Salem, Massachusetts, in October is that place. When people ask me, “Why are you so obsessed with Halloween,” I want to walk them down the Essex Street Pedestrian Mall at this time of year, let them breath in the scent of fog machines and fried dough, know what it’s like to see monsters walking down the street and people running in excitement to get their pictures taken with them instead of running away in terror, knowing that every store, museum, and attraction is a wonderland of strangeness and every bend in the sidewalk a portal to the unknown.
But that’s too deep a thought for a fun Saturday in Salem. And it was a perfect Salem day yesterday. Perhaps the best I’ve had so far of many, many Autumn days spent in the Witch City. It was overcast, with just enough light rain to set a mood and control the crowds without being miserable or disturbing the Halloween party atmosphere. Water can’t make these witches melt.
One year, I’m going to move to Salem for the entire month of October. That would be a Halloween Season blog for the ages.
We started out in the Willows, an ancient amusement park about a mile from downtown. We weren't there for the carvnival foods and antique games, though. I wanted to see a Lords of Salem site that I missed when I sought out that movie's filming locations last year. It was a minor site, where the character played by Jeff Daniel Phillips takes a call from Sherri Moon Zombie's character, but a pretty great one on this foggy, damp day.
Obviuosly, we re-re-re-re-re-re-re-visited James Lurgio and his Count Orlok's Nightmare Gallery. One of my favorite sites in Salem.
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| Tombstone of a Mayflower pilgrim |
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| Tombstone of Judge Hathorne, one of the main judges at the Salem Witch Trials. |
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| A Poe-inspired art show at The Scarlet Letter Press. Closed when I dropped by, hence the window shot. |
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| Around every corner, strange scenes like this one play out in Salem. |
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| This year we went home with two bottles of mead and some witchery for spellcasting. |
