Last week, I booked us a last-minute trip to Salem, Massachusetts. Andrew was using some of his vacation time, and we couldn’t seem to decide on where to go or what to do. All I knew was that I didn’t want to spend the week at home like any other holiday. I woke up Saturday morning, thought about the one place I’ve always wanted to visit, and booked us a week-long stay in Salem. A day and a half later, we (along with our dogs) were on the road.
We were in Salem from the end of September to the beginning of October, which, as you can imagine, is during their busiest season. Thanks to the boatload of travel that Andrew does for work, he had an obscene amount of hotel points that we were able to redeem for a room in downtown Salem. I didn’t realize it at the time, but this was the single most important (and correct) decision I made. Our hotel was about a 3-minute walk from Essex Street, and everything we did was perfectly walkable from there.
I tried to divide my time between shopping and museums, and I think I nailed a pretty good balance for our first time there. I was so excited about our trip that I spent most of the day on Saturday working on a guide for myself. I wrote down dog-friendly restaurants and a list of museums, shops, and landmarks I wanted to prioritize. I managed to do most of what I planned on, and none of them disappointed.
What We Did (in the shadows)
Bewitched Statue
Our morning walk on our first full day in town took us right by the Bewitched Statue. We were lucky to walk by when we did, because this area gets pretty busy and swarmed with people as the day goes on.
Count Orlok’s Nightmare Gallery
This is a self-guided tour with a bunch of really great horror memorabilia. There’s no photography allowed in the museum portion, so I can’t show you any of that, but if you love horror, you’re going to love it. It’s well worth the ticket price. I began the tour with a brother and sister duo who are also horror fans, and we went through each exhibit slowly, each of us chiming in with our own fun facts about the films featured in the museum. They have a fantastic display of the transformation from An American Werewolf in London, which all three of us were awed by. The gift shop at Count Orlok’s was also pretty cool (that’s where these photos are from). I picked up my first piece of artwork there, which would turn out to be a theme from our trip. I came home with a gallery wall’s worth of prints that I’m so excited to hang.
Salem Witch Museum
I’d heard mixed things about the Salem Witch Museum, but despite that, everyone always ended their review with “but you have to do it at least once.” I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I actually really enjoyed it. The gift shop was one of my favorites from our trip, and I made out like a bandit. I allowed myself ONE coffee mug during our trip, and decided to pick one up here. I also picked up other items, including some more art prints.
Salem Museum of Torture
This is another self-guided tour that I did, and I found it fascinating. I word of warning, though, the descriptions can be a bit unnerving if you don’t like gore or vivid descriptions. I don’t have a particularly weak stomach (unless lactose is involved), but I found myself feeling more sad than anything by the time I reached the end. It’s one thing to read about torture in the books I read, but to see the real instruments used hit me like a ton of bricks. I popped into the gift shop afterwards to pick up a souvenir, and got to talking to the guy who was running it that day. We ended up having a nice chat about the books we're reading and the creativity of the torture methods I’d just learned about, lol.
The Corwin House / Witch House
The Corwin House, aka The Witch House, is the last remaining structure that has direct ties to the witch trials in 1692. It was the home of Judge Jonathan Corwin, who was one of the presiding judges during the trials. The house is located on Essex, just down the street from shops like Blackcraft and The Black Veil’s Essex street shop. By the time I visited the Witch House, the tours were already sold out for the day. We’d had a busy day as it was, so I settled for a photo in front of the house.
Ropes Mansion (Allison’s house from Hocus Pocus)
I’m gonna say something that may be shocking to some: I didn’t watch Hocus Pocus as a kid. In fact, I first saw the movie about two years ago. I’ve seen it once or twice since then, but I unfortunately don’t have a strong sense of nostalgia connected to the movie. Oddly enough, I found myself really enjoying Hocus Pocus 2, so do with that information what you will. ANYWAY, this was an absolutely stunning house to get to see in person. If the sun hadn’t been at the perfectly wrong angle and burning my retinas that afternoon, I would have stuck around a bit longer and at least explored the garden. But again, I told myself that a photo to commemorate my visit to the mansion was enough for now. I’ll be sure to properly explore next time we’re in town.
The House of the Seven Gables
One of my favorite details is that they made this Little Free Library match the architecture of the home.
