It’s always interesting living and working in Salem (although I don’t live there anymore technically). We’ve all become used to the witches and how they’re treated as mainstream. We’re told that Wicca is just another religion, nothing sinister or unusual. Paganism is a religion of peace, we’re told. And so, in the spirit of tolerance and diversity, we’re supposed to accept them. (I wonder if there will be a witch at the next Assisi peace meeting.)
Now that witchcraft is humdrum, how can we push the envelope further? How about vampirism?On Halloween, a group of witches will be holding a vampires’ masquerade ball in Salem. The posters advertising it went up around town. They depict a scantily clad woman with her neck and chest covered in blood and advertise that flogging and a “burlesque” show will be featured. The organizers of the event claim that there is a thriving subculture of 1,000 vampires between Salem and Boston and that a key part of the festivities is the connection between blood and sex.
Vampires, folks. In case you weren’t aware, there are people who believe themselves to be or at least pretend to be vampires. They don’t go biting people on the neck, but they obtain human blood and consume it. Some of them wear fake fangs, while some go whole hog and have their own teeth surgically altered.