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Photos: Salem’s annual Halloween celebration is as spooky and surreal as ever

Witch City could wind up seeing 2 million visitors this year, each weirder and wackier than the next.

An extraterrestrial wandered the streets of Salem on the day before Halloween. Jessica Rinaldi / The Boston Globe

By Madeleine Aitken

1 minute to read
Life in Salem:

Salem, known affectionately as Witch City, always draws a crowd for Halloween. But this year, the numbers have been higher than ever.

In the first two weeks of October, 466,000 people visited Salem, up from 372,800 in 2021. The total number of visitors last year was 1.9, but as of Oct. 19, Salem had already seen 1.6 million visitors for 2022 — well before Halloween even arrived.

The Halloween celebrations continued this past weekend in advance of the big day. See some of the costumes that filled the streets as visitors streamed in:

People took to the streets wearing their Halloween best in Salem the day before Halloween. Jessica Rinaldi / The Boston Globe
An extraterrestrial wandered the streets of Salem on the day before Halloween. Jessica Rinaldi / The Boston Globe
Anne Sweeney, of Danvers (front) laughed as she led a flock of flamingos through Salem Sunday. The group started with three flamingos and has blossomed to nine in the three years they’ve been doing this. Jessica Rinaldi / The Boston Globe
Elvis takes a phone call on the Salem Common on the day before Halloween. Jessica Rinaldi / The Boston Globe
Jack Skellington from Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas walks the streets of Salem. Jessica Rinaldi / The Boston Globe
Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf walk the streets of Salem Sunday. Jessica Rinaldi / The Boston Globe
A woman poses for a photo in a guillotine the day before Halloween in Salem. Jessica Rinaldi / The Boston Globe
Joshua Madruga, of Swampscott, dressed as Beetlejuice Sunday in Salem. Jessica Rinaldi / The Boston Globe
A clown carried a chainsaw through the Witch City Mall the day before Halloween in Salem. Jessica Rinaldi / The Boston Globe
Brystal Benton, 3, of Delaware looked up at Arielle Kaplan who was dressed as Princess Anna from Frozen before the start of The Good Witch Parade Sunday in Salem. Jessica Rinaldi / The Boston Globe

Others took to Twitter to share their costumes.

https://twitter.com/yasbenslimane/status/1586581276911230977
https://twitter.com/cosbrarian/status/1586386233143566337

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