Journal of Unconventional Parks, & Recreation Research Volume 4 • Number 1 • 2012 ISSN 1942-6879 http://journals.radford.edu/index.php/JUPTRR/

Peer-Reviewed Articles

Post-modernity and the exceptionalism of the present in

Legacy of the Lorraine and the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Management issues in dark tourism attractions: The case of tours in and Toledo

Solemnity and celebration: Dark tourism experiences at Hollywood Forever

The planetary home for stellar recreation research and Published in cooperation with the National publication Recreation and Park Association Journal of Unconventional Parks, Tourism & Recreation Research JUPTRR Vol. 4, No. 1, p. 1 ISSN 1942-6879

Journal of Unconventional Parks, Tourism & Recreation Research ISSN 1942-6879 Volume 4, Number 1, 2012

Dark Tourism Special Issue

Post-modernity and the exceptionalism of the present in dark tourism ...... 2 Rebecca Casbeard and Charles Booth

Legacy of the Lorraine Motel and the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr...... 9 Steven N. Waller and Wanda M. Costen

Management issues in dark tourism attractions: The case of ghost tours in Edinburgh and Toledo ...... 14 Beatriz Rodriguez Garcia

Solemnity and celebration: Dark tourism experiences at Hollywood Forever Cemetery ...... 20 Linda Levitt

Guest Editors Richard Sharpley and Philip Stone

Editorial Assistance Shalin Krieger

Journal of Unconventional Parks, Volume 4 • Number 1 • 2012 1 Tourism & Recreation Research Journal of Unconventional Parks, Tourism & Recreation Research JUPTRR Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 2-8 ISSN 1942-6879

lence about their conceptualization, as Post-Modernity they stated that they do not propose to debate the philosophical implications of and the Exceptionalism of the present their position, and readily admit that their in dark tourism chosen terminology of post-modernity is interchangeable with alternative concep- Rebecca Casbeard tions such as “late capitalism, or late modernity” (p. 11). Other approaches have Charles Booth also been highly critical, including that of Bristol Business School, Seaton (2009) in his most recent review of the field. In his attack on post-modern University of the West of England approaches to thanatourism (his preferred term) he argued that such accounts, The paper is a polemical essay concerning approaches to the historical other; a characterized by the work of Rojek (1993) critique of the exceptionalism of the present displayed in some of the contemporary are “radically unhistorical” (Seaton, 2009, dark tourism literature. We review claims in this literature that dark tourism is both p. 524). He also considered that Lennon a product of and signifier for post-modernity. We utilize the criteria underpinning and Foley’s earlier philosophical position these claims to analyze two historical cases of thanatological in the first half is subverted by the realist turn that their of the 19th century and conclude that, as both cases self-evidently demonstrate later work (at least Lennon’s – e.g., Wight recognizably ‘contemporary’ aspects of dark tourism, conceiving of the latter as & Lennon, 2007) has taken. ‘post-modern’ is historically inaccurate and misguided. The essay closes with a Whilst we accept and endorse the first plea for a historically-informed sensitivity in researching the field. point, we think the second misses the mark. The problem here is not that Lennon and Foley (1999, 2000) exemplify a Ludwig Wittgenstein (as cited in Monk, that the things they do are out of our philosophical commitment to post- 1990, p. 536-7): reach, or that they don’t share a “family modernism (although Rojek clearly does); resemblance” to the way we do things. In if so the ambivalence, remarked on above, Hegel seems to want to say that particular, although we recognize that reveals a singularly weak set of philosoph- things that look different are really the significant historical events may give rise ical commitments. Like Wight (2006), same, whereas my interest is in to historical discontinuities (typically, the Seaton (2009) appears to be conflating showing that things that look the American Civil War and First World War epistemological approaches with ques- same are really different. are variously claimed as events of this tions of historical periodization. Rather, type) we consider that – as has been our position in this essay is that it is claims his is a polemical essay concerning pointed out by revisionist historians of both regarding the exceptionalism of post- contemporary approaches to the conflicts – continuity is often concealed by modernity (or late capitalism, etc.) which T historical other in the dark tourism discontinuity. render many assumptions about dark literature (Sharpley & Stone, 2009). Our In a sense, claims about post- tourism deeply problematic. We concur, in main aim is to subvert and critique what modernity exemplify the least convincing other words, with Seaton (1996, 1999, we call the exceptionalism of the present. historical arguments for discontinuity, 2009), when he argued that thanatouristic That is, to take issue with presentist given that it seems impossible to agree on behavior has existed for centuries. In his arguments about dark tourism that the nexus point, though we note in 2009 chapter, he points to specific cases contemporary society is somehow passing Charles Jenck’s perhaps sardonic (the ancient and medieval Christian cult of bracketed off from the past, and that suggestion that “the post-modern epoch , antiquarianism and the ‘discovery’ contemporary social and cultural condi- began on 15 July 1972 at 3.22 p.m. when of heritage, and romanticism and tions can or should therefore be accorded the Pruitt-Igoe public housing develop- thanatourism) which stress the traditional exceptional status. We argue in this paper ment in St Louis, Missouri…was knocked and enduring nature of thanatological that claims that dark tourism is a post- down, having been recognized as travel which, he argued, has been given modern phenomenon are exceptionalist, uninhabitable” (as cited in Johnson & particular impulse by emergent forces in presentist, and do not stand up to Duberley, 2000, p. 92). In any case, we European social and cultural history over historical investigation. However, in think conceiving of post-modernity as a time. In this essay, we limit ourselves to denying this particularistic claim, we do distinctive historical epoch is wrong, as two very different episodes within the last not wish to endorse Hegel’s universalism, are arguments that dark tourism is solely a of Seaton’s periods of historical thana- which in historical terms implies what we phenomenon of post-modernity, and we tourism, the Romantic era. Specifically, we might ironically call a “Flintstones” view of explore our counter-argument in the are concerned to show, not only that history (Booth & Rowlinson, 2006, p. 3) paper. thanatouristic travel existed in this era where historical agents are “just like us.”1 We are, of course, by no means alone (surely a rather well-established point), but We disagree. Neither, however, are they in contesting the claim that dark tourism is also that this phenomenon exhibits “nothing like us.” The past might be a exclusively a product of, and signifier for, precisely the attributes that Lennon & foreign country, and they might do things post-modernity. Lennon and Foley (2000) Foley (1999, 2000) used to justify their differently there, but that does not imply themselves expressed a limited ambiva- exceptionalist position. The latter, we

Journal of Unconventional Parks, Volume 4 • Number 1 • 2012 2 Tourism & Recreation Research therefore conclude, is philosophically self- occurred, and to which sightseers travel Lennon, 2007), slavery heritage (e.g., refuting and historically inaccurate. both physically and through reverie” (p. Teye & Timothy, 2004), sites of confine- This paper is organized in five sec- 63). ment and punishment (e.g., Blackburn, tions. Following this introduction we briefly There is considerable literature at- 2000), and those associated with the establish, with some inevitable redundan- tending to definitions, shades, and of celebrated individuals, such as cy in the context of this special issue, categories of dark tourism, and space John F. Kennedy and Diana, Princess of some key definitional and methodological precludes more than a general overview in Wales (such as Walter, 2001). issues concerning dark tourism and/or this essay. One conception relevant to our As a result of the predominantly site- thanatourism. Next, we review approaches argument is that of thanatourism defined specific nature of dark tourism or to the field that contend that dark tourism as the travel to a location wholly, or thanatourism research (Seaton, 1996), is an exclusively post-modern phenome- partially, motivated by the “desire for current literature consists almost exclu- non. Unfairly, we single out the bestselling actual or symbolic encounters with death, sively of case study enquiry. Wight (2006) book by Lennon and Foley (2000) as the particularly . . . violent death” (Seaton, argued that the methodologies adopted paradigm example of this tendency. We 1996, p. 240). Seaton (1996, pp. 240-242) focus chiefly on qualitative inquiry then present two historical case studies suggested a typology of thanatourism including cumulative case studies (e.g., which, we argue, clearly match Lennon comprising of five categories. The first, a Lennon & Foley, 2000), discourse analysis and Foley’s criteria and thus render their travel to witness public enactments of (e.g., Siegenthaler, 2002) and question- post-modern argument deeply problemat- death, dates back to gladiatorial combat naires and mixed methods (e.g., Austin, ic. We conclude the essay with sugges- and public executions, and has modern 2002; Wight & Lennon, 2007). A number tions for future research orientations and manifestations in the sightseers who rush of academic papers (e.g., Siegenthaler, directions in the dark tourism field. to disaster scenes. The second category 2002) engage in semiotic or hermeneutic is travel to see sites of mass or individual analysis. However, Dann and Seaton Dark Tourism deaths, after they have occurred, and (2001) commented that no studies within encompasses a vast amount of dark this field of investigation can be described It is a commonplace argument that tourism behavior. A prominent example of as constructivist. Notwithstanding this sites associated with death, disaster, and this in the literature is the travel to claim, others have argued that atrocity are becoming an increasingly Holocaust death camps (see Ashworth, “[p]hilosophical approaches to academic pervasive feature in contemporary 2002; Beech, 2000; Charlesworth & Addis, research in the area of dark tourism have , providing a journey “for 2002). The third is travel to interment sites been commodiously post-modern or the tourist who wishes to gaze upon real of, and memorials to, the dead; this poststructuralist2 making prevalent and recreated death” (Stone, 2006, p. includes visits to graveyards, catacombs, reference to the recreation of authenticity 145). Foley and Lennon (1996) argued crypts, war memorials, and cenotaphs. A and to the dilemmas faced by attraction that dark tourism is positioned at the fourth activity is travel to view the material managers attempting to bring history crossroads of the recent history of evidence, or symbolic representations of closer to the audience through the use of inhumane acts and the representation of death, in a location unconnected with its imagery, multi-media and other more these in news and film media, coining the occurrence. This includes museums engaging interpretation” (Wight, 2006, p. term to “encompass the presentation and where weapons of death, the clothing of 121). consumption (by visitors) of real and victims, and other artifacts are put commodified death and disaster sites” (p. on display. Lennon and Foley (1999), for THE PROBLEM OF POST- 198). This pervasiveness has thus been example, focused on the permanent MODERNITY attributed to continuing human curiosity exhibition in the U.S. Holocaust Memorial about death and related topics, and to the Museum, Washington, D.C. One final We believe this insistence on catego- media and technological advances that, category, the travel for re-enactments or rizing dark tourism as a phenomenon of arguably, accelerate processes of public simulation of death, has come to encom- post-modernity presents a number of awareness and of the commodification of pass staged battle re-enactments (e.g., fundamental problems. We argue, first, such topics: “Significant media and Thompson, 2004), and the organization of that there arises a contentious issue of technological advances, particularly of war-weekends (see, for example, Wallace, historical periodization. Lennon and Foley late, have exposed societies around the 2007). (2000, p. 3) argued that “tourist interest in world to the latest news of human conflict, In terms of the categories proposed recent [our emphasis] death, disaster and death and suffering like never before” by Seaton (1996), the most common atrocity is a growing phenomenon…we (Best, 2007, p. 30). research areas relate to the second and intend to signify a fundamental shift in the Earlier, Rojek (1993) adopting a con- third categories. Wight (2006) confirmed way in which death, disaster and atrocity sciously post-modern approach, defined that, as a field of academic enquiry, dark are being handled by those who offer “black spots” as “the commercial devel- tourism research has primarily examined associated tourism ‘products.’” The opments of grave sites and sites in which the movement and motivation of visitors to insistence on dark tourism as a phenome- celebrities or large numbers of people sites of death and disaster. A significant non of post-modernity thus arguably rules have met with sudden and violent death” proportion of academic research (e.g., out the identification of many “dark” sites (p. 136). Subsequently, Rojek (1997) Blackburn, 2000, 2002; Grundlingh, 2004; (e.g., sites associated with the slave trade) distinguished black spots, which he Henderson, 2000; Iles, 2006; Lunn, 2007; as actually dark due to (a) temporal argued had an enduring historical O’Dwyer, 2004; Seaton, 1999; Smith, distance from the present, and (b) as we element, from “sensation sights” [sic] in 1998) focused on tourism associated with shall see below, the failure of such sites, which the tragedy that is the source of war, battlefields, and other aspects of allegedly, to arouse anxiety and doubt attraction is contemporary: “these are military history. Other areas of investiga- about the modernist project. This narrow places in which violent death has oc- tion common to the field include historical definition is therefore only historical in the curred, or where abduction, chase or sites associated with former communist, sense that the phenomenon is temporally siege is occurring, or has recently fascist, or apartheid regimes (e.g., Wight &

