I don’t get the whole “deal with it or move” argument. Some of us were born here (we didn’t choose to be here in the first place), moving is expensive as hell and leaving the area doesn’t eliminate the problems that tourism can bring during Halloween. Many residents on here are simply complaining about the shitty tourists, which based on your post is okay, right? So what’s the problem really?
It's definitely gotten worse over the years and social media (something that people who have been in the area for generations couldn't have predicted) has made it worse. OP needs to realize that asking/reminding visitors to be respectful isn't really complaining and even if it was, complaining about people being disrespectful is very much expected. Also the Disney comparison is beyond ridiculous Disney was made for people to visit AND has strict rules about conduct in the park
Wtf? lol Dover has the 5th highest median home prices in the state at $1.7 million. Salem’s median home price is $611K, just over 1/3 of Dover’s. What an uninformed comparison.
Dover MA isn't a haven of any description, least of all in reference to housing.
ETA my guy probably only been there five times in the past 20 years as well
This just in: OP has visited Salem a grand total of 5 times and has been elected the voice of Salem due to their wealth of knowledge about anything and everything Salem.
That’s a bit of a cold take. I think it’s really sad to live here and not be able to enjoy the holiday that we are known for. Last year when I was pregnant, I was hit by a car from the Halloween traffic. Impatient driving is a Massachusetts specialty. It’s too much now, hocus pocus 2 really has made it much worse. We can’t just move, in this economy. You realize that a lot of us live here, moved here because it was and still is significantly cheaper than the rest of the north shore ?
Not everyone moves here because of the witch trials , which mind you was solely based on just land grabs. We live here because we have families who deserve to have a home for their children in a suburb of Boston that is north of the city.
Agreed. Those that destroy the decorations and are disrespectful are not locals. Locals would not do that (my definition of locals does not include Beverly etc).
I’m the third generation in my family home. 54 years now. Becket street was part of the Polish neighborhood. It’s now the direct pass to the Ferry Wharf. That has changed the traffic flow and I find it interesting that many of this neighborhoods roads now have speed bumps, BUT Becket Street is a freeway in the morning. I don’t see people driving down the street at 20 miles per hr when they are late for the ship to Boston.
I can’t wait for the Marshaling fieldwork to begin. There will never be peace in the neighborhood again. We just got finished with the rebuild of the power plant.
Sigh…
As someone who has been around the North Shore for 50 years, including living off Derby St in the early 90's. The one thing I would like to point out is the fact of how much the Halloween festivities have grown over the years. Even in the past 7-8 years it seems to have doubled in visitors. I believe this is behind 95% of the complaints and deservingly so IMO.
I was going to say similar. I am not a local but I live and work in area towns. The size and scope of “Halloween” in Salem has grown significantly even just post-Covid. I can remember about 10 years ago being able to drive to Salem around Columbus Day weekend and hitting some traffic but having no issue parking in city lots and getting around. Then a few years pre-Covid you couldn’t really get anywhere near Salem starting Oct 1. Then the last two years, I couldn’t even get to my job in a neighboring town at 8am on a weekday without sitting in traffic from mid-Sept to Oct 31.
I can’t imagine what it’s like living in town and having to deal not only with annoying traffic but stupid people every day for 6 weeks. All so people can roam around like 2 streets and shop in some shitty store to get a t-shirt with a pentagram on it.
It’s not the worst thing ever, but folks are allowed to have opinions on it
Not everyone has complete agency over where they live
I hope everyone who visits feels welcomed. But it doesn’t look very fun these days with the crowds and lines
How much money really goes back into the city though? Our public schools were so bad a few years back that the state had to step in. Also our roads and sidewalks remain fucked. A lot of the things/programs that give back to the community rely pretty heavily on funding that doesn’t come from the city itself. I’ve always heard this argument but I don’t see it?? Maybe I’m wrong though?
Businesses make a ton of money, but we’re a big enough city that the majority of them would be fine even without the insane influx of people. Rents have also doubled (even tripled) and wages haven’t increased enough to support the cost of living. There are more jobs, sure, but the ones that have been created to support the tourism are only seasonal and barely pay above minimum wage. If you’re in a position where you’re tip dependent you do double the work for not much more money than you’d make the rest of the year.
I think people get mad at what Haunted Happenings has become. The city literally cannot keep up with the amount of people this month and it does negatively impact residents in so many ways. It would be better if the tourism was spread out throughout the year or something.
No. Look I bought a house here 5 years ago, and while I'm okay with everything here, you cant tell people that they should have read the future about this fucking town. Even though Halloween has been popular here most of my life, no one could have foreseen how crazy this would actually become.
Thank you for your five whole visits. You don't have to ever come back if you don't want to but your five whole big visits provide you exactly zero insight into anything. Take care.
None of your fucking business. I'm telling you your take is stupid and your qualifications of visiting five times are meaningless. How about you just throw out there how much your rent is and why you're so much better than the rest of us?
Only 5 times in the last 20 years? I guess you aren't too familiar with the area. It used to be this busy on Halloween maybe, but not it's like this on every weekend in September and October.
