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Meet the vampire who went viral during a visit to Salem
Matthew Pruno went viral after a fan’s Facebook post about his mesmerizing look took off — now the Long Island cosplayer is embracing his inner vampire.
Matthew Pruno just became everyone’s favorite vampire.
It started with a user posting his photo on Wicked Salem, MA- Witch City Facebook group, asking people to identify him, “Spent the weekend in Salem and while I saw so much and loved it all this vampire man has not left my mind. Does anyone know if he has TikTok or anything I can follow?” the comment wrote.
Within hours, Facebook users had found his social media account. “They did like their FBI investigation,” Pruno laughed.
“He looks like he belongs on the cover of a book,” one commenter wrote. Another commented, “Now we all will be following him…”
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It was only when Pruno arrived back home to Long Island, New York after a long weekend in Salem, that he began receiving messages all over his social media. Within the week, he garnered a combined following of over 15,000 across TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. Before, his followers had just been people he knew.
“This was definitely a surprise,” Pruno said. “[Virality] was never something that I pushed or went out of my way to do, so when this all came about, it was a whole new realm. When people say it’s like an overnight thing and it can happen to anybody, it’s true.”
Pruno has been visiting Salem for 10 years and loves that no one there is afraid to fully embrace Halloween.
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“I love coming to Massachusetts,” he said. “It’s good to be surrounded by other people who have similar interests and share the same amount of love that you have for this time of year. I love the energy.”
He started dressing up, or cosplaying, the character of Louis from “Interview with a Vampire” on his first visit to Salem. He thrifted most of the outfit and then, over time, he started investing more in details like his eye-catching bright yellow-white colored contacts.
“The contacts are prescription, so it worked out because you can’t really get prescription contacts in colors, they’re very limited,” Pruno said.
It was clearly a good investment. One popular Facebook comment on his photo wrote, “Wow those eyes will enchant you.” Another commented, “Wow, that eye contact.”
Pruno might now be a Salem celebrity, but he wasn’t always able to cut out judgement he might face for loving dressing up. He’s learned to embrace his love of Halloween, because “life is short.”
“I always felt, in the beginning, strange, like putting on this costume and walking through the streets and feeling like people would judge me or be like ‘Why is he doing that?,’” Pruno said. “But as the years go on, I just felt more and more comfortable and let go of all those negative thoughts.”
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Pruno has attended New York City Halloween Parades and Comic Cons in both Louis and a Freddy Krueger costumes, but this year’s viral fame has him doubling down on vampire life. He’s already updated his Instagram bio to include “vampire” — and plans to attend next year’s Endless Night Salem.
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