Every October ghoulies and ghosties and long-legged beasties (and witches, of course) indulge in month-long merriment in the town synonymous with American witchcraft: Salem, Massachusetts. Oddity-enthusiast J.W. Ocker moved his family to downtown Salem for the month of October to experience this witchtastic revelry with tours of historical sites, wax-heavy witch museums, and all manner of creepy cemeteries. From the Haunted Happenings Grand Parade on October 1 to the final fireworks on Halloween, it would be thirty-one days of Halloween hoopla.
In addition to his love of all things weird and spooky, J.W. Ocker happens to be an Edgar Award-winning author, so readers are also treated (or maybe you were tricked, if you thought the book was just about Halloween) to a serious exploration of how a single historical event – the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 – ended up defining this once wealthy, cosmopolitan seaport. After all, Salem is the birthplace of Nathaniel Hawthorne, the home of the world-class Peabody Essex Museum, and a Maritime National Historic Site – so why focus on the Witch Trials (and why so much wax?)
With lots of cheeky authorial asides, Ocker ably examines the cheesy tackiness of witch tourism, the true and sobering facts of the Witch Trials, the issues surrounding city branding, and well, ever so much more. A Season with the Witch will surprise and delight you and probably convince you that a trip to Salem is definitely in order…just not in October.
Julie Nelson
Constant reader, book selector, shameless promoter of good reads - these are just a few of the things I do as a Collection Development Professional. I love sharing the hidden gems in our nonfiction collection!