Spellbound in Salem

We’ve finally wrapped up Catherine’s college touring. She’s found five she wants to apply to, and now the real work can begin.

This past week’s “vacation” had us making our last three stops, all in Massachusetts.

The final visit — to Salem State University — turned out to be the most fun.

We had a little time after we checked in to the Northey, the delightful B&B where we spent the night. What else to do but take in the sights?

As we ate an early dinner, we amused ourselves watching kids and dogs wade and splash their way through a fun fountain. Then it was out for a stroll, to the farmers’ market, and the little shops full of folkloric trinkets, witch memorabilia, magic wands, books on witchcraft, you name it.

We gawked at several ghost tours; wandered one of the old cemeteries with its worn and mangled headstones; and passed a quiet few moments at the Witch Trials Memorial, contemplating man’s inhumanity to man.

In one of the storefronts near the farmers’ market, we found the Salem Museum, manned by an odd fellow in a tri-corner hat and breeches. He invited us to wander through a brief history of the town. There we learned there’s far more to Salem than witch stuff: Monopoly was invented there; the author Nathaniel Hawthorne was from there (we saw the House of the Seven Gables the next day); and a 1914 fire destroyed most of the town.

Among the other treats of our short visit: Standing on the deck of  the Friendship, a replica of “a 171-foot three-masted Salem East Indiaman built in 1797.”

We did not have time to see the Faberge eggs on loan at the Peabody Essex Museum, nor did we attend a seance, have a reading or troll the night for specters.

On the way back to the Northey to turn in for the night, we stopped in the Salem Common, where a free movie was being screened.

Before that, though, we visited the Salem Witch Museum. How could we pass up the opportunity?

Basil and Catherine said it was just like being at home.

Catherine and Basil headed to the Witch Museum.