Journal of Unconventional Parks, Volume 4 • Number 1 • 2012 3 Tourism & Recreation Research located within an epoch characterized as case. However, it is far from clear Foley’s (2000) definition – post-modern post-modernity. However, as stated whether Lennon and Foley are in fact dark tourism occurring within the early above, Seaton defined the related idea of referring to modernism or to modernity nineteenth century; both of which gave thanatourism, as “travel to a location (which we would characterize as associat- rise to widespread feelings of anxiety wholly, or partly, motivated by the desire ed with post-Enlightenment rationality, rise about humankind’s relation to the natural for actual or symbolic encounters with of industrialization, establishment of and social world at the time, and both of death” (1999, p. 131). Such encounters recognizably modern forms of liberal which were facilitated and disseminated are temporally unrestricted, both explicitly democracy, etc., thus extending the by relatively novel contemporary techno- and by implication, in Seaton’s (1999) potential historical starting point for dark logical developments. The first is the case account of tourism and Waterloo, thus tourism a century or so further back). of the Willey House, which we believe has implying a more inclusive categorization of Their terminology suggests – though their not received any attention in the dark dark tourism than that of Lennon and historicization denies – the latter to be tourism literature hitherto. The second is Foley (2000). their target. tourism connected with the Battle of Implied within Lennon and Foley’s Lennon and Foley’s (2000) further Waterloo, which was the focus of Seaton’s (2000) project, then, is a sense firstly that insistence on the role of global communi- 1999 paper. Although there is some dark sites can only be classified as such if cation technology in facilitating dark overlap, our concerns are different to the events connected with them occurred tourism negates this uncertainty, as they those of Seaton (1999), and we hope that within living memory (generously, in the make it clear that they consider the rise of we are presenting material new to the last 100 years). In principle, this would not this technology (connected to the readers of this paper. We stress that preclude a visitor to the Gettysburg development of radio/wireless telegraphy neither account is particularly detailed or battlefield in 1875 from being classified as and associated technologies) to be a original, and we confine ourselves to the a dark tourist, was periodization the only twentieth century phenomenon. They use of one main secondary source in each question at stake. In this sense, (see suggested interdependence between case. The accounts are therefore intended Figure 1) the period in which dark tourism communications technologies and dark to be suggestive rather than definitive. can occur slides through and over time, tourism: “global communications technol- with sites receding out of living memory ogies are inherent in both the events The Willey House and thus out of darkness in the process. which are associated with a dark tourism On Monday night, 28 August 1826, We would probably accept that this product and are present in the representa- the entire Samuel Willey household – conception holds for sites which, even tion of the events for visitors at the site Mr. and Mrs. Willey, five young chil- though they may at the time excite itself” (Lennon & Foley, 2000, p. 16). dren, and two hired men – were killed considerable interest, are connected with They go on to say “it has been argued that by an avalanche in Crawford Notch in transient or ephemeral events, or with the sinking of the Titanic was the first, real, New Hampshire’s White Mountains. cultural or political issues that are global event, due to its impact upon news Triggered by a fierce thunderstorm, themselves time-limited. We would, on the and media worldwide” (Lennon & Foley, the slide started near the top of Mount other hand, strongly argue that variants of 2000, p. 17).3 Willey (4,300 feet), carved a channel dark tourism that primarily concern Previously, Foley and Lennon (1996) fifty feet deep, and obliterated the enduring issues of memory, identity, argued that dark or tragic tourism: road at the bottom of the valley. In- resistance, and sacrifice (e.g., the is an intrinsic part of the post-modern credibly, the Willey’s house was Holocaust and sites associated with the world. The simulation of experiences, spared: a boulder had divided the attempted of European Jewry, the critical importance of reproduction landslide directly behind the house so Gallipoli tourism by Australians or New and duplication and the centrality of that it passed by on either side. But Zealanders, or tourism connected with media and technology are character- for some reason the family had gone slavery sites by African Americans) would istically present in any examination of outside and was buried under the not satisfy this criterion. Scholars of social these locations. Thus the contempo- stream of earth, stones and uprooted memory (e.g., Cubitt, 2007; Misztal, 2003) rary context for dark tourism is that of trees. An open bible, a burnt candle have, moreover, long since dismissed post-modernism. (p. 199) end, and unmade beds were later living memory as a construct of any In a later article, they repeated that “[d]ark found as evidence of the family’s theoretical or historical significance in the tourism is consistent with accounts of sudden departure. No survivors wit- study of collective memory. post-modernity” (Lennon & Foley, 1999, p. nessed the disaster. (Purchase, 1999, However, the second aspect of the 47).4 We find this conception deeply p. 1)5 Lennon and Foley (2000) thesis is that problematic. As Purchase (1999) made clear in his dark sites enjoy such a status if and only if extended account, the Willey House they give rise to anxieties about the HISTORICAL CASE STUDIES tragedy caught the imagination of the modernist project. This necessarily nation, and both immediately and over confines dark tourism to the period after We outline below two brief historical time engendered an outpouring of 1870 or so, if quotidian scholarly under- case studies which we consider exemplify journalistic, literary, and scientific com- standings of modernism are applied in this recognizably – if we accept Lennon and ment. Reference was made to it in a variety of widely circulating cultural forms Figure 1. Dark Tourism, Time, and Memory including poetry, painting, memoirs, and travel writing. t-100 t0 More significantly, in the context of this paper, the tragedy and responses to it encapsulated a profound cultural shift in American attitudes towards landscape, TIME DARKNESS VISIBLE and, by extension, with nature itself. Purchase (1999) argued that, prior to the

Journal of Unconventional Parks, Volume 4 • Number 1 • 2012 4 Tourism & Recreation Research early nineteenth century, the pastoral ideal desolate hearth around which they vie with the perception of the bleakness in America was rooted in a Jeffersonian had gathered and heard the evening and mundanity of the physical setting: notion of stewardship. Here, humans storms howling along the Notch. The A WINGED Goddess – clothed in realized their relationship with nature by walls and plastering were scrawled vesture wrought / Of rainbow col- managing it. By extension, land was either over with names. We wrote…our own ours; One whose port was bold, / manageable (for human benefit), or it was linked together on the wall with a Whose overburthened hand could literally worthless. The farmer was the fragment of coal. (Nathaniel Rogers, scarcely hold / The glittering productive citizen whose efforts under- Miscellaneous Writings, pub. 1849, crowns and garlands which it pinned the wealth of the nation. Where quoted in Purchase, 1999, p. 39) brought – / Hovered in air above land was not productive in this sense, it Generally, large scale tourism to the far-famed Spot. / She vanished; was a non-place, a nowhere, with neither Crawford Notch had to wait for new leaving prospect blank and cold / cultural nor economic value. Prior to the technologies of tourism and travel Of wind-swept corn that wide Willey tragedy, the White Mountains (and infrastructure (e.g., all-weather roads, around us rolled / In dreary billows; by extension, all America’s wild land- regular coach – and later, rail – services, wood, and meagre cot, / And mon- scapes), were nowhere. The Willey and ) to facilitate access. This uments that soon must disappear: / disaster changed this. As travelers, occurred from the 1850s, and the Willey Yet a dread local recompence we intellectuals and commentators struggled House (itself subsequently converted into found; / While glory seemed be- to make sense of the seemingly arbitrary a annex) and the White Mountains trayed, while patriot-zeal / Sank in and remorseless nature of the tragedy, remained a popular tourist destination, our hearts, we felt as men 'should' they borrowed from European notions of publicized through the work of the feel / With such vast hoards of hid- the romantic sublime in re-defining the emerging Hudson River School of fine den carnage near, / And horror relation between nature and humankind. artists,6 until the house burnt down in a fire breathing from the silent ground! Instead of being nature’s master, humans at the turn of the twentieth century. (Wordsworth, 1820, lines 1-14) instead were subject to nature’s vagaries Today, the locality is a featured Historical In a similar sense to that in which and whims, as described in Thomas Site in Crawford Notch State Park. contemporary dark tourists’ motivation is Cole’s 1828 diary: argued to be connected to such tourists the sight of that deserted dwelling The Battle of Waterloo confronting the prospects of their own standing in a little patch of green in On the top of the ridge in front of the death (Stone & Sharpley, 2008), some the midst of that dread wilderness of British position…we traced a long line romantic commentators extended this desolation…though the slides rushed of tremendous graves, or rather pits, focus on human finitude to that of their on either side they avoided it as into which hundreds of dead had own culture itself. Of course, the end of though it had been a sacred place. been thrown…The effluvia which Bonapartism engendered considerable We walked among the rocks and felt arose from them was horrible…deadly public and private reflection on the as though we were but worms, insig- was the smell that in many places impermanence of glory and of achieve- nificant and feeble, for as worms a pervaded the field. From one of them ment. Shelley’s sonnet Ozymandias, falling rock would crush us. We the scanty clods of earth which had published shortly after Waterloo, is looked up at the pinnacle above and covered it had in one place fallen, and certainly a reflection on the outcome of the measured ourselves and found our- the skeleton of a human face was battle; it is also worth quoting, however, selves as nothing. (as cited in Pur- visible. I turned from the spot in inde- Shelley’s friend Horace Smith’s sonnet, chase, 1999, p. 75) scribable horror, and with a sensation ostensibly on the same ancient object Whereas cultural value could be as- of deadly faintness which I could found in the sand. The annihilation cribed to this new sense of sublimation, scarcely overcome. (Charlotte Eaton, contemplated here is not the historical and the resulting reflexive apprehension of Waterloo Days: The Narrative of an figure of Ozymandias, or that of the our relationship to a vast and indifferent Englishwoman Resident at Brussels author/tourist, but of entire modern universe, the economic value of this in June, 1815, cited in Shaw, 2002, p. civilization:9 landscape could only readily be realized 75) In Egypt's sandy silence, all alone, / through tourism. However, in the early The Romantic sublime also played an Stands a gigantic Leg, which far off years of the nineteenth century, the Willey important part in shaping attitudes and throws / The only shadow that the site was not readily accessible to tourists. practices of tourism relating to the battle Desert knows: / "I am great The artist Thomas Cole (above) was site of Waterloo (1815).7 Although tourists OZYMANDIAS," saith the stone, / among early visitors who managed to were unimpressed by the “dreary” natural "The King of Kings; this mighty City make their way to the house, and he later scenery (see Wordsworth’s sonnet, to shows / The wonders of my hand." founded his artistic reputation on paintings follow), the scale of the battle, the number The City's gone, / Nought but the Leg of the White Mountains. Similarly, Moses of casualties, and its role in ending the remaining to disclose / The site of this and Mary Jane Thomas visited the house once seemingly-invincible Bonapartist forgotten Babylon. / We wonder, and in 1831, finding it “shut against vandals, Empire, engendered similar feelings of some Hunter may express / Wonder ‘relic hunters, with yankee blades’ who dread, horror, and sublimation as did like ours, when thro' the wilderness / liked to hack off pieces of the furniture to glimpses of wild and merciless nature. Where London stood, holding the keep as ” (Purchase, 1999, p. That it was combined, at least among Wolf in chace, / He meets some 28). Likewise, referring to a visit a few British tourists, with a sense of national fragments huge, and stops to guess / years later: victory, meant that responses to the What powerful but unrecorded race / We went into the bed rooms where battlefield site were often8 extremely Once dwelt in that annihilated place. the slumbers of the ill-fated inmates complex, involving the plurivocal expres- (Smith, 1818, lines 1-14) had been broken on that terrible night sion of visual and emotional reactions, Needless to say, the poems of by the voice of the slide, and into the often contradictory, as in this case where Wordsworth, Shelley, and Smith were not kitchen where they had lived, with the triumphalism and irony, horror and elegy the only written responses to Waterloo.

