And tomorrow, Witch City gets back to normal

I believe that the word “salem” translates to “peaceful”, but there’s not likely to be a lot of peace in Salem, Massachusetts today.

A lot of places kick it up at Halloween, but I suspect that few towns can hold a bell, book, and candle to our Salem.

My sister Trish lives in Salem, and I spend plenty of time there. So I know first hand that, from late September on, you can just forget about eating out. Or driving downtown on a weekend and finding a parking place, what with all the tourists broomsticking into town to see the Witch Museum, the cemetery where some of the Salem Witch Trial victims are buried, the statue of Samantha of Bewitched fame. And buying Halloween-related gimcrack.

Salem is a tourist town, anyway: House of the Seven Gables, Custom House where Nathaniel Hawthorne worked, the McIntyre District (lovely old homes), beautiful harbor, the Peabody Essex Museum  - truly one of the finest museums in the country. But in October, well, add on all those interested in Halloween-y stuff.

On Halloween itself, the town goes crazy. If October 31 falls on a weekend, the crowds (mostly young adults in costume – lots of witches, plenty of naughty nurses) starting early in the day are just insane. My sister used to live right off Salem Common, and they’d get several hundred trick-or-treaters ringing their doorbell. Even when Halloween falls on a weekday, it’s still a big deal in Salem, replete with fireworks and extra trains running.

There’s an obvious connection between Salem and Halloween, of course. It ain’t called Witch City for nothing. And they take it seriously. As in their police badge, for instance. And the high school mascot is a witch.

Of course, Halloween has become more of “thing” over the last couple of decades, moving from something for the kiddies that was a one-day event (two-day, if you count Beggars Eve), to something that more of less kicks off in late August when CVS starts putting bags on candy corn on their shelves.

Still, it’s really become something in Salem, and witch Laurie Cabot gets at least some of the credit/blame.

“OK, it is kind of my fault,” she said, referring to what has happened to October in Salem since she arrived nearly five decades ago and began the modern witch era in the “Witch City.” (Source: Boston Globe)

Cabot was a practitioner of witchcraft even before she moved to Salem and, in fact, given the witch connection, she was actually reluctant to move there, which she did in the late 1950’s for economic reasons.

“Salem seemed like a bad idea because I didn’t know how anyone would take me because of the witch trials,” she said.

At first, although she dressed like a witch – black dress, pentagram – she mostly kept mum about being one. People thought she was just another hippie. And then her cat (black, of course) Molly Boo got stuck in a tree, and Cabot, looking for help in getting the cat down, decided to out herself:

Cabot said she called everyone — animal control, the police, the fire department — and they all told her the cat would eventually come down on its own. That’s what cats do.

But after three days of awful weather and no movement from Molly Boo, Cabot made a move she knew would get attention. She called the local newspaper, the Salem News, and gave them a story they couldn’t resist.

“My cat is stuck in a tree,” she said she told the person who answered the phone. “I am a witch. That cat is my familiar (a witch term for an animal-shaped spirit that serves as a psychically connected servant, companion, and spy). And I want someone to come get my cat out of the tree.”

Am I the only one who’d like to have a familiar, at least for a couple of days? Maybe I just need to get a dog…

A photographer came, as did the mayor and several rescue vehicles.

Molly Boo was helped down. And after the photos of a real-life Salem witch hit the wire services, Laurie Cabot’s secret was out.

Shortly thereafter, Cabot opened her “witch shop” – selling “wands and potions and other tools of the trade” - the first in the city. And the rest is history. Other witches came to Salem, more shops opened, and Halloween (or Samhain, Witches’ New Year) just took off.

“I’m still not sure what a guy with an ax in his head and blood dripping down his face has to do with witchcraft,” she said. “Some of it is offensive. The fun house. The scary murderous stuff. It brings bad vibes. It’s projecting the wrong kinds of things.”

For better or for worse, tonight Salem, Massachusetts, will be Halloween HQ. Sure there’s be some bad vibes (all those drunken naughty nurses), but mostly it’ll be just plain craziness with a fireworks chaser.

And tomorrow, Witch City gets back to normal.

Happy Halloween to all.

(Aside to Trish: if I don’t make it out to Salem tonight, save me a couple of Butterfingers.)