I’ve always hated the day after Halloween. It’s all over and I have a full 365 days to wait until next year. Hmmmm. But anyway, I’m looking at a whole day and night in Salem at this point. So what to do? Oh, I’m kidding, you know. I always know what I’m going to do in Salem … always!
Today I plan on spending my certificates for winning the Salem photo contest in 2010. I was a very solid 2nd place! And then as luck would have it, the folks in Salem decided to make my 2nd place winner a Salem postcard. There it is and it appears up at the tops of this blog. 
And then, when I picked up the Salem 2011 Tourist Guide, they used another one of my photos there as well! You can see that at the top of this blog as well! It’s the one with the little orange house. 
As you can imagine, I was totally shocked and surprised. I never dreamed anything like that would happen!
So I tell you that to tell you this. I’m anxious and excited to spend my certificates worth $50 and I know just where I’m going. They have a thrift shop here and it’s so interesting. Yup, I’m going there to spend my winnings. So I go, I show them my certificates with pride and they turn me down quite soundly. Nope, they don’t take them. Hmmmm. So then they tell me to go talk to the Salem Chamber of Commerce. And where might they be, pray tell? Just down Essex Street not too far from where we are now. So I gather up my pride and disappointment and walk out. I don’t know why but that actually hurt my feelings. They made me feel ridiculous and stupid and that’s not pleasant. So I go in search of the Salem Chamber of Commerce so I can see where I can spend these things.
When I arrive, I rap on the door and they let me enter. It was just like that. They were locked up tight with some sort of security bars on the door. At first they don’t know what I’m talking about so I haul out the certificates yet again and, “Oh, yeah, we know these!” They give me a pamphlet with the “acceptors” and send me on my way. I pout just a bit since they didn’t even ask about my photo but…. as soon as I step out into the world again (it was really dark in there), I look for the thrift shop on the list and yep, there they are! What a bunch of dumb asses! There is no way I would go back there and show them the list and buy something. Ain’t no fucking way! But I do see Sophia’s and I’ve always wanted to go there so I make my way. This place is so lovely but although they have such beautiful merchandise, I’m having a hard time finding something. I do want to get a pill tin and I did ($5). Hmmm, let me look around … and there, over there, there it is! I see beautiful perfume bottles with cottage roses on the front. Aww, roses and perfume. Yes, that’s me! That’s what I want! 
I very carefully select my favorite fragrance and the lady wraps it in beautiful purple tissue paper … did I say perfect? Now I’m smelling really good as I leave the shop. I love my perfume and it makes me feel really proud of myself for winning that contest. Oh, how I love my photography!
So now I make my way back to the ancient cemetery with my big, beautiful tree. Yes, I am a tree hugger; at least with that one I am! Oh, what a happy surprise! The squirrels are there gathering their acorns and playing. Oh, how I love taking photos of animals. And today, everything seems to be going good. I can’t even take a bad picture at the moment. It all “clicks” somehow. Even the tombstones seem to be joining in the fun! Here’s some of my shots of the squirrels, the tombstones and sunset in Salem. Sunset in Salem is absolutely a magical time. I’ve never seen anything like it! So I click and I click and I click and click! If I didn’t know better, I’d say those tombstones look like they’re posing as well! Here’s a few of the shots I got on this wonderful day with the stormy sky.
Oh my goodness, it appears to be getting dark now. I get a few photos of the Salem Witch Walk’s lighting falling on the tombstones. It is so hard tearing myself away at this point. Lord, the struggles I go through in this little town!
Oh, and this one. A lovely doorway on the way back to my hotel.
I am pondering. What shall I do with my last night in Salem? I walk … and walk! I would be skinny if I lived here. I think I walk for miles while I’m here. Hmm, I don’t think, I know! I go into the Mall one last time. Nothing going on here. Most everything is closed up tight. Halloween is over, you know. It’s like in an old western on TV. All the buildings are closed and silent with the occasional tumbleweed blowing down the middle of the street. Can’t you just see it? Now all I would need is Clint Eastwood’s ghost to appear. Oh wait, he’s not dead. Oh well, anyway….
See youse later!
