Salem, Massachusetts: Tough on crime for 300 years. — Our friend, Rev. Steve Silver
Ellen's handiwork
It happens early every October in Salem. First, Ellen Talkowsky and her able crew tie dozens of dried corn stalks to all the light posts downtown. Orange ribbons, of course. Then the banners go up along Essex Street and the pedestrian mall. Then there’s a certain anticipation in the air, both good and bad. Here they come . . . the haunted houses that stay up for a month, the fried dough and sausage stands, the tarot readers and other assorted psychics, and the tourists. Tens of thousands of them every weekend, culminating in 100,000+ on Halloween night itself. Salem is still trying to get used to this.
Salem’s Haunted Happenings began as the brainchild of one Bob Cahill, a Salem resident and state representative in the mid-1970s. He (with the help of a few neighborhood kids) started by scaring the bejeesus out of people at a new attraction in town, the Witch Dungeon Museum. Around 1982, Cahill finally got to meet with the Salem Chamber of Commerce and “Haunted Happenings” was institutionalized. It has grown every year and is now one of the most important “events” in town.
As a ten-year resident of Salem, I can tell you that this success is met with mixed
Beautiful Bott's Court
emotions by the locals. Yes, it’s great for revenues and for showing off the city to tourists. But it also impacts the downtown neighborhoods negatively in terms of parking, noise and garbage. More importantly, the “witch” business has tended to overshadow the “real” history of this special community — the maritime history, the importance of Salem as a trader in luxury goods, the literary history of Nathaniel Hawthorne, the intellectual and artistic history of the Essex Institute and the Peabody Museum, the critical contributions of Nathaniel Bowditch, whose navigational books are still on every naval ship in the world, and the incredible housing stock that survives in countless neighborhoods around town. And did you know that Alexander Graham Bell made the first phone call here? Or that the Lyceum Restaurant (where the call was made) was the site of an original lyceum, attracting many of the world’s most well-known speakers? Well, the list goes on, right up to modern times — Salem is also the home town of one Jack Welch, former chairman/CEO of General Electric. Not bad.
Along Essex Street
So when the residents here are confronted with nothing but tourists dressed up in witch and ghoul costumes for the better part of a month, they have to grin and bear it. After all, if you dig deep enough into the Salem Witch Trials, you will see that they had very little to do with actual witchcraft. And that nobody was burned. Probably hundreds of books and videos are for sale around Salem dealing with the subject — Bob Cahill has written several of them. Try to find a reliable account — from the Peabody Essex Museum, for example— if you want to read about it.
The Great Kearney Pumpkin
This year, the Haunted Happenings Parade launched the season on October 7 and there’s no stopping it. Every day there’s something to do — witch history, pirate history, haunted houses, theatrical events, psychic fairs, and so on. Here are a few of my favorites:
- Salem Witch House — home of Judge Jonathan Corwin of the Witch Trials
- Salem Witch Museum — Salem’s most visited museum
- Peabody Essex Museum — with roots back to 1799
- Phillips House — the only house open to the public on historic Chestnut Street
- Witch Trials Memorial — in a very moving park setting
- The Witch Trial Trail — by Jim McAllister, Salem’s official historian
- The House of the Seven Gables — Hawthorne’s inspiration
- Salem Maritime National Historic Site — go on board the Friendship & the Fame
- Salem Ferry — Ride from Boston to Salem in style
Dolci at Adriatic Restaurant
There’s still time to go. Get a taste of New England fall and the madness that is Salem in October. It’s wonderful, really. And the restaurants and shops that have sprung up since we left five years ago are astonishing. It’s a special place year-round that goes a little crazy for a few weeks every year. It’s allowed. It’s lived through more than most places and has forgotten more history than most cities ever knew. There. I’ve said it. I love Salem. Go see it!
Buon viaggo!
Linda Dini Jenkins is a card-carrying Italophile, travel planner, freelance writer, and amateur photographer. Travel is her passion, so writing about her travels just comes naturally. She hopes all her travelers find a way to express their joys, surprises, and fears as they travel and gives every traveler a nifty journal to help smooth the way. Learn more…
