Wednesday 25th October
Just a quick re-cap, We are embarking on a road trip up the East Coast of the United States and today is the 8th day of this trip after hitting New York and then Boston it’s time to move on.
Day 8 was the one we had both been looking forward to. We don’t really need a REASON to do these trips, but we tend to have a theme and a main purpose, a goal if you like. And everything else is planned around that purpose. For this trip, it was spending Halloween on the East Coast.
Last year we did Halloween on the West Coast, and it was EPIC! However, whenever you think of Halloween, images of New England come more to mind. White Picket fences, decorated with pumpkins, while black cats and witches prowl in the shadows it’s the stuff of childhood dreams and Hollywood incarnations.
Of course, when thinking of New England Halloween locations, and those perfect iconic scenes, there is one place that will ALWAYS jump out more than any other. Salem.
Home of the Witch Trials, setting of umpteen Hollywood Films and TV Shows with Halloween themes, and the picture-perfect New England Halloween town. We both had this as the highlight of the trip and were so excited to actually get to Salem. It’s really not too far from Boston and there are several attractions in the Town that are covered by the Go City Pass, so we just needed to get over there and start exploring. But first, we needed to get to the Airport!
It would be madness to fly to Salem, a little over 20 miles away, but we got the best price on the hire car renting from Logan Airport, so we hopped into an Uber to head over to the rental center to pick up our car.
Hire Car Pick up
This is a Road Trip…however apart from a few Uber rides, we have not actually done much road-tripping! We flew into NYC and used public transport, and then got the train to Boston, where again we utilized the public transport system. But today, finally, we get a car.
While our automotive part of this trip is delayed…we will be making up for it in the next few days as we embark on an epic journey over 1000 miles through mountains, forests, great lakes, and even into Canada as we head upstate New York and deep into the Midwest. Make sure you are subscribed to the Channel so you can follow along.
We had just rented a basic medium SUV, with plenty of room but nothing special, and got a good price with AVIS for 7 days as we headed one-way right across the country. The Mitsubishi Outlander was a little basic, and a touch beat-up, but gave good mileage and was perfect for our cross-country slog.
Salem
The drive to Salem was nice and easy, a single highway just passing through the Massachusetts suburbs on a glorious Fall morning. We arrived in Salem with a really strong feeling of Halloween. New York had been dressed pretty well for Halloween, but Boston had been really uninterested, however, Salem was full-on embracing it. We had been warned often in Boston that Salem would be CRazy on the last few days before Halloween, but on arrival, things were pretty quiet. We arrived shortly after 9 am so had a full day to explore. We got right on to hunting out some filming locations from our favorite Halloween Film…
Hocus Pocus
While many scenes of the film were shot in the main part of town, most of the iconic locations are just out of town so we headed there first before returning to the centre to check in to the Hotel. We had brought along our Own Binx in the way of a Loungefly backpack and were really excited about getting out and seeing some of the Movie Sites!
Salem Pioneer Village
The first point of call was Salems Pioneer Village. This is the first location of the Movie, but we did not plan it that way. The Pioneer Village is a replica of the kind of dwellings the first Pilgrims to the country set up as their homes as they established colonies in the new world. It was also the kind of village where the hysteria of the witch trials first began.
The Village was also used as the opening location in Hocus Pocus where the Sanderson sisters first run Amok and get banished to their cabin in the woods. Thackery Bink’s home is located here along with most of the scenes shot in the village. Unfortunate the Witches Cabin was shot on a Sound Stage in LA.
Despite being so close to Halloween the Village operates a weekend-only opening policy and was closed today, which was very annoying. But we headed along to see what we could see over the fences. We got an ok view and could grab some shots.
4 Ocean Avenue (Max and Dani’s House)
The next stop was Max and Dani’s house. This is the new home of the family as they move to Salem and only really appears briefly, apart from the indoor shots, but is still an Iconic location. This is a PRIVATE residence and the owners do not mind respectful visitors.
The road at this time of year is CLOSED to non-residential traffic. so we parked up respectfully a little distance away and walked down. The VERY clear road closure signs didn’t seem to be so clear to everyone at least one car while we were there ignored them and drove down to the house. Sat outside with their engine running while taking photos. We even questioned them on it and they proclaimed “Oh we didn’t think that applied to US!” Ok, guys who did you think it applied to, the Tooth Fairy?!
We took a few photos, only used our quiet indoor voices, stayed entirely on public property then moved along. The short walk down Ocean Av was really fun as the houses were really dressed up for the season with some really good spooky displays!
Old Burial Hill Cemetery
The final out-of-town stop was the Old Burial Hill Cemetary. We considered not visiting this location as it’s a fair way out of town and is only briefly if importantly, featured in the film. However, we decided to make the trek and we were very happy we did. If nothing more it was such a gorgeous location.
The Old cemetery sits atop a hill situated on the Marblehead peninsular and offers stunning views of the area. The fall colors were in full effect and the temperatures were an unseasonal 70 degrees and would top 80 later in the day, and we just enjoyed the area, the bonus Halloween houses… we even ended up on Elm Street!