Janet
You can just sit back and let me entertain you! Here’s the link in Transylvania: http://halloweensunseen.com if you need it but you can access it by clicking on the orange or blue links right here in this post. That’s the ticket! You can start there on the first page and read my entries for my essays and then bop on down to the middle of the page for the links. You can also look for the little “next” buttons on each page and just drive around the whole site. It’s really more fun that way because you won’t miss a thing. It’s a big old trip so hop on my broom with me and let’s take a ride! Oh and mustn’t forget, turn up the sound! The music and sound effects are a very important part of each page!
And it dawns another new day in Salem, Massachusetts. The day before Halloween and all seems to be well. As I look out the window, everything is unchanged although that bright sunlight is clearly not necessary. I shield my eyes and walk away from that window. It looks like the tail-end of the storm out there. The sun is trying to break through the clouds. At this point I feel like Bela Lugosi throwing his arm up to shield his eyes to protect himself from either the sun or a crucifix. It just dawned on me that I don’t think I’ve ever actually written the word “crucifix.” Hmm, idle minds, busy fingers . . . oh hell, I don’t know.
Very nice to be walking outside today. I don’t see any storm damage at all. The beautiful Friendship is right where she was and looks simply splendid. This shot here, well, I’ve literally seen hundreds of these. For photographers this building is perfectly placed for beautiful photos. Perfect angles, rule of thirds! And here’s one of mine! On second thought, there does seem to be some new wood on this building. Damage indeed? Oh and here, this lady told me to take a picture of her dog. She didn’t ask me, she told me. “Here, take a picture of my dog.” Alrighty.
He gives me this, “if I smile, my face will crack” sort of look as I gently lay my treasures before him. I am now full on staring at him, looking for some sign of life and look … yes, there it is! A full on bona fide glance up in my direction! Oh, I feel so special, so, so lucky! He rings me up in silence and then actually tells me how much I owe him. And, and could it be? A shadow of a smile plays across his mouth. Oh, I just shiver all over at this . . . and hand him a bill or two. He makes my change, places my treasures in a little Halloween bag and almost, what? He, yes, I can almost see it! And with great effort put forth, the man mumbles, “Thank you,” with just the touch of a smile again playing around his lips. And that’s it. That’s all I get. I can actually see the curtain close across his eyes. I’m so out of here, after-life kid!
I look up to see where the cash register is. I don’t see it. I can’t see out of the aisle I’m in so I step over into what looks like the main aisle and I still don’t see it. I only see the door leading out. I figure I’ll find it soon enough and I continue to marvel at the actual condition of this place. It’s really filthy in here and suddenly this odor assails me. I noticed it when I entered. I figured it would just go away like all good odors do but this one? No dice. It’s not going anywhere. It’s staying right here and it’s getting bigger. I mean bigger, bigger and bigger. Not sure I can take this but I continue on looking at book titles stacked all the way to the ceiling, way over my head. There’s a few pathetic paper signs hanging here and there telling subjects and such but what a pitiful effort it is indeed. And now whilst dealing with all this, I suddenly hear very loudly a “Jesus-freak” outside on the Mall with his bullhorn full-on telling me that I’m going to fry if I don’t accept Jesus as my Savior. Oh must I deal with this too right here, right now? How much more can I take at this moment? This guy’s horn sounds like he’s standing right in the doorway of this freaky-ass bookstore! I retreat back more toward the back of the store and put a few thousand books between me and the religious, yelling man outside. I look for the proprietor of this place to see his reaction to the unrest but this dude is old, I mean very old. Not much help there! So I continue to fall back more toward the back of the store to get away from that horrid noise! But then, now the odor has become a full-on stench! There’s a back room back there and the stench is very strong the closer you get to it. At this point, I look down and to my surprise (hee!), the floor looks like it hasn’t been swept in probably 30 years or so. Lots and lots of dust-bunnies but not your normal dust-bunnies these! No, no, no, no, no! These are full-grown little evil looking sons-of-bitches. These are not cute! They’re full grown and looking for some ass to kick. Yup, and do you want to know another little unpleasantry about dust-bunnies? Well, do you know what dust-bunnies really are? They are not dust, they are human skin! We shed our skin and it collects into dust-bunnies! Truth! But now, as I draw near to the mysterious back room, I stop dead in my tracks. The stench, the stench has now become so strong! Let me tell you about how it smells. Ok kiddies? It smells like must, yes, there’s that. Must, must, musty old must. 80-year old must, coupled with just pure on, hell ya, stinky, stanky ass smell! Ass that has not been washed in, well, ever. Let me say, it just ass stinks. Mixed with musty, must and it’s strong! As I really hope it’s not coming from their bathroom, I shrink away, moving back toward the front. Whoops, wrong turn but I found where you check out, I think. It’s this tiny opening in stacks and stacks of ceiling-high books. Just a small slit of an opening. You peek through it to see the clerk taking your money but you can’t see him because the slit is so thin. You just have enough room to shove your money through and wait for your change and receipt to be shoved back at you. Now I only observe this because I did not buy anything in the store. Try though as I may, I never saw a single book I wanted. I didn’t want to ask for a book that was tied down up in the stacks. I figured it’s just too much bother, too much trouble. And the stench, well, I just have to go. I am the hell out of here. I wave and wink at the Jesus-freak as I go by. Ah, hell, I don’t know why. I’m sure he gets tired of people hating on him just like he hates on people. Somehow that 80s song “Round and Round” by Ratt comes to mind. “Round and round, what comes around goes around, I’ll tell you why, dig . . . .” Okay out, thank the Lord that sits atop this madhouse, I’m out.
