Hallowscreen is a series investigating the potential to celebrate the holiday of Halloween in Virtual Reality. In this inaugural installment, Ogknaut spoke to Brian Sims of Salem’s Black Hat Society as an expert opinion on the topic of this festive business.
Halloween is celebrated year round. That might seem counterintuitive for such a
seasonally specific holiday, but the online world allows macabre aficionados to
consume spooky content the whole year through. Yet, Halloween is so mystical. Adults are
allowed to suspend their disbelief, dress up in costumes, and indulge in spooky aesthetics in a way that can feel magical even without believing in magic itself. Does that mean Halloween and Virtual Realities are incompatible? Does the digital world diminish that sense of magic? To investigate these questions, we sought out a qualified opinion.
Salem’s Black Hat Society had the necessary expertise. On June 16th, SBHS hosted
an Instagram live to document the vandalism done to the Bewitched Statue, a central attraction in the city of Salem. This moment alone captured the significance of their online presence, the breadth of the ‘Halloween Community’ (more on that later), and the intersection of physical and online engagement.
Brian Sims grew up loving both Halloween and Christmas. In high school, he saved up his money so he could visit the Halloween capital of the country- Salem, Massachusetts. He felt like he was home as soon as he stepped off the train, and years later he made it official, moving to the city in 2016. It was that same year a particular viral video by the title of Wolfshager Hexenbrut Walpurgis Wolfshagen im Harz began to circulate on FaceBook.
“Not knowing a soul in Salem, I put a post on Facebook asking if anybody wanted to learn this dance and perform it in the Haunted Happenings Parade. I got 18 strangers together and suggested that we dress as witches. I told them that we should build our characters and create how they smell, look, eat, walk, even what type of house or woods they live in, where they are from etc…just like actors do with characters that they play.” This tells us that, one, SBHS has been digitally oriented since its inception. And two, that it has an emphasis on the character.
After this impromptu performance for the parade, Brian was told about the city’s culture of street performers (AKA Buskers), “Somebody came up to me and said ‘Did you know you can stand on Essex Street during October and people will come up to take a picture with you and give you a tip?’ So I said, why not?” He hasn’t stopped since.
The focus on character development continues to pay off. Brian is probably more recognizable to his audience as Borah Brewington Snaggletooth XIII, the same character he cooked up in August of 2016. So why not have his online presence take on the role of BORAH’s! Personal social media account? “After the parade I said let’s continue this, but take a portion of the tips we collect and donate it towards children’s charities in Salem. If we do this we need to come up with a name similar to The Red Hat Society because they do charity work too, so why not call it Salem’s Black Hat Society?” This early focus on philanthropy came with an advantageous byproduct- by distinguishing the main character from the organization as a whole, Brian has a built-in capacity to expand beyond BORAH! with more characters.
Since the early days of SBHS, Brian has expanded the business to include officiating weddings, paid appearances at various events, and offering personalized videos through his own website, even before the proliferation of Cameo. The digital backbone of SBHS remains
Constant.
Now that we’ve gone over SBHS’s background, let’s dig into Brian’s thoughts on
Halloween and its digital potential.
Did your online presence influence the look of the character? Did you see BORAH! on screen and then make any choices about the color of face paint to pop on camera, or contouring, etc.?
“I took this characterization I had developed to makeup artist Rob, owner of The Magic Parlor. He painted the face, applied the prosthetic nose and chin, and this was the day of the parade itself in October of 2016. As soon as I put on the costume, the character just all came together. So no, the online look did not affect the character. But I can say that a green face makes it hard to shoot in front of a green screen.”
When comparing the act of getting into costume vs being in character, which do you prefer, if either? In a technologically perfect world, would a Virtual Reality costume be any relief?
“It takes an hour and a half to get ready. A times, I do have a moment where it’s like, *sigh”,
why did I choose to do all this makeup and prosthetics? I have to get the makeup to just the right temperature and it gets all over the bathroom, I go through lots of paper towels and washcloths. Getting into makeup is a lot of work and it makes a mess, LOL. So I enjoy being the character more than putting the makeup on.”
Your website uses BORAH’s! voice in tone and character. How does that manifest in
professional communication? Do you have to step outside of the character, and does that break the suspended disbelief?
