What's Been Banished and What is Sacred Space - Changing Businesses in Downtown Salem 2012

[I can't believe it's already been a year. Spring is here and the usual musical-chairs of businesses coming and going has left us with lots of interesting stories. So, here's What's Been Banished and What is Sacred Space 2012.]

Many people make the mistake of thinking Salem is a tourist town, but with the many faces the city wears we have infinite varieties of businesses.

One of the things I have always found fascinating is the ever-changing storefronts on Essex st, and the failure and success of local businesses. So what's new in downtown Salem this year? What businesses have gone to the gallows? Here are a few of the ones I consider noteworthy.

But first, A Salem Witch meme.

 The Upper Crust Falls Down - Lots of people, including myself, had no idea about the allegations of corruption at this franchise's Salem location. Most locals hardly went there because the pizza was way too expensive. Suddenly the place was closed and lots of people were talking about how badly the owner treated the workers. Apparently, after being "ordered to pay more than $80,000 in back pay by the Department of Labor for violating federal overtime and record-keeping laws", they just couldn't afford to stay open! Public sentiment is strongly against them.

 An upper-downward spiral.

The Coven has Disbanded - The best new place in town just up and leaves. Now there is nowhere to get Vegan BLTs (VLTs), gluten-free vegan cupcakes, or sandwiches named after famous pop-culture icons and 80s cartoon superheroes. W - T - F. Coven announced the news via their Facebook page which has since become a sad memorial full of people commenting begging them not to leave and saying how much they'll be missed. Luckily, the space was sold to an AMAZING vegetarian restaurant called Life Alive which will be opening soon, so it's not a complete loss. Still sucks, the menu at Life Alive looks absolutely awesome, but I don't see any mention of vegan BLTs. :(

Life Alive, coming soon. [via: midge]

Bangkok's Back - Looks like Salem's loudest Thai food bar is back with a vengeance. I live on Washington st right near them and can testify to this. Last night (Sunday) Bangkok Paradise was the very last bar in the area still open and seemed busy. I honestly love this place, mostly just for their food. The old owner always tried to keep the nights varied with different genres of music, lets hope the new owner keeps it diverse.

That Place that Replaced Asahi is Gone - I never even got a chance to go to Lakay Island before they shut down. It's crazy that business can't succeed there just because of lack of traffic. The location is right in the center of Essex st so you have to park and walk there, but it's just a great location, someone really needs to do something with it that will last.

Laurie Cabot's Shop Closes Forever - It's the end of an era. See full story here.

Making pies?

Witch Shops Get Dissed on Central st. - Well well, then. Apparently the owner of a certain building on Central st would prefer to get rid of the witch/psychic shops and replace them with some cute yuppie nonsense. Both The Broom Closet and Angelica's of the Angels have relocated to new places, both are actually better and more visible. The interesting part of this is simply the fact that the community has become so aware of the building owner's anti-witch shop opinions. Is that really true? Did the dude want to get rid of them? That's what word around town is... Either way, they left peacefully it seems.

Life and Death has Resurrected Spellbound Tours - Stitching together the pieces of two deceased tours into an undoubtedly wonderful monster, the former owner  of Life and Death Tours (and shop),  Nichole (of Orange Nichole) is the proud new owner of Spellbound Tours. Her trusty sideshow freak performer friend, who, years ago, was Spellbound's original top rated tour guide is back in town after traveling with America's last traveling sideshow, World of Wonders. If anybody can save the company they can. No word yet on if or where they will have a store front. I expect they will.

Speaking of Tours... - Tour Season officially starts April 1st, but the weather has been so nice, some of the ghost tours have already had decent groups for a while. The Salem Witch Walk had unprecedented success last year and we're expecting big things to come in 2012. Salem's newest tour, Paranormal Salem, has been doing great as well. The Salem Trolley is out and about, and that's really how locals tell tourist season is back. Also, there is a new RUNNING tours company which is a hilarious trend sweeping the tourism industry in every major city in the same way that segway tours have.

 Always makes me think of Mr. Rogers.

