Today we've got another Salem Halloween fixture, the Witchfinder General
himself!
Thanks for taking some time away from your persecutions. Please introduce
yourself.
My name is Eric Dwinnells but you may know me better as the one-and-only
Witchfinder General of Salem, Massachusetts. This is both a character I
perform and my actual title. To the best of my knowledge, I am the only
licensed Witchfinder in the world. Each Halloween season (well except this
one; thanks COVID!), I patrol the streets of Salem putting suspected witches
(aka tourists) on trial. It is a darkly humorous yet
mostly historically accurate portrayal of an actual 1692 witchcraft
hearing. Yes, I may sentence them to die, but at least they get fun pictures
for their Instagram!
Of course with COVID ruining the party this year, times will be awful tough
for us street performers which is why I’ve set up a
GoFundMe (
www.gofundme.com/witchfinder20) to help
recoup a little of what I’ll be missing out on this year. But, I’m not asking
for money for nothing! I’m currently working on a series of YouTube videos
that you’ll be able to find my
my channel. In these videos, I’ll be sharing some of the lesser known stories of the
Salem Witch Trials and some fun videos about Salem in general. You may also
know me as the host of the paranormal/true crime/spooky pop culture podcast,
Spooky A S. Or perhaps you’ve seen
me singing, acting or telling jokes at theaters and clubs all over New
England.
What was Halloween like for you as a kid?
I had pretty much the ideal New England Halloweens growing up. Just like you
see in movies or on TV. Lots of kids, lots of foliage, no concern for a
child’s safety other than “carry a glow-stick”. I grew up in Ashland, MA. It’s
a small town and I lived in a little cul-de-sac so you pretty much knew all
the neighbors. There were a group of kids around my age in the neighborhood so
we’d all go together. And I ALWAYS insisted we wait until it got dark out.
Trick or treating while the sun is up is for punks! Actually, just last year I
recorded an
episode of my podcast
while walking around my old neighborhood talking about trick or treating. That
was fun and it was a popular episode.
Do you have any favorite costumes, past or present?
I take Halloween very seriously and to me, they are Halloween Uniforms, not
costumes! When I was a kid, I LOVED werewolves. Still do. I was a werewolf for
like three years straight. I remember being The Phantom of the Opera in middle
school. It sticks out in my mind because I did my own make-up with one of
those latex kits so under my phantom mask, my face looked real messed up.
Anyway, I wore that costume to a CCD Halloween party. When I took my mask off,
the prettiest girl in my grade came up and asked to touch my face! For a shy
12 year old boy, that’s HUGE!
I still dress up. My day job has a big
Halloween party every year and I’ve thrown one or two myself. Some more recent
favorites include Captain Spaulding, Macho Man Randy Savage, and Edward
Scissorhands. Oh, and I’m not afraid to cross gender lines; I made a pretty
good Lizzie Borden!
How do you celebrate Halloween these days?
Well of course A LOT of my Halloween season is taken up entertaining the
masses that come to Salem every year and I LOVE being a part of it. It’s
literally my favorite thing to do. It’s such a fun atmosphere; there’s no
place else like it. Seriously, dear reader, if you love Halloween and you’ve
never been to Salem in October, you simply must join us. You know…when there
isn’t a world-wide pandemic, I mean. Other than that, I try to take my
nieces/nephews on at least one spooky road trip. This year, we’re going to the
Cryptozoology Museum in Maine. I usually take them trick or treating too.
Do you have any yearly traditions for the holiday?
I have this VHS tape that my mom started all the way back in 1986. It has
various Halloween specials and Halloween-related sitcom episodes on it.
Recording in EP mode (Google it, kids) we added to it each year until the late
90’s. I’ve watched it at least once each and every year since 1986. I’ve
transferred it over to digital formats, but I still insist on watching the
real deal off the VHS. Sure, the picture quality has diminished, but over 30
years later the tape is still totally watchable! My mom has since passed so I
think of her when I watch it too. She loved Halloween almost as much as I do.
Inside the Spookster's Studio
The worst thing to get while trick or treating was
harassed by older kids! They never took our candy or beat us up or anything,
but they’d follow you and scare the crap out of you. I remember getting really
freaked out by a teenager dressed as The Grim Reaper one year. He made such an
impression on me that I dressed as the GrIm Reaper the very next Halloween.
Just like Bruce Wayne, I became that which I feared!!!
My favorite thing to get was
peanut-butter cups! Anything chocolate really.
My favorite monster cereal
as a kid, was Boo Berry, but it wasn’t a fair contest. Remember, in the 80’s,
it was just part of the kid culture that there was definite “boy stuff” and
“girl stuff” and god help you if you ever crossed the line. You’d be called
“sissy”…or worse! Frankenberry was pink. Pink was “girl stuff” so he never had
a shot. These days, I (and perhaps the world) have a much more enlightened
view. I’m proud to say I LOVE me some Frankenberry!
Where can folks follow your adventures online?
You can follow The Witchfinder on Instagram
(@witchfinderofsalem)
and you can support by donating to him on
GoFundMe. People
can check out my podcast by looking for Spooky A S on your podcast streaming
service or by going to
www.spookyas.com
Thanks to Eric for dropping in and sharing his Halloween memories.
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