Freddy Goes to Salem
Perhaps the main spot on every horror fans' list to visit is Salem, MA. It's known for the Salem Witch Trials, Hocus Pocus, and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s birthplace. I had never been to Salem even having lived the majority of my life in Massachusetts and since we were in the area during the prime season we decided to check it out. And, in doing so I made sure to bring a costume to wear that would bring everyone joy…
Since Salem is very busy and tough to park in we drove over to the Newburyport train station and took the train into the city. It's about a 10 minute walk from the train station to Essex St. where all the action is. There are loads of small shops, museums, and restaurants on this strip. The street was also flooded with people, including street performers dressed like the clown from IT, Frankenstein, Michael Myers, and more. I had been wearing my Freddy Krueger costume without the mask and glove. Siobhan convinced me to put them on to get a picture with Michael Myers. After this picture, the fun started.
Just as I was walking away a boy around 8 came up to me holding out a dollar in his hand asking to have a picture taken with me! I denied the dollar and posed with him for a picture. This set the tone for the remainder of our time in Salem. I continued wearing the mask and glove and people all around would shout out "There's Freddy!", yelling out quotes from the movies, and even sang "One, two, Freddy's coming for you..."! Dozens of people asked to have their picture taken with me. I was even asked to join a photo contest (which I did and didn't win...) while we were eating tacos by the Elm Street food truck. Needless to say this experience limited us on what we experienced in the city. However, it was a blast and it didn’t stop us from checking out some cool spots and a creepy faire later on. Up until this point Siobhan had been holding our bags and guiding the way as I was catering to the crowd. This was also the case for another Wes Craven character wearing a Scream outfit and his partner. We spotted each other in the crowd and chatted a bit about our favorite films before getting a photo together.
Now it was Siobhan's turn to join in on the fun! We headed over to East Regiment Beer Company where the Gore Gals were offering horror makeup. After a half hour or so, Siobhan’s face had turned green with bruises and blood. The final piece was an 80's rocker wig that added some more flair to look. Now we made a pretty pair!
From the restaurant we made our way over to the House of Seven Gables. Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote his classic novel of the same name in 1951. We didn't tour the grounds of the Gables but enjoyed the view of it and beyond before taking an Uber down to Forest River Park for the Salem Night Faire.
The Faire is walkable (we walked back to the train station from there) though it takes about a half hour each way at a decent pace. It has a dark and spooky feel right of the bat. A tall creature with an extremely long hat handed out fortunes to guests while smoke poured and eerie music played in the background. There were many other acts such as a photo op with three women dressed as the witches from Hocus Pocus.
This was actually one of the spots where they filmed a scene from the movie! What made our time here even creepier was the fact that there was a huge, bright full moon illuminating the old trees and water around us. The Faire had many dark arts and crafts stands with candles, potions, costumes, and trinkets. There were a few food options though lines were very long. We hadn't eaten all day so settled for grilled cheese and tomato soup rather than wait. The lines for the porta potties were very long on our way out. Keep in mind though that if you are walking back there aren't any places we found on the way for restrooms, including the train station. We made it a point to get back to the second to last train in order to avoid the possibility of missing the last one. There were loads of people when we boarded and I can't imagine what it is like during Halloween for this!