Salem is always changing, so expect another post next year, or even sooner, to see what's been banished and what is sacred space in the Witch City.

The Salem Witches Hex Tim Tebow?

This started off with The Boston Herald calling the owner of local witch shop Crow Haven Corner, Lorelei and asking about curses. Apparently the New England Patriots' star quarterback Tom Brady made the cover of Sports Illustrated, which is considered some sort of curse in the sports world. When she mentioned that rituals can be used to neutralize negative energy it became a bigger scoop for the Herald, as they were the ones to break the news that the ritual would be held a few days later at the shop. It also became a surprising opportunity for good publicity for Lorelei and the store, as the story was picked up by local news outlets and quickly spread to syndication and national news outlets.

I figured the story was cute and would get a bit of coverage, but had no idea that when I showed up to witness the ritual at Crow Haven Corner at 12pm on Friday the 13th I would have to shove past gigantic news cameras just to get into the store. Fox, CBS, NBC, etc etc - they were all there. Must have been a slow news day!

 

 This doll isn't supposed to be scary, but tell that to my nightmares.

Honestly, I expected the ritual itself to be really cheesy after that whole Charlie Sheen thing last year, but it was surprisingly well-thought-out, politically correct, and positive. Lorelei even mentioned Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow saying he had "powerful energy..., magic[, and was] a force to be reckoned with," but went out of her way to say she wished him well, but wanted the Patriots to win. The whole thing was meant to be for neutralizing the Sports Illustrated "jinx" and to ask for victory for the team in the upcoming game, but still many news outlets sensationalized the story or just got it plain wrong, some going so far as to say things like " SALEM WITCHES HEX TIM TEBOW..."

Suddenly the story was everywhere, and the videos had gone viral.

That little circle second from the right represent bloggers.

All the publicity has been great in the eyes of the majority of most people. I have personally seen in the comments of may of these articles professed Christians and atheists going out of their way to say how this makes witches and religions associated with witchcraft look good. They are used to seeing witches in the media portrayed as a bunch of circus freaks, weirdos, and publicity whores and many noted how relieving it was to see a legitimate ritual; done in a fun way for a good cause.

The backlash, as always, came from the pagan community. Some pagans are so obsessed with the embarrassment associated with the aforementioned freaks and publicity whores they assume every witch in the news is just out to make a buck. This comes as no surprise to any witch that's ever been in the media. The moment you put yourself out there there are throngs of people shouting about how you're a sell out and judging you guilty of the crime of simply being in the media at all. These detractors inevitably end up resorting to making fun of the way you do your make-up, your weight, or accusing you of living in your parents basement playing Dungeons and Dragons.

Although sometimes the mockery is warranted.

It's just how it is. Don't know if that will ever change.

Laurie Cabot Closes Shop - Christian Day Opens Hex: New Orleans

The Salem Witch Wars: Never Again. 

When this cartoon was published in the newspaper October 2007 Laurie Cabot was a tiny bit annoyed by it. She always ran her business as well as her coven with integrity and class, and spent time being an activist and donating time and money to charity. Sure sometimes she was in the news for embarrassing things, but that was her personal life and no one else's business.

Christian Day, on the other hand, thought it was hilarious. He started his business knowing very well that regardless of all else haters gonna hate. I'm sure that on some level being compared to someone he looked up to was kind of an honor, and on the other hand, he just really loves controversy.

In the long run, it ended up that the witch wars all the gossipy folk in the pagan community were supposing went on between Christian and Laurie were much imagined and embellished. In fact, even after he went to her birthday party a few years ago, proving once and for all they were still friends, some people still say they hate each other.

And now, after 42 years, Salem's Official Witch, the most respected and beloved freak in New England, Laurie Cabot is closing her shop for good. Most people heard the news via her Facebook page where she wrote a lengthy status update explaining everything:

"As you can imagine running a store and trying to be available to the temple is a lot of work, and so I have decided to align myself with my new goals and close my store, The Official Witch Shoppe."

