FromWitchCity

This Weekend in Salem

Everything worth your Friday-through-Sunday in Witch City. Want it in your inbox every Thursday? Get the dispatch → Planning more than the weekend? Build your whole week →

Thursday, October 1

Arcade Era Karaoke Thursdays

· Bit Bar Salem

Come belt out your favorite songs from the late 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s! Be cosmically inspired by the warm glow of 60 cathode ray tube arcade monitors and oh so shiny pinballs.

Comedy Night at East Regiment

Come out for a night of laughs with comedians featured on Just For Laughs, Apple TV, Sirius XM and more! Mark Brady has been featured on the Apple TV, Prime Video, Comedy Dynamics and Sirius XM. He has two specials/ albums “Incognito” and “For the Birds” He has worked with many talented comedians over the years including Andrew Shulz, Pete Holmes, Tom Segura, and Nate Bargatze. He is 1/3 of the popular Hummy’s VR Comedy channel on YouTube and Podcast, which boast a combined 235,000 subscribers and 30+ million views. Zach Brazão was named a 2023 New Face of Comedy at the Just For Laughs comedy festival. He has performed in the Southland Comedy Festival sponsored by Fox, Limestone Comedy Festival, was a finalist in the Boston Comedy Festival, and was named Best of the Fest at Minneapolis’s 10,000 Laughs Festival. In 2021, New York Comedy Festival named him a Comic to Watch. Liz Moniz is a comedian and writer from Rhode Island. Her work has been featured on BuzzFeed and PBS’s Stories from the Stage. She was voted Motif Magazine’s Favorite Comedian of 2023. Liz is a regular at the world- famous Comedy Connection and has opened for performers including Big Jay Oakerson, Jim Norton, Morbid: A True Crime Podcast. Despite all of this, Liz is most proud of her meatloaf recipe and will share it if you ask her nicely.

Friday, October 2

From Classroom to Public Service

Panel with political science alums.

Haunted Happenings Food Court at Old Town Hall

· Old Town Hall

Step inside historic Old Town Hall for a free indoor food marketplace featuring a rotating mix of local and regional vendors. Find sweet and savory options, seasonal specialties, and Halloween treats throughout Haunted Happenings. Vendor lineups can change by date, so check the live calendar before visiting. Produced by Creative Collective.

90 Minute Witch Hat Design Session

· Witch Pix

Every witch has a hat. Yours may simply not have introduced itself yet. Witch hats are wonderfully dramatic objects, which is exactly why choosing one can get complicated. Brim width, crown height, color, tilt, trim, texture: suddenly a fun decision has developed several opinions of its own. Our consultation keeps the fun and removes the guesswork. You and the maker try directions together, paying attention to the shapes that frame your face, the proportions that feel natural, and the details that make you grin at the mirror instead of politely evaluating it. Designer: Sascha Nelson

Eerie Stories: Haunting Legends of the North Shore

· Salem Armory

Listen to the shadowy history and folklore of Massachusetts’ North Shore! From buried treasure and ghostly ships to legendary pirates like Black Sam Bellamy and Captain Kidd, this program brings the haunting legends and maritime mysteries of Salem, Gloucester, Ipswich, and beyond to life. These stories are grounded in history, shaped by folklore, and told with all the drama of the high seas — these are the stories passed down for generations along one of America’s most storied coastlines.

Eerie Stories on Salem Sound

· Mary Jane Lee Park

Escape the crowds this fall and take to the sea, where haunting tales and harbor views await! Join us on weekends in October at 2:00 pm & 4:00 pm to dive into the dark side of Salem’s history. On this 90-minute boat tour, your guide will relate tales of murderous plots, public executions, and strange sightings. You’ll find that the facts of Salem’s past are stranger than any fiction you could dream up. Come ride the waves of history – just keep a weather eye for privateers! Tours depart from the end of Central Wharf, behind the Waite & Pierce Museum Store (193 Derby Street, Salem, MA 01970). Walk past Waite & Peirce and the National Park Restrooms and walk all the way to the end of the wharf, your crew will be waiting at the dock to greet you!

Tea & Cake Tasting

· Jolie Tea Company

Free Tea & Cake Tasting at Jolie Tea Company. Every Friday afternoon, 3:00-5:00pm. Come enjoy and taste some of our favorite tea blends and cake flavors!

El Punto Mural Tour

View Salem's vibrant and diverse public art!