The House of the Seven Gables is Nathaniel Hawthorne’s birthplace, and it inspired his book by the same name. We had the dogs with us this particular morning, so we didn’t do the tour. Andrew wanted a copy of the book, though, so I was able to at least visit the gift shop. They even stamped it to commemorate that I purchased it at The House of the Seven Gables. Although we didn’t get tickets to explore the house or the gardens, we walked just beyond the house and spent some time by the water, which also gave us a view of some of the gardens. This was the furthest place we walked to from our hotel, but even this wasn’t too far of a walk. By the time we visited, though, I was already the proud owner of two pretty hefty blisters that I was having to treat every night. Nothing was stopping me from getting the most out of my trip, so there was no way those blisters were going to slow me down lol.
The Salem Witch Board Museum
Of every museum and tour that I did, I think this one was my favorite. Rather than the labyrinthine museums that I’d previously explored, this one was much more straightforward, consisting of one large room. What really made this visit incredible was John, the owner and operator of the museum. He has such a vast knowledge of the history of spirit boards, and was just such a joy to talk to. I spent sooo long in there asking questions and happily listening to him tell stories about the various boards in his collection. He’s just so incredibly charismatic and knowledgeable, I already know I’m going to be revisiting this shop on our subsequent visits to Salem. Despite owning various clothing and home decor pieces with spirit board motifs, I’ve never actually owned or played with an Ouija board, so I picked one up before leaving. I also got the most badass museum t-shirt from our trip here.
The Salem Grand Parade
Our last full day also happened to be the day of the Salem Grand Parade, which happens once a year on the first Thursday in October to celebrate the beginning of the Halloween season. We dressed up the dogs and found a place on Front Street, across from the old town hall, to watch the parade come through. We had such a great time and were surrounded by some really fun locals who told us all about living in Salem. I was pretty focused on just enjoying the parade, but I did manage to get some shots of some of my favorites. Another cool thing about the parade was that some of the cast of Hocus Pocus were the grand marshalls! It all happened so quickly, so by the time I realized who I was looking at, they'd already walked by, but it was still so much fun!
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| I grew up watching Scooby Doo, and so did everyone around me because we all went nuts for Captain Cutler lol. |
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| You can't go wrong with Vincent Price <3 |
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| Wednesday as a little skeleton dog <3 |
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| Pugsley as a lil devil <3 |
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| As if the costumes and float weren't cool enough, they even managed to have a burning windmill! |
Where I Shopped
Blackcraft Cult
This was one of the main places that I was excited to visit. I’ve been shopping Blackcraft for years, and I remember seeing the massive witch on Instagram when they first opened their Salem location. I was so excited to see her in person. The store itself is nice and open, with a lot of space to shop and Blackcraft Coffee tucked away in the back. It’s not somewhere that’s inherently clustered, but it is a pretty popular spot, so it can get a bit crowded during peak times. I wish I had Andrew with me during my visits because I really wanted a photo in their little photo op area. I at least managed a mirror pic, so at least I have that lol. I picked up some Salem-specific merch and another art print. It was really cool to see that they have prints from artists whom I’ve been following for a long time.
VampFangs
This is right across the street from Blackcraft, and it’s one of my favorite shops from this trip. It’s a fairly small store, but they had a lot for me to look at (and smell), and I had a hard time picking out one perfume oil. I ended up picking No. 1 Immortal, though it was a toss-up between like four of them, haha. They were also burning some of their nag champa in the store that smelled amazing, so I grabbed a pack of that, too. Finally, I picked up a Killstar headband that I immediately fell in love with and ended up wearing it for the rest of our trip.
The Black Veil Shoppe of Drear and Wonder
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| Damage was done |
The Black Veil’s Shoppe of Drear and Wonder in Salem was the one place we drove to— especially because of my blisters lol. I had the entire place to myself while I was there, and I took my time going through everything. I’ve followed Matt and Ryan Murray for years, and getting to visit their studio was incredible. I was so overwhelmed (in the best way) that I forgot to take any photos from the inside, despite it being so wonderfully photogenic. There’s even a photo op area, but I was so focused on picking up more artwork that it completely slipped my mind until I’d already left the store. I allowed myself to get pretty much anything I wanted while I was there, and came away with a ton of stuff, including four pieces of artwork, some clothing, and tchotchkes. I cannot wait to go back.
Coven Dark Boutique
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| Me, a hat person |
Coven was one of the few shops I went to that wasn’t on Essex; it was on Wharf Street. The staff here was so nice, and they even remembered me when I went back a second time. I picked up a belt bag while I was there, and ended up using it a lot during our trip. While here I also finally found a hat that I think fits me quite well! I always feel awkward when I wear hats, as if everyone will be able to tell that I'm not a hat person. But the one I picked out doesn't look out of place when it's atop my head lol.