Of course, this wasn't her first shop. Over the years Laurie has become successful and world famous, but business has always been hard for her. Over the years she has been in the news for all kinds of things, some of them related to mistakes she had made business-wise, sometimes her problem was simply trusting people too much. But she is ending things on a good note...

She goes on, "...from the first, The Witch Shoppe to Crow Haven Corner and then The Cat, The Crow and The Crown and finally to The Official Witch Shoppe. It has been a dream come true to have had the experience of operating my stores and the countless wonderful people I have met and interacted with at each of my shop locations. "

 1971(?) - The Witch Shoppe, Salem, MA

'Crow Haven Corner', now owned by a student/friend of Laurie's, Lorelei.

The location of 'The Cat, The Crow, & the Crown', which then became The Official Witch Shoppe.

Now, when it really comes down to it this isn't really all that shocking to someone that knows her. She really loves being who she is, interacting with people, etc., but everyone could always tell that Laurie didn't really like being a tourist attraction! I'm not sure how different she used to be, but for a long time now it's been clear she'd rather not harassed by pushy tourists, choosing rather to be more elusive and mysterious.

I'm sure at this point she can sell her products online and get more business than the physical shop does, and she will still be busy teaching classes - not to mention most psychics have regulars that call in for readings and I'm sure hers are extremely dedicated. In the long run, maybe the shop just wasn't worth her time and money anymore. Odds are she'll do more good for the community, make more money, and have more fun without it. I don't think she'll ever fully retire, so this might be the closest she ever comes.

 Keep your eyes peeled for this sign at 1219 Decatur Street in The French Quarter.

The other big news in Salem is also big news for Vieux Carre. Salem's own Christian Day is opening up another incarnation of his successful shop, Hex, in the oldest neighborhood in New Orleans. "It happened very quickly," he said on his Facebook page. He's already headed down there and plans on opening as early as February. Rumor has it he plans on opening a third shop in Saudi Arabia in the future. 

 Ha.

So watch out, N'awlins, the Howard Stern/Kathy Griffin/Joan Crawford of witchcraft is on his way...

Oh wait, add Winifred Sanderson to that.[credit]

A Wicked Solstice Season in Salem

 She was resisting.

It snowed in time for Halloween this year, but December has been nice and mild so far - which is great considering how much there is to do.

Sure, I could keep busy online by joining the War on Christmas, I considered writing an article on the topic, maybe covering the holiday's pagan origins or just documenting conservative hubris, but so many others have already done so so eloquently. Also, I've been fairly busy getting into the holiday spirit - Salem Witch style.

Happy Horrordays!

This year's Krampus art show and holiday-ish party at the Fool's Mansion was pretty awesome. If you have never heard of the amazingly horrible and wonderfully terrifying myths surrounding Krampus consider the following excerpt from Wiki:

"  Krampus is a mythical creature recognized in Alpine countries.^[1] According to legend, Krampus accompanies St. Nicholas during the Christmas season, warning and punishing bad children, in contrast to St. Nicholas, who gives gifts to good children. When the Krampus finds a particularly naughty child, it stuffs the child in its sack and carries the frightened thing away to its lair, presumably to devour for its Christmas dinner.

In the Alpine regions, Krampus is represented by a beast like creature, generally demonic in appearance. Traditionally young men dress up as the Krampus in Austria, southern Bavaria and South Tyrol during the first week of December, particularly on the evening of 5 December, and roam the streets frightening children with rusty chains and bells.  "

The event was basically a goth Christmas/Solstice party art show with Dj Zombi starting off the night playing ambient tracks and spooky winter orchestral stuff before leading into the more dancable music. The art itself varied greatly. Some of the more expensive art was also available in card form. This is the card my mother will be receiving this year:

Basically Krampus is the bad to Santa's good cop.

We also visited Ye Old Pepper Candy Co., the oldest candy company in America, for their open house where they had the back open so you could watch how they make their candy.This place earns my respect by using a lot of the same old-fashioned gadgets that have been used to make candy for hundreds of years. I had no idea how complicated the device to make ribbon candy was. I found a video of another old fashioned candy company using the same equipment here. The good part starts at :45. Some people think it's kind of boring, but I always loved when Mr. Roger's brought us to the crayon factory growing up. Guess it's a geek thing.

