Ocker doesn't just hang around the witches or the goblins and ghouls of Salem, he devotes time to its history as a port city for pirates, as the home of literary greats Hawthorne and Lovecraft, and a look at what life in Salem, as a city like anywhere else, is truly like for the local government, municipal workers, and police-especially what that looks like when a million people flood their 8 square miles for Halloween.

While I probably won't be jumping into other volumes on the travel writing shelf unless I have a singular interest, this was an awesome blend of history and attractions.

This is probably the first travelogue I've read and the subject matter certainly has a lot to do with that. Overall, a decent travel book to inspire people to check out a legendary American city and have some spooky fun. The second half was more entertaining, hearing from real life residents. I cannot pin point the exact reason that it bothered me but, I'll go with mildly boring. While I enjoy history, I didn't exactly enjoy the manner in which the author recited the lore. The first half of the book is an examination of the city's entire history, the second half gets more into the weird stuff. One half thinks they are disgracing the legacy of the victims of the witch trials, while the other half thinks that they are honoring them. One where half the residents want to be known for arts and culture and the other half is proud of all the Halloween fun. It was interesting to find out that Salem only really began putting an emphasis on Halloween a few decades ago. Now, this isn't the book to pick up if you're looking to learn about the Witch Trials like myself, but it is the one to pick up if you've been wondering just how weird Salem gets around Halloween. We all know the basic outlines of the Witch Trials but this book just proved to myself that I don't know enough. The allure of Salem, Massachusetts is a large one if you're someone who revels in Halloween and/or history.

A Season with the Witch by J.W. Ocker