From an earlier post written October 31, 2008
Laurie Cabot, Salem’s Official Witch and Andrea, “cub” reporter. Was it “Fate”?
Several years ago when I was at my first job as a reporter/anchor at a TV newsroom in Bangor, Maine, my former Emerson College professor and longtime friend Marsha Della Giustina of Boston submitted a feature report I had done while still at Emerson entitled “Halloween” in a JVC Student Video Festival competition.
I didn’t know she had done so until I got the call telling me that “Halloween” had taken 3rd Prize, and I would be flown to New York’s Waldorf Astoria for a weekend of awards, fun and fete.(Note: Photo to come – That’s me at the Awards Ceremony, second from left, standing beside a JVC exec.)
“Halloween” featured an interview I did with Laurie Cabot, Salem’s self-proclaimed “Official Witch” about Salem’s witchcraft heritage and autumnal celebration. Cabot must have conjured up a special potion because my report made an impression with the right people at JVC! Winning the Award was among the thrills of my lifetime!
Now, you have to know that growing up in the “Witch City” — Salem Massachusetts — meant we went all out for Halloween. And I mean all out. Traipsing through the neighborhood on what was usually a very chilly coastal New England night, we’d go door to door costumed as ghosts or goblins with our candy sacks, bringing in a haul that would last until Thanksgiving.
Salem’s Halloween festivities go on for days, attracting hundreds of thousands of tourists and revelers eager to drop by for a “spooktacular” time, as they immerse themselves in the city’s rich historic ambiance. Week-long festivities culminate with Laurie Cabot’s annual Haunted Happenings Ball, which typically occurs by the orange glow of a full harvest moon.
Salem is a trip year round, a bewitching destination, but never more so than at October’s end, when the chill winds moan and the ancient buildings creak and groan. If you do go, try to time your visit for all hallow’s eve. But be warned! Book your reservations early, as there are always lots of ghosts and goblins competing for limited overnight haunts.
And while you’re there, do gaze upward every now and again. If you’re lucky, you might just see a broomsticked hag or two soaring past the full moon. Listen closely. You might even hear her Hillary-like cackle as she swoops among the scudding clouds.
Last year I took a walking tour of this amazingly quaint and charming place on Boston’s north shore. (That’s Bawstin’s nawth shoah, as the natives say). If you’d like to see photos I took of my Witch City, there’s a cauldron full here, here, here , and here. Enjoy! It’s my trick. Your treat!