“If I get an inquiry about a wedding, I sign my emails as Brian AKA BORAH!. In that context
I always maintain professionalism. My husband also responds as himself, he never dresses up as a character. On the day of the wedding itself, I am the witch, from the moment I leave the house until the moment I walk back into my door, period. So on the wedding day, when I meet the couple and their party at the location I am BORAH!. There is so much that I need to focus on for the ceremonies, my husband serves as point of contact between me and the wedding party. He answers all of their questions and is essentially the wedding director. This also helps so that I don’t break the illusion of BORAH!.”
You’re launching your own Halloween event party called, BORAH’s! Halloween BOO Bash, this year. Your online presence has a focus on cross promoting partner organizations. How might those partnerships be highlighted at the BOO Bash?
“A lot of those businesses have donated the gifts that we will be giving away during the BOO Bash. One way that I cross promote is by posting online that door prizes from local Salem businesses and organizations and their favorite Halloween Salem magazine, Haunted Happenings Magazine will be given away all night long. In addition to door prizes, there will also be a huge costume contest. 4 winners will receive a special gift as well as a cash prizes. The night is going to be wickedly wild with dance music performed by DJ Jimmy Tilt, one of East coast’s most talented DJ’s. The music and entertainment will be intertwined with the door prizes being given away throughout the night. It will be sort of like a variety show if you will. There will also be an independent filmmaker there filming and this will also give a chance for the businesses to be highlighted. My husband and I used to organize, host and fund Halloween and Christmas benefits. I learned a lot from these experiences which gave me the confidence and resources to throw this huge Halloween Bash.
Do you see major distinctions between the online Halloween community when compared to your local Salem community of people who appreciate the holiday?
“There’s a huge Pagan, Wiccan and witch community here in Salem. And then there is the Halloween pop culture community here as well. Each of these groups have a distinct, strong presence online, as well as in the community. With the older generation of Pagans and Wiccans, there have been issues and still are with Bewitched Statue. They felt it was a slap in the face. This was years and years ago, there’s still some of that, it can be controversial at times. But a lot of people in Salem love the statue. Even the green faced witch can be offensive to some Pagans and Wiccans, but I didn’t realize that until years after BORAH! was well established. I would never do anything to offend or make fun of anybody or their beliefs and or religion. But what has come out of this is that BORAH! is a very popular pop culture character who helps the Salem community and donates time and money not only to children's charities but many other charities and non for profits in Salem. Now, local and out of state Pagans and Wiccans, even most of the older ones here in Salem and definitely all of the younger generations in Salem, have embraced BORAH!. I was concerned about the impact when I first heard the green witch could be controversial but it all has worked out for the better for everyone. How I dealt with the Pagan and Wiccan community is that I didn’t approach them, I didn’t want to appear aggressive, pushy and I certainly didn’t want to offend them. So, I let them approach me if they had thoughts, ideas or concerns. It has taken a couple of years but they have reached out in positive ways and it seems BORAH! is part of the family. I’ve been asked to make appearances, and even to create Reels, TikToks and videos for their stores, like for Crow Haven for instance. I’m very thankful for that.”
So there’s fluidity. Appreciation changes over time. And it sounds like there’s parallels
between the in person and online Halloween communities of religion and pop culture?
“Yes. Since 2016, I’ve probably had like ten people tell me, ‘I’m offended by this green
witch.’ One or two were here in Salem, but most outside of Salem. These people posted their comments on BORAH’s! Facebook page and my followers jumped to the defense of BORAH!. When it happens, I try not to let it get into an online war. I reply by saying that ‘They’re allowed to have their opinions, I respect that.’ And that’s all I say. It all gets worked and sorted out. I don’t delete anything because people are allowed to express their opinions.”
Brian’s insight was invaluable. His expertise on event hosting, Halloween culture, and digital business practices offer critical insight for adapting Halloween in Virtual Reality. He was able to circle back to the Bewitched Statue that helped ground this interview. When the damage to the landmark was left unaddressed, Borah used her online presence to start a GoFundMe to raise money and fix the statue. During their Instagram Live to document the damage, they were surprised to find that the splattered paint had already been removed. Not only did Borah notify her followers that their contributions would be returned, but also educated them that they had learned private funds can’t be accepted for such public projects. This commitment to philanthropy, community, but most importantly, adaptability, is the signature of Salem’s Black Hat Society. Surely these qualities will carry their business model far and provided expert insight on adapting Halloween into a virtual experience.
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