On our way to Boston from New Hampshire, Pie Pal Linda and I decided to visit Salem, MA. It was only September, 29, but as we drove into downtown Salem, it felt like Halloween. The streets were crowded with locals and tourists in costumes and street performers were singing, dancing, and juggling on blocked off streets.
We did not get the memo that celebrating Halloween started in September! When a car pulled out of a nearby street, we grabbed the spot and headed to the Peabody-Essex Museum to learn about the Salem Witch Trials.
This museum has a renowned exhibition depicting the trials in art and artifact. We refreshed our history lessons and learned that from 1692 to 1693 25 innocent people were led to their death for being suspected of witchcraft. A painting by TH Matteson in 1855 poignantly depicts the Trial of George Jacobs. The museum also has an exhibit naming each victim on a cemetery headstone. 
People: People who love celebrating Halloween for a month. The locals have already decorated their houses for the occasion and both locals and visitors have been waiting for a year to don their costumes and come to Salem.
Places: Salem, MA, aka the place to celebrate Halloween and eat lobster. In contrast to the Halloween hubbub at the center of the town, the harbor area is mellow and relaxed, calmed by gentle waves rolling in from the ocean. Salem is also known for its shipbuilding and yacht racing championships. Salem will celebrate its 400th anniversary in 2026 and is preparing by restoring a schooner to replicate sailing in the days of the founding of Salem. 
The harbor is also the area of vintage homes from early styles of Federal architecture and from later periods including Greek Revival, Queen Anne, and Colonial Revival. We worked up an appetite by walking around the old town with most of homes already decorated for the occasion.
Pies: Finz, a seafood restaurant overlooking the Harbor, was the perfect place to have another lobster pie. Now, from our second experience of ordering a lobster pie, we understood that “lobster pie” is really lobster meat drenched in a lemon-butter sauce with Ritz crackers crumbled on top….a more or less “crustless” pie. But a very tasty one for our last opportunity for a while to enjoy fresh lobster!
Happy Halloween
Happy Halloween!!!