On to the wine-tasting . . . and I missed it by a few minutes but the girl is still there and tells me about the wine that she’s pedaling of which I might add, is still sitting right in front of her … still open. Now you’d think she would have snuck a thimble-full to me but no, nada, nothing. I browse around for awhile but damn it I wanted that little taste of wine. I wanted it bad. Funny, I don’t even hardly drink but I guess my ego still wants it. I mustn’t ever be told no, I can’t have something because you can bet your sweet ass that I will want it! So I buy a bottle of wine for myself. So there, see?
Okay, tomorrow is Halloween and what a Halloween treat is this house! It’s actually quite hard to believe that I’m in Salem, Mass, the Halloween capital of the world! But there it is and I suppose I should get some rest this evening. I’ve walked a lot today, as always in Salem. That’s half the fun, right? I go to the cemetery to hug my tree and tell it good night. I love my tree.
Maybe I am a bit nervous. I sit down and send a text to my best friend, Dash Beardsley. Yup, that’s the Ghostman of Galveston for all you kindred spirits such as we. And, of course, I include his lovely girlfriend, Tamara. She’s a bit skeptical about the ghost thing. She definitely is a lot less crazy than we are what with all the spirits Dash and I see and speak to. And I, of course, have been known to take a pretty convincing ghost photo or two, as has Jason. And I have had orbs follow me around at Dash’s ghost hunts at Ashton Villa in Galveston. All just in a day’s work as they say. I’ll have to add some of my ghostly lore here in my blog. Maybe even interview the Ghostman when the season is upon us. Yes, we do have such fun! Are you scared of ghosts? Well, we the hell are not!
I now call Jason and he’s resigned to my plight. He tells me NOT to leave the hotel and I say, ok, I promise. I hang up the phone and promptly go out and have dinner at the Hawthorne Hotel. Great food, warm cozy place and I snap a few photos of their pumpkins. I linger and have a couple of cocktails at the bar. This is a lovely, old hotel. When it storms and you are here in the Hawthorne, the wind whistles through the ancient eaves of the windows. With its old Victorian design and stormy sounds, well, I could not feel more at home and happy. The hotel is decked out in its Halloween trappings making the visuals perfectly complete. I am one happy girl at this juncture but try though as I may, I can’t seem to find one single orange feather here. Since my first trip here and my experiences in the hotel, well, I will always look for orange feathers at the Hawthorne Hotel. I liken it to looking for beads in New Orleans! Oh yes! For those of you who do not remember or have neglected your duty to read this blog backwards and forwards, the Hawthorne Hotel IS haunted. Yup, I had an experience right here in this wonderful hotel!
Oh my gawd, how I do run on! I almost forgot, it’s the beginning of Halloween week but first we’ve got to weather this storm. Frankenstorm!
Okay, today is the day! Tonight is the showing of Hocus Pocus in Salem Common! I’ve been so looking forward to this. I know, I’m such a dork! GROW UP! HELL NO!! I never want to be a grown up!! Never!! This is going to be cool. There are parts of the movie that were filmed in Salem Common and I’ll be watching the movie in Salem Common. Of all the times I’ve seen that movie, I never dreamed I’d be watching it right where it was filmed. I always wondered why I was so drawn to that movie. I watched it over and over through the years. Now I know why. It’s the crazy city of Salem and God only knows why it’s so important to me.
