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!
I feel more than compelled to touch the trees especially the largest ancient tree that you see here. And do I touch it? You bet your sweet bippy I do (what the fuck is a bippy?)! I think I've mentioned this before in this blog but dammit, I mean it! I went over to the Howard Street cemetery the other day and I felt no such thing. I loved the cemetery with the squirrels and jail and all but I just don't feel anything there. Of course, I can't get in the cemetery so that is a bit off putting but this all is very strange. I really wish I could know what's going on with me and Salem. How do I find out? Does anyone know?
All my very favorite monsters are here! All the Hammer Film movie monsters! And don’t they look real …. life size …. scary …. unsettling …. I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT! I very slowly savor Count Orlok’s gallery. I look over each monster, up and down, this way and that. This guy is good. Oh look, Christopher Lee, Boris Karloff, Bela Friggin’ Lugosi! I’m so in my element. And the music, excellent. Oh and there’s Mother and Norman Bates as well. But the creepiest room to me is the Death Masks. These are casts taken from the actual faces of the actors. That room in there is full of their faces …. in death. Shiver! Alfred Hitchcock’s in there too. I’m loving this! And then after a few assorted various monsters, I’m out in the daylight again. In Salem again. Off I go this way and then I’ll go that way!
I wander on down and get some great shots of the Old Burying Point Cemetery again. I’m so drawn to that place for some reason. My heart squeezes when I’m in there and I have to touch my tree. It’s a beautiful ancient tree. The bark is so rough …. and warm. I could stay with it all day but I tear myself away. Does this make me a tree-hugger? Don’t care … love that tree! I do have Salem to do after all. This cemetery is so old that the original passenger that came over on the Mayflower is buried here. Jeeeesus!
I talk to him. He’s personable. I tell him about Halloween’s Unseen. I feel really strange in this moment. If you had told me back in the 1970s and 1980s that I’d be talking to Michael Myers/Tony Moran about something personal I’ve accomplished that had something to do with Halloween …. and he was liking it, well, I would have said, “You are crazy!” He lets me take his picture and charges $10 for his autograph. Shit! Oh well, everyone’s gots to get theirs! I like Tony Moran, he’s nice to me and he’s going to check out my web site! (right)
Now an interesting thing occurs here on the floor. We sit on the floor and begin to twirl around. I don’t mean the floor twirls, we twirl around and around and around! The show is set up in the “Castle” in a circle. We follow these sets around the room that light up and guide us through the witch hysteria. It’s very interesting and I love the creepy music. It’s all very interesting and I don’t know why I worried about sitting on the floor. I was never still and not there long at all! Then we are released …. directly into the gift shop only to be held captive there until the second half of the show. Can you say, “Ka-ching – capitalism?” OMG Salem …. and I did not buy anything! Then off we go to the next part of the show. This one’s cool. It defines the “witch.” The mid-wife beginnings, flying around the night sky on broom sticks (give me a break) and the gentle witches of Wicca. Then there’s a huge board explaining “witch hunts” over the years which we’ve all been a part of. Hee! And out and it was good. Actually, this is the first time I’ve taken the museum tours in Salem and I’ve not been disappointed.
I was also able to get a few pictures of the Witch Memorial and the “The Burying Point” cemetery which I’ve included below. The Cemetery Tour was so up my alley and the things I learned were awesome. Our Tour Guide loves Salem and is a true historian of Salem’s troubled past. I will have much more on the cemetery and the Salem Witch Trials so be looking for it in this Blog. And too, I don’t know if y’all remember me telling you but the movie “Hocus Pocus” is one of my very favorites and it was filmed in Salem. I found many of the locations and there’s “Allison’s House.” Cool? Yup!
My Salem Happenings 