Mom Was Pumping Breastmilk When Salem Tourist with ‘No Common Sense’ Peered Through Her Mail Slot — and That’s Just 1 Halloween Horror Story

NEED TO KNOW

• As Halloween approaches, Salem, Mass., is in the midst of a surge of tens of thousands of visitors

• Since the infamous witch trials in 1692, tourists have flocked to the small city, sometimes annoying residents and putting a strain on local businesses

• Despite the challenges, locals say that the city remains a "magical" place

While most people celebrate Halloween on Oct. 31, residents and businesses in Salem, Mass. have to navigate thousands of visitors flooding the city from September to early November. 

Some locals have had bizarre encounters with strangers who mistake their private homes for exhibits and tourism workers have to navigate complaints of long lines — but, for others, it can also be a "magical" time.

"We really stick together here in Salem," says Rachel Christ-Doane, the director of education at the Salem Witch Museum , which is housed in a historic, Gothic revival-style church in the center of the Witch City. "There's so much love and just support from businesses, from residents, from neighbors."

Salem, which has a population of about 45,000, has been part of the cultural consciousness since the infamous witch trials took place there in 1692.

Tourism began almost immediately, and has been booming since the late 1800s, Christ-Doane tells PEOPLE.

In fact, before becoming president of the United States in 1797, John Adams made a note in his diary about a visit to what he called "Witchcraft Hill," supposedly the locations where hangings took place, according to the director. 

Over the past decade, Salem has become even more of a tourist destination, partly because of the rise of social media influencers and popular shows and movies like Hocus Pocus that reference the historic city. 

"It's really just gone beyond anything it had been before," says Christ-Doane. 

On the first Saturday of October, Salem had 136,500 visitors, up 12% from the same date last year, CBS News reported. And over the entire month of October in 2024, more than a million people visited .

And every October, the Salem Witch Museum — which serves as the "voice of the innocent victims of witch hunts from 1692 to the present day," according to the website — sells out tickets for the next day within minutes.

Of course, an influx of visitors does mean dealing with some grumpy tourists.

"Some of the visitors definitely feel frustrated because they can't do X, Y, or Z without a line, but that's just certainly not exclusive to Salem, right?" asks Christ-Doane.

Residents also feel the constriction, from hard-to-find parking to tourists with few boundaries, The Boston Globe reported. 

Ryan Strack told the paper that his wife was at their Salem home, pumping breast milk for their newborn while sitting on the couch, when a person pushed open the mail slot on their door and looked in. 

"My wife's like, 'What are you doing?' " Strack told the Globe . "They're just tourists who have no common sense."

Other locals have published their concerns on online forums.

"I wish they would come at other times, not block the sidewalks, and not stop in the street (in front of my car) to take photos," wrote one resident in response to a post that was shared on the "You Know You Live in Salem, MA if…" group, in a post that asked what locals want visitors to know before traveling to the Witch City. 

Added another resident, "Salem is not an amusement park. It's a historical site, and should be treated as such."

Despite these nuisances, visitors are very much a part of Salem's culture. 

Some guests at the Hawthorne Hotel have been visiting the 101-year-old hotel, which happens to be the oldest in Salem, during the month of October for the past two decades. "It's like their second home," Aliviya Williams, the hotel's evening manager, tells PEOPLE.

She enjoys watching the children experience their first time in Salem, especially during Halloween, when main streets are shut down and people walk around all day in their costumes. It's like a "playland" for kids and adults, she says.

"I'm just looking forward to the joy of everybody coming together and forgetting a little bit about what's going on at home," says Williams, "and just being able to come and enjoy Halloween."

For Christ-Doane, watching people learn about witches is "magical." She especially enjoys when visitors unfamiliar with Salem's dark history learn something unexpected. 

NEED TO KNOW

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

"They come out on the other side having really engaged conversations about scapegoating and McCarthyism and the history of witchcraft," she says. One of her "favorite" memories is seeing a family dressed up in skeleton costumes as they had a "really in-depth conversation about scapegoating."

Williams may have had her own supernatural experience at the hotel, which is rumored to be haunted and was even featured in an episode of Ghost Hunters . While conducting night audits, she says she sometimes feels like she's not alone, but she insists it's not frightening.

"I feel like I'm not 100% by myself in the hotel," Williams says, "in terms of just good spirits watching the hotel from being here for so long."

Read the original article on People