Witches and Hotdogs
We got up fairly early so we would have some more time as we wanted to go to Salem. We had some coffee and a hearty breakfast of meat omelet. Which was our remaining eggs bacon and the pseudo salami we bought.
Once fortified we headed out and caught the green line down to North Station where the T links up with the commuter rail. I got a ticket but Jen and by association rode for free. We caught the train over to Salem. It wasn’t a long trip we managed to get shouted at by the train guards for going to the door too soon as apparently that was verboten.
Anyway we left the train and headed into Salem the weather was clear almost painfully bright and bitterly cold the low being -9 degrees C it was pretty nasty. The previous day it had gotten a bit warmer but today it was cold again. You really needed your coat gloves and warm stuff.
We headed over to the Witch House which was where Jonathan Corwin a judge in the famous witch trails lived. It was a mansion in it’s day and had two stories and something like 4 main rooms. The house was moved and renovated some time in the 1940’s as the road ran through where it was so they shifted it back a bit.
The inside had some interesting stuff on the times and examples of the furniture. One of the pieces was the table it was narrow some 24 inches across and 8ft long made of a single plank. This was because any plank wider than that was shipped to England for ship building by law. You could also see some of the inside construction of the walls in one section which showed how they layered the construction for a sort of insulation.
After that we headed out and towards the Witch Dungeon Museum which was nearby. We got there and found it was closed till april 1st though maybe that was a joke. On the side of the building was a plaque that said the building was built on the site of the gaol where the witches were held in the witch trails which was then razed in the 1950’s. Then there was a second smaller plaque next to the first one saying that the plaque had been moved and the actual site of the gaol was two blocks over.
So we headed further into Salem to see the Salem Witch museum. The museum started with a presentation that went through the witch trails using manikins and a voice over. It was a little odd. After that they had a guided tour that went through the history of witches in general and the modern “witches”. Looking at the list of local attractions there were several “witches” or “psychics” who were the sort of annoying jerks who spelled magic with a K. We didn’t visit any of these frauds.
Instead we visited the Boston hotdog company a place with magical (tasting) hotdogs. I had the excellent Texas Dog, Byrnie had a Southern Slaw Dog, and Jen had the Reuben Dog. They were very tasty and just what we needed on a cold day.
We wrapped up and headed back to the train station catching the next train home. We rode the T back to the nearest stop and then headed over to the booze and sandwich shop and got a few bits. For dinner we enjoyed some nachos and then finished off some chili we had made. Tomorrow is our last full day I’m not sure what we plan to do yet. Salem was good fun very cold but it was nice to see the various period houses and witch stuff and excellent hotdogs.
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