So, it’s cold. I’m waiting, even bored because I already ate my popcorn. People are showing up and I pull up a leaf and sit on the ground. It’s sort of wet. Alright already, stick the DVD in, man. And there it goes. I sit enrapt. The most enjoyable thing really was listening to the kids comment on what they are seeing on the screen is all around us. One kid stood up pointing at the screen saying, “We are there!” They were loving it and I did too. As I said, it doesn’t take much to make me happy!
Okay, shit, guess I’ll do that. I stay long enough to eat then I head back to my room all dejected and shit. Guess I’m cutting this trip short. And I now think of Sir Tight Ass at the hotel wanting all that money from me and I’m only staying 2 nights! I didn’t even get to see the Witch House! I didn’t get to tour the Salem Witch Museum again and Count Orlok’s! Dang, Count Orlok’s for shit’s sake! I haven’t even spent my gift certificates that I got for winning that photo contest here in Salem! Bloody hell! I wanted to ride the trolley, do a ghost cruise, maybe ride the ferry to Boston! It all passes away right in front of my eyes. The whole trip …. gone.
I enter the hotel and I think this place is jinxed, unlucky, a proverbial black cloud overhead. Doom and Gloom Hotel, Salem, Mass. Every time I walk in here I have bad luck. My last time here was the shits and flat tires. Geeez. Every time, the shit begins to fly (literally). I get comfy again in my room and plant myself in front of my computer with the Weather Channel tuned in on the TV. Hmmmm, looks like rain. Assholes placed strategically around the East Coast with NO weather happening behind them. What the hell? I jump into United and change my flight from next Friday to this Sunday. Bloody Hell! They charge me $70.00. I know, Bloody Hell!! Anyway, done. The only thing to do now is to wait for tomorrow and go home. I call Jason and tell him I’m coming home tomorrow and the time. I guess now he can rest and stop being completely at his wit’s end with me. He doesn’t like it when I come up here not one bit and now Frankenstorm has got him at his complete limit with me.
So now I go to bed. Damn, it seems like such a long time ago when I saw Hocus Pocus. Party’s over, trip is done.
Okay now, can I get on with my vacation, huh? So now the tour is out but I am starving and it is Friday night in Salem. I pull myself together, stop crying, and go to my favorite pizza place in the Mall. Wow, it’s really crowded. I put in my order and sit and wait, and wait, and wait, and wait, and friggin’ wait! I notice the couple next to me waiting and I ask if they had been waiting long. They say, ya, about an hour. What? An hour? Sheeiitt. I’m hungry and really begin to worry here. Do you do that? You start to worry about getting your food and your whole world reduces down to just that one thought, will I ever get my food? You watch them, maybe that’s mine he’s working on over there. No, that went to those people. Well, they’re still working back there. No one is standing around doing nothing. Oh there maybe? No not mine. I look at my watch, man, this trip’s not going so well. I just want to eat my pizza. I look at the people next to me, they are still waiting. Why do we want others to suffer along with us? Somehow it makes us feel better. Wait, wait, waiting. Maybe I should leave. I’ve been here…… Oh! My number was called! Wow! Shit! Wow! I got my pizza, I got my pizza! Isn’t it funny what bad luck reduces us to….. and the people next to me, still waiting. Dang! I dive in and feel bad for them all at the same time! Their pizza finally comes. I now notice that he’s carrying some bongo drums and she’s carrying a saw, you know, one of those old timey flexible ones? Oh, I know, they’re a street act. You know how when you flex the saw and run a violin bow across it, it makes this weird sort of music? Ya, I’ve seen that and when they opened their case, it was FULL of cash. Ya, that’s what they do and now they can eat. Good, very good. It doesn’t take much to make me happy now as I eat my pizza with my tear-stained face. Oh pulleeeze!
And I do and as I get ready for bed, I am reminded of what a weirdo I am. I move all the good pillows to the side and select the smallest, flattest pillow I can find and sleep on that. Probably a throwback to my vampire days. Those wooden coffins just didn’t have enough room for pillows. G’Night!
My Salem Happenings 