Hat Making Workshop – Hands-on Experience

· Witch Pix

Learn the craft in good company and leave Salem with a hat made by your own hands. Small-group workshop · up to 10 seats Ten humans enter. Ten witches leave. Give or take a little glue. Gather around one worktable for a small-group Salem workshop where up to ten people learn, make, compare choices, laugh at the awkward middle, and leave with a witch hat shaped by their own hands. The hat-making workshop is a small-group Salem experience at $130 per seat, with up to 10 seats and a choice of set designs. You leave with a witch hat made by your own hands. The table is part of the magic. This is not ten private appointments happening near one another. It is one shared workshop. Everyone starts together, learns together, navigates the slightly chaotic middle together, and watches ten different hats emerge from the same room. The craft gives everybody something to do while conversation takes care of itself. Friends can make Salem memories together. Families can compare creative decisions. Solo visitors can simply pull up a chair and discover that strangers become much easier to talk to when everyone is trying to persuade a piece of hat material to behave. Each scheduled workshop is intentionally small, with no more than ten seats. The limit gives the maker enough room to help, gives everyone enough space to work, and keeps the gathering feeling like a workshop rather than a minor textile emergency. Hat-Making Workshop $130 per person. Attendees must be 15 or older

The Salem Haunted Magic Show: HYSTERIA: Ghost Psychic!

The Salem Haunted Magic Show presents HYSTERIA: The Ghost Psychic! Step into Salem’s strangest live entertainment experience, where magic, mind reading, psychic phenomena, and the unexplained collide. HYSTERIA: The Ghost Psychic! is a darkly theatrical and highly interactive magic show where audience members become part of the mystery. Watch thoughts get revealed, predictions come true, impossible coincidences unfold, and ordinary people experience extraordinary things—right before your eyes. Funny, mysterious, surprising, and just a little unsettling, HYSTERIA! is unlike a traditional magic show. You don’t just sit back and watch—you may find yourself at the center of the impossible. Perfect for visitors, families, couples, friends, skeptics, believers, and anyone looking for something uniquely Salem. 🧠 Interactive Mind Reading 🃏 Impossible Magic 🔮 Psychic Phenomena 👻 Unexplained Experiences Come see what happens when your thoughts aren’t quite as private as you think. Nothing is what it seems. 🎟 Tickets & showtimes: TheSalemMagicShow.com

Live Music: Judes & the Hutch

Local legends Judes & the Hutch celebrate the release of their first studio album with a night of tunes and high energy!

The Shadows of the Seven Gables

· The House of the Seven Gables

GHOSTS, CURSES, AND MURDER! Embrace the spookier side of The House of the Seven Gables with an after-hours candlelit journey through the mansion. Experience the home as it was described by Salem author Nathaniel Hawthorne in his 1851 novel – an old Salem mansion that is haunted by a family curse, mysterious deaths, and ghosts of its past. Tickets are $50 for the general public and $40 for Gables members. THIS TOUR DATE IS SOLD OUT!

Salem's Comedy Coven- Hotel Salem Takeover

· The Hotel Salem

Hidden beneath The Cellar at Hotel Salem, Salem’s Comedy Coven returns for a limited Halloween engagement. Presented by Salem’s Haunted Neighborhood in partnership with Witch City Comedy, this haunted comedy pop-up summons some of New England’s funniest comedians for a night of wicked stand-up, eerie surprises, and laughs that refuse to stay buried. Escape the October crowds, grab a cocktail, and descend underground for an intimate comedy experience packed with spooky atmosphere and killer laughs. Whether you’re ending a full day in Salem or just looking for something a little different after dark, the Coven is calling. But it won’t last long. The coven gathers for only a few short weeks each fall, and seating is limited. When Halloween ends, the laughter disappears back into the shadows until next year. 🕯 Limited Run • September–November 🎤 Presented by Salem’s Haunted Neighborhood & Witch City Comedy 🍸 Full Bar • Drinks Available for Purchase 📍 The Cellar at Hotel Salem • 209 Essex Street, Salem, MA

A Spirited Evening Connecting with the Other Side

Join educator, author, and former Paranormal Salem owner Kimberly Peterson for an intimate 90-minute indoor workshop exploring the tools, history, and lived experience behind paranormal investigation in Salem. Blending real investigative methods with intuitive development and mediumship, this hands-on experience includes intuitive exercises, a guided spirit communication circle, and the use of tools such as K2 meters and spirit boxes. Each guest receives a pendulum and a signed book. Part history lesson, part intuitive development, part séance. Limited to 12 guests.

