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!

One of if not the best walking tour my husband and I have done…read more Our guide Jobie(?) was engaging, enthusiastic, clear, and personable. He brought history alive, and he supplemented the witch trials history with some modern day Salem history which we really enjoyed. To top it all off, he was very grateful for our time and attention. I don't think I've seen a speaker show appreciation for their crowd like he did. Tour guide was well organized. Even though we crossed streets, Jobie and another helper made sure we did so safely while also allowing others to access the roads. The tour was not overbooked like some other tours are. This helped us to listen more closely and get close enough to Jobie to ask questions if we wanted to. Price was fair for what we got. 10/10 would recommend to others!

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

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

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!

Learned about Jeff's tour from his podcast "Salem the Podcast" when researching for my trip. Jeff…read morethe owner and tour guide is extremely knowledgeable, engaging, and a natural presenter and entertainer. The tour was funny, mysterious, informative and frankly one of the best tours in Salem given by a true insider and lover of Salem. My group left the tour buzzing with energy cause his energy was so contagious! I highly recommend!!

Wonderful walking tour through Salem! We wanted to hear stories and the history of the buildings,…read moreand this was perfect for a busy October when we couldn't get into the museums! The guide was a wonderful story-teller and took us all around Salem.

My friends and I really enjoyed our tour with Mikayla! She was the absolute best at storytelling…read moreand history. We learned so much and appreciated her enthusiasm on what was a bitter cold, rainy day! Thank you!

I had a great time on my ghost tour with Sam. It was a little awkward as I was the only one on the…read moretour. In a way, I'm thankful they still ran the tour, but on the other hand, I wouldn't have minded if they had re-scheduled. Being the only one on it made it a little awkward. That said, Sam was great and theatric and was a blast, you can tell he really likes what he does. I didn't seem to catch any ghosts in the pictures I took, but overall, I still enjoyed myself and had a better time on this tour than I did on another I took with a different company earlier in the year.

Dr. Vitka ran our tour tonight. What a great ghost tour. Would highly recommend…read more We walked through and around downtown Salem for 90 minutes and heard dozens of stories.

Michael was very informative, he showed us sightings around the downtown area. Was kind and easy to…read morekeep up with.

It was unfortunate that the thing we were most excited about turned out to be the worst part of our…read moretrip. Mainly it was so disappointing because it was what our birthday girl was hyped about. We went on a sibling trip to Salem. The sister we were celebrated loves ghosts tours and was so excited to learn more about the history of Salem. The only history we learned was about the tour company. Our tour repeatedly told us about how old the tour company was. So I guess that was the historical element. We also learned a lot about her personal life. We were repeatedly reassured that once other groups moved she'd take us closer to the buildings so we could see them (often we were either across the street or half a block away) but then never followed through on any of those promises. She did however lead us into the backyard of one of the properties where we were chased out by security. Two of our sisters got frustrated and dropped out to get a beer after they watched an elderly man in our group fall off the sidewalk trying to keep up with our tour guide who the people in the back could neither hear or see. I haven't been on other tours and it was just kind of meh. But my sister who is passionate about both history and ghost tours was very let down. We went in very early September and it wasn't very crowded. But I can't imagine the quality of tour you'd get when there's more crowds to contend with. I think the guide really makes or breaks the tour and hopefully it was just a really off night.

We went on the Ghost Tours as part of a class trip. We all were super excited about it, but…read moreunfortunately it was very disappointing. Our tour guide Bob didn't really talk about the history, but rather about his own past with ghosts. While some of the stories were a little interesting we wanted to know more about the actual hauntings of Salem not his personal experiences. Then when we asked to take a picture with him as is my teachers tradition he told two of the students to put their hands against his neck which was weird and creepy. All of us were uncomfortable with the request. Then at the end instead of talking about Hocus Pocus or hauntings he started talking about death and didn't include any verified information. He also proceeded to yell at us and our teacher throughout the entire tour if we even so much as whispered, stating that he didn't appreciate us talking. We all regret going on the tour and don't believe it was worth the money. We suggest the company has a serious talk with Bob as it seems he is very unpopular in other recent reviews.

Ken really brought this city to life in an authentic and detailed way that other tours lack. It's…read morenot full of Disney fluff but is instead representative of all the true history and culture here- including the native Americans, the Caribbean influx, the culture of sailors as well as (of course) the witch hysteria of 1692. I've been coming to visit Salem since I was a little girl and I can't believe how much I learned and appreciated in a new light! Ken carefully answered all questions, and was diligent about taking any he couldn't answer down so he could find the answer and email us later. He was so thoughtful and knowledgeable!

When we decided to come to New England for a trip, I knew I wanted to stop in Salem and learn a bit…read moreabout the history of the witch trials. However, I did not want a tour that was tacky or strange. The morning stroll tour of Salem with Kenneth got good reviews and seemed legit and not too cheesy. I definitely have to say that he delivered! The tour group was about 25 people, which was a good size and did not feel too big. We walked around Salem and learned about not just the witch trials, but also many other stories of the history of Salem and important people who lived there. We spent some time at the memorial site for those that were executed and he brought some flowers to place on the stone, which was a tad cheesy but also kind of nice. Kenneth is very informative and was willing to answer any and all questions. He very obviously has a passion for Salem history. The only thing I would say is a bathroom break and maybe even a snack break would have been nice. The tour went at least 2.5 hours even though it was supposed to be 2 hours. We appreciated the extra time he gave us and it was nice that he wasn't in a rush. However, we had traveled over 4 hours that morning to make the tour and could have used some food and a bathroom. The tour is reasonably priced and a recommended thing to do to see Salem and learn some actual history!