SALEM — In many corners of this country, November means Thanksgiving turkey, the first snow and the start of serious Christmas shopping. But not here.
In this city, November is the unofficial start of Halloween.
This is the month when Halloween diehards book hotel rooms for next Halloween. They fold up their Sarah Palin glasses and plunk down cold cash to ensure they will be in Salem on Oct. 31, 2011.
"We're over half sold out," said Juli Lederhaus, general manager of the 93-room Hawthorne Hotel. Four-night packages there, which include a Halloween Ball, go for more than $1,000.
It's the same at the Salem Waterfront Hotel, which has more than half of its 86 rooms already booked.
Rooms are also going fast at The Salem Inn, which started taking Halloween reservations at 8 a.m. sharp on Nov. 4. Manager Jennifer MacAllister remembers arriving for work and hearing the phones ringing.
"The lines were lit up," she said.
The early birds come from Texas, Kentucky, South Carolina, New York and other places in between. They sign up a year in advance because they can't stand the thought of not getting a room in Salem for Halloween.
"We like to stay at the Hawthorne Hotel, and if you don't book right away and it's taken, you've got to find another place," said Darrell Hargraves of Costa Mesa, Calif., who comes with his wife, Bernice, and their two Brussels Griffon dogs, Elvis and Indiana.
Staying somewhere other than downtown Salem, the Halloween hub, is the stuff of nightmares.
"One time we (almost) had to go to Danvers ..." Hargraves said.
While many come from across the country, some merely come over the bridge — like Kelly and Keith Kureta of Beverly, who have been spending Halloweens at the Hawthorne Hotel for the past eight years.
So why don't they just drive to Salem?
"Yeah, people ask us why we get a hotel room," Kelly said. "How can you not stay at the Hawthorne, it's in the middle of everything."
It's also practical, she said. "That way we don't have to drive home after a party all dressed up in our costumes."
Kureta tried for years to get a room in Salem, but always called too late. She doesn't make that mistake anymore.
"We (make a reservation) on the day we leave," she said.
So does Lori Cesan of Granville, a small town in Western Massachusetts, a regular at The Salem Inn.
"I've been coming for probably nine years," she said. "I just have to come. I love it."
Cesan said she and her fiance don't mind paying out nearly $700 one year in advance to reserve a front-row seat at what they feel is the best Halloween show in America.
"It's worth it," she said. "It's so much fun for us. We regard it now as one of the highlights of our year."
Salem hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts and inns aren't the only beneficiaries of the Halloween madness. Diehards also make early reservations outside the city.
"We have five so far," said Martin Horkan, a manager at the Peabody Marriott.
The frightening reality is that if Halloween fans don't act fast, there won't be any rooms left in Salem.
The Salem Waterfront Hotel expects to be sold out by next month.
The Hawthorne Hotel is surprised it still has rooms available. "Usually we're sold out by now," Lederhaus said. "I think with the economy people are just holding on a little bit longer."
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