Great tour guide. She controlled the chatty Cathy in our group asking off the wall questions with…read morekindness and d a firm redirect. The tour was a tad long because of this but the guide was knowledgeable and I learned more about Salem than just the witch stuff. It seems like you walk around town all Over but then after the tour I realized we were actually in a pretty small area and everything was actually pretty close together

To be honest, this may have been the best walking tour I've ever done. Our tour guide, Sarah Black,…read morewas extraordinary. - Smart - Funny - Clever - Clear - Answered every question - Very easy to listen to - Really good speaking voice and personality I even liked that she threw a little bit of shade on the terrible tourist traps in the city. Honestly, I thought Sarah must've been an actor or something because she was so engaging. Nope. She's a local historian. Awesome. Overall, very informative and fun. I would absolutely recommend Sarah Black and the Bewitched Tour for anyone looking for a great tour of the city of Salem.

This was my first time in Salem, and I booked this tour with 8 of my coworkers--we had an absolute…read moreblast. From the moment it started, it was spooky, fun, and incredibly entertaining. Our tour guide was great: super knowledgeable, hilarious, and very interactive. They kept everyone engaged while sharing tons of fascinating and spooky history. The Hocus Pocus and Bewitched references were a huge bonus and added such a fun, nostalgic vibe. Seeing the Witch House in person was especially cool and definitely a highlight. For the price, this tour was 100% worth it. $37 for a 2.5-hour tour felt like a steal for how much you see. The only downside was the other group that was paired with ours. They were loud and kept interrupting the guide, which took away from the experience at time but that had nothing to do with how great the tour itself was. Overall, we still had an amazing time and would absolutely recommend this tour, especially for first-time visitors who want a spooky, fun, and memorable Salem experience

Anne's tour was excellent and the perfect way to start our day in Salem! My guest and I aren't huge…read moreon ghosts, so we were looking for a more history-focused tour, and the History and Hauntings of Salem tour was the perfect balance. The two hours truly flew by. Would recommend to anyone visiting! PS - we went the first weekend AFTER Halloween. It was pleasant weather and not crowded at all. Anne showed us a picture of the crowds during peak Halloween season...that was the spookiest part!!! People packed in like sardines, a la Disney world in summer. Consider going in November if that's not your style.

I found Hocus Pocus Tours while seeking things to do in Salem on Yelp and TripAdvisor. Fellow…read moreYelpers' rave reviews did not disappoint! In messaging Hocus Pocus Tours with a couple questions about the tour and travel to and from Salem, the owner Susan replied immediately and suggested that I call her. This led to a one hour phone conversation where Susan was so gracious with her time, knowledge, and suggestions, not just about how to make the most of the tour, but how to appreciate a day in Salem. I can see why those who had the opportunity to take the in-person tour with Susan really enjoyed it. Covid changed the business model and Hocus Pocus now offers a self-guided tour by purchasing one of two tour apps. I opted for the $19.99 grand tour and it was well worth it. It has 37 points of interest. The app is user friendly and well designed. It provides a map of all stops, tracks where you are, and guides you to the next stop that you select on the tour. When you get to your stop, you can confirm you're at the right spot by comparing a photo of the site with what you see. Then you click on a 2-3 minute audio recording that provides a great snapshot of the significance of the site. As Susan had pointed out to me, there is much more to Salem than the historic witchcraft trials. It includes author Nathaniel Hawthorne's The House of Seven Gables, America's oldest candy company, and other interesting sites. Of everything I visited, I experienced a very deep emotional connection with the 1692 Witchcraft Memorial with 20 stones dedicated to each of the victims of the witchcraft trial. The tour includes brief descriptions of some of the victims including those written about in Arthur Miller's The Crucible. If you plan to visit Salem, I highly recommend this tour. All sites can be visited on the outside and some on the inside at no charge. Some sites, such as The House of Seven Gables, charge separate admission fees. If you want to travel to Salem and don't have a car, the ferry from Boston offers a nice, scenic, and entertaining 50 minute ride. The commuter trains run more frequently and can come in handy if the ferry schedule coming or going doesn't meet your needs. There are plenty of good places to dine at to break up the tour. We had lunch at FINZ and really enjoyed it (I'll post separately about that).

