Did you know that Salem in Massachusetts is the most popular destination in all of the United States every October, drawing crowds like no other place? About a million tourists pack Salem within the five weeks leading up to Halloween. Tourists that visit Salem are attracted to the spooky vibe Salem brings to its town, and its Halloween events, locally called “Haunted Happenings”.
Of course, tourists are attracted to the town’s history of the Salem witch trials (even though most Danvers residents know the majority of these events happened on land that is now Danvers). Salem, during the month of October, consists of many food-stands, haunted houses, and parades. Visitors of Salem can be seen dressed up and festive for Halloween, even in the weeks beforehand. However, with the fun things to do in Salem comes a little bit of a challenge.
The biggest of these is parking for visitors – parking pricing during October in Salem can cost up to sixty-dollars an hour! Some tourists may think they can park on a side street for free, but that’s not the case. The majority of streets are blocked off to residents of Salem. Failure to comply with this rule leads to cars getting ticketed or towed, ticketing can cost up to fourty-dollars (while getting a towed car back can cost up to $200).
Another challenge that people have to face in Salem is the traffic. Traffic in October takes twice as long to get from place to place, even for neighboring towns, like Danvers, Beverly, Lynn, Marblehead, etc. There is constant traffic, daily, until it dies down, though not until around the end of November.
In addition, Salem has many haunted houses and museums that tourists love to visit. But, with all of this popularity comes long lines; lines of people waiting to get into an attraction can take up to two hours.
“Salem in October is very chaotic and it takes twice as long to get home,” commented DHS Spanish teacher, Señor Bryan Vosselor, who lives in Salem.
DHS student Sabina Sturgeon visited Salem, and stated that “It was very packed and crowded, but with not much even going on, and not much fun for teens.”
During Halloween, even a wait at a gift shop in Salem can take up to forty-five minutes.
Plus, many attractions are also very hard to reserve because tickets are sold out by early morning, daily. So even if you manage to make it through the crowd, there’s’ a chance whatever event you’re searching for has already been fully booked
So, even though Salem is the perfect place to celebrate Halloween, due to the crowding and the prices, is it really worth it?