Journal of Unconventional Parks, Volume 4 • Number 1 • 2012 5 Tourism & Recreation Research Mirroring the battlefield itself, where the from March 1816 to May 1818 (with perhaps be an interesting subject of study books and letters of the dead were subsequent displays in 1820-21, 1842-43 and further research. We would only make “spread over the field like the rubbish of a and 1852-53. Barker was said to have a plea, as the field continues to develop stationer’s shop” (contemporary account retired on its profits). In a curious prefigu- depth, breadth, and theoretical sophistica- cited in Shaw, 2002, p. 67), the battle ration of Baudrillard’s (1994) notion of the tion (e.g., Sharpley & Stone, 2009), for a engendered public and private accounts hyper-real, the Times wrote of panoramas, historically-informed sensitivity in our (and artistic representations) of every that “there are aspects…which in great research that recognizes both familiarity description and of varying degrees of panoramas…are conveyed to the mind and strangeness in the historical other, factual reliability and literary or artistic with a completeness and truthfulness not and which does not seek to exemplify the worth.10 With the exception of the poems always to be gained from a visit to the spurious doctrine of an exceptionalism of quoted above, we will confine ourselves to scene itself” (as cited in Shaw, 2002, p. the present. two aspects of “tourism at a distance” 81). A more ambitious, revolving, effort related to the battle, and mediated by was displayed in 1820 by the entrepreneur NOTES artifactual and representational technolo- Peter Marshall: gy. Together with a full military band, 1. In the sense that Fred and Wilma Travel to the battlefield, albeit within state-of-the-art lighting, pyrotechnics Flintstone drive a car, go to the su- the financial reach of some of the and other technological effects, the permarket, etc. “shopkeeping classes” and above, was audience were treated to a revolving 2. We note that Wight’s point here clearly not an option for reasons of time, display of the main incidents of the seemingly refers to, and arguably money, or convenience for all those who battle. As the band played See the conflates, post-modernism as an epis- wished to be a Waterloo tourist. Neverthe- conquering hero, the charge against temological position as well as post- less, some aspects of dark tourist the French and the appearance of modernity as a historical epoch. consumption could be experienced in Wellington were met with a rousing 3. The technologies they specifically London and elsewhere. The first, minor, chorus of cheers. (Shaw, 2002, p. 84) mention (2000, p. 8) in this respect example is that of Napoleonic memorabil- Thus we find the virtual representation of are photography, telegraphy, sound ia. Following the battle, interested the battle of Waterloo some 75 years and cinematic recording, radio and Londoners could view Napoleon’s clothes before the invention of commercial television, and communication satel- (at 1 St. James Street), his horse (at 97 cinematography, with sound and special lites. Although they cannot but con- Pall Mall) or his coach. The hyperbolic effects, and in color. cede to the historical record that advertising copy for the latter exhibition, at some of these technologies existed Bullock’s Museum in Piccadilly, echoes CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS prior to 1912 (their “relatively arbitrari- messages of sublimity common to many ly” selected tipping point) they insist responses to the battle and is thus worth In a sense, these selective accounts 11 that the time-space compression they quoting here: stand for themselves. We consider that connect with post-modernity is asso- in approaching this carriage, an im- both cases amply illustrate that dark ciated with a “congruence of at least mediate connection is formed, with tourism of a recognizably contemporary some of these inventions”. They go the greatest events and persons, that nature existed during the early nineteenth on to claim that visual and verbal me- the world ever beheld.…The diversity century. Moreover, we would argue that dia reports (for example) from earlier of thought that must arise, and the technological developments (in the case of conflicts using some of these technol- energy of those feelings that must be tourism infrastructures in the Willey ogies were “relatively divorced from involved in regarding this object, sur- house), and representational media (in the the day-to-day lives of all but those pass those which could be excited by case of Waterloo) significantly facilitated directly affected”. Our case studies almost any other on earth. (Bullock, the consumption of dark tourism products suggest historically documented con- 1816, p. 9) in these cases. In both cases, the events tra-indications to this argument. Cruikshank’s caricature of the exhibit associated with each site were very widely 4. The fourth aspect of Lennon and indicates that the coach was of considera- publicized in journalistic, literary, artistic, Foley’s thesis is that post-modern ble interest to the fashionable London and (in some cases) scientific media, as dark tourist sites combine educative public. A cartoon, dated 1816 and entitled well as in the case of the Waterloo and commercial aspects which accept A swarm of English bees hiving in the panoramas, where they actually formed “that visitation…is an opportunity to Imperial carriage, shows dozens of part of the tourist experience. Finally, develop a tourism product” (2000, p. spectators crowding into, clambering over, there can be no doubt that the two events 11). We do not explicitly engage with and surrounding the coach, tussling with aroused considerable anxieties, doubts, this aspect of their project in the pa- each other in the crush. Several people and reflections concerning the relation of per, although we should note that were trampled underfoot, and a variety of humankind to nature and to the universe, other conceptions of dark tourism “inappropriate” responses to the artifact – connected as they were to contemporary might not concur with according defin- including an amorous couple canoodling notions of romantic sublimation. In these itive status to this conjunction. In the inside the coach – are illustrated. A respects the cases, we argue, fully meet two (non post-modern) cases we dis- disconsolate Frenchman is shown the criteria for post-modern dark tourism cuss in the paper this aspect is un- weeping before a bust of Napoleon in the as specified by Lennon and Foley (2000). questionably present, if “education” is background. This leaves us with the provisional broadly conceived, as it is by Lennon More central to our case are the great conclusion that the categorization of dark and Foley themselves. Waterloo panoramas, enormous battle tourism as a phenomenon of post- 5. The source for this section is paintings exhibited in the round at huge modernity is incoherent and unhistorical. Purchase (1999), except where oth- purpose-built venues. The first was the The reasons for this post-modern erwise identified. Battle of Waterloo panorama exhibited first periodization ascribed to dark tourism are at Barker’s Leicester Square Rotunda beyond the scope of this paper, and would

Journal of Unconventional Parks, Volume 4 • Number 1 • 2012 6 Tourism & Recreation Research 6. For a useful source on the relation- phenomena (e.g., Shaw, 2000). The landscapes of Holocaust sites: The ship between art and tourism in the need for further historical research in cases of Paszow and Auschwitz- New Hampshire White Mountains, the the dark tourism field, to extend, Birkenau. Landscape Research, reader is directed to Garvin (2006) qualify, or limit Seaton’s (1996, 1999, 27(3), 229-251. and the accompanying website 2009) lists of examples of historical Cruikshank, G. (1816). A swarm of English http://www.nhhistory.org/cv/crawford. instantiations of thanatological travel, bees hiving in the imperial carriage! htm. Needless to say, we consider the for example, is pressing. [cartoon]. Retrieved from use of both cultural media and tour- http://www.artoftheprint.com/artistpag ism infrastructural technology in facili- ACKNOWLEDGEMENT es/cruikshank_george_aswarmofengli tating longer term popular tourism to shbees.htm the Willey House to be highly signifi- The authors wish to extend their gratitude Cubitt, G. (2007). History and memory. cant to our argument. to the organizers and fellow-participants of Manchester, England: Manchester 7. The main source for this section is the International Conference on Tourist University Press. Shaw (2002) unless otherwise stated. Experiences: Meanings, Motivations, Dann, G. M. S., & Seaton, A. V. (eds.) 8. But not always. Contemporary Behaviours, 1-4 April 2009, held at the (2001). Slavery, contested heritage sources noted “a group [of sightseers] University of Central Lancashire, Preston, and thanatourism. Binghamton, NY: who called themselves ‘the Brentford UK, for the original opportunity to develop, The Haworth Hospitality Press. Lads,’ members of the lower profes- present, and refine the paper. Dingley, R. (2000). The ruins of the future: sional or shopkeeping class…Two of Macaulay’s New Zealander and the the lads picked a finger each from a References spirit of the age. In A. Sandison & R. Frenchman’s half-buried hand, to be Dingley (Eds.), Histories of the future:

