A Day in Salem Part 2

Hello again! My mother is still en route to the nearest wi-fi spot, so once again I will be sharing more Salem pictures with all of you awesome people.

Before we begin, I should also point out that upon conferencing with my mother, I have learned that we have apparently been going to Salem for closer to twenty years, and that we initially started visiting because she used to live in Boston. So, while the Hocus Pocus story might seem pleasantly quaint, it is apparently inaccurate. I'm trying to hard to make this non-fiction, really I am!

While looking for a place to park by the House of the Seven Gables, I happened to wander down a side street towards the Salem docks. It was a very fortunate meandering, because I found this awesome house.
I've always liked outsider art. The idea of someone turning their residence into an art installation populated by years of works of art has always been very intriguing to me. I am, after all, my mother's son!

I spent a good while trying to figure out if this house was actually a museum of sorts, but I don't think it is. Rather, its awesome occupant has a way with metal scraps and welding torches, and they have put it on display for all to see and appreciate.

Quite the surreal location. Whoever did these sculptures was very successful in creating a place that honestly felt rather like an alternate dimension.
Caution: if you ever decide to weld and have never done so before, make sure you wear one of those visors. Apparently the flame can cause blindness. Don't ask me why I know this, because I have never come close to welding anything. But it's true.
I love how constant exposure to the elements has caused the sculptures to slightly rust. Thanks to mother nature for putting on the finishing touches.
Here is an example of a house that went for a Day of the Dead theme.
Another house that has fallen into disrepair. As opposed to the house by the graveyard that began yesterday's post, I'm thinking this house's signs of decay are a little less intentional. However, in another sense, it is very well-decorated for Halloween as a result.
Even the Flower Shop is getting into the Halloween tradition. In a very big way.
This is a shot of the alley next to said Flower Shop. I appreciate the boldly-grotesque decorations put on display so prominently.
That guillotine has actual flowing blood. Well, it's not blood of course, but it does in fact flow.
This alley wins the award for best Halloween decorations. Come for the flowers, stay for the terror.
One of Salem's many places to get a tarot reading, palm reading, or whatever other Psychic-related service one might seek.
A moment of empathy for the residents. The scariest part of their Halloween is surely the invasion of tourists.
Another very well-decorated house on one of Salem's main streets. I think the pumpkin art is hand-made.
A VW Bug parked out front of the previous house. The eyelashes have nothing to do with Halloween, which means that they are probably a permanent fixture. Which is awesome.
Probably the most well-known of the Salem Psychic businesses. I actually did not get any kind of Psychic analysis while in Salem, because I have had several Tarot readings in my past that were disturbingly accurate and now I feel like it's sort of skipping ahead and reading the final chapter of a book first. Except the book is your life.
The Hawthorne Hotel in the center of Salem, Mass.
In recent years, it seems that Salem has started to have a problem with young, trouble-making hooligans like the folks shown here. When I took this picture, it really looked like the guy standing in front of the bench and gesticulating with his hands was going to start a fight with someone. Frankly, I only like it when I pretend scared.
That's a cool hat the guy on the left is wearing, but I don't know how good of a job it does in terms of intimidation.
I like this photo a lot. Here we see a guy walking around with his son. He is in full costume, and Halloween is still over a week away. Way to pass on the tradition, while simultaneously teaching your son a thing or two about boldness.
And then there's this devil person on the left. Perhaps the scariest costume of them all, because I really have no idea what she's supposed to be, and yet she wears it so casually. I would not be surprised to find out that this is a typical look for her even in, say, June.

Thus concludes my time as guest editor and my recollections of Salem. As I write this, I can almost taste the fried scallops that I enjoyed so well only a few days ago. I feel very lucky that I am so close to a place like this, the home of Halloween. Stay tuned; my mother will be back tomorrow, and in the coming week I will be doing another post about my trip to the Eerie Horror Film Festival. Happy Halloween!

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