Salem’s Haunted Happenings
The Salem Witch Museum
Photo uploaded by Calamity Meg.
For much of the year, Salem is a sleepy, eerily quiet New England seaport. However, this home of the infamous witch trials has never been able to escape its bewitching past. Hair-raising graveyards mark where accused witches were buried and scraggily trees have been turned into historical monuments as plaques quietly remind observers where the accused were hanged.
The month of October and Halloween bring haunting life to the historical town, as Salem’s annual Haunted Happenings offers a glimpse into Salem’s eerie past. Don’t believe in the supernatural? You may change your mind after you experience one of the many historical museums, walk the streets during the culminating celebration on Halloween night, or take part in a ghostly seance.
Salem’s annual month-long celebration offers activities for the whole family. Whether you are looking for a fun costume contest, or a spine-chilling reenactment of the witchcraft examinations of 1692, or even a peak into witchcraft today, Salem is the place to be during Halloween.
The Salem Witch Museum gives you a fun, dramatic history lesson about the events surrounding the witchcraft trials and the evolution of the word witch through life-sized sets, lighting, and narration. Reenactments of the trials haunt your guided journey through the museum, bringing you back to the seventeenth century.
The oldest standing mansion in America, the House of Seven Gables served as the inspiration for Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic novel of the same name, offering a mysterious glimpse into over 300 years of history. Hawthorne’s tortured characters and the spirit of John Hathorne, responsible for the condemnation of accused witches, haunt the hallways and secret staircase. Their spirits seem even more alive during the month of October, when blood-curdling tours, such as “The Legacy of the Hanging Judge” and “Spirits of the Gables,” bring a ghostly atmosphere to the historic building.
Join the masses decked out in costume as street performers, merchants, and the witches of Salem take to the streets in a bewitching celebration of Halloween.
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