taken home pickled in spirits” (Shaw, Studies in fact, fantasy and science Ashworth, G. J. (2002). : 2002, p. 67). fiction (pp. 15-33). London, England: The experience of Krakow-Kazimierz. 9. This notion of the tourist contemplat- Palgrave. International Research in Geograph- ing ruins, and in the process reflecting Foley, M., & Lennon, J. J. (1996). JFK and ical and Environmental Education, on the finitude of past, present, and dark tourism: A fascination with as- 11(4), 363-367. future civilizations, was a common sassination. International Journal of Austin, N. K. (2002). Managing heritage enough Romantic trope as to receive Heritage Studies, 2(4), 198-211. attractions: Marketing challenges at satirical comment almost contempo- Garvin, D. (Ed.). (2006). Consuming sensitive historical sites. International raneously (see for example, Thomas views: Art and tourism in the White Journal of Tourism Research, 4(6), Love Peacock’s 1829 novel The Mis- Mountains, 1850-1900. Concord, NH: 447-457. fortunes of Elphin (as cited in Dingley New Hampshire Historical Society. Booth, C., & Rowlinson, M. (2006). 2000, p. 19), where a traveller’s “solil- Grundlingh, A. (2004). Reframing Management & organizational history: oquy of philosophical pathos on the remembrance: The politics of the cen- Prospects. Organizational History, vicissitudes of empire and the muta- tenary commemoration of the South 1(1), 5-30. bility of all sublunary things” is ac- African War of 1899-1902. Journal of Baudrillard, J. (1994). Simulacra and companied by “an occasional peep at Southern African Studies, 30(2), 359- simulation. (S.F. Glaser, Trans.). Ann his watch” so as not to miss dinner). 375. Arbor, MI: University of Michigan By 1865 Punch magazine, referring to Henderson, J. C. (2000). War as a tourist Press. Macaulay’s reference to “some travel- attraction: The case of Vietnam. In- Beech, J. (2000). The enigma of holocaust ler from New Zealand [who] shall, in ternational Journal of Tourism Re- sites as tourist attractions: The case the midst of a vast solitude, take his search, 2(4), 269-280. of Buchenwald. Managing Leisure, stand on a broken arch of London Iles, J. (2006). Recalling the of war: 5(1), 29-41. Bridge to sketch the ruin of St Paul’s”, Performing tourism on the battlefields Best, M. (2007). Norfolk Island: Thana- declared that Macaulay’s New Zea- of the Western Front. Text and Per- tourism, history and visitor emotions. lander headed the list of a number of formance Quarterly, 26(2), 162-180. Shima: The International Journal of clichés that were henceforth to be Johnson, P., & Duberley, J. (2000). Research into Island Cultures, 1(2), outlawed as “used up, exhausted, Understanding management re- 30-48. threadbare, stale and hackneyed” search: An introduction to epistemol- Blackburn, K. (2000). Commemorating (Skilton, 2004, p. 1). See also Skilton, ogy. London, England: Sage. and commodifying the prisoner of war (2007) for a more general account of Lennon, J. J., & Foley, M. (1999). th th experience in south-east Asia: The 18 and 19 century literature on Interpretation of the unimaginable: creation of Changi Prison Museum. anticipated ruins. The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Muse- Journal of the Australian War Memo- 10. In passing, we would certainly not um, Washington D.C .and ‘dark tour- rial, 33, 1-18. agree with the assertion that these ism’. Journal of Travel Research, Blackburn, K. (2002). The historic war site accounts were “relatively divorced 38(1), 46-50. of the Changi Murals: A place for pil- from the day-to-day lives of all but Lennon, J. J., & Foley, M. (2000). Dark grimages and tourism. Journal of the those directly affected” (Lennon & tourism: The attraction of death and Australian War Memorial, 34, 1-15. Foley, 2000, p. 8). disaster. London, England: Contin- Bullock, W. (1816). A description of the 11. It may be, of course, that the uum. costly and curious military carriage of Romantic period is a special case. Lunn, K. (2007). War memorialisation and the late Emperor of France, taken on Against the background of a series of public heritage in Southeast Asia: the evening of the Battle of Waterloo. pan-European, if not world wars, it Some case studies and comparative Piccadilly, England: London Museum. would be surprising if concerns about reflections. International Journal of Charlesworth, A., & Addis, M. (2002). war, mortality, and societal finitude Heritage Studies, 13(1), 81-95. Memorialization and the ecological were not central in shaping cultural

Journal of Unconventional Parks, Volume 4 • Number 1 • 2012 7 Tourism & Recreation Research Misztal, B. A. (2003). Theories of social standing by itself in the deserts of remembering. Maidenhead, England: Egypt, with the inscription inserted Open University Press. below. The Examiner (London), 73. Monk, R. (1990). Ludwig Wittgenstein: Smith, V. L. (1998). War and tourism: An The duty of genius. New York, NY: American ethnography. Annals of Free Press. Tourism Research, 25(1), 202-227. O'Dwyer, C. (2004). Tropic knights and Stone, P. R. (2006). A dark tourism hula belles: War and tourism in the spectrum: Towards a typology of South Pacific. Journal for Cultural death and macabre related tourist Research, 8(1), 33-50. sites, attractions and exhibitions. Purchase, E. (1999). Out of nowhere: Tourism: An Interdisciplinary Journal, Disaster and tourism in the White 54(2), 145-160. Mountains. Baltimore, MD: Johns Stone, P. R., & Sharpley, R. (2008). Hopkins University Press. Consuming dark tourism: A thana- Rojek, C. (1993). Ways of escape: Modern tological perspective. Annals of Tour- transformations in leisure and travel. ism Research, 35(2), 574-595. London, England: Macmillan. Teye, V. B., & Timothy, D. J. (2004). The Rojek, C. (1997). Indexing, dragging and varied colours of slave heritage in the social construction of tourist West Africa: White American stake- sights. In C. Rojek & J. Urry (Eds.), holders. Space and Culture, 7(2), Touring cultures: Transformations of 145-155. travel and theory (pp. 52-74). London, Thompson, J. (2004). Wargames: Inside England: Routledge. the world of 20th century war reenac- Seaton, A. V. (1996). Guided by the dark: tors. Washington, DC: Smithsonian. From thanatopsis to thanatourism. Wallace, T. (2007). Went the day well: International Journal of Heritage Stud- Scripts, glamour and performance in ies, 2(4), 234-244. war-weekends. International Journal Seaton, A. V. (1999). War and thanatour- of Heritage Studies, 13(3), 200-223. ism: Waterloo 1815-1914. Annals of Walter, T. (2001). From cathedral to Tourism Research, 26(1), 130-158. supermarket: , silence and Seaton, A. V. (2009). Thanatourism and solidarity. The Sociological Review, its discontents: An appraisal of a dec- 49(4), 494-511. ade’s work with some future issues Wight, A. C. (2006). Philosophical and and directions. In T. Jamal & M. Rob- methodological praxes in dark tour- inson (Eds.), The Sage handbook of ism: Controversy, contention and the tourism studies (pp. 521-542). Lon- evolving paradigm. Journal of Vaca- don, England: Sage. tion Marketing, 12(2), 119-129. Sharpley, R., & Stone, P. R. (Eds.). Wight, A. C., & Lennon, J. J. (2007). (2009). The darker side of travel: The Selective interpretation and eclectic theory and practice of dark tourism. human heritage in Lithuania. Tourism Bristol, England: Channel View. Management, 28(2), 519-529. Shaw, P. (Ed.). (2000). Romantic wars: Wordsworth, W. (1822). After visiting the Studies in culture and conflict, 1793- field of Waterloo. In Memorials of a 1822. Aldershot, England: Ashgate. tour on the continent, 1820 (p. 4). Shaw, P. (2002). Waterloo and the London, England: Longman, Hurst, romantic imagination. London, Eng- Rees, Orme, and Brown. land: Palgrave Macmillan. Siegenthaler, P. (2002). Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japanese guidebooks. Annals of Tourism Research, 29(4), 1111-1137. Skilton, R. (2004). Contemplating the ruins of London: Macaulay’s New Zea- lander and others. Literary London Journal: Interdisciplinary Studies in the Representation of London, 2(1). Retrieved from: http://www.literarylondon.org/london- journal/march2004/skilton.html Skilton, R. (2007). Tourists at the ruins of London: The metropolis and the struggle for empire. Cercles: Revue Pluridisciplinaire du Monde Anglo- phone, 17, 93-119. Smith, H. (1818, February 1). On a stupendous leg of granite, discovered

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global appeal of the NCRM as a “site of conscience.” Moreover, the NCRM is seldom discussed in tourism-related journals like other assassination sites such as The Ford Theatre or Book Repository. Each of these sites (including the NCRM) involved the assassination of important public figures and changed the culture, history, and politics of the United States. As such, it is essential to explore the NCRM and the Lorraine Motel as dark tourism sites. On April 4, 1968, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated by James Earl Ray in Memphis, Tennessee, while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel. This tragic event cast a bright light globally on the civil rights movement in the United States. The Lorraine Motel was later transformed into the National Civil Rights Museum (NCRM). This case study examines the NCRM as a dark tourism Death, , and suffering are all po- site and its impact on visitors. Content analysis was conducted on 70 web postings tential drivers of tourism. The death and about visits to the NCRM obtained from TripAdvisor. Four key themes were suffering that dark tourism sites record are identified based on the analysis of the data: remembering the assassination of Dr. not occurrences that stem from diseases King; immersion into the “aura” of death at the Lorraine Motel site; the conveyance such as cancer, but in many instances, of history related to the civil rights movement in the U.S.; and the transformative surround extraordinary events (Walter, power of the NCRM and its related exhibits. Key findings included: (a) The exhibits 2009, p. 52). Our natural curiosity about death, destruction, and the locations of featured at the NCRM play an important role in conveying the history of civil rights these occurrences frequently catalyze the movement to U.S. born and international visitors; (b) visitors experience the “aura desire to travel (Vowell, 2005). The of death” when visiting the more graphic exhibits displayed by the NCRM; and (c) balcony outside of room 306 at the for both U.S. and international tourists, a visit to the NCRM, and the assassination Lorraine Motel is one such site (Figure 1). site of Dr. King specifically, is both transformative and commemorative. The NCRM Traveling to and experiencing places has evolved into an attractive destination for African American families, as well as associated with death is not a new regional and foreign tourists. phenomenon. People have long been drawn towards sites, attractions, or events Henry David Thoreau (1854) once History is comprised of significant linked in one way or another with death, wrote, “For every thousand hacking at the events, places, and leaders that influ- suffering, violence, or disaster (Stone, leaves of evil, there is one striking at the enced and shaped our future. The legacy 2005). Furthermore, Stone and Sharpley root” (p. 72). Reverend Dr. Martin Luther of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.‟s assassina- (2008) suggested that death-related King, Jr. was one who struck blows at the tion and the Lorraine Motel are events and tourism has become more widespread, root of evil. During the civil rights move- places that remain earmarked in U.S. and with sites such as the Dallas School Book ment of the 1960s, King‟s America was a world history. Two important tourism- Repository becoming destination attrac- bastion of racial and social inequality that related questions surface in relation to the tions. prompted protests across the nation. On conversion of the Lorriane Motel into the Foley and Lennon (1996) defined April 4, 1968, at 6:01 p.m., a nation and National Civil Rights Museum (NCRM): (a) dark tourism as “the presentation and the world became paralyzed for a brief How does visiting the site of Dr. King‟s consumption of real and commodified moment in time. A single shot rang out assassination impact tourists; and (b) Do death and disaster sites” (p. 198). The that extinguished the life of one of the the exhibits and assassination site help to authors further claimed that the bounda- world‟s greatest peacemakers as he stood educate visitors about the civil rights ries between the message (educational on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in movement in the United States? and/or political) and its commercialization Memphis, Tennessee. Within seconds, the This case study examines the NCRM as tourist products have become increas- once vibrant proclaimer of peace and as a dark tourism site and the impact it ingly blurred (Foley & Lennon, 1996). social justice lay sprawled on the balco- has on visitors. The present case study is Later, Lennon and Foley (2000) further ny‟s floor with a gaping wound covering a important because there is little scholar- posited that “dark tourism is a chronologi- large portion of his jaw and neck. One of ship that examines historical sites cally modern (twentieth century onwards), the eye witnesses to the assassination associated with the civil rights movement primarily Western phenomenon based was Reverend Jesse Jackson, a close as dark tourism attractions. This paper upon purposeful visits due to „serendipity, associate of King‟s and stalwart in the civil also contributes to the growing corpus of the itinerary of tour companies or the rights movement. Jackson reportedly dark tourism literature by highlighting the merely curious who happen to be in the observed “He had just bent over. I reckon experiences of visitors after encountering vicinity‟” (p. 23). Moreover, Reader (2003) if he had been standing up he would not one of the most significant death-related suggested that the general lack of have been hit in the face” (British Broad- sites of the civil rights movement in the attention paid in academic research to casting Company, n.d.). United States. Equally important is the understanding the motivations of tourists

Journal of Unconventional Parks, Volume 4 • Number 1 • 2012 Tourism & Recreation Research Site of Martin Luther King, Jr.‟s Assassination related to the civil rights movement in the U.S.; and the transformative power of the NCRM and its related exhibits.