This was legit SO much fun! The name Hocus Pocus kinda throws you off because you may be thinking…read moreabout the movie, but this tour really is amazing. Start off with the tour guides, extremely friendly and beyond knowledgeable. They really know their history for Salem. The tour itself was a few hours and you walk to all of the sites in Salem with historical significance. There is so much to learn from Salem. So much history and heartbreak. It really is eye opening to hear the stories oof the witch trials and how the witch trials began and who all was wrongly persecuted. The tour guides were so nice and explained everything with such great details. This tour was definitely the highlight of our trip in Salem. I highly highly recommend Hocus Pocus Tours, I learned so much regarding Salem, the witch trials, the history behind the two, and a little bit of Hocus Pocus and Bewitched. So much fun!

I found this tour through TripAdvisor and it deservedly gets 5 stars on that site too. Linda is a…read morewealth of information about Portland Maine. In fact, her detailed history helped jumpstart our knowledge of the region and the subsequent ports we would visit that share a similar history. We were fortunate that the day we went, we were the only ones signed up so basically had a private tour for the morning. We all enjoyed the morning so much we didn't even realize she had gone 45 minutes over the allotted walking tour time. The price is extremely reasonable for the amount of past and present information she provides. She also provides a military discount which makes it an even better deal.

I highly recommend taking this tour. Lind, our guide, was extremely knowledgeable and gave us a 3…read morehour tour. It was a very hot day and it must have scared away other tourists but she did not skimp on this tour even though there were only 2 of us. It was worth a lot more than we paid. I feel like I deserve college credit for all the knowledge she imparted on us.

Better than expected!…read more When family and friends visit, we like learning more about the history around us. We travelled over an hour in the pouring rain for this tour. Our guide, Alex, did not disappoint! He waited for us - even though we arrived 20 minutes late. He gave us the option to reschedule due to the weather but we decided to take the plunge in the rain. My ten year old daughter, who loves history, really enjoyed the tour along with myself and my sister. We learned a lot about the area's geography, historic naval battles, maritime trade, dreaded taxes, and even a witch story! Afterwards, we warmed up at Michael's Harborside and sampled some healthy servings of seafood and historic drinks from the 16th-18th centuries (all included in the price of the tour). Our guide answered a ton of questions and added in some interesting historic tidbits while we enjoyed our meal. After our meal we walked back to the sites he had showed us, just to take it all in and explore the area some more. I would recommend this tour for all ages. It was an educational and entertaining afternoon - worth more than what we paid!

From the owner: Untapped History is a historical walking tour company dedicated to sharing the unique and…read moreunconventional stories of Newburyport. Let us take you to back in time to when privateers patrolled the waters, patriots plotted revolution in local taverns, smugglers avoided custom agents and the world's riches poured into Newburyport. Best of all, we'll end each tour with a sampling of delicious historic cocktails that were popular in Newburyport over the past 400 years!

This was an incredible experience, and a huge part of that was our fantastic guide, Vin…read more Vin is a born storyteller. He was incredibly theatrical and had a way of bringing the city's haunted history to life. His performance was captivating, and he kept our whole group on the edge of our seats with every twist and turn of the ghostly tales. He was also great at answering questions and made everyone feel like they were a part of the story, not just listening to it. If you're looking for a tour that is both spooky and entertaining, this is the one. Vin's passion for the supernatural and his flair for the dramatic made for an unforgettable night. Highly recommend!

Vinnie was very knowledgeable and a great story teller. We really enjoyed ourselves.read more

Highly recommended tour in Portland, Maine. Gordon was our…read morevisual storyteller and he captured the attention of my whole family,most notably my skeptical 14 year old son who wanted follow up details to go ghost hunting while we are here. This tour combines ghost stories, local history, comedy, and some pretty fantastic storytelling while getting a nice walk in the evening in. Loved it!

