SALEM -- "I don't have witchcraft," declares Father Tom DiLorenzo. "I have prayer power!"

It was Oct. 25, and Father DiLorenzo was preaching on the sidewalk of Essex Street in Salem, surrounded by thousands of costumed revelers who had come for the city's annual Halloween celebrations. Father DiLorenzo was joined by a handful of laypeople carrying handmade signs saying "FREE PRAYER," "JESUS HEALS," and "JESUS IS THE TRUTH." They had to compete with buskers, caricature artists, carnival food stands, and performers dressed as horror movie villains for the attention of the mobs of tourists.

Witches, clowns, the Joker, the Grim Reaper, and a boy riding an inflatable T-Rex passed Father DiLorenzo as he preached next to an icon of the Divine Mercy. The senior priest in residence at St. John the Baptist Church in Quincy and host of the Catholic radio program "In Season and Out of Season" said that while Halloween is about death, Jesus brings life.

Every schoolchild knows the story. In 1692, 20 people were accused of witchcraft, tried, and executed in Salem. (Father DiLorenzo believes that they were innocent, but that real witches thrive in Salem to this day). Back then, Salem was a Puritan City. Nowadays, it's the Witch City. Occult, pagan, and New Age spirituality is for sale in every gift shop, where there are lines around the block all October. For modern-day witches, the city is Lourdes and Las Vegas wrapped up in one black-and-orange package.

"Like every other place, people need Jesus, just the way I need Jesus, and he comes on invitation," Father DiLorenzo said. "He never rejects anyone who turns to him."

Salem native Anthony Correnti preached alongside Father DiLorenzo.

He told the costumed crowds that God has a plan for everyone's life, including him, "the worst sinner out there."

"God wants to put a smile on your face," he said.

A lifelong Catholic, Correnti drifted from his faith and into drug addiction until he met Father DiLorenzo. He said that the Holy Spirit led him to preach in Salem for the last eight years.

"Where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more," he said. "So there's no better place to evangelize."

Correnti has seen Salem become more and more influenced by the occult, an influence that seemed to reach its zenith with the opening of the Satanic Temple in 2016. Not to be confused with the Church of Satan, the Temple officially does not believe in the occult but uses demonic imagery in subversive public protests against what it calls "the intrusion of Christian values on American politics."

The Satanic Temple is a 15-minute walk from the Shrine of Divine Mercy, which sits just steps away from the pandemonium on Essex Street.

The shrine's rector, Society of Christ Father Jacek Walkiewicz, said that "every Christian should be very careful" with Halloween "because it's like playing with the evil."

"My opinion is, better to stay away from those things, because you never know what can happen," he said.

On Oct. 18, St. Anne Parish in Salem prepared for Halloween by hosting a retreat about "the spirit world" led by Religious Education Director Louise Frederickson.

"We have to speak the truth about God and about evil," she said, "and we have to warn people, especially our young children, against being deceived into thinking that the occult is a good thing for them to get involved in, because it isn't."

Frederickson has worked in Salem Public Schools for over 20 years and said she is "concerned" by the commercialization of the occult in Salem, which she said distracts people from God.

Halloween in Salem is a bigger hit with adults than kids.

"They're tourists, and they come to get involved in the occult and other bad things, and they'll dress up very badly, in costumes that we wouldn't recommend," she said.

She hosted the retreat because she wanted to teach the kids in her religious ed class the true origin of Halloween -- All Hallows' Eve, or the eve of All Saints' Day. She encouraged the kids to dress up as a saint or member of the clergy on Halloween and honor a patron saint the next day. Her Halloween plans involve attending the Vigil Mass for All Saints' Day. She is considering wearing a costume.

"I have some angel wings from last Christmas," she said.

Father Robert Murray has been pastor of Mary Queen of Apostles Parish in Salem for the last eight Halloweens. Immaculate Conception Church, across the street from Fatima's Psychic Studio, sees a sharp increase in visitors during October. To Father Murray, it's his chance to introduce them to Jesus. He greeted two women in witch hats as they stepped inside.

"We have lots and lots of stories of people who come and they went and they experienced some part of occult, or something like that, that really frightened them," he said. "And they came back, they came here, and they sat here for a long time, and went to confession about being engaged in that stuff, and then left here teary-eyed and grateful that the power of God's grace, once again, overcame whatever fear."

He isn't offended by the sometimes blasphemous costumes he sees but feels sorry for the people wearing them because they haven't gotten to know Jesus. He has spoken to former practitioners of witchcraft who suffered from "darkness," depression, and anger.

"I think that people can be attracted to it and decide to fall in with it, and that can be very challenging, but I think for the most part, people are here to have fun," he said. "I don't think they take any of it too seriously, except the ones who do take it seriously, and then those folks might be in trouble."

As for those who do take it seriously, "We still have to love them, and we have to invite them to know Jesus," he said.

Immaculate Conception was established in 1826 and is the second-oldest Catholic parish in the Archdiocese of Boston. Archbishop Richard G. Henning plans to celebrate a Mass there next year on Oct. 25, honoring the 200th anniversary of Catholicism in Salem.

Father Murray doesn't see any harm in Halloween traditions like trick or treating, "as long as it's all kept in proper perspective." He said Catholics should use the day for its historic purpose of remembering the saints. On Halloween night 2004, Immaculate Conception was home to "Saint Fest," a concert which provided a Catholic alternative to the city's Halloween celebrations. This Halloween, the church will be open for confessions and host an appreciation dinner for Salem police officers. Father Murray might treat himself to some candy. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are his favorite.