Get Witch It: Salem, Massachusetts
Wiccan advocates, the Witches Education Bureau and the Witches League for Public have made sure attractions such as the Salem Witch Museum, Legends of Salem, and the Witch History Museum set the record straight.
The witch trials were based on fear and scapegoating (saying “the devil made me do it” was not a good excuse back then). It’s even been suggested the teens whose behavior sparked the controversy had ingested an hallucinogen called ergot (LSD is a derivative) found in the mold of rye bread dough. Most Salem witch attractions go to great pains to explain that the victims of the trials were often women healers who used herbs to help cure the sick.
All is not solemn in this Boston bedroom community, however. October is filled with spellbinding fun. The town’s 25th annual Haunted Happenings celebration starts on October 6th with a grand parade. Plus, there are seances, ghost tours, psychic fairs, spell-casting demonstrations and costume parties galore. On the 29th there’s Hawthorne’s Medieval Madness, featuring three floors of dancing and entertainment at the Hawthorne Hotel ($85), and on the 31st, Victoria Station Restaurant features a $200 prize costume contest.
But the witchy-est of all is the Oct. 31st Samhain Magick Circle Ceremony and Walk with the High Priest and Priestess of the Temple of Nine Wells at Gallows Hill Park.
Are you witch it? Boo!
