Includes index

Introduction: Salem for a spell -- Welcome to Witch City -- On a witch hunt -- Witch way to the gallows -- Wax witches -- The art of selling Salem -- Witches vs. pirates -- Grave magistrates and judges not -- A walk on the weird side -- Fictitious witches -- The real witches of Essex County -- More than witches to fear in Salem -- That's Hawthorne, with a "w," as in "witch" -- The "city" in Witch City -- Witch citizens -- H-day -- Epilogue: Salem after the spell

"A single event in its 400 years of history--the Salem Witch Trials of 1692--forever changed the city's character and reputation in America. Salem has never left the shadow of those days but instead thrives as a haven of the bizarre and a modern outpost for the weird. Despite its year-round eldritch spirit, Salem is a seasonal town--and its season happens to be Halloween. Every October, this small city of 40,000 swells to close to half a million as witches, goblins, ghouls, and ghosts (and their admirers) descend on Essex Street. For the fall of 2015, occult enthusiast J.W. Ocker moved his family of four to downtown Salem to experience firsthand a season with the witch, visiting all of its historical sites and macabre attractions. In between, he interviews its leaders and citizens, its entrepreneurs and visitors, its street performers and Wiccans, its psychics and critics. From these exchanges, he creates a picture of this unique place and the people who revel in, or merely weather, its witchiness. Experience the thrills (and chills) of Halloween through the eyes of a curious and adventurous outsider in the city that has defined this day for generations."--Back cover