Dark Tourism

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THE DEFINITION OF DARK TOURISM

The term 'Dark Tourism' was first coined in 1996 by John Lennon (no, not that one) and Malcolm Foley, professors at Glasgow Caledonian University in the Department of Hospitality, Tourism & Leisure Management. Dark tourism refers to tourism to sites of mass tragedy and death.

Today, dark tourism has many names, among them, Thanatourism, grief tourism, and morbid tourism. There are also many facets of dark tourism, such as nuclear tourism, war tourism or slum tourism (more of these below).

Understandably, many of these are controversial.

Additionally, because there isn't a better/other term for sites generally associated with the macabre, we currently broaden this to include abandoned places & ghost towns, ghost stories, cemeteries, sites of revolt, prisons & anything macabre.

But we always want to look at these places from an educational and historical point of view.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF DARK TOURISM

Although an 'official' term did not exist until 1996, dark tourism is not a new practice. People have been visiting sites of death and tragedy for centuries. Early examples include viewing public hangings and decapitations, or spectators at gladiatorial games in the Colosseum. Pompeii has been popular among those able to travel, almost since its tragic end in 79 AD. At the beginning of the 19th century, the site of the Battle of Waterloo became one of the most visited locations in the world.

Arguably, pilgrims became the first dark tourists, as they often set out to visit sites of executions and death surrounding religious figures. One example is the final resting place of Muhammed at Al-Masjid an-Nabawi (or, the Mosque of the Prophet) in Medina, Saudi Arabia.

It is important to remember, that ancient sites are not, strictly speaking, dark tourism sites. Dark Tourism refers to sites that affect recent memory and heritage. Although the Colosseum or Pompeii have a dark history and they are tourism sites, they are first and foremost historical sites. Though again, we may, until we set up separate pages for them, chuck them into the dark tourism overhead for the time being.

Skulls stacked up at the Killing Fields, Cambodia

WHY WRITE ABOUT DARK TOURISM?

Our aim is to introduce people to different kinds of dark tourism. For example, while not strictly a site of mass death, we believe that sites like East Grinstead's Queen Victoria Hospital fall under the purview of dark tourism, as its historical significance is rooted in tragedy. Namely, that without the disasters of war, its current iteration would not exist. We also want to examine why dark tourism is so popular, why we feel it is important (despite its controversy), and how to be a responsible dark tourist.

We think dark tourism is integral to understanding a country. I (Dagney) used to live in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and I met A LOT of tourists and foreigners who would complain about the city because it was too busy, too polluted, too corrupt. Many of them just wanted to go to Siem Reap to see Angkor Wat and then head to the beach. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying all tourists, but definitely enough of them. Often when I asked if they would be visiting the Killing Fields or Tuol Sleng - or even Wat Thmei in Siem Reap - they said no, because it was too depressing.

Yes, visiting any site associated with the Killing Fields is harrowing, but not only can you not fully understand modern Khmer culture without visiting, you are doing a disservice to the Khmer people but ignoring these tragedies. Because here's the thing, it would amaze you the number of people who have been to Cambodia who don't realise the Killing Fields were everywhere. Choeung Ek (aka the Killing Fields), the one in Phnom Penh, is one of THOUSANDS of sites across the entire country. Many people I have met who have been to Cambodia don't know there are sites like this in Siem Reap.

Equally, if the aforementioned people took the time to understand the state of Cambodia before the war (it was often considered to be one of the most progressive and developed in the region), the genocide itself and the aftermath - namely that almost no high ranking members of the Pol Pot regime were ever sentenced, and the current Prime Minster is a former member - they might have a bit more compassion for the Khmer people. Cambodia is now considered to be one of the poorest in the region because it is still recovering from a war that some people in the country aren't even aware happened.

Long rant short: visit dark tourism sites, it will make you a better tourist and a more compassionate person.

The Killing Tree at Choeung Ek, Cambodia

Listed below is every article we've ever written that discusses dark tourism. Some include more conventional forms of dark tourism, such as memorial sites and museums in Warsaw, while other others are more unconventional, such as The Hill of Witches in Lithuania which explores both light and dark mythologies (we count it because there are demon effigies).

TYPES OF DARK TOURISM

Dark tourism can be broken down into many sub-categories (countless, really), many of which overlap. Here are some of the most popular ones:

- Genocide Tourism: Genocide refers to the deliberate and systematic killing of a specific group of people, normally targeted because of their religion, ethnicity, race or nation - although in the case of the Khmer Rouge genocide it became about poor and agrarian versus rich and urban (in very simplified terms). Genocide tourism is by far the most well-known form of dark tourism as it encompasses many of the mass tragedies throughout history. Here are just a few of the horrific events covered under genocide tourism: the Holocaust in Europe, Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, Hutu massacres in Rwanda, Holodomor in Ukraine, Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire (specifically Turkey), Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Rohingya genocide in Myanmar, and the massacres of Native Americans in the USA.

- Holocaust Tourism: Holocaust tourism is the most popular form of genocide tourism. This involves visiting sites affiliated with the Holocaust and Hitler's final solution specifically. So WWII battlefield sites do not fall under this category. However, labour camps, concentration camps, mass graves, or museums such as the Anne Frank house all do. It isn't always clear cut, though. Sites like Lidice, a village just outside of Prague razed to the ground by the Nazis, could be considered Holocaust tourism since it was a reprisal for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, but as no one living there was Jewish, some might not consider it such. Personally, Lidice is Holocaust tourism to me because it was a direct result of Hitler's final solution and an attempt to undermine it, rather than a tragic consequence of war.

TYPES OF TOURISM OFTEN ASSOCIATED WITH DARK TOURISM

Here are a few types of tourism that often get lumped in with dark tourism, but are different:

- Supernatural Tourism: As much as we love a good haunting, its ties to dark tourism are often tenuous at best. While the occasional haunted house backstory might tie in well enough, depending on its historical accuracy, vampires, witches and werewolves not so much. However, the mistreatment of those labelled 'different' and othered throughout history can certainly fall into this category. In particular to the supernatural category, the horrific witch trials throughout Europe and the USA most definitely fall under dark tourism.