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I agree with you, Salem is really overhyped. 19 people thought to be "witches", were executed because of a couple of insecure young women were doing some sort of a drug and didn't like some servant so they lied about her being a witch. I don't see what's so "spooky" about that.
Ghosts? There have been plenty of other sites with far more fatalities far more recently than Salem..... I'd soonergo to a Civil War battlefield without the crowds or the costs if I wanted to be in a historic site of mass death....
The whole thing there is fake, not scary in the least, and over 300 years old. I'll take a well done haunted house or scare zone in Universal Studios or Busch Gardens in Orlando or Tampa where I will actually enjoy myself over Salem every Halloween.
Voodoo in Little Haiti is bound to be far more "spooky" than Salem.
I agree with some of your points but not all.
First of all, Orlando is fake, Salem is not. The events of Salem were real and they traumatized that city for 300 years. Salem only recently began capitalizing on the "spooky fun" of witchery". Up until recently the Salem Witch trials were not a tourist beacon, but were in fact considered a huge shame on the city that they didn't want to talk about any more than Berliners want to talk about their Nazi past.
Second, when 19 people are hanged by religious quacks in their government on false charges in a town of 1700 people, that's a big deal. That's one out of 100. And remember accusations, incarcerations, and torture included hundreds of people. If that happened in Salem today, we would be talking about 400 dead thousands jailed or tortured. An even scarier perhaps, the documented hysteria, that anyone in that town would buy into that, nevermind that many would.
And you say it happened 300 years ago so how could that be scary? Well I think just the fact that it happened 300 years ago and there is any discussion of it whatsoever today is testament to just how scary that apparently was and has been. personally I find Gallows Hill a little spooky - sorta like I would imagine the Tate mansion is.
Today Salem is largely about "spooky fun" for the whole family. But it is also a worldwide gathering point for those out there who believe they are witches - and to me, that is scary unto itself. I also would suggest that is one aspect of Halloween I'm sure the Salem PD is aware of and a little wary about - what kind of nuts come to town for Samhein.
It is much the same as going to the Tower of London
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bostonian08
I agree with some of your points but not all.
First of all, Orlando is fake, Salem is not. The events of Salem were real and they traumatized that city for 300 years. Salem only recently began capitalizing on the "spooky fun" of witchery". Up until recently the Salem Witch trials were not a tourist beacon, but were in fact considered a huge shame on the city that they didn't want to talk about any more than Berliners want to talk about their Nazi past.
Second, when 19 people are hanged by religious quacks in their government on false charges in a town of 1700 people, that's a big deal. That's one out of 100. And remember accusations, incarcerations, and torture included hundreds of people. If that happened in Salem today, we would be talking about 400 dead thousands jailed or tortured. An even scarier perhaps, the documented hysteria, that anyone in that town would buy into that, nevermind that many would.
And you say it happened 300 years ago so how could that be scary? Well I think just the fact that it happened 300 years ago and there is any discussion of it whatsoever today is testament to just how scary that apparently was and has been. personally I find Gallows Hill a little spooky - sorta like I would imagine the Tate mansion is.
Today Salem is largely about "spooky fun" for the whole family. But it is also a worldwide gathering point for those out there who believe they are witches - and to me, that is scary unto itself. I also would suggest that is one aspect of Halloween I'm sure the Salem PD is aware of and a little wary about - what kind of nuts come to town for Samhein.
My 2 cents.
Whitecastle (where my friend and I walked in middle of the night) where the Ripper murdered, etc., etc. Things where things really happened and leave their mark on the world even today.
If people cannot understand this and are looking for manufactured "horror", they are barking up the wrong tree.
People are a truly looking for the paranormal, will go to places where something REAL happened. You don't even have to go to placers like Salem or London. Every local area in the US will have a place where some "horror" happened and can possibly be haunted.
My daughter and her girlfriend are going to Boston with a side trip to Salem on Columbus Day Weekend. They wanted to go for Hallwoeen weekend but couldn't get off from work (retail).
SO wish I could go with them. I would love to go back to both places, especially this time of year. If nothing else, it a beautiful time of year to be in New England.
NY throws a really great Halloween parade, so I voted for there. Any city in the north is the best, because you have that cool, crisp autumn feel to Halloween. A lot better than Halloween being 75-90 degrees.
New York and DC at Halloween are great to party in because the weather alone is truley fall.
Greenwich Village has had a Halloween parade for decades now. They used to show the Rocky Horror Picture Show at a local movie house around Halloween time every year. People would dress up in costume as characters from the show.
I believe the parade started as an outgrowth of that.
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It is much the same as going to the Tower of London
