Haunted Happenings is nearly here!

It all starts on Thursday! October 1st is the kick-off of the 28th annual Salem Haunted Happenings Festival. Are you ready? Can you feel it?

I can!

The corn stalks are up around town. The Haunted Happenings street banners are going up. The porta-potties are on their way. Halloween is, indeed, upon us.

I invite you to keep tabs on Salem.org's sister site, HauntedHappenings.org. We will be posting Haunted Happenings information, stories, and photos on that site throughout the month of August. Some details will certainly leak over to Salem.org, but the most comprehensive information is on HauntedHappenings.org.

You can also be a fan and a follower of Haunted Happenings on Twitter and Facebook!

The month begins with the SALEM HAUNTED HAPPENINGS GRAND PARADE, presented by the Salem Chamber of Commerce, on Thursday, October 1st. The parade will step off from Shetland Properties at 6:30 PM, and it will then wind its way from Congress Street to Derby to Lafayette to Front to Washington to Essex to Hawthorne Boulevard and into the Common. (See map at right).

Thousands of Salem's kids - from preschool to college - will march in the parade, all dressed to fit the theme Night at the Museum.

Click here for street closure and parking ban information.

Click here for a parking map of downtown Salem.



For the complete calendar of events in October, visit HauntedHappenings.org or email us at info@hauntedhappenings.org and we would be happy to send you a printed brochure. The brochures are also available at the regional Simon malls, including North Shore Mall (Peabody), Liberty Tree Mall (Danvers), Square One Mall (Saugus), and Burlington Mall.



Happy Haunted Happenings, everyone! I hope you can join us for this festive month of fall, New England, and quintessential Salem.

Destination Salem's 2009 Guide to Haunted Happenings is Here!

You're invited to the 28th Annual Salem Haunted Happenings, October 1 - November 1, 2009. I hope you can join us!

The brochures, which arrived in Salem yesterday, are being distributed far and wide. If you have already requested information on visiting Salem in October, your brochure is going into the mail today.

If you have not yet requested the schedule for Haunted Happenings, drop us an email at info@salem.org. We would be happy to send you a schedule!

You can also download the brochure from HauntedHappenings.org. While you are visiting HauntedHappenings.org, check out the calendar of events, business listings, and that blog.

There will be lots of magic to discover this October in Salem, Massachusetts! I hope you can join us.

KISS 108 Games on Essex Street

The Haunted Biz Baz is winding down - and what a Biz Baz it was - but the weekend is not over yet. Join Kiss 108 and General Motors on Monday, October 13 from 12 - 2pm For their Fall Games. You'll have the chance to win win $200 in free gas and dozens of other prizes in the KISS 108 Fall Games. Hear great music, pick up free gear, check out the newest in hybrid and fuel efficient vehicles from GM, and take play to win great prizes including a grand prize of $200 in free gas.

Back to the Biz Baz for a second - holy smoke! Thanks to everyone who came out for Columbus Day Weekend in Salem. The streets were packed, people were having a great time, and I can't believe how many skeleton shirts with the over-the-face hoods I saw. I hope you all had fun!

The 27th Annual Salem Haunted Happenings

It's that time again... Salem Haunted Happenings is a mere 3 weeks away. Destination Salem's Official Guide & Schedule of Events for the 27th Annual Salem Haunted Happenings is available. If you haven't received one already - 9,000 of them went out direct mail on September 3rd, but they went bulk-rate, so you may not have received it yet - drop us a line at info@hauntedhappenings.org and we are happy to send a schedule to you. Please put "Haunted Happenings Guide Request" in the subject of your email. It makes for easier sorting!

The Haunted Happenings schedule this year is awesome. Really. I've seen 10 of the 27 Haunted Happenings, and they just keep getting better. The month-long festival will feature more than 140 events, venues, and attractions beginning October 2 and concluding on November 1.

Returning perennial favorites include the Opening Grand Parade and the Haunted Biz Baz Street Fair, both presented by the Salem Chamber of Commerce; The Spirits of the Gables and Legacy of the Hanging Judge dramatic presentations at The House of the Seven Gables; Eerie Evenings at The Witch House, and The Hawthorne Hotel's annual Halloween Costume Ball (with a CarnEvil theme this year). New additions to the schedule include a Children's Haunting on the Common with a hay bale maze, painted pumpkins, and games; the Witch City Haunted Oktoberfest presented by Ipswich Ale; and "Wharf Knots" at Pickering Wharf.

In addition to requesting the schedule via mail, it is available at the National Park Service Salem Regional Visitor Center (2 New Liberty Street, Salem), and throughout Salem. The HauntedHappeings.org website is being updated as I write, and it will include printable PDFs and listings of the schedule, events, extended hours, parking, traffic, and so on.

Discover the magic of Salem Haunted Happenings - October 2 - November 2, 2008.