The Ossuary
The Ossuary is right by Coven, and I decided to pop in afterwards. I only ended up getting a sticker while I was here, but that’s not because I didn’t like anything else. I actually loved everything in the store. They had the most beautiful gowns and corsets, and I just knew that I wouldn’t have been able to comfortably and carefully transport them back home on this trip. It’s a small store, but everything they have in there is absolutely exquisite. I’m making it a point to go back and properly look through things the next time I’m in town.
Hive and Forge
Hive and Forge was another really neat place I ended up visiting more than once. They had a great selection of soaps, body care, artwork, jewelry, and clothing. I had a lot of fun looking through everything and picking out some soaps and art prints (obviously) to bring home with me.
Witch City Wicks
I somehow managed to walk right by Witch City Wicks a few times before finally finding it and popping in. This was one of the last shops I visited, and I knew that I was already packing a lot, so I kept myself on a tight leash while here. Most of what I picked up were small items like postcards (that I’m going to frame) and stickers, but I also picked up one of their pumpkinhead candles that I’ve heard so much about. I also picked up a print, and it’s absolutely beautiful.
What We Ate
Our hotel had free breakfast, which we made use of most mornings, so our meals were all lunch and dinner. We did visit a couple of places multiple times during the week, so this list won’t be super long, but everything we had was really good.
Mercy Tavern
We put in an early dinner order on our way into town, and it didn’t disappoint. I chose the fish and chips with garlic fries, and those things were amazing. I was expecting some garlic sprinkled on top, but they were made with real, roasted garlic, and it was divine. I wish we had eaten here an additional time, so it's going to be at the top of our list next time we visit.
Salem House of Pizza
There were other pizza places I wanted to try, but this one was visible out of the corner of our hotel room window, and we were curious, lol. We were both pleasantly surprised, and ended up ordering dinner from here twice when we were too wiped out to go out to a restaurant or browse online menus. We didn’t get anything too exciting, but it was solid pizza.
Boston Burger Company
We ate at their patio for lunch on our first day in town, and it was really good. We both got some boneless wings and split an order of Parmesan fries. The fries were, again, really good. I'm realizing that we had some gooood potatoes in town lol. We also decided to try one of their insane frappes. We got the holy cannoli, and it was wild. Andrew ate most of it, but I had a bite of the cannoli and a few sips of the milkshake. I didn’t wanna trigger my lactose intolerance in the middle of the day when I still had a lot to do lol.
Village Tavern
Village Tavern is the other restaurant we ended up going to twice. We first had them for lunch, where we sat on the patio with the dogs. Our food was really good (and we were reeeally hungry), and the waitstaff was so sweet. I had the chicken parm, and Andrew had another wrap. We also split an order of pretzel bites for our appetizer.
Ginger
We were looking for a place to eat on our final full day in town, and decided to try Ginger on a whim. It’s an Asian / Cajun fusion restaurant right in the center of Essex. We again sat on the patio with our dogs and enjoyed the afternoon people watching. I got some snow crab legs, and Andrew got the ramen. His was “just ok,” but he was eyeing my crab boil the entire time. It was really well seasoned and was a generous portion for only ordering the half-pound. I wore those funny plastic gloves to eat my food, but let the record reflect that I REFUSED to wear the bib lmao.
Honey Dew Donuts
This was a quick stop I made on my way to our hotel one day, but we liked it. I picked up some pistachio muffins and pumpkin donuts for our room for the week, and they were pretty good.
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Let me get sappy for just a moment. I absolutely loved our time here. Everybody was so, so nice. I don’t think I’ve ever been somewhere where I’ve felt like I don’t have to mask myself to be spoken to like a normal person. I’m not wearing corpse paint in my daily life (or ever, lol), but even just wearing a lot of black clothing was enough to get me glares when I’ve lived in other parts of the country (*cough, cough* the deep south). It took me a long time to get to a place mentally where I was desensitized and genuinely stopped caring about others’ perception of me. I didn’t realize how exhausting it was until I was in a place where everybody was just nice and kind right off the bat. It was a very welcome culture shock.
It had been so long since I’d been on an actual trip or vacation, and I’m really pleased with how much I was able to do while there. I really made the most of each day. Thankfully, we live close enough that long weekend trips are totally doable. We already have plans to be back in Salem in January or February, and I’m excited to get to the things I didn’t do this time around.
Look out for part 2, where I'll have even more photos to share!
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