I also tried to class it up a bit by bringing my wife to the Christmas event tours at The House of Seven Gables. Instead of their usual tours they have one which leads you through the different rooms in the house which are made into living stages with actors that do excerpts from famous holiday literature. Besides the fake British accents making me want to strangle myself with tinsel, it was pretty cool. Among others, they had scenes from Little Women, an excerpt from the Diary of Ann Frank (which was totally bittersweet), a dude desperately trying to do a Welsh accent for A Child's Christmas in Wales, as well as the standards like a scene from A Christmas Carol and the standard recitation of Twas the Night Before Christmas.

No, not NightMARE, that came later...

That's right, this weekend at Cinema Salem they had late night showings of The Nightmare Before Christmas complete with a shadow cast provided by the Teseracte Players of Boston. Saying there is room for improvement is by no means a criticism. These guys did a fantastic job, I just know they know they could do so much more. Jack Skelington moved his arms around a lot like he was in RUN D.M.C. or something and it was totally distracting, but decent. The cyclops mummy and The Clown with the Tear-away Face were crowd favorites when it came to costumes. The little girl playing Zero was adorable, and the dude playing the mayor had the jerky robotic movements down and the most hilarious look on his face for the duration of the performance, it was perfect. 

... So that's it. Things die down after October's Haunted Happenings, but after December's Holiday Happenings  are over the city becomes very very boring. Let's hope something interesting happens before spring!

Rob Zombie in Salem November 2011! [*spoiler alert*]

[the movie's first SPOILER right here!]

Now that October is over you'd think the excitement in Salem would be over, but then on Monday a friend at a local ice cream shop asked me "Oh, do you know who Rob Zombie is?". Apparently she had no idea who he was but said either he or some of his crew had just been in there browsing. I searched all over online and asked around and no one else knew anything, but then Rob posted this on his Facebook page around 8pm:

The Lords had descended on Salem Towne.

Later on I noticed this tweet from the mayor of the city:

Awesome.

So, at this point random people started telling me all the random places they were running into his film crews, all over the city... From the beautiful Greenlawn Cemetery in North Salem, to Essex st., rumors of Pioneer Village in South Salem - he even was filming down The Point!

On Essex st. (picture via the Official Salem Facebook Page)

Now, honestly, I wasn't planning on running around town trying to find him with a Sharpie like a ton of other people were, I understand he is here to work. I left work early to look at an apartment and just happened to stumble upon the crew on Essex st. filming a scene! I just had to watch. Even though it was somewhat boring and to the crew just business as usual I found the entire situation just fascinating. The beautiful cameras and equipment, the way they used umbrellas and special tents to keep the rain off things, the way the crew all worked so well together - I ended up watching for hours and hours.

In the scene on Essex st. (the one I saw, there are others) Bruce Davidson, whom you may remember best from playing the father in the TV series version of Harry and the Hendersons, dressed in casual business attire carrying a leather messenger style briefcase walked down Essex st towards the camera, noticed a newsstand, saw the headline, grabbed a copy of the made-up paper "The Salem Breeze", stared at the paper for a moment and then walked off looking like it was something that made sense to him, surprised or shocked, or otherwise somehow affected him. It certainly made no sense to me, I got up really close and saw the headline "Local Host Lobster Joe Found Dead".

Anyone who is a fan of Rob Zombie or Salem Witch Wiles on Facebook will remember when Mr. Zombie posted the casting picture of Christopher Knight, aka Peter Brady, with a caption including a part that said "Chris plays Keith Williams aka Lobster Joe the host of Lobster Joe's Fishy Fun Show a staple of local Salem television."

So you heard it here first folks, Peter Brady dies in Lords of Salem.