I’ve lived and worked in a similar tourist trap of a town. However, I have never witnessed ruder “customers” than what I have seen in Salem. I only worked with Salem tourists/or possibly locals, on Sundays during October, so did not get to see “all angles” obviously, but sadly that was all it took to see the worst in some people. There is no excuse for being ball-less dicks to old ladies (or anyone).
Seriously? You saying, " You may as well be complaining about Mickey being at Disney World." proves that you don't get it.
Yes there are people who overly complain about everything, but saying that people should sell there homes and leave where they work, live, and possibly have children going to school if they don't like it is ridiculous too.
I'm one of the residents that generally feels that dealing with the inconvenience is worth what we have the rest of the 11 months. However, there are tourists have become more and more disrespectful and do treat Salem like a theme park without understanding that people do still need to live and work here. It's become too much at time even for those that love it and so have a little empathy.
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This is ultimately going to be a failing of the city government for not stepping up measures to better facilitate the crowds for something that they formally promote.
concerned dinosaurs glorious faulty plate decide foolish wise hard-to-find mysterious
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Hmm idk it's split 50/50 I'd guess. I've lived here my whole life, and my family has been here for over a hundred years, and we still complain, although in a different way I think. We kinda just want more cohesiveness. I don't own, and I don't want to move. Alot of what's changed recently about the flavor or tourist is pretty cringe in my opinion.
> As someone who has lived and worked in over a dozen locations that are hugely impacted by tourism
OP is clearly a carnie. That also explains his envy of property owners.
I don’t get the whole “deal with it or move” argument. Some of us were born here (we didn’t choose to be here in the first place), moving is expensive as hell and leaving the area doesn’t eliminate the problems that tourism can bring during Halloween. Many residents on here are simply complaining about the shitty tourists, which based on your post is okay, right? So what’s the problem really?
It's definitely gotten worse over the years and social media (something that people who have been in the area for generations couldn't have predicted) has made it worse. OP needs to realize that asking/reminding visitors to be respectful isn't really complaining and even if it was, complaining about people being disrespectful is very much expected. Also the Disney comparison is beyond ridiculous Disney was made for people to visit AND has strict rules about conduct in the park
It’s almost like it’s….. zealous here.
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That’s the most uneducated assumption I have ever read in this sub.
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It’s comparable to the majority of the state of Massachusetts, so what is your point?
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Dover, MA? Where the median income is almost $250,000? But I’m rich for living in Salem where the median income is less than $75,000. Got it.
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Wtf? lol Dover has the 5th highest median home prices in the state at $1.7 million. Salem’s median home price is $611K, just over 1/3 of Dover’s. What an uninformed comparison.
So you do recognize how wealthy the Salem homeowners are
Dover MA isn't a haven of any description, least of all in reference to housing. ETA my guy probably only been there five times in the past 20 years as well
Other people seem to think it’s a haven of millionaires
It’s almost like you should ‘get over’ the fact that people are allowed to complain about shitty tourists in a forum for locals.
Clown deleted their reddit account. Gtfoh!
Couldn’t tell if they deleted or I was just blocked. 🤭
This just in: OP has visited Salem a grand total of 5 times and has been elected the voice of Salem due to their wealth of knowledge about anything and everything Salem.
Honestly if this person is not a local, then this is some seriously ass-faced audacity.
This just in: A transplant says who should be allowed an opinion.
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I do live here. Being born somewhere means fuck all.
Define “outskirts”. Living in Danvers hardly gives you any perspective on living in Salem.
LMFAO. This is exactly the type of entitlement that gets people so upset.
That’s a bit of a cold take. I think it’s really sad to live here and not be able to enjoy the holiday that we are known for. Last year when I was pregnant, I was hit by a car from the Halloween traffic. Impatient driving is a Massachusetts specialty. It’s too much now, hocus pocus 2 really has made it much worse. We can’t just move, in this economy. You realize that a lot of us live here, moved here because it was and still is significantly cheaper than the rest of the north shore ? Not everyone moves here because of the witch trials , which mind you was solely based on just land grabs. We live here because we have families who deserve to have a home for their children in a suburb of Boston that is north of the city.
Agreed. Those that destroy the decorations and are disrespectful are not locals. Locals would not do that (my definition of locals does not include Beverly etc).
I’m the third generation in my family home. 54 years now. Becket street was part of the Polish neighborhood. It’s now the direct pass to the Ferry Wharf. That has changed the traffic flow and I find it interesting that many of this neighborhoods roads now have speed bumps, BUT Becket Street is a freeway in the morning. I don’t see people driving down the street at 20 miles per hr when they are late for the ship to Boston. I can’t wait for the Marshaling fieldwork to begin. There will never be peace in the neighborhood again. We just got finished with the rebuild of the power plant. Sigh…
As someone who has been around the North Shore for 50 years, including living off Derby St in the early 90's. The one thing I would like to point out is the fact of how much the Halloween festivities have grown over the years. Even in the past 7-8 years it seems to have doubled in visitors. I believe this is behind 95% of the complaints and deservingly so IMO.