Sea Witch Ball Workshop

· The Sea Wych Salem

Join The Sea Wych Salem for a magical experience in Witch City as she presents the history & lore of the witch ball, & guides you as you create your own using ocean elements, herbs, salts, & more to welcome in joy, banish negativity, or simply for a pretty souvenir to display. Spend some time with us and bring home your own unique and uniquely crafted souvenir. Tix must be purchased in advance Ages 13+ Contact to schedule private parties up to 12 ppl, or for families w/children under 13

Terror Ticket: Raveyard

After dark, it gets louder. Dance amongst the monsters. Fridays • 8 PM–10 PM Live DJ • Haunted Walkthrough • Halloween After Hours A Haunted House Rave When the sun goes down, the Haunted Witch Village and Frankenstein’s Castle get louder. Every Friday night, step inside Salem’s two premier haunted houses for an after-hours experience filled with pulsing music, eerie lighting, fog, Halloween atmosphere, and a live DJ spinning from inside the haunt. Explore the village, dance among the monsters, discover photo ops, and experience the attraction in a completely different way as the entire haunted house transforms into a Halloween party. This isn’t your typical nightclub and it definitely isn’t your typical haunted house. Fridays • 8:00 PM–10:00 PM 🎧 Live DJ 🎃 Live Actors 💀 Sober Halloween party atmosphere 📸 Photo opportunities 🌙 Limited late-night experience Come for the haunt. Stay for the rave.

Freaky Friday Mystery Movie Night

Come see what’s on our screen! The first Friday of every month the bar will stay open just a little later for you to enjoy a random scary movie for you to enjoy. Local Salem hosts will pick the cream of the crop to give you your thrills! Viewing availability will be limited to our occupancy limits, all movies will be PG-13 or lower to accommodate families in attendance. No Cover, but drinking will be encouraged!

Saturday, October 3

Haunted Happenings Marketplace at Derby Square

Shop small in the heart of downtown Salem at this free outdoor marketplace beside historic Old Town Hall. Meet independent makers, artists, designers, and creative small businesses offering original art, jewelry, apparel, accessories, home goods, seasonal décor, gifts, and more. The lineup changes throughout the season, so check the live calendar before visiting. Produced by Creative Collective.

Slime Potion Brewing Class

Get Ready for a Magical Experience at Our Slime Potion Brewing Class! We’re calling all aspiring wizards, witches, and slime enthusiasts to join us at Burying Point Productions for an enchanting Slime Potion Brewing, This family-friendly event invites participants of all ages to dive into the magical world of potion-making by crafting their custom slime “potions.” With Halloween-themed charms, glittering mix-ins, and a touch of whimsy, attendees will unleash their creativity and take home a fun and unique keepsake. Event Highlights: Hands-On Potion Making: Learn how to mix, swirl, and craft the perfect slime potion using simple ingredients. Participants can customize their creations with colors, glitter, charms, and even scents. Potion Personalization: Everyone will have the chance to name their potion and label their magical creation in their own unique way. Take-Home Fun: Each participant will leave with their own bottled slime potion to show off or gift to friends.

Haunted Biz Baz Street Fair

· Salem Common

Get ready for a weekend full of shopping, spooky season vibes, and local creativity at the Biz Baz Street Fair on the historic Salem Common! Browse 80+ incredible vendors featuring handmade jewelry, art, apparel, crafts, Halloween decor, and so much more. 🎃✨ Join us Saturday, October 3 from 10AM-8PM and Sunday, October 4 from 10AM-6PM for one of Salem’s favorite fall traditions. With thousands of visitors expected, you won’t want to miss it!

Zombie Walk

· Salem Common

The Salem Zombie Walk returns for another year of undead fun! This free, family-friendly event begins at Salem Common and welcomes all ages, from the living to the recently reanimated. Meet at Salem Common at 11 AM. The walk begins at noon.

Saturday Morning Run Club

Join us for a 5K run or 1 mile run/walk and then enjoy beer or coffee with fellow runners — all are welcome (including sporty pups!). Prizes at every 5th run, and also at milestones of 10, 25, and 50 total runs.

Convivial Craft

Thursdays and Saturdays 1:00-3:00 p.m. Use this time to move a creative project forward (knit, scrapbook, sketch, journal, write) or complete a task (write those thank you notes, sign the kids up for camp, organize your photos) in community.

Horror Writing Workshop with Gillian Daniels

Whispers in The Attic: Writing Horror Short Stories with Gillian Daniels This event is a fundraiser for the 2026 Salem Literary Festival; all proceeds will be used to fund festival programming. This October, climb the stairs to The Attic at the Salem Athenaeum and step into a world of shadows, story craft, and suspense. In this immersive workshop on horror short story writing, author Gillian Daniels will guide participants through the art of building atmosphere, shaping tension, and crafting fiction that lingers long after the final page. Through discussion, generative prompts, and hands-on exercises, writers will learn how to transform fleeting ideas into fully formed nightmares, drawing inspiration from place, history, and imagination in one of Salem’s most atmospheric settings. Each participant will receive a complimentary copy of Gillian Daniels’ upcoming book, Jenny Will Eat You Now, releasing this summer. Perfect for both new and experienced writers ready to step deeper into the dark. Space is limited. Gillian Daniels’ poetry and short fiction have appeared in Nightmare Magazine, Strange Horizons, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies, among more than thirty other publications. She was born in Des Moines, Iowa, grew up in Greater Cleveland, Ohio, and she now writes, works, and haunts the streets in the Boston area of Massachusetts. She also makes comics and zines, searches out little-known horror and indie movies, and definitely wants to see pictures of your cat. Tuition: $200.00 Register