One common theme that emerged when examining NCRM visitor comments was that visiting the NCRM forced the visitor to recall the assassination of Dr. King. The assassination date and location were prominent in the visitors‟ memories. A visitor from California expressed this sentiment (Walker, 2008): I'm of an age to be part of the civil rights movement graduating from high school in '63. And it broke my heart to hear Dr. King had been murdered, what a loss. I guess we are like other animals in being curious [about] where it happened. This tribute will be a lasting reminder that it happened at a motel. Comments suggested that visiting the NCRM, experiencing the exhibits, and physically seeing the site of the Lorraine who venture to dark tourism destinations Case studies provide an opportunity for Motel helps visitors recall the impact and is a significant oversight. the examination of a single social horror of Dr. King‟s assassination. Stone (2006) found that some dark phenomenon and allow researchers to tourism sites now offer a darker product, develop in-depth descriptions of organiza- and subsequently a darker experience. As tions (Babbie, 2007; Riddick & Russell, such, researchers are now better able to 2008; Yin, 2003). To illustrate the impact It is not uncommon for visitors to ex- refine the conceptual framework in which of visiting the NCRM as a dark tourism perience the atmosphere of death when to locate various types of dark suppliers. site, information was gathered from visiting the more graphic exhibits dis- Viewing these dark suppliers across a TripAdvisor, a that allows played by the NCRM and then viewing the spectrum implies that there are “shades of consumers to rate and comment on tourist balcony in front of room 306 at the darkness,” which reflect the perceived destinations, hotels, , and the Lorraine Motel. The presence of the blood levels of macabreness in this type of like. Comments about the NCRM were stain on the balcony directly in front of the tourism (Stone, 2006, p. 149). The degree posted predominately by non-local visitors, room, and the photographs of a mortally of darkness at a tourism site is measured particularly by visitors from outside of the wounded Martin Luther King, Jr. sur- by several factors. One factor is whether state of Tennessee. Unfortunately, there rounded by friends and aides create a the location has an educational or are not enough data on the website to sense of awe. In concert, the photographs commercial appeal. For example, in the present an accurate demographic profile of King‟s lifeless body, the stained case of the NCRM, the museum has an of the people who posted comments about concrete on the balcony, the commemora- educational mission but also markets itself the NCRM. tive wreath placed on the railing of the as a tourism enterprise in that the civil Content analysis was used to study balcony, and the backdrop of Mulberry rights-related exhibits and amenities are the comments because of its “appropri- Street create a powerful sense of death for consumed for a fee. Another factor is the ateness for case studies and usefulness in the visitor. A regional tourist from Georgia degree to which the location has political analyzing small samples of text” (Krippen- provided insight into the personal influence (Stone, 2006, p. 149). In light of dorff, 2004, p. 42). The researchers emotional response one might experience the fact that NCRM was born in part out of extracted 70 posts about visits to the by visiting the assassination site with the the civil rights movement and an urban NCRM and analyzed them using QDA following comment (suscrowe, 2009): redevelopment initiative designed to Miner-WordStat qualitative analysis In the tour, you can actually see up revitalize the Southside of Memphis, the software. The constant comparison close the real hotel room where MLK museum and its location remain politically method was employed to determine and his friends were staying. You can charged. See Armada (1998) for a similarities and differences among the also see the exact spot where he was discussion of the historical, emotional, and postings (Corbin & Strauss, 2008; shot; it felt like you were standing symbolic meanings of the NCRM. Creswell, 2003). Subsequent to examina- right on the balcony where he died. It tion, similar comments were grouped brought tears to my eyes. The tour together into four emergent themes: also includes the building across the remembering the assassination of Dr. street which was the boarding house Case study methodology is used to King; immersion into the “aura of death” at where James Earl Ray shot MLK examine the NCRM as a dark tourism site. the Lorraine Motel; conveyance of history from.

Journal of Unconventional Parks, Volume 4 • Number 1 • 2012 Tourism & Recreation Research a dark period in U.S. history. Room 306 at the Lorraine Hotel

The NCRM, with its exhibits and the Lorraine Motel, is a powerful tool for transformation. Through the experience of the NCRM, visitors‟ awareness of the civil rights movement and the struggle of African Americans during the 1950s and 1960s are heightened. Additionally, many visitors are moved by the great influence of Dr. King in helping to heal a nation‟s race relations wounds and the penultimate sacrifice he made on behalf of civil and human rights. For example, a native Californian attests to the transformative power of the exhibits and the Lorraine Motel site by stating (jrileymail, 2009): Take time to read the displays in or- der to get a true sense of black Amer- icans' struggle. At the end, you are inside the Lorraine Motel room where King spent his last night, standing feet from the spot where he died, seeing what was his last sight on earth. You will not leave unaffected by your visit. A Canadian patron‟s comments also confirm how the experience serves to The atmosphere created by the international visitors about the civil rights transform individuals. The 27-year old maintenance of the room where Dr. King struggle in the United States during the woman stated (ShanMcG, 2006): lodged contributes to the dark aspect of 1950s and 1960s (ELMG, 2009): Like I said, I never expected much the Lorraine Motel (Figure 2). This section The copy of the “Montgomery bus” from my visit to the National Civil of the Museum stirs the emotions and was powerful and not tasteless in my Rights museum but I emerged a dif- evokes empathetic responses from opinion. It helped me to try and wrap ferent person. I was slightly stunned visitors. my head a little bit around the experi- and quite mournful for several days ence in the segregated south. My and I still think about the museum thanks for the efforts to preserve this often. Everyone should visit this mu- historic site. It‟s fantastic that you can seum, or at least visit the memorial The exhibits featured at the NCRM walk up to it and it looks the same (I'm outside. Visiting places like Graceland play an important role in conveying the assuming) as it did in the 1960‟s. and Beale Street are exciting but this history of the civil rights movement to all Once I swallowed all the lumps in my museum will have a meaningful im- visitors regardless of their race, ethnicity, throat I could walk through the front pact on you forever. or nationality. For some who encounter door. Finally, a visitor from Wisconsin indi- this history through the museum‟s media This theme was reiterated by another cated that the property‟s realism contribut- presentations, the information is new and international visitor from the United ed to the NCRM‟s transformative power alarming, but for others it serves as a Kingdom (traumatizer, 2007): (DAR1234, 2006): “After viewing both staunch reminder of the racial divide the I am a british [sic] male and visited buildings and then walking outside and United States experienced during the the Civil Rights museum in apr 2007. seeing the hotel, the cars as they were decades of the 1950s and 60s. A visitor I'd like to think I had an idea of how and the wreath marking the spot where it from the St. Louis area conveyed this black people were treated in the happened, you can‟t help but being message (Illinoisview, 2009): southern USA, but this museum still moved.” For both U.S. and international Too many people do not understand shocks and surprises, and reminds tourists, a visit to the NCRM, and the their country‟s history, and this muse- you just how unfair things were just assassination site of Dr. King specifically, um will edify anyone on the civil rights when you think you are becoming is both transformative and commemora- movement not [sic] matter how desensitised to it all. The story of tive. knowledgeable they think they are on Emmett Till from did that for the topic. Plan on spending at least me, more than anything else in the two hours reading the copious docu- museum. I would echo that having the ments and studying the telling photos. museum at the site of MLK's slaying The primary purpose of this study was Then move across the street to the makes it all the more potent. to examine the impact of the National Civil second part of the museum, which is Visitors, from both the United States Rights Museum (NCRM) at the Lorraine devoted to the assassination and and abroad, found the exhibits both Motel, a dark tourism site, on visitors. The subsequent investigation. provocative and educational. Many exited Lorraine Motel in many ways was very A comment from a Canadian visitor the NCRM experience with a heightened ordinary until the tragic death of Dr. King. illustrates how the NCRM enlightens awareness of the civil rights movement as The motel‟s practice of accommodating

Journal of Unconventional Parks, Volume 4 • Number 1 • 2012 Tourism & Recreation Research African American travelers when the proximity to the specific assassination including who visits the NCRM and why. majority of hotels and in Memphis location) indicate that this is a site that Second, understanding employee and the south would not lodge persons of both targets and markets to humans‟ motivations for choosing to work at the color, positions the location as a relevant curiosity about death (Vowel, 2005). NCRM could help develop recruitment piece of civil rights history. However, the Foley and Lennon (1996) suggested practices for dark tourism sites. Finally, a event at 6:01 p.m. on April 4, 1968, that the boundary between delivering an major contribution of a more comprehen- solidified the motel‟s place in U.S. history. educational message and commercializing sive study would be to explore the This event also created a dark tourism death has become blurred. This phenom- influence of the NCRM on the public site. enon is evident in the NCRM visitor memory of Dr. King‟s assassination and The findings suggest that visiting the comments. Some tourists viewed the the civil rights movement. NCRM compels tourists to not only NCRM as a museum filled with exhibits remember the tragic death of Dr. Martin and artifacts that served to educate Luther King, Jr., but to also think about the visitors on the evolution of civil rights in struggles of African Americans during the the United States. Others, however, Dark tourism sites are not just loca- civil rights movement. Regardless of age, viewed the NCRM as a place to witness tions where visitors can experience death; NCRM visitors appear to experience a the death of an important figure in they also educate. In the case of the deep sense of loss and grief when American history. Regardless of one‟s NCRM, visitors not only relive a tragic confronted with the physical remnants of background, it is apparent from the visitor moment in U.S. history, but they also feel the assassination. Visitor comments also comments that one becomes more the deep emotional angst of having lost a suggest that tourists are fascinated by the fascinated with and drawn to the artifacts civil rights hero. This case study illustrates opportunity to actually see where this civil associated with Dr. King‟s assassination the impact a dark tourism site can have on rights hero was slain. Perhaps even more as one moves through the museum. visitors and what role these sites can play insightful is the notion that the NCRM This lure to explore Dr. King‟s assas- in encouraging citizens to become more exhibits and the Lorraine Motel seem to sination more in-depth illustrates Stone‟s involved in social justice issues. encourage these tourists to assume the (2006) assertion that dark tourism sites role of eye witnesses. Many of the are now offering an even darker product. comments indicate that the visitors‟ deep Eight years after its opening in 1991, the emotional responses to the NCRM were NCRM purchased the properties facing Photographs used with permission from tied to their sense of feeling like they had the Lorraine Motel (National Civil Rights the National Civil Rights Museum for the actually been there when Dr. King was Museum, n.d.). These properties include sole purpose of publication in a scholarly shot. the rooming house where James Earl Ray, journal. The second purpose of this study was the convicted assassin, lived in 1968. Now to determine whether the NCRM helps visitors not only have a view of the exact educate visitors about the civil rights location were Dr. King was assassinated, movement in the United States. Based but they can also experience Ray‟s upon the data available at the time this perspective. Armada, B. J. (1998). Memorial agon: An study was conducted, the answer is a interpretive tour of the National Civil resounding yes. Visitor comments suggest Rights Museum. Southern that visitors to the NCRM will increase Communication Journal, 63(3), 235- their knowledge of the civil rights move- 243. ment. International tourists, in particular, Babbie, E. (2007). The practice of social While this exploratory study provides noted how much they learned or deep- research (11th ed.). Belmont, CA: new insight into how a dark tourism site ened their knowledge of the plight of Thomson Wadsworth. impacts visitors, it still has limitations. One African Americans during the civil rights British Broadcasting Company (n.d.). of the limitations of this research effort era. 1968: Martin Luther King shot dead. was the lack of data about the NCRM as a It is clear that the NCRM is a dark Retrieved April 25, 2009, from destination attraction. The lack of tourism site because it presents and http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dat economic impact, visitor demographics, allows the consumption of the site where es/stories/april/4/newsid_2453000/24 and visitor motivation data forced the use Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassi- 53987.stm of a more inductive approach. In order to Basics of nated. Perhaps even more importantly, the gain some insight into the NCRM‟s impact Corbin, J., & Strauss, A. (2008). NCRM took on political significance when qualitative research (3rd ed.). on visitors, the researchers had to rely on it was accredited in 2009 as a Site of Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. written narrative accounts of visitors to the Conscience by the International Coalition Creswell, J. W. (2003). Research design: Lorraine Motel, the evolution of the of Sites of Conscience. In order to be a Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed NCRM, and Internet-based information to nd Site of Conscience a museum must methods approaches (2 ed.). tell a powerful story. While these sources “interpret history through historic sites; Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. allow a diverse group of visitors to share engage in programs that stimulate dialog DAR1234. (2006, September 12). A their experiences, a more structured on pressing social issues; promote museum that you will never forget. research design is ideal. humanitarian and democratic values as a Message posted to A more comprehensive study is primary function; and share opportunities http://www.tripadvisor.in/ShowUserRe needed in order to more fully appreciate for public involvement in issues raised at views-g55197-d105742-r5791794- how the NCRM operates as a dark tourism the site” (International Coalition of Sites of National_Civil_Rights_Museum_Lorra site. First, it is important to explore visitor Conscience, 2010). Finally, preservation ine_Motel-Memphis_Tennessee.html motivations for choosing the NCRM as a of the evidence of the assassination (e.g. ELMG. (2009, September 1). Don‟t pass it destination attraction, as well as to the actual blood stain) and the layout of up. Message posted to document tourists‟ demographics, the NCRM (e.g. the physical and visual http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUser

