On a budget, weigh it — Salem Day-Trip isn't cheap for what it is.
Train/ferry ~$20 round trip; attractions extra
An easy ferry or train ride to a genuinely atmospheric town with serious history (the Peabody Essex Museum, the Witch Trials Memorial) layered under campy fun. The catch: October turns Salem into a packed, expensive carnival with hours-long waits, and off-season many witch attractions are tourist traps charging real money for haunted-house schlock.