My mom and I just returned from 3 days in Salem Mass. Was Salem a place I was dying to go to? Nope. However, it was an opportunity that came up and we decided to check it out. Now, what’s all the hype about Salem? You know I’m gonna tell you the truth, so keep reading.
Salem is a beautifully interesting tourist attraction. It has a dark spiritual feel with a side of crystals, Tarrot cards and sage. Tons of shopping, restaurants and tourist traps.
Let me oversimplify the draw of Salem. The Salem Witch trials…. In 1692 people were a paranoid about witchcraft (as it had been going on in Europe) and if someone’s cow didn’t give milk, or someone’s crop failed, perhaps even if you looked at someone the wrong way… they might accuse you of being a witch. There didn’t have to be any true proof other than someone saying it’s so. In 1692 the first witch trial happened in Salem Mass.
As famous as Salem Mass are… it really only lasted about 13 months. I was surprised that it was such a short time frame. Yes, they did hang 19 people and crushed one. Countless others died while being imprisoned for being accused of witchcraft awaiting trial. So, I’m certainly not making light of the fact that this was a tragedy. It was a terrible time in our history.
The history of Salem was very interesting to learn about. We took a 7 pm tour through Trip Advisor called Murder and Mystery Tour. Our tour guide Veronica was a history buff and she made the stories come alive. I’m one of the biggest chickens you’ll ever meet and taking this tour in the dark was kind of creepy. I highly recommend taking this tour if you get a chance; we would have missed out on some cool information if we didn’t do it. I don’t want to give away all the details of the tour, however, I think it was definitely worth the money. Tours seem very popular because I saw numerous other groups touring at all times of the day.
The main street is Essex Street and part of it is blocked off and open to foot traffic only. Most of the shops are located on this street. There are a lot of dark, black, creepy stores if you like that kind of stuff. Crystals, pentagrams, Tarrot cards and on and on. You can get your future told, dress up like a witch and have you photo taken, even buy your dog a witch hat. I didn’t buy anything and for those of you who know me…. highly unusual.
People watching for me was the best on Essex Street. People love to dress up and they are so into it. I wish I could have taken photos of the all the very weird, creative and sometimes freaky people I saw, however, I didn’t want to get punched out. Mom and I sat at the Bewitched statue and people watched for about 45 minutes (she loves it as much as I do). We sat there and here is a sample of our conversation… “look at that girl”, “oh my god check out this one”, “that guy has black nail polish”, “Jeez those witch hats are $30 and everyone is wearing them – how much money do you think they made?”. We entertain ourselves pretty well.
We did some quite a few of the touristy museums and exhibits, but some of them are a rip off. Let me tell you where NOT to go. DO NOT go to the Witch History Museum on Essex Street. I think it was $8 per person. You go into the basement of the building to look at dusty manikins (in very bad condition) and listen to guide who was about 12 years old (of course, I exaggerate) talk so fast and soft you can’t understand what she is saying. OMG, when we finished this tour and left the store, both of us looked at each other and said “what a rip off”. Save your $8 my friends and buy a beer.
We went to the Salem Witch Village on Liberty Street and it was similar to the Witch History Museum except manikins were in a little better shape and the tour was recorded and you go from exhibit to exhibit when the recording tells you to move on. Eh… I think that was about $12 per person but it gave you access to the Wax Museum across the street. The Wax Museum was a bit better. At least the characters looked more lifelike. So, I don’t recommend the Salem Witch Village, but I do recommend the wax museum.
My favorite place was the Witch House on Essex Street. It’s the home of Jonathan Corwin who was a judge involved in the Salem witch trials. The house is original and one of the only buildings to have survived from the witch trials. There was a fire that burnt most of the downtown area of Salem and unfortunately, a lot of the buildings were destroyed. The tour is self-guided and $9 for an adult. They have some very interesting artifacts and furniture that were original to the house. It was noted that Judge Corwin’s wife gave birth to 10 children in that very home… I can’t imagine.
I highly recommend going to the rooftop of the Salem Hotel (thank you nice lady on the street who told us about it). You take an elevator to the top of the hotel on Essex Street and you can see for miles. They have comfortable couches to sit on and lots of room to hang out. The railings are glass so you can have great views from everywhere. The service was excellent and the waiter was attentive and friendly. We went back a second time when our feet were so tired from walking 11 miles. We took our shoes off and had a bucket of beer.
The Derby Restaurant and Pub, located on Derby Street (surprise), had great atmosphere and many TV’s. Mom didn’t like all the TV’s because she said “it’s confusing, I don’t know what to watch”. LOL. That’s the idea mother, you have a choice of what you want to watch. We just stopped to have a drink and a bathroom stop because mom had us walking all over creation looking for a pop-it to put on her phone… I guess at 81-years old, if she wants a pop-it, we walk all over creation to get her one. One person down the bar got a drink that had a pink flamingo blow up with her drink inside of it. Mom told the bartender that she wanted one of them… of course he had to tell her beer doesn’t come with a flamingo. Oh mother.
We stayed at the Hawthorne Hotel. It was beautiful. I heard the 3rd and 6th floor are haunted, or “spiritually active”. I don’t know any more than that about who haunts the Hawthorne, however, they left us alone and we slept like a rock…considering we were on the 3rd floor. Story continues after photos.
In conclusion, Salem was a lot of fun and I’m so glad we went. The best part of it was the company. My mom is 81 and she walked about 25 miles total this trip, totally amazing. We had lots of fun. But if you ask me if I’d go back, probably not. Not that I didn’t enjoy myself, I just feel like I’ve seen it, enjoyed, and I don’t need to go back again. It’s worth at least one trip to Salem Mass to see the sights and get the history.
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Until next time… enjoy your travels. Sharon