Culture
Here’s what it’s like to live in Salem, Mass., during the Halloween tourism season
SPOOKY number of Salem visitors
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NPR’s Scott Detrow speaks with reporter Megan Johnson, who wrote about what it’s like to live in Salem, Mass. — famous for the Salem Witch Trials — during Halloween tourism season.
It is a pretty good time to be a witch in Salem, Massachusetts, certainly compared to 1692, when dozens of witchcraft claims led to 19 public executions plus other deaths in prison. This was, of course, the Salem witch trials. Over 300 years later, the story is why a different of mass hysteria takes over Salem every fall. The small city just north of Boston has become enormously popular for Halloween tourists in October. Reporter Megan Johnson has written about what that is like for boston.com and is with us now. Welcome.
MEGAN JOHNSON: Hi.
DETROW: Tell me what the draw is. I mean, it makes sense. This historic town tied to witch trials – makes sense that it would be a Halloween destination. But, like, what is there to do? Say you’re thinking of driving up to Salem to check it out in October. What’s available?
JOHNSON: There is so much to do. Besides the fact that it is just an absolutely stunning town that is the epitome of autumn when the weather changes, people love the historic aspect, so they want to go to the Salem Witch Museum, the House of Seven Gables, the nun on stilts, which is one of the very common buskers on the street. There’s people in costume all the time. It’s a big bachelorette trip draw.
DETROW: Has all of this grown in recent years? Like, and is there…
JOHNSON: Absolutely.
DETROW: …A particular reason for that?
JOHNSON: So it has grown tremendously in recent years, pretty across the board, every resident has said. And a lot of them really attribute that to social media – Instagram, social media influencers who descend upon the city and want to caption amazing content. And because there’s so much of that content out there, that brings such a draw of visitors who see it and want to participate in it, too.
DETROW: So let’s set the scene. It’s about 45,000 people live in Salem, and – what? – a million people visit in October. What is that like on a fall Saturday?
JOHNSON: The No. 1 complaint that people have is that it’s nonstop traffic, and there’s nowhere to park, and that comes from residents and visitors. But there’s also just a constant onslaught of people in the streets, which often get shut down as an attempt to get rid of some of the traffic. But moving around, navigating the streets is pretty crazy.
DETROW: You wrote about a bunch of different examples of funny run-ins between residents and Halloween tourists. Can you tell us a couple of them?
JOHNSON: Yes. They really range from the overwhelmingly positive – people who have met just wonderful people, like the World Cup visitors from Scotland. They just thought they were absolutely wonderful. But then the people who have visitors throwing bottles in their yards, busting up their pumpkins, nonstop tours walking through their streets maybe three times an hour. And the kind of most unusual thing is that a lot of tourists don’t seem to realize that there are actual residents who are living there. So it kind of Disney-fies the experience for many of them. They just see it as kind of a play town when really there’s people behind those doors that they’re accidentally walking into.
DETROW: What is your best suggestion for somebody who, on one hand, says, this sounds great, and on the other hand, says, I don’t want to make it worse for these poor people who live in Salem? Like, how can you enjoy the experience without being that person?
JOHNSON: They really want to encourage whatever people can do to not drive into the city. Because there’s so little parking for residents already, there’s already so little parking for visitors, as well. The Salem commuter rail on the MBTA is very already very filled, so a lot of people are on there. But one of the best recommendations that I got from a city counselor was, take an Uber, have it drop you off on the outskirts of the city, and you can walk in and not have to worry about anything, including the high price of parking.
DETROW: Megan Johnson – her story about spooky season in Salem, Massachusetts, is on boston.com. Thank you so much.
JOHNSON: Thank you so much.
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