alamode Stuff: Photo(s) of the week - our visit to Salem, MA

If I had a bucket list, I could cross this trip to Salem, Ma, off of it. Since moving to RI, I've wanted to go. The Salem witch trials were a childhood fascination of mine and I've always had an inclination toward the macabre. Recently, a clairvoyant friend of mine told me that I was a witch in a past life. This information was casually revealed as I had dinner with him, his wife, and my best friend visiting from Seattle. He said that was why we 3 ladies were drawn to each other and have been close for so many years. When I told C, he said that explained a lot of things.

Anyway, last weekend we made a quick trip up to Salem and visited this quaint town for a few short hours. We didn't have time to really see much. The line to the Salem Witch Museum was a block long. I'll have to go back and spend the weekend, but not at this time of year. I really didn't need to visit Salem in October. This is THE place to be at Halloween in the US. The Travel Channel rated it forth in their "Top 10 Most Creepy Destinations." I'd actually prefer to go back when things weren't so commercialized. But, the town is beautiful this time of year. It is the quintessential old New England seaside town...with a horrible past.

Salem is an interesting mix of nuevo haunted attractions and horrific history. The details about the infamous witch trials are incredibly sad and reflects a very dark time. Yet, this history has developed into a livelihood for the town. Many people have capitalized on its very hallows. How or why "Frankenstein's Laboratory" or "Lizzie Borden" became a part of Salem, I'm not sure. [BTW, Lizzy Borden's home is in Fall River, MA, just 40 minutes from my home. It's now a B & B and another place I'll have to check out...not in October. It is the Travel Channel's number one "Creepy Destination."]

I had forgotten that the witch trials happened in just a few short weeks and came about through the persistence of "mean girls. Unfortunately, similar "things still happen today. We just label them differently.

As we walked through the memorial and the central graveyard, I noticed that even the smallest of children grew very somber. It is a very sad place. Strange to have so much celebratory Halloween activity around it.