spooky decorations for a bar in Salem is Tavern on the Green at Derby Street. No contest.

October 11, 9:50 am. Imagine if the past were full of Day-Glo monsters & ghouls. That's the Salem Time Machine:

October 11, 3:27 pm. Ha. How to take photos by @Lindsey_Ocker.


October 11, 7:06 pm. My 8,000th photo of a witch... In #Salem.


October 11, 5:23 pm. The ghosts go in, the ghosts go out. #Salem


October 11, 6:48 pm. How about watching some Hocus Pocus...in #Salem.


October 13, 7:44 am. One of these mornings in #Salem.


October 13, 5:23 pm. Wrong turn in Salem. Ended up in Manhattan for the day. Back in Witch City tonight.


October 13, 7:29 pm. I've been in Salem for 13 Oct. days. And by far, my fave moments have been the nights.


October 14, 1:35 pm. Of course I brought Ray Bradbury's witch to Salem.


October 14, 10:20 pm. Here's a photo from tonight's #Salem walk.


October 15, 11:00 am. "You've got red on your sweater." "It's living in Salem, man. You can't avoid running into a bloody dude at some point."

October 15, 8:32 pm. Cozying up with some hard cider and a horror movie is beating walking the streets of Salem tonight.


Well, that was the first half of the month, anyway. Continue to October 16-31.



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