This morning the last Essex Street evidences of Halloween were loaded onto a flatbed truck. A man named "Wind" and myself loaded scaffolding from the Fountain Stage onto the Lynn Ladder and Scaffolding truck. This is the hard mark of the end of Haunted Happenings events for me each year. It's not really over until the stage rolls away down the street - not to return for another 11 months.This is also the time I look back and reconsider the events over the last month, tells the stories, and publish the adventures.
From the first weekend on Saturday, October 2nd the crowds were heavier than usual for the beginning of the month. The final weekend Saturday crowds were estimated at 40,000 by the police and 60,000-70,000 on Halloween Night.
For four weekends we ran live music on the streets of Salem, we sponsored the 15th annual Salem Halloween Children's Day, we had teams of people doing dream interpretation and "spiritual readings" for four weekends, we gave away free hot cocoa, and hosted the international photography project WDYDWYD? by asking people "Why do you do what you do?" and taking pictures of them with their answers.
People who have served alongside us this year came from as far away as Cheltenham, England and Caernarfon, North Wales to as close as Beverly, Massachusetts. Many of these people are writing their stories and sending them to us so we can share them with you in the upcoming days.
For now you can see a few favorite moments from our barefoot monk in residence - Jeff Gentry on his blog.
If you would like to see pictures from the Salem news and read about the Halloween season from the perspective of the city newspaper go here.