Now at this point, considering how many locals normally walk down Essex st. in November and that they had been there long enough for word to get out online, a significant sized group had formed and lots of people were loudly mentioning how they wanted an autograph in the hopes he would overhear them. Come on guys, he's trying to work. Bother him when he's not working or on break between scenes. I payed close attention and noticed one guy who was making announcements to the crew say "Allright, pack it up. Charter's next and Sheri's on her way." I was the only non-crew person that heard him, no one else was paying attention.

I immediately knew he was referring to the Old Burying Point Cemetery, also known as Charter St. Cemetery.

Here's the lightning-struck oak where lots of local witches leave offerings. (picture courtesy one of my awesome tourists/friends!)

This is the cemetery I do my historic tours in. It's the oldest in the city, second oldest in the country, the one with the lightning struck oak tree, the Witch Trials Memorial, The Hanging Judge John Hathorne is buried here - hell, I got married in this cemetery! I decided to not tell anyone but one friend what I had heard and we snuck away from the crowd as the crew began packing up and the noticeably impatient people started getting closer and closer to all running up and asking for autographs in a frenzy. I knew if they knew Sheri Moon Zombie was going to be at the cemetery they would all stampede down there. Honestly, though, I was surprised people stayed out of the way and were as well behaved as they were, New England people can be pushy!

Down at Old Burying Point it started to rain a bit more moderately and they set up all the cameras. They filmed a scene of Sheri slowly walking through the cemetery in deep thought, taking a moment to stop and stare at a few stones before exiting into the area of The Witch Trials Memorial. Because there were hardly any locals in the way at this location I could stand very close. I could see the view through the camera, essentially what the shots will look like, and they were just beautiful.

I had figured her outfit would be able to tell me a lot about her character and hopefully make a few plot points more obvious but it further confused me. She was not dressed stereotypically goth or witchy at all. Firstly, she was wearing wide-leg flare-type jeans that dragged on the ground just enough to get the bottoms all wet from rain. She was wearing a faux-suede looking jacket with faux-fur trim and had an extremely realistic looking wig of luscious gorgeous amazing blonde dreadlocks. (My friend took pictures, I will edit this blog and add them in the moment he uploads them![edit 1/9/12: still waiting!])

Anyways, in the next shot she entered the Memorial and paused there for a few moments reading the quotes by the victims chiseled into the stones and they got a great close up of her from another angle. Then they filmed her walking around the corner and took a very long drawn-out shot of her slowly walking into the distance - it looked great. Very moody.

Based on the way she was acting I think it's safe to assume that her character feels a deep connection to the victims of the hysteria, what could that mean? A lot of things. Maybe she is a descendant of one of the victims, maybe she is a modern witch, who knows...

[edit: Oh, duh. Yeah, her character's name is Heidi Hawthorne so it's pretty safe to assume that makes her a descendant of the character Rev. John Hawthorne. He is taking some creative liberty here: the judge was John Hathorne and one of his descendants, famous author Nathaniel Hawthorne, actually added the 'w' in order to distance himself from the ignorant ancestor. The Reverend at the time was Samuel Parris.]

I was able to chat with a few random members of the crew at certain points and more than one of them made it a point to mentioned that this wasn't as bloody or gory, or as one of them put it "it's not as stabby", as his previous films and that it would be "more psychological". Based on the long shots and deep camera angles I am sensing something. I could be wrong, but I think this is Rob's attempt to be taken seriously by all the fans and critics that think all he can do is shock and gore. Personally, I have always seen how artistic his films are regardless, but I am getting a strong feeling that this is going to be a huge movie and really impress people.

This morning Rob posted this on his Facebook page with a goodbye message to the city saying today was his last day shooting.

Is that Samantha Stevens from Bewitched or William Defoe from Boondock Saints?

Last I heard they were going to put in a full day of filming today and then head back to LA. Let me be one of many people to say thank you to Rob and the crew for filming in Salem and not just doing this all in LA. Salem is a perfect spot for filming, so much to see. Being a native of Massachusetts I think he has more respect than others would, and we respect him back.

☠

Related articles:

Rob Zombie's Latest Visit to Salem for Location Scouting (With new Pics!)

