The Halloween Trip to Salem

     After months of waiting, years actually but months of planning, finally I was in Salem for Halloween! A lifelong dream of mine brought to life by my boyfriend. In truth we had been planning the trip since before we actually began dating. Both of us share an interest in the paranormal and wanted to see Salem at Halloween. I had two demands for this trip, the first that we go to the Salem Witch Museum and the second that we go on a haunted ghost tour. We stayed in Providence Rhode Island which is about an hour from Salem, with his brothers. The trip up was easy enough and it was the perfect weekend for Fall Foliage. The leave were BEAUTIFUL!!! I mean, really breath taking.

 I had never been to Providence and only saw a bit on this trip but it was nothing like I imagined. I figured it would be all beachy and island like, like Cape Cod but it was more like a sleepy New England town. I know it's a coastal state but I never saw the ocean.

  We arrived in Providence on Thursday night and hit Salem Friday. I had expected Salem to be crowded with loads of people but although there were people, it wasn't overly crowded. We walked picked up our tickets for the Witch Museum early for an afternoon entry and then walked around. We ducked in and out of some witch shops and down a main street with outside vendors. During the day we didn't see many people in costume but there was no shortage of Witch hats. I fought the urge to buy myself a hat since I had a pair of black cat ears to wear. We passed by the famous Hawthorne Hotel and the Witch Dungeon Museum which use to be a real Dungeon ( or was re-created to look like it, the plaque was un-clear on that). It was a cold but sunny day.

     We headed back to The Salem Witch Museum in the afternoon for our showing. The Salem Witch Museum is more of a presentation of the history of the Salem Witch Trials. You are lead into a big room with life size dioramas on the walls depicting the events surrounding the trials. I've seen this about four different times over the years and I have to say it's about time for a touch up. Some of the mannequins are so decrepit that they look like something out of the new House of Wax movie. I also think the sounds and voices and dialogue could be updated. Then there is a whole second part to the tour about modern witch craft that was honestly a little creepy. As someone who studied and knows a bit about Wicca and paganism, I couldn't help but think to myself, "If this is the first image I had of this I would be creeped out." But all in all it was fun and I would recommend this museum to anyone visiting Salem. 

     The Ghost tour didn't start until 8 so after the museum we walked over to the Salem Cemetery. Salem is great cause you can walk everywhere. I love old cemeteries. Modern ones freak me out and make me sad but the old ones are so beautiful. I walked around taking pictures of head stones for a while. Then we decided to eat. We choose a restaurant we had passed by earlier called Rockafellas. Located on the ground floor of an almost 200 year old building, Rockafellas has a rich history that includes a stint as a bank and it still maintains a small vault that is now a private room you can dine in  (if you get lucky). The food was really good. I had my seasonal fave, Pumpkin Ravioli and a Salem Witch martini which was sooo good!
 
    By the time we got done with dinner it was dark out and that is when Salem truly came alive. Everyone was in costume and we bumped in to Quagmire on our way to the ghost tour. I have to admit that over all the Ghost tour was not the best but I can tell our dear tour guide was really trying. He looked so tired that my boyfriend and I just assumed he was over worked for the Holiday season. The highlight of the tour was a surprise return to Rockafellas, where we heard a sad tale about a love triangle gone wrong and the ghosts that still haunt the building. By the time the Ghost tour was over we had done about three full loops around Salem and we were tired. And cold! While we were totally comfortable during the day, the temperature dropped substantially by night time and we both ended up buying extra sweatshirts for the tour. This would have been fine except while most of the stores sell super cheap, they jack the prices up at night. Next time we will bring our own extra shirts. 

    Over all the trip to Salem (by was of Providence) was great. On Saturday we went to a fondue restaurant called, The Melting Pot in downtown Providence. I love fondue and my boyfriend had never had it but we had a Mexican fondue that was amazing ad of course Chocolate fondue for dessert. Sunday, which was actually Halloween we didn't really do much. That was a shame since my boyfriend was a Ghostbuster for Halloween and he built his own proton pack.( I will do a blog post with pictures if this, it's really amazing) Monday before heading home, we hit up Boston and did a trolley tour. You can't do Boston in one day but we did out best to see as much as we could. The price of the Trolley included a short boat tour around the harbor which we took around sun set which was nice. Again, very cold but we were prepared this time. We did a quick loop through Quincey market just look (and buy some candles from Yankee Candle company) and ate some quick dinner and headed home. 

  The trip to New England was a blast and we are already talking about heading back in the spring to see more of Boston and perhaps do some whale watching. Over all, I say if you're going to visit Salem you should definitely go during the Fall so you can catch the leaves and some of the Halloween spirit.