This past weekend I had the pleasure of visiting Portland, Maine. Aside from some amazing lobstah…read morerolls, what else might you expect out of a historic, coastal New England town? You guessed it.....ghosts. Maine has always fascinated me, ever since I read "Pet Sematary" when I was about 12 years old. In fact, the 1989 version of the movie was just on television. Perhaps no one tackled the Maine accent as well as Fred Gwynn. Ayuh, he nailed his role as the old, weathered, local Maine neighbor, Jud Crandall. (John Lithgow provided a completely different interpretation of Jud in the 2019 version.) It's only appropriate that King, who grew up in Portland, based so many of his novels in the state of Maine. This place is saturated with ghosts, savory characters, and somewhat of a dark history. Last week on my layover I took a Wicked Walking Tour with Gordon, who was absolutely fantastic. Knowledgeable and funny, his theatrical, yet historic tour was well worth my time. Gordon made the tour interactive and got to know each of us on the tour. There was another Lori (spelled differently though), another couple from Cleveland, and some newlyweds amongst our group. We started by learning about some history of the city. Portland buried their dead 18 feet under. Gordon informed us this was to keep the vampires in and the grave robbers out. The Portland Waterfront and the many islands of Casco Bay have stories of pirates, witches, ghosts, fires, and abandoned ships that we learned of throughout the tour. In this particular part of the waterfront a mysterious woman clad in black wanders the dock area, stumbling over lobster traps in search of her sailor. Aside from an occasional wharf rat, there is not much trace of life down here at night. A building that I noticed while walking around the town was the Time and Temperature Building, a building with....you guessed it: the time and temperature displayed on the outside. Gordon talked about this building on our tour. The place is allegedly haunted by a female ghost with fire-engine red hair, who enjoys riding the elevators and who will often play on them, randomly sending them to different floors. Some workers in the building have claimed to have seen an unknown female walking through their offices, and when they follow her or try speaking to her, she vanishes around a corner. Electricians insist that there is nothing wrong with the wiring of the elevators. No one is certain of the back-story here, nor why she does this. Before running through a dark and sinister alley, Gordon pointed out an other creepy building. I don't remember the details, but I remember something about a woman seeing a mermaid, attached to the front of a ship outside her third story window. Apparently the water level used to reach this part of the town and there have been phantom ships, still weathering the storms, to this day. Check out Gordan's tour......I really enjoyed it. His stories are interesting and engaging. Maine is awesome. And the people here are wicked smaht.....

While visiting the Kennebunks, I decided to book my first ever foodie tour with Maine Day Ventures…read more This three hour tour not only covered delicious eats, but delivered in history. As our tour group visited each restaurant, we got a side of Kennebunkport history and the insider scoop as to where all of the locals dine. Marlene Brooks is an exceptional host and tour guide. She is a 13th generation Mainer and provided such detail about each local spot including the history behind our food. Her professionalism and Maine pride was evident throughout the tour. The ticket price for this experience was around $145. In my opinion, it is well worth the price because it is an opportunity to meet new people, learn more about Maine, and try different restaurants. Marlene took our group to some restaurants that my friend and I didn't know existed. Some advice would be to arrive on the tour hungry because you get to try so many delicious plates. By the end, my friend and I were full. Below please find some of the places we visited and the food we enjoyed: 1. Fiafia - mixed berry smoothie 2. Alisson's - lobster roll (you get a choice between three - the original, lemon garlic, or lobster chowder) 3. Federal Jack's - clam chowder with potatoes and a sample of beer 4. Mornings in Paris - whoopie pie and a choice of coffee or select tea 5. The Pilot House - fried haddock bites 6. Bar Harbor Cheesecake - cheesecake sample (can have more than one) This foodie tour encouraged me to try other food tours when traveling to new places. Marlene and Maine Day Ventures left a lasting impression and added great value to my Maine trip. The Kennebunks are filled with a rich history, excellent seafood, and the most friendly people. Thank you for a great experience!

A gourmet tour this is NOT. There is a world-class lobster roll place on the tour (Clam Shack), but…read morego there yourself and save yourself the rest of the garbage. Mead? Really? Undrinkable. Whoopie Pies? If you happen to like them, buy it yourself and the local grocery store. Our guide, a schoolteacher, treated us like idiots and managed to convey very little information. She couldn't even pronounce macaroon correctly, and she's leading a food tour? Do yourself a favor and skip this; go to one of the fantastic food tours in Portland ME instead.

A+ not to be missed. Enjoyed a fantastic afternoon seeing Portsmouth in a completely different way…read more Bravo! Well done! Fun even for the locals.