As a filming location, this is where Max meets Ice and Jay and has his shoes stolen. It’s a short scene, but important, and it’s a really fun one to hunt out even though we could not quite find the exact angle at which the scene was shot.
Salem Inn
We were still a little early for Check-in, but we decided to head to the hotel to check out the parking situation and see if we could leave our luggage while we explored downtown Salem. Upon arrival, we were greeted with a warm welcome and told our room was ready and we could go ahead and check-in. We are only staying a night and after seeing our room, the property, and the warm welcome we wished we were staying a little longer. That’s the issue with these sorts of trips where we do SO much, we need to stay on the move and keep plowing on and packing things in.
Our room was pretty Vintage, but it had a real charm about it and was flooded with natural light and space, two things we seemed to have been lacking so far on our accommodation for this trip. The only problem was the strange door to a weird cupboard that felt a little ominous, more on this later…
After dumping our stuff, we geared up and headed out to explore Salem itself.
The Witch House
What you will find over and over again when reading about our trips is we value one thing in accommodation more than ANYTHING else…Location. And the Salem Inn is basically perfect. Slap bang in the missle and literally steps from two Iconic Salem locations, first, the Witch House.
This is the only structure in Salem still standing that was actually related to the Witch Trials, making this a very iconic location. It is an incredibly well-preserved building and dates right back to 1642, maybe earlier, and was the home of Jonathan Corwin one of the Judges who sent 19 innocent women to the Gallows
You can pay to go in and visit the Museum, but we were happy just viewing from the outside.
Ropes Mansion (Alison’s House)
Next Stop was the Ropes Mansion, another Hocus Pocus Location and the home of the Character Alison. The mansion is a real stunner and is heavily decorated for the season. Again there are garden tours but we just wanted a look and planned to come back when the sun had gone down.
Salem Town Center
Both these sites were right next to our hotel, but the center of Salem was a bit further away, still only 250m thought to the Town Center. This was heavily in the Halloween spirit with Characters wandering around posing for photographs (they do expect a tip however) all the Witchy shops fully decorated in the Halloween regalia, and various pop-up attractions here just for the Halloween season. The Town really embraces its Spooky heritage.
Just walking through the center was great fun, but it was time to head to our first attraction on the Boston Go City pass. We had one day left on our pass and it covers several attractions in the Salem area.
Peabody Museum – $20 (Closed)
Annoyingly the first Attraction we planned to hit was closed. We were getting a little frustrated that so many attractions were just shut down on random days in this part of the world. We are used to 24/7 sightseeing and had kind of assumed this would be the case most here, especially at Halloween. But this is not the case and we missed out on this one, and lost $20 of value on the pass.
The Witch Museum – $17.50
We had much more luck at the Witch Museum. This needed pre-booking and was only bookable on the morning off and we made sure we were up bright and early to snag the booking. But we ended up booking 1:45 and had planned to spend the time beforehand in the Peabody Museum. As this was not possible we had some time to kill, so grabbed some lunch at the Village Tavern, before heading over to the Common for some more sightseeing and hunting out another Hocus Pocus Filming Location.
Phillips Elementary School Building
This was the setting for the High School scenes in the film. It is no longer a school but just a large old brick building on the side of the common.
After Lunch and exploring this part of the town we headed back to the Witch Museum. The Museum is an interesting exhibit, Unfortunately, they have a very strict NO FILMING policy, which meant we were not able to get any inside footage.
The Museum opened in 1972 and its main exhibit has remained exactly the same for over 50 years. So do not expect too much in terms of technology. The main presentation takes place in a large very dark hall. The lights go out and a series of Diarahmas are illuminated in sequence around the upper edges of the room. An ominously voiced narrator tells the story of the trials as these Sets light up.
The detail of the various models is pretty impressive as the lifesize sets depict key moments of the Events that took place. It’s really quite creepy mainly as it’s so static with the manikins just staring lifelessly back at you.
It’s one of those things that really, is quite awful, but it’s just SO iconic and totally a part of Vsinting Salem.
There is a newer additional presentation afterwards about how witches are portrayed in Hollywood and the media and how that’s evolved over time, it was pretty interesting, but overall the Main Presentation is why you are here.
Real Pirates Salem – $18.50
After the Museum we continued our exploration of the Town, heading to the bottom end of the town and visiting the Real Pirates exhibition. This tells the tale of an actual Pirate Ship that was found just off the coast.
The Exhibit has several artifacts recovered from the wreck along with exhibits and recreations of life aboard a real Pirate ship that used to operate in the waters of the East Coast.
The highlight for us was actually seeing REAL pieces of eight and the opportunity to actually touch some real Pirate Booty…pretty cool!
House of the Seven Gables – $6.00
The last attraction we visited was the House of the Seven Gables. This is the closest you are going to get to the Sanderson Sister’s House. This was the inspiration, but unfortunately, the actual house was built on a soundstage, making this a must-see.
Unfortunately, you have to pay to see the house properly. You can scab a basic view from the road down the side, and we saw a few people doing just that, but to see the house properly there is a charge. It’s only $6 but feels a bit steep to look at a house. You can pat more for a tour or entry to the interiors, but we just wanted a look and were really happy the pass covered it.
