We're all going on a witch hunt

There's a misconception that witches were burnt at the stake in Salem, Massachusetts. But that's a bit macabre, isn't it? Relax, they were hanged. In all, 20 would-be witches were put to death in and around 1692, accused by their neighbours of wielding supernatural powers, courtesy of the devil. All of it you've seen in Hollywood movies; think The Crucible, The Revenant and Hocus Pocus.

Today, 331 years on, Salem is still making a killing out of those witches. They're why I'm here... let's face it, they're why everybody's here. More than two million tourists visited Salem in 2022. More than 30 per cent of those come during October, when the town celebrates Halloween every day of the month with witch trial re-enactments, late-night ghost hunts, horror movies in the street and ghost tours, in the largest celebration of Halloween anywhere on Earth.

Even Salem's police cars are adorned with witch logos, the primary school off its main street is called Witchcraft Heights and the sports teams at its high school are known as The Witches.

There's a Witch House (the original home of one of the judges in the witch trials), a Witch History Museum (a Romanesque church full of life-sized dioramas which re-enact the trials), a Witch Trials Memorial, a Gallows Hill (the site of the public hangings) and more than 15 stores selling witches' costumes (at my last count).

If Salem sounds like a tacky horror Disneyland for grown-ups who like dressing up as witches - that's selling it short. I might've come for the gruesome history, but I'm sticking around because I like the place. Arrive into Salem by 45-minute ferry from Boston, like I did, and Salem looks like an historic village you'd find on a coastline somewhere in Europe.

Its laneways are cobbled, its houses are 300 years old and it has townsfolk buried in its cemetery who were among the first pilgrims to set foot on America (on the Mayflower in 1619). Its harbour - which teems with yachts - was once the leading seaport in the Americas and there are 67 quality restaurants in a town you can traverse easily by foot, or reach by trolley bus.

But in 1692, an 11-year-old girl had a fit which kick-started the most famous witch hunt in history, condemning Salem to an infamy still strong three centuries on. A local doctor suspected the devil caused the child's convulsions, triggering a descent into paranoia where no one in town was safe. More than 200 townsfolk were accused of witchcraft - in a village of about 600 (one in three), with 20 executed (one in 30).

I could get all philosophical and tell you I'm here because Salem shows us what happens when xenophobia takes over communities. That I'm here to learn from the past, what can happen in our future, or right now when we turn on those around us. But I'm just here because of Hocus Pocus.

Getting there: Salem is about a four-hour drive north-west from New York City, and a 40-minute drive or 50-minute ferry ride from Boston.

Where to stay: The 44-room, mid-century-styled boutique Hotel Salem (thehotelsalem.com) in downtown Essex Street has rooms from $US165 ($250).

Explore more: salem.org