Journal of Unconventional Parks, Volume 4 • Number 1 • 2012 Tourism & Recreation Research Reviews-g55197-d105742- thanatalogical perspective. Annals of r45955821- Tourism Research, 35(2), 574-595. National_Civil_Rights_Museum_Lorra suscrowe. (2009, October 29). If you come ine_Motel-Memphis_Tennessee.html to Memphis, you must see this Foley, M., & Lennon, J. (1996). JFK and museum. It was a very moving dark tourism: A fascination with experience. Message posted to assassination. International Journal of http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUser Heritage Studies, 2, 198–211. Reviews-g55197-d105742- Illinoisview. (2009, August 5). Excellent r55382178- source of intellectual capital. Message National_Civil_Rights_Museum_Lorra posted to ine_Motel-Memphis_Tennessee.html http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUser Thoreau, H. D. (1854). Walden. , Reviews-g55197-d105742- MA: Ticknor and Fields. r45955821- Traumatizer. (2007, April 22). a sombre National_Civil_Rights_Museum_Lorra [sic] and humbling experience. ine_Motel-Memphis_Tennessee.html Message posted to International Coalition of Sites of http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUser Conscience. (2010). Accredited Reviews-g55197-d105742-r7858711- members. Retrieved August 25, 2010, National_Civil_Rights_Museum_Lorra from ine_Motel-Memphis_Tennessee.html http://www.sitesofconscience.org/sites Vowell, S. (2005). Assassination . /accredited-members New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. jrileymail. (2009, October 24). Powerful. Walker, S. (2008, September 10). Strange Message posted to tribute. Message posted to http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUser http://www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowUserR Reviews-g55197-d105742- eviews-g55197-d105742-r19961659- r47658568- National_Civil_Rights_Museum_Lorra National_Civil_Rights_Museum_Lorra ine_Motel-Memphis_Tennessee.html ine_Motel-Memphis_Tennessee.html Walter, T. (2009). Dark tourism: Mediating Krippendorff, K. (2004). Content analysis: between the dead and the living. In R. An introduction to its methodology. Sharpley & P. R. Stone (Eds.), The Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Darker side of travel: The theory and Lennon, J., & Foley, M. (2000). Dark practice of dark tourism (pp. 39-55). tourism: The attraction of death and Bristol, England: Channel View disaster. London, England: Publications. Continuum. Yin, R. (2003). Case study research: National Civil Rights Museum (n.d.). Fact Design and methods (3rd ed.). sheet. Retrieved April 20, 2009, from Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. http://www.civilrightsmuseum.org/fact sheet.htm Reader, I. (2003). Review of dark tourism: The attraction of death and disaster. Retrieved from http:// cult- media.com/issue2/Rreade.htm Riddick, C. C. & Russell, R. V. (2008). Research in recreation, parks, sport, and tourism (2nd ed.). Champaign, IL: Sagamore. ShanMcG. (2006, January 23). Life changing experience. Message posted to http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUser Reviews-g55197-d105742-r4422408- National_Civil_Rights_Museum_Lorra ine_Motel-Memphis_Tennessee.html Stone, P. R. (2005). Dark tourism: An old concept in a new world. The Tourism Society, 4(25), 20. Stone, P. R. (2006). A dark tourism spectrum: Towards a typology of death and macabre related tourist sites, attractions and exhibitions. Tourism: An Interdisciplinary International Journal, 52, 145-160. Stone, P. R., & Sharpley, R. (2008). Consuming dark tourism: A

Journal of Unconventional Parks, Volume 4 • Number 1 • 2012 Tourism & Recreation Research Journal of Unconventional Parks, Tourism & Recreation Research JUPTRR Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 14-19 ISSN 1942-6879

contested interpretations of place and Management Issues experience” (p. 133). Seeman (2002) agreed that ghost tours are commoditized in Dark Tourism Attractions: The Case and argued that the proliferation of ghost of Ghost Tours in Edinburgh and tours has led to homogenization regard- less of the location. He asserted that all Toledo ghost tours “follow a fairly standard format …where the guide tells you ghost stories Beatriz Rodriguez Garcia while taking you on a short stroll” (para. 9). University of Bath Although Curran (1978) concluded that “tours are people, and just as no two people are exactly alike, neither are two This article explores the interpretative, managerial, and ethical issues present in dark tours” (p. 5), as a commercial product, all tourism, namely ghost tours. Accordingly, a comparative case study of ghost tours in ghost tours and their narrative and Edinburgh, , and Toledo, Spain, was conducted utilizing key informant physical performances are designed and interviews and participant observation. Because the academic literature on ghost tours performed mainly by the providers. In that is rather limited, this study presents unique findings in relation to managerial perspec- respect, the whole paranormal experience tives on issues of ethics, interpretation, and operations in ghost tours as a dark tourism is predictable and repetitive. This is what activity. It also provides observational evidence on these aspects by means of partici- makes it commercially viable and pant observation in ghost tours. The study concludes with a note to possible future manageable. studies. From the consumer perspective, par- ticipants engage in ghost tours with Dark tourism can be described as tourism literature. Even though their work varying motivations. When people take a visitation to places that are related to was significant in identifying specific ghost tour, they know there is a possibility death, war, the macabre, or the paranor- issues related to dark tourism sites, they that they might be frightened and even mal. Because of the sensitive nature of focused mainly on concentration camps disturbed by the tour performance; dark tourism, turning sites into tourist and battlefields leaving aside many other however, it is the anticipation and then attractions poses challenges to practition- seemingly lighter entertainment activities, perhaps the realization of these feelings ers. This article explores the main issues such as ghost tours. More recent studies that makes the experience all the more of interpretation, ethics, and management provide a thorough discussion of creation, enjoyable. Some might take ghost tours in of dark tourism sites in general and how marketing, and management of traditional an attempt to find an answer to the these issues are addressed in a specific and new forms of dark tourism sites. For question of whether ghosts exist or to type of dark tourism, i.e. ghost tours. instance, Stone (2009a) explored re- force an encounter with ghosts (see Ghost tours were chosen for this study created dungeons, namely the London Guiley, 2008; Radford, 2007). It is from because ghosts provide a metaphysical Dungeon Experience (also in Edinburgh that will to encounter ghosts that the “tours interpretation of real human tragedy and and York), as a lighter form of dark build a performance to entertain their thus turn the experience of visitation of tourism experience or attraction. These audiences” (Thompson, 2008, p. 1). Ghost dark tourism sites into a “thrilling” lighter experiences include ghost tours tour narratives are used to create an experience. As Thompson (2010) stated, and are part of what Stone (2006) called expectation of paranormal activity. This ghost tours “hinge on humanity’s near- dark fun factories, “which predominately narrative can be presented in a fun or universal fascination with the spirit world” have an entertainment focus and com- serious manner; however, the use of (p. 79). Tour operators may sideline the mercial ethic, and which presents real or humor extends the entertainment aspect real history and human tragedy behind fictional death and macabre events” (p. of the tour (Thompson, 2010) and is part these sites in favor of thrilling tour 152). of its main appeal. In line with what experiences. It is important to explore how Ghost tourism refers mainly to the Campbell (1987) argued about greater managers of these sites interpret dark desire to encounter ghosts, interest in the pleasure potential from negative feelings, tourism, in general, and their sites, in supernatural, and visitation of places ghost tours are consumed as a form of particular, to understand how they strike a associated with the spirit world such as entertainment for the ultimate goal of balance between ethics and running a , haunted houses, castles, and having a pleasurable experience that commercially viable operation. These historic towns. Blain, Hallam, and Cornish engages with visitors’ negative emotions, issues will be explored in a comparative (2007) defined ghost tourism as “engage- namely fear. However, the fact that dark case study of ghost tours in Edinburgh, ment with places and other worlds…that tourism sites deal with human emotions Scotland, and Toledo, Spain. range from the thrills of a ghost walk or a raises questions about not only the haunted house, to potentially transforma- ethicality of exploiting them for commercial Dark and Ghost Tourism tive experiences sought through journey- purposes but also how they are managed Literature ing to pertinent graves” (p. 133). They and presented to visitors. This is an issue added that these activities may necessi- that is likely to be present in every dark tourism site including ghost tours. Foley and Lennon (1997) were tate “commodisation, rationalisation, among the earliest contributors to the dark conservation and sacredness, and

