Years pass and times change.
We have many new residents in the city, but we also have residents who have called Salem home for their entire lives.
For those of you who have seen things change over the course of the years, we need your experience as we take a look back and get nostalgic about Halloween.
How has Halloween changed over the years?
Please share your memories of Halloweens past with us in the comments.
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john
1:27 pm on Friday, October 5, 2012
Simply put,it has changed from a kids day of fun to an adults day of partying.
coco
4:56 pm on Friday, October 5, 2012
I remember marching in the very first Haunted Happenings parade (in 1980...something, can't remember exactly). It was tiny, at Pickering Wharf. The kids were separated by age & Laurie Cabot judged a costume contest.
It's definitely evolving for the better :-)
michael beaulieu
5:12 am on Saturday, October 6, 2012
A resident who has called salem home for their entire life wishes for a broom to fly around traffic.
Letty C
10:05 pm on Saturday, October 6, 2012
I didn't grow up in Salem, but have seen a tremendous change in the 13 years I have been here.
The novelty has worn off. It seems all the fun and interesting stuff of Haunted Happenings has turned into a month of gridlocked traffic with no direction, sidewalks unwalkable because of either crowds of people waiting to get into bars or smoking outside of them (O'Neills!) or gangs of walking tours packing the fringes of downtown sidewalks blocking them while the guide shouts a bunch of fiction at least once an hour if not more.
October in Salem has become more about drinking, partying, and raking in the bucks (it's not even just spooky tales of witches and hauntings but anything to do with horror and macabre) than promoting the real history and fun of one night a year.
I personally would like to see Haunted Happenings scaled down to two weeks at the end of the month -- if that. More emphasis on making it family oriented.
I'm not against a good party, love to get in costume, love a parade. My dog gets a costume, and greets trick or treaters (and I give out good candy--not the cheap stuff or toothbrushes or pencils!). I just miss the treat and am tired of the tricks, tours, and traffic.