Salem

I never know where I am going to point my camera next.

It is usually related to beaches, (sand sculptures, kites etc.), but sometimes my lens drifts towards things like flowers and, of course, sun beams!

However, this fall it went very, very far afield — I took photos of skeletons!

This gallery showcases a few of them (“repurposed” from Corn Mazed).

You can also see it on Kuula.

Yeah, not my “usual” fare!

How the heck did this happen?!?!

It started simply enough.

My pictures in early September were my usual things like mums.

Once in a while I snapped a fall decoration.

Then I expanded that to include mums with fall decorations, but I live near and walk around in Salem, MA. By early September my pictures evolved to include bits of Halloween.

Then I couldn’t resist including ghosts.

They seemed to be floating around everywhere.

Then there were some houses that took it to a whole other level.

There was no shortage of inflatable ghosts.

They have lights, so they are better at night.

Again, this is near Salem, so there are plenty of houses where folks go all out.

You can’t miss them at night.

Then an odd thing happened.

The only thing I found myself taking pictures of was skeletons!

Sometimes they were just hanging out.

Once in a while I would see them floating around.

Other times they were chatting with friends.

I thought this guy was lurking, staring at me …

… but he was just talking to his pet spider.

There are also some nice skeleton spiders.

A surprising number of skeletons have pets.

They pups are kind of cute, actually.

Some skeletons even keep pet birds.

Taking pictures of skeletons isn’t as spooky as it sounds, mostly. Although it can be disconcerting when they stare down at you.

Sometimes they even jump out at you!

Then I saw skeletons up to all sorts of high jinks.

For example, they often hitch rides on cars.

You expect witch hats in trees in Salem.

However, you are far more likely to find silly skeletons hanging up there …

… and falling down.

Then it finally dawned on that there are a lot of skeletons at the pubs in Salem.

They proudly hang out at Village Tavern.

Here’s a close-up of these guys.

These guys were hanging around Longboards.

Here’s a lady skeleton inside Longboards.

Ok, suddenly the culture and antics of skeletons that I saw in and around Salem made sense — they love to party!

It certainly explains “certain” houses in the vicinity of where I live.

At first glance, you’re gonna notice this guy.

Look closer, and you’ll probably notice these pirate’s up to some shenanigans.

If you look really close, you’ll also see this bloke imbibing away.

It explains SO much!

It also makes the extravaganza at another house near me understandable.

Here it is by day.

Here it is by night.

It’s quite the shindig!

Yep, it all makes total sense now.

It has been fun exploring skeleton culture over the last month or so, but the season is coming to an end. I was feeling a little sad about that, so last Saturday I decided to walk through Salem to take in a bit of the festivities and see if I could catch any skeletons in the act of partying.

It was the weekend before Halloween, so of course it was packed.