Clues in Leaked "Lords of Salem" Photos with a Better Synopsis

God Hates the Lords of Salem - Rob Zombie Sightings in Salem, MA

Lost in a Maize Maze & What Happened at the Salem Zombie Walk?

(Photo credit: Lucid Light)

This year's Zombie Walk was supposed to meet at Collins Cove Park at 3pm and start marching at 5pm, but many people were disappointed to show up closer to five and find they had missed the group leaving. The march itself less resembled a horde of zombies and was more like many disorganized wandering bands snaking through and around the downtown area pretty aimlessly.

I finished my 3pm tour, threw on some make up, splattered some blood on myself, and joined in as the groups were passing Crow Haven Corner on Essex st. My zombie ballerina wife and I had a great time, but the disorganization confused me. I asked a group of fellow zombies "Where is the leader?" to which I recieved shrugs, "You know, the guy with the top hat and megaphone? The guy who organizes the walk?" No one had seen him.

Checking online later it seemed a lot of people were angry about their perceived failures of the walk, but then I discovered what had happened -  the leader had been arrested! Was this an anti-zombie conspiracy? How did this happen? We all know the city thought the walk was weird at first, but over the years has warmed up to it, with local business getting involved, and the Zombie Walk even being listed in this years tourist guide.

Speaking to the man himself I learned that the city had, for an unknown reason, revoked his permit(s) and only notified him via email. He doesn't really check his email too often so he had no idea. Because he had not cancelled the walk it seems the police wanted to check him out and when they ran his name they found he had a random unrelated bench warrant for something stupid like not paying court fines in time or something. They showed up to his work an hour before the walk and arrested him there. Thing is, the warrant was from 2007 and he has been processed since then so it makes no sense it would just come up now. The people at the police station made sure not to post his bail until after the walk had ended, so regardless of what they say, it's clear they simply didn't want him to be there. I don't think we are ever going to find out what exactly the motivations of the police were here.

Either way, the event was an overall success and gets bigger every year. Even if the police target the leader, we will still continue do it. It's good for the city and good clean (albeit bloody) fun. Every year I see families, babies, and kids having a good time -

and that's what Salem is all about. (photo: Peppered Productions)

[EDIT 10/13/11 12.30pm: It appears the city is also trying to ban the Zombie Walk by making it a crimnal offense. A meeting is scheduled for tonight at 6:30 at city Hall. Will update when I find out what happens.
EDIT 10/16/11: False alarm.]

Quick news roundup -

--Rocky Horror at Cinema Salem sold out last week so they added another midnight showing this Friday. See you there.

--I forget to mention earlier that two of my favorite street performers, illusionists, and local personalities, Vlad the vampire and Dan the bard of Theatre of the Night found a venue for their magic show this year! Good for tourists and locals alike, it's a family friendly magic show that is still dark, twisted, and evil. One of the few things in Salem where you get EXACTLY what you pay for. Go give them all your money because they are hilarious.

Here's a random video I found with them in it.

--If you missed last week's Haunted Happenings grand parade you can watch it online thanks to Salem Access Television even if you aren't from Salem. It's a pretty budget operation, but still fun. My favorite part is about three and a half minutes in when they cut to the man on the street and keep talking not knowing their microphones are still on, haha.


--The biggest Salem related story around right now is definitely the one about the family that got stuck in the Salem Village corn maze at Connors Farm in Danvers.

 Their incredibly apt slogan is "GET LOST!"

About half an hour after closing time a frightened family who was out with their three week old baby for the first time called 911 which responded with a K9 unit in order to find them within the 7-acre maze - ended up they were about 25 feet from the exit and it took the cops less than five minutes to find them. A part of me feels bad for them, but most of me finds this hilarious - kudos to the maze creators for actually making it difficult enough to get people lost! This story will get bigger as it has already been covered by LA Times, NPR, USA Today, and The New York Post, but has also been picked up by CNN, Jay Leno, and Good Morning America.

