On October 1, 2006, a guide with a lantern stood outside 127 Essex Street and waited for a crowd. It was the first weekend of October in Salem. Tour groups were everywhere. And about six people showed up.
“I had just one family buy tickets,” Tim Maguire remembers. “There I was, with my lantern, and like six people total. I didn’t know if we’d make it one year, let alone twenty.”
This October marks twenty years of Salem Night Tour. Twenty seasons of walking the same scenic circle around the heart of downtown after dark. Thousands of tellings of the Giles Corey story. Blizzards, hurricane winds, and one Halloween night with 400 no-shows. And a route that has not changed by a single street since day one.
Salem Night Tour is our 2026 Festival Partner, the top sponsor designation for this year’s Haunted Happenings Marketplace season, and a Creative Collective corporate partner. But that’s not why we’re writing this. We’re writing it because twenty years is a BIG deal for any small business, and because the story of how a one-family tour became one of Salem’s signature October experiences is worth telling in the founder’s own words. So we asked. Here’s what he told us.
“I totally underestimated how hard it was”
Ask what went wrong on that first night and the answer is immediate.
“What I got wrong was that I didn’t do any market research. I thought, I’ll just put up some fliers and I’ll get tons of people like everyone else. I was young and I totally underestimated how hard it was!”
That lesson is now the second thing he tells anyone thinking about starting a tour company in Salem. The first is even less glamorous.
“Get insurance, that’s the first thing. The second thing, do market research: Pay attention to how Salem ticks, learn your customer, and make connections with business owners you admire.”
Twenty years on, is the milestone nostalgic or just another October? “It is nostalgic. For any small business, two decades is a big deal!”
The route that never changed, and the script that never existed
Here’s the thing about a tour that’s been running for twenty years: you’d expect the script to be worn smooth. There isn’t one.
“We’re unscripted, so our guides get to create their own material. They all cover the same history and folklore, but it’s important to me that they get to tell the stories in their own style.”
What hasn’t moved is the ground under their feet. “The route has remained exactly as it was on day one. I’ve learned not to mess with a good thing. It’s the same scenic circle around the very heart of downtown.”
He’s quick to defend the no-script approach, because plenty of good companies do it the other way.
“Sure, scripted tours can definitely ensure a quality control that guarantees all the information a tour company wants to cover is presented in the way they deem excellent. But so can hiring passionate historians who understand why it’s important to get the facts right. I trust my people, I really do. You can have an excellent script, but if the person repeating it doesn’t truly care, you can tell.”
“When guides are encouraged to do their own research, craft their own material, it gets personal; and then, a tour becomes excellent. People who are drawn to this job are naturally interesting. Why not make sure their own humor and unique magnetism can shine through, you know?”
About those costumes
Salem Night Tour is credited with starting the full-costume tour in Salem, and it turns out the costumes weren’t a Halloween idea at all. They were a Boston idea.
“When we first arrived we were trying to do what was working for us in Boston. I got my start working The Freedom Trail dressed as an American revolutionary. The original idea was to bring that kind of thing here and have guides decked out as Sons of Liberty exploring Salem’s heritage trail.”
The Sons of Liberty didn’t stick. The ghosts did. “Now that we are a ghost tour, our guides aren’t required to wear costumes. They can wear whatever makes them feel most confident. But let’s be real: we tend to have a lot of people who like to dress in all black applying. It comes with the territory.”
How to spot a good tour in five seconds
Salem has a lot more tours than it did in 2006, and the founder of one of the oldest has watched a lot of groups walk past. The tell, he says, isn’t the storytelling.
“Believe it or not, the easy part is telling a compelling story, and every company in town does that well. But it’s how you treat your guest between stops that really counts. If guides walk too fast, don’t stand in a place where they can be seen and heard, don’t take extra time to make sure everybody of all ages and access needs are accommodated… if I see guides being neglectful of the hospitality details, I know right away it’s not the best tour.”
His guidance for narrating real deaths is just as plain. Keep it “concise and clear; movie trailer versions, not director’s cuts. Most vitally, make sure you are interested in what you’re talking about.”
The moment the group changes
Every tour has a point where the mood shifts. He can feel it, though it lands in a different spot for every group.
“When they realize this is history, not fantasy. When the stories we tell reveal little details about the real lives, loves, and losses of the people who lived through 1692, that’s when things go from fun spooky to truly riveting, in a way I don’t think people could anticipate. People lock in when they realize they can relate to the victims of the trials and make connections to modern historic circumstances that hit close to home.”