The Making of a Witch – A Play in One Act

How wealthy merchant, Philip English, became the accused. Join us for the truth about Philip English based on our extensive research through our own church archives and historical documents from Salem. This work, written by Rory O’Brien and edited by Marilynne Roach, will be appreciated for its authenticity and power to convey the essence of the man who not only built a successful career in young Salem, but also narrowly escaped the witch trials with his life and founded a church that still stands and serves today. All proceeds benefit the ministries & historic preservation of St. Peter’s. Two showtimes available on Saturdays: First Show: 2:00 – 2:45 pm Second Show: 4:00 – 4:45 pm

Misfortune: Salem's Parlor Magic Experience

Are you feeling lucky? Join in on Salem’s parlor magic experience! Misfortune is an hour-long theatrical magic show conjured by magician Evan Northrup. Set in Salem, Massachusetts, it walks the eerie line between superstition and luck — blending immersive storytelling with astonishing sleight-of-hand. Presented in the historic Salem Athenaeum reading room, seating is intentionally limited to preserve an intimate atmosphere. Please plan ahead so you don’t miss your chance to experience Salem’s premier parlor magic show. Run time 60 minutes Choose your date when you sign up: September 26, October 3, 4, 10, or 11 $30 per person Please note: The building entrance is located up one flight of stairs. Intended for adults; the curious aged 13 and over are welcome. Sign up Ticket Policies Tickets are refundable if canceled up to 24 hours before the event. By attending an event at the Salem Athenaeum, you may be photographed or recorded. Your presence indicates consent to the use of your image, voice, and name in any media related to the Salem Athenaeum’s work, including on websites, social media, news, and promotional materials. If you have questions regarding accessibility, please email [email protected]

The Shadows of the Seven Gables

· The House of the Seven Gables

GHOSTS, CURSES, AND MURDER! Embrace the spookier side of The House of the Seven Gables with an after-hours candlelit journey through the mansion. Experience the home as it was described by Salem author Nathaniel Hawthorne in his 1851 novel – an old Salem mansion that is haunted by a family curse, mysterious deaths, and ghosts of its past. Tickets are $50 for the general public and $40 for Gables members. THIS TOUR DATE IS SOLD OUT!

Sunday, October 4

Meters for Liters: Notch Run Club

· Notch Brewing

Earn Notch swag when you complete 10 runs... Meters for Liters is a weekly group run from the Tap Room. This is not a race, just a chance to get out and earn some cold beer. When we get back to the brewery, there will be plenty of beer and free pretzels for runners! On Sundays, choose from a 5k or 10k distance. Open to ALL abilities. No sign up is required but you do have the option to "sign in" before the run. Meet at the Tap Room at 12:00m. Route maps and singlets: https://www.notchbrewing.com/meters-for-liters If you use Strava, join the club here: https://www.strava.com/clubs/notch We also have a Facebook group open to all: https://www.facebook.com/groups/372500192904265/ Instagram: @metersforliters

Misfortune: Salem's Parlor Magic Experience

Are you feeling lucky? Join in on Salem’s parlor magic experience! Misfortune is an hour-long theatrical magic show conjured by magician Evan Northrup. Set in Salem, Massachusetts, it walks the eerie line between superstition and luck — blending immersive storytelling with astonishing sleight-of-hand. Presented in the historic Salem Athenaeum reading room, seating is intentionally limited to preserve an intimate atmosphere. Please plan ahead so you don’t miss your chance to experience Salem’s premier parlor magic show. Run time 60 minutes Choose your date when you sign up: September 26, October 3, 4, 10, or 11 $30 per person Please note: The building entrance is located up one flight of stairs. Intended for adults; the curious aged 13 and over are welcome. Sign up Ticket Policies Tickets are refundable if canceled up to 24 hours before the event. By attending an event at the Salem Athenaeum, you may be photographed or recorded. Your presence indicates consent to the use of your image, voice, and name in any media related to the Salem Athenaeum’s work, including on websites, social media, news, and promotional materials. If you have questions regarding accessibility, please email [email protected]

The Shadows of the Seven Gables

· The House of the Seven Gables

GHOSTS, CURSES, AND MURDER! Embrace the spookier side of The House of the Seven Gables with an after-hours candlelit journey through the mansion. Experience the home as it was described by Salem author Nathaniel Hawthorne in his 1851 novel – an old Salem mansion that is haunted by a family curse, mysterious deaths, and ghosts of its past. Tickets are $50 for the general public and $40 for Gables members. THIS TOUR DATE IS SOLD OUT!