Those celebrating Halloween, costumed or not, were quick to notice and observe a witches' procession that moved through downtown Salem late Saturday afternoon.

SALEM, Mass. — Around the country, Halloween is marked as a night of revelry, costumes and candy, but in the coastal town of Salem, it’s also a day of mourning. 

As tens of thousands of tourists descended on “Witch City” this weekend to mark All Hallows’ Eve, a small procession of witches and supporters marched through downtown Salem late Saturday to honor those killed in the witch hysteria more than 300 years ago.

In 1692 and early 1693, Puritans living in Salem and the surrounding area investigated and prosecuted numerous neighbors on charges of witchcraft. Ultimately the villagers would execute 20 people. Most were hanged, though one was crushed to death.

Though it was a short span in Salem’s long history, the hysteria of the witchcraft trials continues to play a part in the national consciousness, appearing in movies, plays, books, and the event is considered to be one of the turning points in U.S. history. 

On Saturday, the group of 200 to 300 mourners started began their march around 4:30 p.m., making their way through the lesser packed parts of downtown Salem during the earlier hours of the town’s Haunted Happenings festival.

 “We’re honoring our ancestors, as well as the victims of the witch hunt hysteria of 1692,” Karagan Griffith, a volunteer with the Temple of Nine Wells Aquarian Tabernacle Church–A.T.C. and leader of the procession said.

Generally, the event starts with a smaller following that builds over time, according to Griffith.

That trend continued this year. When the group was lined up at Pickering Wharf this year, there were about 100 participants, but by the time they were nearing Gallows Hill, the procession spanned longer than a block.

“People are looking at us, and I think it’s a mix between curiosity and mystery,” Griffith said. “People don’t know what’s going on and they want to know, so they follow us.”

Griffith described it as “two sides of the coin.”

“On one side, you have the sacred, which is this,” he said. “On the other side, you have the profane, which is the other stuff — people mask themselves and wear costumes.”

Christine Jones, of Albany, New York, was walking toward the front of the line with incense burning in her hand.

“Halloween is a new year to me,” she said. “It’s the turning of the calendar, where you let the old go and you enter the new year and rejoice.”

Jones said she enjoyed the way the procession, with its somber expression, blends well with the surrounding revelry of Halloween.

“It’s a beautiful dichotomy,” she said. “You have the ability to blend, the ability to be visible.”

Plattsburgh, New York, resident Jeanine Sawyer said it was “great to be here” walking along with the procession.

But the visibility “isn’t important to me,” she said. “The ritual is more important because there’s meaning to it beyond just watching.”