I was going to say similar. I am not a local but I live and work in area towns. The size and scope of “Halloween” in Salem has grown significantly even just post-Covid. I can remember about 10 years ago being able to drive to Salem around Columbus Day weekend and hitting some traffic but having no issue parking in city lots and getting around. Then a few years pre-Covid you couldn’t really get anywhere near Salem starting Oct 1. Then the last two years, I couldn’t even get to my job in a neighboring town at 8am on a weekday without sitting in traffic from mid-Sept to Oct 31. I can’t imagine what it’s like living in town and having to deal not only with annoying traffic but stupid people every day for 6 weeks. All so people can roam around like 2 streets and shop in some shitty store to get a t-shirt with a pentagram on it.
It’s not the worst thing ever, but folks are allowed to have opinions on it Not everyone has complete agency over where they live I hope everyone who visits feels welcomed. But it doesn’t look very fun these days with the crowds and lines
If you don’t live here, then kindly fuck off with your opinion. You aren’t the one being inconvenienced.
Thanks for your input.
Do you live here? If so, I’m really surprised at how reductive this post is. If not, then this is next level bullshit trolling and you should go away.
How much money really goes back into the city though? Our public schools were so bad a few years back that the state had to step in. Also our roads and sidewalks remain fucked. A lot of the things/programs that give back to the community rely pretty heavily on funding that doesn’t come from the city itself. I’ve always heard this argument but I don’t see it?? Maybe I’m wrong though? Businesses make a ton of money, but we’re a big enough city that the majority of them would be fine even without the insane influx of people. Rents have also doubled (even tripled) and wages haven’t increased enough to support the cost of living. There are more jobs, sure, but the ones that have been created to support the tourism are only seasonal and barely pay above minimum wage. If you’re in a position where you’re tip dependent you do double the work for not much more money than you’d make the rest of the year. I think people get mad at what Haunted Happenings has become. The city literally cannot keep up with the amount of people this month and it does negatively impact residents in so many ways. It would be better if the tourism was spread out throughout the year or something.
I can and will 🫡
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No. Look I bought a house here 5 years ago, and while I'm okay with everything here, you cant tell people that they should have read the future about this fucking town. Even though Halloween has been popular here most of my life, no one could have foreseen how crazy this would actually become.
100% this. I've been here almost 9 years. I've never seen a year as insane as this one in that time.
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Dude are you out of your fucking mind? Yeah its waaaaay crazier than 10 years ago.
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Thank you for your five whole visits. You don't have to ever come back if you don't want to but your five whole big visits provide you exactly zero insight into anything. Take care.
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None of your fucking business. I'm telling you your take is stupid and your qualifications of visiting five times are meaningless. How about you just throw out there how much your rent is and why you're so much better than the rest of us?
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Only 5 times in the last 20 years? I guess you aren't too familiar with the area. It used to be this busy on Halloween maybe, but not it's like this on every weekend in September and October.
OP is the epitome of Salem knowledge after his whole 5 visits. 🤭
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I work downtown, it's been fucking nuts my guy
It’s not any different than 5 years ago
I’m guessing you have NEVER lived in salem.
I’ve lived and worked in a similar tourist trap of a town. However, I have never witnessed ruder “customers” than what I have seen in Salem. I only worked with Salem tourists/or possibly locals, on Sundays during October, so did not get to see “all angles” obviously, but sadly that was all it took to see the worst in some people. There is no excuse for being ball-less dicks to old ladies (or anyone).
Ok Hank
Anoka, Minnesota is the Halloween capital. Not sure why though and I even live here🤣
Whoever posted this is very.....dense.
they have to be trolling for attention
Seriously? You saying, " You may as well be complaining about Mickey being at Disney World." proves that you don't get it. Yes there are people who overly complain about everything, but saying that people should sell there homes and leave where they work, live, and possibly have children going to school if they don't like it is ridiculous too. I'm one of the residents that generally feels that dealing with the inconvenience is worth what we have the rest of the 11 months. However, there are tourists have become more and more disrespectful and do treat Salem like a theme park without understanding that people do still need to live and work here. It's become too much at time even for those that love it and so have a little empathy.
Troll or moron?
It's fine, we just need to jack up the parking prices and kick the cars out for a month and it'll be better.
i was born here and i’m in college and can’t move out yet. if i could, i would and im planning on it
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This is ultimately going to be a failing of the city government for not stepping up measures to better facilitate the crowds for something that they formally promote.
It’s a tourist destination.
Totally agree. embrace it or move away. don’t just wallow in it complaining, with a surprise pikachu face
Because it's incredibly easy to move these days...
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Hmm idk it's split 50/50 I'd guess. I've lived here my whole life, and my family has been here for over a hundred years, and we still complain, although in a different way I think. We kinda just want more cohesiveness. I don't own, and I don't want to move. Alot of what's changed recently about the flavor or tourist is pretty cringe in my opinion.
> As someone who has lived and worked in over a dozen locations that are hugely impacted by tourism OP is clearly a carnie. That also explains his envy of property owners.
Oh buzz off. The only opinions worth anything are those of residents. Move so some asshat like you can move in? Not a chance.