Journal of Unconventional Parks, Volume 4 • Number 1 • 2012 14 Tourism & Recreation Research Ghost Tours in Edinburgh two ghost tour companies, one in as a participant observer in both locations. and Toledo Edinburgh and one in Toledo. The study Here photographs and notes were taken, employs different data collection methods as well as a video footage of the ghost Inglis and Holmes (2003) explored the such as participant observation and semi- tour in Toledo. The participation in the role of ghosts in Scottish tourism as a structured interviews to ensure consisten- tours was important to collect data about marketing tool. They found that this type of cy of findings achieved by different the performance given by the guides tourism has been firmly established in the methods (Denzin, 2006, pp. 471-2). during the tour. Being a participant country and has increased the appeal of Because the ghost tours in both cities are observant differed from non-participant Scotland as a tourist destination for the mostly delivered by companies for one because the researcher could assume paranormal. In comparison, despite a rich commercial purposes, two companies a role in the situation (tourist) and get an history of the macabre, Spain’s image as a were approached to explore the following insider view of events, and even contribute tourist destination has been dominated by questions: to the tour performance. The emergent sea, sun, and sand (Bernier, 2006). Yet, • What are the main features of each themes in the interviews as raised by the there is a bourgeoning ghost tourism tour in terms of the tour content, de- informants were then compared with the scene in Toledo. The present study thus livery methods, number of tourists, observations made during the tours. This compares Edinburgh in Scotland, an and their profiles? comparison helped find discrepancies established destination for ghost tourism, • How are the historical events that between the official and/or managerial with Toledo in Spain, an emergent took place in each ghost tour site in- views on interpretation and ethics, and destination for this type of tourism. The terpreted? how these rationalizations were actually purpose is to gain a cross-national • How do managers handle the ethical played out during the tours by the guides. perspective of ghost tours, understand issues surrounding their interpreta- how managers rationalize their commer- tion? Results cial activity in terms of ethics, and identify • What are the main management specific management issues related to issues of creating and running a ghost Several themes emerged from the ghost tours. tour? semi-structured interviews and the Both Edinburgh and Toledo have a In order to maintain the anonymity of participant observation of the ghost tours. deep-rooted history of human tragedy. For the companies contacted, the ghost tour These themes have been divided into four instance, Edinburgh is considered one of company in Edinburgh will be referred to categories: structure of ghost tours, ethical the most haunted cities in the United as Company E, while the company in issues, interpretation and narratives, and Kingdom due to mass deaths and Toledo will be named Company T. In the management issues. Both Edinburgh and in the city over the centuries. According to same manner, the manager of the first Toledo seem to be very similar in most of Wade (2008, para. 7), “death is hard to company will be Manager E (Edinburgh) the themes even though there are some avoid in Edinburgh. Over 1000 years of and the latter, Manager T (Toledo). differences in the tours themselves. lively history will do that for a place, and Company E has 10 permanent and wherever you turn there is another violent several other part-time staff, while Structure of Ghost Tours story waiting to be told.” Inglis and Holmes Company T is run and managed by two Both companies have a similar way of (2003) observed that Edinburgh offers a permanent employees that also act as tour structuring the tours in terms of the wide range of ghost tours and walks. guides. number of visitors in each tour and the Toledo is also an important city in terms of timing. The maximum number of people dark tourism attractions in Spain. Bausá Key Informant Interviews and taken on a tour varies from 20 to 30 (2009) highlighted a few important sites Participant Observation approximately. Manager E stated that it is including Table of Solomon, Holy Grail Semi-structured interviews were car- important for a ghost tour to keep the Trail, Templars, underground caves, and ried out with tour managers in Edinburgh numbers to this level as taking more preserved . Even though Toledo on July 16, 2009, and Toledo on June 19, visitors would jeopardize the quality of the is one of a small number of cities in Spain, 2009. Both interviews were digitally tour. This was similarly reflected by its bourgeoning ghost tour industry offers recorded and later transcribed. The Manager T who suggested that the quality, tours on a regular basis. interviews were conducted in the native atmosphere, and even the language of each country, being Spanish performance would be affected if the tour Methodology in Toledo and English in Edinburgh. The audience was very large. Both companies researcher, who is fluent in both lan- suffer from seasonality, like any other Most dark tourism research has been guages, later translated the transcript of tourism business, and so there would be qualitative in nature (Wight, 2006) with the interview with Manager T into English. times where they have only two to eight little emphasis given to the meanings The interviews lasted approximately one people in the tour. Manager E said, “It is managers and visitors co-construct and hour each and the questions asked harder to tell stories and frighten visitors attribute to dark tourism attractions. It is covered the following topics: company’s when the tour is small [as the experience precisely those meanings that create and objectives and profile; tourists’ profile; tour becomes] quite personal.” When this shape our experiences of them. Such a content and narratives used; devising the happens, the tour guide has to make it social constructivist approach aims to tour route; and ethical issues. clear that the tour is not going to be the focus on the process of meaning construc- Although the number of interviews same experience as when the group is tion by entering “the everyday social world may seem rather limited, both companies bigger. According to Manager E, if the tour [of relevant actors] in order to grasp these have a limited number of staff and has 10 people or more then the guide can socially constructed meanings” (Blaikie, executive decisions about content and do a normal performance and try to 2000, p. 114). In line with this methodolog- delivery of tours are (co)made by the frighten visitors with the stories. ical approach, this study conducts an managers interviewed. After the inter- Thompson (2010) claimed that ghost exploratory and qualitative case study of views, a tour was taken on the same day tours traditionally follow a guided walking

Journal of Unconventional Parks, Volume 4 • Number 1 • 2012 15 Tourism & Recreation Research route, in which ghost or esoteric stories city. The main audiences identified by both into a commodity just to please the are told while stopping at important managers are adults, day visitors, or increasing number of tourists. However, landmarks. This was also the case in short–break vacationers. However, when the managers were asked what they Edinburgh and Toledo. Both tours have Manager T further explained that they thought of such points of view, they both the same main structure, in which a group distinguish between three types of visitors had the opinion that it was an exaggera- of guided people will walk around the city, that they encounter in almost every tour. tion and it was taking ghost tours totally stopping only at important places at which These are “curious,” who are somewhat out of context. They were of the view that time a ghost story will be told. These tours interested in the occult and the paranor- ghost tours are mostly an activity for are done in the evening when it is dark. mal; “bored,” who just want to do some- entertainment purposes, and to some This factor is very important for the ghost thing in their free time; and “passionate,” extent an educational one, and, as any tour as it creates an atmosphere of fear who are really interested in the paranor- other service commodity, money was straight away. According to Manager E, “It mal. Due to this varying audience interest charged for this service. has to be dark to do the tour in order to in the ghost tours and the fact that ghost Both managers insisted that the tours create that scary feeling.” Despite this, tours are not a main attraction compared were kept on the “ethical side” by basing some tours have to be done early during to other more established landmarks in the their stories and tours on facts. They the summer to accommodate larger city, such as the or the argued that nothing in their tour stories numbers of visitors. All tours are done at Toledo Cathedral, the tour companies were invented or changed in order to night in Toledo; however, private tours have to put in a lot of effort to market their please the tourist, perhaps only embel- may be conducted at earlier times. businesses. lished slightly. Manager T stated that The final route both in In Edinburgh, all the ghost tour com- “doing a tour in which real stories are told, Edinburgh and Toledo is decided accord- panies have some sort of advertising however horrible they might seem, should ing to the stories that are told. Once the concentrated on the . This not offend anyone” and that “talking about stories take form, then the landmarks in comprises a permanent display board on our past proves to be a necessity. There is the walking route are decided, choosing, which tourists can read about various no point in denying history.” He also whenever possible, the original places ghost tours offered by the different ghost boasted about the endorsement by the where actual events in the story took tour companies, including Company E. Toledo City Council in the form of flyer place. When this is not possible, the Moreover, Company E has permanent distribution and explained “this is because managers look for a landmark that would employees that walk up and down the we are the only ones that do not come up approximate the actual scenery in the Royal Mile distributing flyers to people with random invented stories but base original story. Despite both tours being passing by. This person is casually them entirely on facts.” quite similar in the way they are devised dressed unlike the employees of other The importance of telling the history, and created, the walking distances differ ghost tour companies who do the no matter how macabre it is, was similarly quite significantly. Both tours are around marketing as such in a costume (for reflected by Manager E, who suggested two hours in length; however, the walking example dressed as The Reaper or a that the stories told were part of the city’s route in Edinburgh is much shorter than witch). Company T relies mostly on flyers past and that “there is no harm in talking that of Toledo. Company E does a ghost distributed by a casually dressed employ- about them, even though they might be tour only around the old town of Edin- ees and word-of-mouth. This is because horrible.” Such ethical issues were further burgh, specifically around the Royal Mile the Toledo City Council does not allow the addressed by trying to create a ghost tour and some side streets. In Toledo, the placement of permanent advertisements that would not only entertain the visitors, route is much longer, which means that a on the street. However, the city council but also perhaps educate them about the significant part of the tour is spent walking promotes Company T in the council’s city’s past and “hopefully [avoid] anything from one site to another. Consequently, it tourism office by handing the company’s like that happening in our time.” Despite all was observed that in Toledo some visitors flyers to tourists when asked for a ghost these justifications presented by the were quite exhausted at the end of the tour. Despite the limitations of offline managers, the narratives and interpreta- tour. advertisement, both managers pointed to tion of events might also affect the The visitation to “spooky” places is an the great importance of internet marketing ethicality of the tour. essential component of both tours, such to promote ghost tours. Both companies as the Edinburgh vaults or the under- have web pages where potential visitors Interpretation and Narratives ground caves in Toledo. Company E has can read about the different ghost tours, Interpretation of dark tourism sites the sole rights for the commercial use of about the company itself, and the context creates different dilemmas for managers the vaults and so it is one of the key in which they are set (Toledo or Edin- mainly because of the persistent tension attractions to take their tours. On the other burgh). In this respect, both managers between creating entertainment but at the hand, Company T has to share the use of stated that there had been an increase in same time educating visitors. As dis- the underground landmarks with other visitor numbers in recent years in line with cussed previously, both managers claimed competitors in the city. Regarding this the advent of internet advertising, and this that they ensure the veracity of stories and issue Manager T stated, “The main also improved their business. that in no moment during the tour the difference between us and the other suffering of the people is diminished. Both companies is that we tell a real story, Ethical Issues managers confirmed that the stories and based on real facts inside the caves. We Dealing with the past is a laborious places behind the tours were thoroughly do not invent spooky stories just to scare task as sufferings of real people are researched by historians and experts in people.” involved and not everyone accepts that the field. In the case of Edinburgh, In relation to the reasons why visitors stories about atrocities should be told to Manager E briefly explained that all the might take a ghost tour, both managers tourists just for the sake of entertainment. stories told in the tours were researched stated that most take a ghost tour when Charging money for telling horrible and and verified by Scottish historians but she they have extra time and once they have macabre stories is also believed to be gave no specific names. In Toledo, the visited other important landmarks in the wrong by many, as grief is transformed stories behind the tours were researched