[edit: Associated Press video here: LOL] 

--Count Orlok's Nightmare Gallery reports having a great turnout to meet Jason of Friday the 13th VII-X and stuntman extraordinaire Kane Hodder. Here's a picture of him murdering gallery owner James.

Nice knowing you, pal.

Bill Johnson, Leatherface in Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, is there this weekend and rumor has it that James found an antique puzzle box and will use it to summon Hellraiser's Pinhead the Cenobite himself, Doug Bradley, from the depths of hell for next weekend's celebrity appearance.

The Witch Trials Did Not Happen in Danvers

      

              With so many awesome things going on this month it's hard to keep track. Just this week we have things like today's Haunted Happenings Opening Day Parade, tomorrow's midnight showing of Rocky Horror at Cinema Salem, free movies on Salem Common at 8pm Saturdays (Oct 8-Monsters, Inc., Oct 15 Casper, Oct 22 Hocus Pocus, Oct 29 Beetlejuice), and this weekend is the first street fair of the month, so vendors and street performers will be out in droves. 

Oh, and this Saturday is the annual Salem Zombie Walk so be sure and grab some corn syrup and red food coloring.

 I like the part with the zombies.

In Lords of Salem news, Rob Zombie is posting pictures of people on his Facebook (which at the moment is the best way to keep updated about the movie) as they get cast and the last one was for Dee Wallace. The interesting things is part is of what he wrote for the caption:

"With less than 2 weeks until the start of filming the cast members are coming on board quickly. The latest addition to THE LORDS OF SALEM is our good friend DEE WALLACE. Dee plays the role of Sonny, a self-help guru."

Now two things can be surmised from this quote: firstly, that her character to will die a horrible death, as anyone described as a "self-help guru" inevitably will (and should) in a  horror movie, but the part that really got me excited was him mentioning filming will be beginning just before the last week in October. Are we still safe to assume they will be taking shots of the crowds and filming certain scenes that might be dependent on crowds right downtown in the midst of the October excitement? It's way cheaper than paying extras! And a lot of people don't know, the way that filming permits work in Salem is that you only need to obtain one if you intend to block off streets. That means they can show up any day with no warning at all!

Boo! Imagine turning around and seeing this?

So Salem has been all over the national and international news, blogs, little local news segments around the country - everyone is getting into the spirit, but the only problem is how many journalists and bloggers are quick to add a little snarky jab about how the witch trials didn't even happen in Salem, but the next town over in Danvers. 

This has always been a pet peeve of mine - when people hear a small amount of information and run around regurgitating it as if they are an authority. So let me take a moment to explain to anyone that doesn't know: the Salem Witch Trials happened in (surprise surprise) Salem! 

What is now Salem was then called Salem Towne which was the downtown area surrounded by smaller farming communities. The small girls who made the initial accusations were from a part of Salem then known as Salem Village which is now modern Danvers starting in January. Arrests and examinations started in March (The first three victims arrested Feb 29th). Essentially, these "examinations" were insane verbally abusive arraignments where the victim was faced with the charge and given a chance to enter a plea, but not really because they would just yell at the person more and the little girls would bug out. They were not trials.

Things were getting out of hand as more and more people were being accused and arrested. The governor issued a commission for a Court of Oyer and Terminer and they chose a courthouse in what is now downtown Salem in the center of Washington st to house these, the actual trials - which started in JUNE with the trial of Bridget Bishop, first to be hanged on Gallow's Hill (also located in Salem btw) . All of the more than 150 people found guilty of witchcraft were tried in what is now modern day downtown Salem. There is even a plaque there that no one ever notices.

In addition, the site of the Witch Dungeon, where the victims were brought from other prisons and jails in order to be tortured and outside of which Giles Corey was pressed to death is in Salem.

Yes, many notable figures from the trials were from Danvers, but if you look into it you will see that there were also victims from Boxford, Andover, Ipswich, even as far as Welles Maine. On top of that, if you do the math you will find that more victims were from Salem Towne than Salem Village so if it was a contest hooray we win..., more people died from here. ...Yippie. Not really something to be proud of, but I am just sick of people spreading misinformation around.