Witch Way To Salem?

Yesterday, Rachel, Emily and I escaped campus on a trip to Salem, Massachusetts. That's right, the Salem infamous for the hanging of 19 'witches' in the late 17th Century, a reputation that it has failed to rid itself of ever since. Well the town now seems to embrace it whole heartedly and so we were in for a treat. We arrived outside 'The Witch Museum' and then walked past 'the Haunted House' and 'the Witches Dungeon' and 'the 3D Haunted House' and 'the Psychic Fair', the advertised Ghost Walks by candlelight and the list goes on. Despite this blatant touristyness (I now declare that a word) it didn't at all come across as tacky or gaudy. Yes it was silly and there was a ridiculous emphasis on their witchy background but they seemed to get away with it in a way which I don't think we would in England.

It is, of course, also the final days in the countdown to Halloween, and I have been warned that it is, in actual fact, exactly as advertised in Mean Girls. As of yet I have no plans, no costume and no idea what I'm doing. I'm rather inclined to go down the boring English Route and stay in and watch Hocus Pocus - the 90s classic - but I feel that I would probably be missing out on an intrinsic part of 'American Culture'. But that's another debate, back to Salem; due to the impending festivities everyone was dressed up. Even people's dogs were dressed up! It was crazy! I saw witches, and Harry Potters, and police man, and even a dog dressed as a lobster. In addition, despite having been to New York and Boston and Newport not one of those places was nearly as touristy and crowded as Salem was. There were hundreds of people all lining the streets to look at the houses which were in some way associated with witches or ghosts or vampires or aliens... ok maybe not vampires or aliens but I wouldn't be surprised!

Despite the crowds the town was actually really nice. We followed a pre-assigned route, a bit like the Freedom Trail in Boston, just a red painted line around the town, which took us down to the wharf and we went through the towns first cemetery and the 'bewitched statue' and all the other touristy sites. We then of course sat and drank a ridiculously large pot of tea in a cute little cafe having indulged in a lovely lunch at what turned out to be one of the most popular 'sandwich shops' in town, 'Reds'. We only went there because it was cheap and looked nice but the food was amazing and apparently it was 50 years old!!! (Remember, that's old in American standards!) I jest, it was in the building of the London Coffee House which dates from the 1700s which is pretty old. The walls were decorated with the hundreds and thousands of awards which they have won over the years including best bagel, best pancake, best sandwich, best soup, etc. It was really good. I even managed to indulge in one of my favourite foods ever which I had been denied last week with Nick... Calamari. That's right, fried Squid. It is amazing, and if you haven't tried it and are judging me right now (ahem Nick) then shame on you!

That afternoon we also went to a re-enactment of one of the witch trials and shown around a reconstructed dungeon. Again, it was done really well; the scene was set and the characters were introduced before they did their little acting part. Afterwards the scene was summed up, we were given another brief history lesson and then were shown the dungeons. I have to say I was impressed. There was no cheesy touristy gimmicks, it was factual but at the same time fun and interesting and certainly kept us on our toes when various characters jumped out from cells to make us scream. It is almost Halloween after all!