The evening of our first full day in Salem, we experienced the Voodoo, Vampires and Ghosts Walking Tour. It was fun and informative! Our guide was Mike, and he kept everyone engaged and interested during the tour.
We met just across the street from the Peabody Essex Museum, where we had visited earlier in the day. We had a fairly large group, and I even met another couple also from Pittsburgh. They sell Pagan-related wares, so I told them all about Grove of Gaia Fest at Beltane. I enjoyed being with other like-minded individuals!
Gory Sites, Historical Places
We visited many reportedly haunted sites around Salem. The place where Giles Corey was crushed to death because he wouldn’t confess gave me the chills. We saw the building they used as a prison for the accused witches. We visited a bar located on land once belonging to the first woman accused of witchcraft. Many people see apparitions there. Our last stop was at the Old Burying Point Cemetery near the memorial site. The accused were forbidden burial on sacred ground, so the spirits haunting the cemetery are of other old souls. The house belonging to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s in-laws bordered the cemetery, a bit of literary connection!
Full Moon, Friday the 13th
On the night we took this tour, the moon was nearly full. This made it both beautiful and eerie. One of my photos supposedly captured an orb (a type of haunting). Fun to consider, but it could be (and more likely is) a reflection from the moon.
We definitely enjoyed our time on the walking tour with Mike and the other tourists. It was a great time to visit Salem, because the following day was going to be Friday the 13th AND a full moon! There were many tourists who came specifically for that heavenly alignment, but we just lucked into that particular anomaly!