I've never thought about touring Salem, Mass. and the witch trials before... Steve had been wanting to go to Salem for a long time.. and knew a lot more about the history of the city than I did. It worked out perfectly: I had to buy a ticket back from Maine... he wanted to go to Salem in the fall... Jet Blue has great airfare prices... so we met up on Tues night in Salem.
Like I said my previous blog: it was a full moon. Salem... the name of the city actually means "peace," but the first night I was here I overheard two couples at two different places fighting... I don't know what I expected, but Salem is bigger and busier than I thought... but still very quaint and small... hard to describe, i know...
We found a place to grab coffee, a bite to eat, and a drink... we ended up at a Pub called The Old Spot. A cute little place in the heart of old Salem.
That's when we had our first hilarious encounter. We met Harvey, the very French, very drunk, and VERY amorous tourist. Harvey told us he was going back to his country tomorrow.. but also that he just got to the States yesterday... Steve was forced into playing the "boyfriend" role, so amorous Harvey would not get too amorous... Harvey was so excited to show us his home... he pointed down the street, "The RV." We cracked up! Harvey in the RV... perfect!
We got a room at the Days Inn in Salem, the first night. When Kel and I were driving to Maine, and were in need of a hotel to stay, Mom told us that the Days Inn Salem was cheaper, but that the reviews were horrible. "Horrible" is a very relative term... so, Steve and I decided to check in....
I was the first one to use the bathroom... there was a TURD floating in the toilet!!! EWWWWWWWW! To be fair: it was not a big turd... it was tiny... but STILL! How does a maid miss that?!?! Gross! Steve was hoping I was kidding... I was not... at all...
The next morning, the man who had stayed a room or two down from us, told us that he and his girlfriend had bed bugs crawling on them and biting them all night long. And, that in another room there were used heroin syringes on the TV... We got out of there ASAP... We agreed that spending a bit more money on a room was WAY better than returning to Hypodermic Needle Inn... Or that Bed Bug & Breakfast (which wasn't a breakfast... just a vending machine)... so the word "HORRIBLE" described that place perfectly.
Then we hit the museums... first the Salem Witch Museum, then the Lizzie Borden Museum (owned by some Dallasites who have moved here), then the Witch Dungeon... after all of the walking around, and touring we were pooped. We checked in to our room at the VERY nice (completely opposite from the night before), bed & breakfast that is part of the Hawthorne Hotel. It was really nice. We watched Family Guy and I did some yoga (all of the walking was hurting my back), and rested before our Ghost Tour.
The Ghost Tour of Salem was really great. We were led around by a guy in a pirate suit. I never realized how much history was in Salem... all I ever knew was the Witch Trials... but there's a lot more.
What I learned the most was about the irony of Salem... The Puritans were terrified of witches, and killed and imprisoned innocent Puritans thinking they were witches... Today, Salem is probably the Wiccan (or witch) Mecca... Tons of Witches live in Salem and practice freely... What would the Puritans think? If it weren't for their witch hysteria, there probably would be very few Wiccans in Salem... Now, the police cars and fire trucks, as well as the pedestrian crossings have witches on them.... and Salem is known as witch city.
Also, Nathaniel Hawthorne is from Salem... He HATED Salem. He wanted desperately to leave... and when the Scarlet Letter was published, he took the money and got out. He never wanted to return.... But today, there are streets named after him, hotels named after him... while the witch trials are Salem's shame... Hawthorne is its claim to fame... more irony.
Only one haunting yesterday. When we left our room, Steve turned off the TV... I realized I left my wallet in the room and had to go back. When I opened the door to the room, the TV was on and it was just static on the screen (poltergeist-style). I was spooked. But after that, we didn't feel spooked at all... maybe we were just too tired.
Tonight, we are at the Salem Waterfront Hotel... It's very nice... it was worth the extra $60 not to stay at the Days Inn again!
Gosh... we've done so much... and had so much fun... I'll have to write more tomorrow...
love,
r
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