November 1, 2024 — Yesterday, I spent Halloween night in Salem for only the second time in my life. The first was when I was writing A Season with the Witch back in 2015. But now on this night, nine year later, I wasn't on the clock for any book about the city, and I had no plans. I just wanted to be in Salem during the melee. This was how the night went down.
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I arrived in Salem at six pm, and first, I had to dive into the fray that was
the Essex Street Pedestrian Mall to find my girlfriend... |
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| Neither of these were her... |
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| Nor this... |
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| I didn't find her in the annual Unholy War... |
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| Finally, I was rescued by a text... |
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| And she wasn't lying... |
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We watched a band on the Common, and I mean "watched" because I guess I didn't listen
to the music. I can't remember if this was a tribute band or if these were costumes. I do
love Led Zeppelin though... |
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| And then it was back into the Essex Street fray... |
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Where we ran into Emilie, whom I haven't seen since, believe it or not,
my 2015 Salem Halloween (it was somehow only her second time, too)... |
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| See? This was us nine years ago... |
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From there we just wandered various streets, somehow finding ourselves in the fire station
(ok, not somehow...exactly for that glowing witch sign)... |
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| And then we hit up the Haunted Neighborhood by the Old Burying Ground... |
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We walked by a friend's house and saw they were having a party on the lawn and projecting
Rocky Horror. We wined and watched Tim Curry get killed with a golden trident gun
(Don't dream it, be it)... |
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Before leaving to see the fireworks, but we first swung by the Ropes Mansion
for an obligatory Hocus Pocus moment... |
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The fireworks let us know that Halloween was over.
I believe it was our most horrible yet. |