The house is stunning and the grounds beautiful, so we spent some time enjoying the peace.
This was the last attraction on the pass so let’s do a little summing up on our overall pass experience. We had the pass for 3 Days’
Wine Hour at the Salem Inn – Burning the Place Down!
After the house, we worked our way back to the Hotel. Taking in one last Filming location.
Old Town Hall Halloween Party
This is the location of the Halloween party where the Sanderson Sisters Bewitch the Townsfolk with their hypnotic Number, “I put a spell on You“, again just a quick snap, and off we go, but we return to this later tonight as it is supposed to be pretty haunted.
We arrived back at the Hotel just in time for Wine Hour…only things went south pretty quickly. We went to our room, just as the Fire Alarm went off! A quick evacuation and we were out on th street waiting for Salems Fire Department …hoping it was a false alarm.
Seconds later the trucks arrived and the Fire Fighters bravely entered the Hotel to shut the alarms up. It was indeed a false alarm and it was all over in a matter of moments and we were off to Wine Hour after the brief moments of excitement!
What is Wine Hour…well it’s an hour …with wine… sounds good. Honestly, we didn’t know the hotel provided this when we booked and it was a welcome surprise, but essentially for one hour a day the hotel just gives you free pours of wine, as many as you like. We took full advantage of this and sunk a few glasses while we relaxed in the courtyard of this historic hotel.
We headed back to our room afterwards only to find the door to the creepy cupboard was open. We have both been sure this was closed but it was open upon our return. We ensured it was shut and then headed out for dinner.
Rockafellas Restaurant
The Bartender at wine hour had pointed us in the right location for dinner and we took her advice and ended up at Rocerfellas.
This was a nice Bar and Grill type restaurant that offered standard American dishes all done really well. We had a Buffalo Chicken Flatbread and a Balck and Blue Burger along with a few drinks to get us ready for the fantastic night we had planned in Salem.
Salem Ghost Tour – Black Cate Shoppe – $25.00 (Not on the Pass)
With so many strange and spooky goings on in Salem there really is only one thing to do in the evening and that is a Ghost Tour. There is a lot of competition in Salem for ghost tours and in October, in particular, there are hundreds of tours going on every night. We chose to go with one of the market leaders and our top tip for Ghost Tors in Salem, the Black Cat Shoppe, mainly because we are just a little obsessed with Black Cats.
The tour started at 8 pm sharp with the meeting point just across from the Shoppe at the Bewitched Statue. Our guide was dressed in a fantastic Halloween outfit something of a cross between a witch and a Pirate which is perfect for Salem.
The tour takes you around some of Salam’s most haunted and interesting sites while the tour guide regales you with tales of the undead and unfortunate. Murders, mysteries, ghosts, witches, and even Magigians, all feature as the guide takes you around the town center.
You are encouraged to take as many photos as you like but to keep filming to a minimum so we just grabbed a few short clips and lots of photos. Photos seem to work best as there is a higher chance of something showing up later on…although we could find no real anomalies in our photos.
The tour was really fun, although not quite as good as our last Ghost Hunting tour in San Francisco. The Town was just too busy with too much going on and this seemed to disturb the spirits.
We don’t take these tours too seriously and they are a lot of fun if treated as such, and this was especially so here where the busy streets meant there was very little in the way of spookiness. As ever the most interesting part is the history lessons that go with the tours as the guide sheds a light on the grisly past of one of the county’s oldest settlements.
The tour wrapped up on the back streets of the Town near a cemetery but the guide ensured we all made it back to familiar territory. It was now quite late and we headed back to our hotel. Where once again, the Creepy cupboard door was open…
…It would be an interesting night’s sleep in the almost certainly haunted room!
Tomorrow we really hit the road and start properly piling the miles onto the clock. We have 1000+ miles to do over the next few days as we move back into New York Stae, Head Upstate through the Valleys and mountains of the Catskills, up to Buffalo and into Canada to see the Falls, then traverse the edge of the Great lakes stopping off at Cedar Point for Halloween Horror, before ending the trip in Chicago.
City New York All Inclusive 3-Day Pass – Running Total
- Attractions Today – 3
- Total Attractions – 10
- Attractions Cost – $42
- Running Total – Day 1 of 3: $275
- Cost Of Pass – $139
- Savings – $136
The pass has been excellent. We really felt it opened up Boston in a way we would not have found without it. We did 10 attractions in total and based most of our time around it, although we still got to see a lot of the City as well.
It was great to have a few attractions included in Salem as this was always going to be part of our visit to New England.
Overall we saved a whopping $136 … however we used a 10% discount code so our actual savings were EVEN higher, with the Pass only costing $125.10 and the savings a huge $150!
If you are heading to Boston we highly recommend the Pass as it really did make the trip so much better and we had almost no issues with it. Annoyingly a lot of the attractions we wanted to visit were closed…but that would have been the case without a pass!
Walking Total – 21,015 Steps – 10.2 Miles
We were back to some pretty big step counts today. We did a lot of driving, but we were on the go from 7 am right through until 11 pm so clocked up some steady miles. We finally get a nice and easy day tomorrow as we spend a lot of time in the car.