He’s told the Giles Corey story thousands of times. Does it wear out? “Honestly, for me, the story hasn’t changed. Maybe it’s gotten a little shorter and punchier as 21st century attention spans have… DE-volved. But it’s history, and the facts haven’t changed.”
That’s also his answer to anyone who only knows Salem from Hocus Pocus. “I’m not sure it needs defending. But what I’m always excited to talk about is that the Witch Trials the movie was inspired by were so much more politically important to American history than people realize. That film and other media is a great gateway to opening up conversations and education about that.”
Rain or shine. Blizzard or hurricane.
Twenty Octobers of New England weather will test a rain-or-shine policy. Salem Night Tour has run during the pre-winds of Hurricane Sandy. It has run in a full blizzard. On Halloween night 2012, guides went out in snow flurries and the company logged 400 no-shows. Some people still came.
“Now, you’re not making money on a night like that, but we run rain or shine for the customer, not for a buck. It’s crazy, but we do it for the people who really want the experience.”
And then the part every guide will tell you is true: “Some of the spookiest tours are on rainy nights where everyone does show up and the whole town is empty except for us out there with our lanterns.”
Salem, from the street
We asked what’s genuinely improved about Salem in October since 2006. His answer is one we hear a lot from downtown businesses, and one we’re proud to be part of.
“What’s improved is definitely the use of the downtown spaces, specifically the Common. When the vendors could all move there, it changed the entire flow of downtown for the better.”
What’s gotten harder? “It is crowded. But that’s great for the small businesses here. Locals and visitors want more public restrooms, want more parking options. Salem is one of the coolest places to celebrate Halloween and that’s not going to change. Let’s embrace that and get infrastructure to support it, you know? Not all sleepy seaside towns are so lucky.”
What still surprises him after twenty years is the thing that never got old. “People’s excitement about Salem! I’m glad it hasn’t cooled off. Maybe because I’ve lived here for so long it’s easier to take for granted that this is a big bucket list destination. My favorite tourists are definitely the ones who are over the moon to be here. They make sure I don’t get too jaded.”
Booking your first Salem Night Tour? Read this first.
Wear comfortable shoes. It’s a walking tour on real streets.
Show up 30 minutes early, with your whole party, at 127 Essex Street. “Our tours leave promptly and then our desk staff goes home for the evening.”
Come ready to unlearn a couple of things. “Sometimes guests arrive so sure that the victims of the Salem Witch Trials were burned at the stake, which did not happen, or that they were all women, which wasn’t the case, even though women were absolutely and unfortunately disproportionately accused of witchcraft. These misconceptions can be hard for some guests to unlearn because they’ve gotten so attached to those narratives.”
Know what it isn’t. “People that want jump scares. That’s the biggest complaint we get, that it’s not like a horror fest attraction. If you want fog machines, fake blood and guts, more power to you, but you’re looking for a haunted house, not a ghost tour.”
Want the best night instead of the busiest? Go in mid-November. “After the locals have taken their few days to chill out after Halloween. Even on weekends, it’s not going to be jam-packed with people. There’s a little chill in the air, the crunchy leaves are still everywhere, and the city is still in October Mode with all the decorations and experiences.”
And yes, December works. The Twisted Christmas Tour covers frightful Yuletide folklore and superstition. “Think abominable snowmen, ghostly midnight masses, A Christmas Carol. Historically speaking, winter was actually the season when people gathered around fires to tell spooky stories. December ghost tours in Salem have their own unique charm. The groups are always smaller, the city is always quieter, the shadows are deeper. It’s perfect conditions for some spine-tingling tales.”
Year 21
The Hocus Pocus Trolley Tours that launched this summer with The Salem Trolley are going year-round, with more dates coming in 2027. Beyond that, the plan is the plan that’s worked since 2006.
“We are just going to keep doing the same things we’ve been doing right for twenty years. We are the longest continuously owned and operated night tour in Salem. Thinking about that, really putting it in perspective, it’s pretty epic. And it’s been a wild ride. Good thing I genuinely love what I do.”
Twenty years, one route, one lantern. Happy anniversary, Salem Night Tour. We’ll see you out there!
Salem Night Tour departs from 127 Essex Street, Salem. Book at salemghosttours.com and follow @salemnighttour.
Salem Night Tour is the 2026 Festival Partner of the Haunted Happenings Marketplace season produced by Creative Collective, and a Creative Collective corporate partner. Salem Night Tour’s family of businesses also includes the Halloween Museum, Wynott’s Wands and Remember Salem.
“Haunted Happenings” is a name owned by BPM Productions, Inc. and used by Creative Collective with permission.
