Halloween Town; Salem Mass.

Not all witches are ugly

With Halloween coming up, where in the world would you choose to be on the 31st?

We will probably be on a haunted punt tour behind the colleges in Cambridge, England. We did that last year and it was a blast. Cambridge is more spooky than you think, but nothing like as creepy as Edinburgh so, if I was going on a ghost tour in the UK, then Auld Reekie would be my destination. I'm also looking at the Ghost Train on the Severn Valley Railway as a half-term treat.

Plenty to see

In previous years we have have been to Wicken Fen's haunted board-walk, which was excellent; all done with volunteers and staff, but for many years we just stayed home and joined in the Trick or Treating in the village. Now, with Dan's diabetes and Nick leaving home, the idea of all those sugary sweets has lost its appeal.

To answer my opening question properly; if I could take the family anywhere in the world for Halloween, it would probably be to New England. They go absolutely mad for the whole of October there, especially in Salem, Massachusetts. Salem is "Halloween Town" all year round, but they really ramp it up in October. Unfortunately, we were there in August, in bright sunlight, but that was more than scary enough for some of us.

Mock trial

In the 17th Century the fledgeling new settlement was already a booming port, but it was run by superstitious Puritans who were living beyond the bounds of their own competence, trying to make a living in a strange land where their traditions and skills were useless. They were afraid a lot of the time. This was the town where, in a wave of mass hysteria, dozens of people were tried as witches in 1692. Twenty were executed and others died in prison.

Modern Salem is a Halloween theme town, but the harbour area is still full of historic interest and it is a National Historic Site. For my money, this (and the Peabody Museum) is the best bit of town to visit, but sometimes you just have to go with the flow and have a bit of fun with the kids down-town, ideally after it gets dark.

Beware, you're in for a scare!

If you want to have a good old scare, there's a lot of choice, including a couple of museums of witchcraft, a waxworks and several haunted house experiences. You can bump in to zombies, witches, vampires werewolves and ghosts almost anywhere on the street and you can often hire one of them to give you a tour.

Museum of Witchcraft

Everything is in walking distance of  the harbour but we still we wore our feet out. We could have taken a tram-ride but wanted to see it all. Fortunately the town has dozens of places to eat and drink, so I can't imagine why we ended up at Dunkin Donuts, the sugar capital of the New World, except they have rest-rooms and do the best coffee and cold drinks. Some of us (called Hanna) are addicted to their iced latte. I ordered a coffee and was surprised that it came frozen. I nearly sent it back but you only live once. Imagine spending your whole life without trying a frozen coffee! It was a really hot day and I actually quite liked it. (Perhaps I'll try bungee-jumping next.)

Canobie Lakes

Beyond Salem there's always Boston and the other coastal towns which all have historic districts, but for a walk on the wilder side, go inland to New Hampshire's Canobie Lakes park. When we were there the Halloween show was already built but closed off to the public. The haunted cornfield maze looked really convincing with scarecrows that come alive and they will be putting on a big indoor show that is bound to be brilliant if their summer shows are anything to go by.

So what are you doing for Halloween?

(You could scroll down through my old blogs to see our past Halloweens.)

The old harbour at Salem.