Journal of Unconventional Parks, Volume 4 • Number 1 • 2012 16 Tourism & Recreation Research by the managers who described them- the guide explained how the recording city center, it is sometimes possible for selves as “passionate experts and was done, what equipment was used, the other people to sneak into the tour without researchers” of the city’s history and its specific dates of recording and so on. It paying. When this happens, the guide will esoteric past. Both managers were of the should be noted that Manager T stated try to persuade the “intruders” to leave by view that the quality of the tours depended that the tours “do not try to educate staring at them in a subtle manner, and if mainly on this research and the further people; they just want them to have a necessary a quiet comment will be made interpretation of events. For this reason, good time and learn something about the such as “excuse me….this is a private both tours used a historical approach for esoteric side of the city.” Although tour.” The fact that the walk is done the interpretation of events. everybody seemed very interested in the outdoors brings other concerns for the The tours differed in style and tone in technical explanation, after a while it was managers, such as the weather. In that the Toledo tour was solemn, while observed that the audience seemed to be Edinburgh and Toledo, it was hard not to that in Edinburgh was almost comical. A losing interest in the less “scary” stories bump into other ghost tours from other probable reason for this difference is that and started looking around for some other companies that stopped at the same children were allowed in the tours in form of entertainment (i.e. talking to each spots. During the observation, it was clear Edinburgh, while in Toledo they were other or looking at people passing by that the guide in Company E tried to pull aimed only at adults. This does not mean instead of the guides). The loss of interest the group away to find a more secluded that adults taking the tour in Toledo did not can also be attributed to the way stories spot to continue the talk. In Toledo the want to be entertained, but this was were delivered. The guides in Toledo told same problem was observed during the delivered in a more complex and sophisti- several stories in the same site. Whereas tour and also mentioned by the manager cated way compared with entertaining in the tour in Edinburgh, the audience was during the interview. In both companies, children. The entertainment factor was constantly moved on the tour route while a the guides of the tours are given flexibility delivered by addressing the curiosity of new story was introduced. to change the route of the tour slightly as adult visitors about paranormal events. Another key component of the narra- they go along to avoid such situations. According to Manager T, the stories told tives used in each tour is the way they during the tour would also be hard to involve the audience with the stories and Discussion comprehend by children and younger the places visited. The tour in Edinburgh visitors because of the complexity of the involves the audience in a constant The main aim of ghost tours and of language used (e.g., ). He manner during the whole tour, by engag- the interpretation of dark sites relies on the added that although the main purpose of ing with the audience during every story idea of entertainment. Ashworth (2004) the tour was not to frighten anyone, it was told and in every landmark. People are and Stone (2006) believed that the key possible that some children might also find taken to pose and act as they were being factor of dark tourism is the entertainment the places and the stories scary. On the tortured while the rest of the tour cheers factor. Thompson (2010) argued that the other hand, Company E guides used for it. In Toledo, the audience is rarely main entertainment of a ghost tour is simple language easy to understand by all addressed as part of the story and it precisely the fact that it incorporates audiences. This was done intentionally as seems they are treated as mere listeners. humor into it. The use of humor was very their tours were mainly aimed at families During the observed tour, the audience evident in Edinburgh’s ghost tours but not and included re-enactments of events that was addressed directly two or three times in Toledo. Both managers referred several created an opportunity for kids to get by the guides to ask questions as in a times that the overall aim of the ghost tour involved in the action and learn history in a lecture format (e.g., Does anyone know was to allow visitors to have a good time. fun way. why this is named Devil’s Alley?). However, the notion of entertainment or Each tour has a different approach as having a good time as understood by the to how the guide has to address the Management Issues managers had direct effect on the way the audience and in which tone. In Edinburgh One of the management issues raised tours were delivered. As was evident in the tour is almost a comedy performance in both locations was competition and the Toledo tour and contrary to what by the guide, a tour in which the audience differentiation in the ghost tour market. Manger T claimed, the entertainment was will be laughing most of the time and There are multiple companies offering provided with a more educative approach having a good time listening to the gore ghost tours or walking tours, even for free, than that of the Edinburgh tour. Therefore, stories being told in amusing ways. in both cities. As a strategy to deal with it is not plausible to expect uniformity in Related to amusement, Company E does competition, both managers mentioned the understanding of entertainment from a not offer any technological devices or their uniqueness in the market by managerial perspective when it comes to paranormal evidence to consolidate the stressing their intellectual investment in ghost tours. stories told during the tour. In contrast, different aspects of the tours. Manager E In terms of ethical issues in ghost Toledo delivers a humorless type of stated that their company is different tours, it seems that there are two strands entertainment, a walking tour in which the because they have a unique approach to of concern in the literature, namely paying audience listens to the guides almost in an storytelling from that of their competitors. for entertainment in places of death and academic way. At one point in the tour, This uniqueness comes from the training macabre, and the translation of human Manager T (who was also the guide) of their guides and that their overall suffering into entertainment. In relation to played a tape recording he claimed to be walking route is more extensive than any the first concern, there are different psychophony. According to Manager T, other ghost tour around the city. Manager normative views in the literature about the psychophonies are voices or sounds from T argued that what makes their tours ethics of people paying for visiting places ghosts or spirits that can only be heard special are the “aesthetics, the contents of of death and the macabre (see Ashworth, after they have been recorded by an the tours, and the general approach of the 2004, and Lennon & Foley, 2000, for electronic device. After explaining this to company towards the paranormal theme opposing views and Stone, 2009b, and the group, the guide played the tape on a in the city of Toledo.” Wight, 2009, for a general discussion on portable stereo. The group was kept at As ghost tours are an open air walk the morality and ethics of dark tourism this particular place for a long time while and mostly done in the usually crowded

Journal of Unconventional Parks, Volume 4 • Number 1 • 2012 17 Tourism & Recreation Research from the perspectives of consumers, stories of human tragedy are used for organizational structure of ghost tour managers, and stakeholders). The entertainment and engaging the audience companies affect the tours’ overall managers in this study believed their in amusing ways whereas in Toledo, they success can be explored by in-depth case ghost tours are services just like any other were presented in quite graphical ways studies and comparative methods. It will tourist activity for entertainment. Further- without any concern for audience also be of benefit for the industry and more, they viewed their tours as an amusement. Despite this difference, from academic literature if future researchers indirect way of preserving local history and the perspective of a participant, it seems look at the management issues, but from a way to prevent such sufferings taking like both tours aim to ameliorate the visitors’ perspective as this aspect has yet place again. These points seem to be human suffering and gore by linking them to be fully explored. Yet, the current state offered as a way of justifying and legitimiz- to the paranormal. It can thus be conclud- of literature on ghost tours in Edinburgh ing ghost tours. Nevertheless, the actual ed that the very nature of talking about and Toledo and other locales may prevent delivery of the tours, which is shaped by ghosts or paranormal trivializes the facts establishment of meaningful conclusions concerns about entertainment or educa- about the horrible pasts of both cities about the topic. Hence, this justifies the tion, may contradict such normative aims. despite any wish on the part of managers need for further exploratory studies on the This was observed in the Edinburgh tour’s to the contrary. topic and specific sites. overreliance on gore to entertain and in the Toledo tour’s focus on the paranormal Limitations and Future Conclusion to educate people about Toledo’s history. Studies With regard to the managerial issues This paper has contributed to the ex- in interpretation of the past and creating a In terms of generalizability, it is im- isting literature on dark tourism by tour from it, the findings somehow portant to mention that since the study exploring ghost tours as sites for dark contradict previous arguments such as explored interpretations about history and tourism and demonstrating the main that of Lennon and Foley (2000) that ethics in two specific sites, it is hard to issues faced by the managers of such correct interpretation will determine not generalize the research findings to other sites in two exemplary cases. The main only the success of a dark site as a tourist contexts as each dark tourism site may issue with ghost tours seems to be the activity, but also will contribute to diminish- have its historical, administrative, and tension between education and entertain- ing possible unethical practices. In the marketing peculiarities. However, it can be ment as the historical material on which ghost tours studied, as well as in most argued that commercial concerns shape these tours are based is mainly related to dark tourism activities, it is not certain the interpretations of tour managers and human suffering. From the interviews with whether all the stakeholders are taken into override concerns about ethics or the managers and the observations of two consideration while researching and historical accuracy. As this has been tours it can be concluded that the ghost devising the final product. Moreover, there observed in both Edinburgh and Toledo, tours appear to be somewhat educational, is no mechanism in place that would make one can transfer this specific conclusion but at the end of the day their final sure that interpretations made by each about the nature of interpretation with purpose is entertainment as a commercial tour company are “correct” and ethical. stronger confidence to other dark tourism activity. The managerial challenge of such Despite these uncertainties, both compa- sites. The overall generalizability of this tours comes mainly from ethical, interpre- nies have been in business successfully study however should be explored in tative, and operational considerations. for a considerable time and both manag- future studies of ghost tours. With regards This study has also demonstrated that the ers pointed to the recent surge in visitor to reliability or whether the study can be problems encountered by ghost tour numbers. In terms of the entertainment repeated with the same research design managers in Edinburgh and Toledo are factor in ghost tours, both managers and research results, qualitative studies similar regardless of nationality, historical prioritized entertainment over more cannot be subject to credibility tests period, or time in business. This may imply normative aims such as educating the (Bryman, 2004) such as reliability that in the long run, bourgeoning ghost visitors. Nevertheless, they resorted to designed for quantitative studies (Adams, tourism sites such as Toledo will resemble those normative aims when it came to Khan, Raeside, & White, 2007). more established and commercially legitimizing or justifying the seemingly It can be said that further regulation of successful sites like Edinburgh in terms of unethical practices such as “bad” interpre- or changes in perceptions about dark managerial challenges. As demonstrated, tation or charging a fee for the tours that tourism and ghost tours in the future may this is mainly due to the nature of ghost might be seen as thriving on human affect the findings of a similar study tours or dark tourism, which thrives on the suffering. conducted in the same sites and with the trivialization of gore and human suffering Dealing with the past is complicated, same companies. However, this does not via their commoditization. However, more but dealing with people is harder as far as compromise the overall quality of this research on ghost tours is necessary to the managers are concerned. The study since it aims to explore the issues of further explore and explain the above managers are more concerned with interpretation and ethical concerns from mentioned aspects and challenges of entertaining the customers and catering a the managers’ perspectives which are ghost tours. product for all tastes than they are with time specific and open to change. delivering the right history. Although the Future studies about ghost tours or References managers claimed that the interpretation other forms of dark tourism attractions can used in the ghost tours was based on use similar methodology and data Adams, J., Khan, H. T. A., Raeside, R., & historical facts, meaning that the events collection techniques as those used in the White, D. (2007). Research methods and people are real, some scholars such present study in order to explore more for graduate business and social sci- as Uzzell (1989) believe that in some dark about the actual practices of ghost tours ence students. New Delhi, India: Re- tourism sites, facts might have been and contribute to the current knowledge sponse Books. changed in order to give visitors a lighter about them. Additionally, topics such as Ashworth, G, J. (2004). Tourism and the version of human suffering. This study how cultural differences shape the heritage of atrocity: Managing the observed that in the case of Edinburgh, management styles of a tour or how the

Journal of Unconventional Parks, Volume 4 • Number 1 • 2012 18 Tourism & Recreation Research heritage of South African apartheid for http://www.livescience.com/strangene entertainment. In T. V. Singh (Ed.), ws/071029-ghost-tourism.html New horizons in tourism: Strange Seeman, R. E. (2002, October). Spooky experiences and stranger practices. streets: Spirits of the past haunt ghost Oxfordshire, England: CABI Publis- tours. Common-Place: The Interactive hing. Journal of Early American Life, 3(1). Bausá, L. R. (2009). Toledo, insólito: Retrieved from Ensayo sobre lo mágico, oculto y http://www.historycooperative.org/journ misterioso (2nd edition). Toledo, Spain: als/cp/vol-03/no-01/seeman/ Entorno Toledo. Stone, P. R. (2006). A dark tourism Bernier, E. T. (2006). La estructura de los spectrum: Towards a typology of death mercados de los turismos genericos. In and macabre related tourist sites, E. T. Bernier, R. E. Secall, R. F. Gar- attractions and exhibitions. Tourism: cia, & M. M. Rojo (Eds.), Estructura de An Interdisciplinary International Jour- mercados turisticos. Barcelona, Spain: nal, 52(2), 145-160. Eureca Media. Stone, P. R. (2009a). “It’s a bloody guide:” Blain, J., Hallam, S., & Cornish, H. (2007, Fun, fear and a lighter side of dark April). Sacred landscapes, esoteric tourism at the dungeon visitor attrac- journeys: Challenges of tourism, an- tions, UK. In R. Sharpley & P. R. Stone thropology and spirituality in European (Eds.), The darker side of travel: The and British contexts. Paper presented theory and practice of dark tourism (pp. at the Association of Social Anthropol- 167-185). Bristol, England: Channel ogists Annual Conference, London, View Publications. England. Abstract retrieved from Stone, P. R. (2009b). Dark tourism http://www.theasa.org/conferences/asa morality and new moral spaces. In R. 07/asa07book.pdf Sharpley & P. R. Stone (Eds.), The Bryman, A. (2004). Social research darker side of travel: The theory and methods (2nd ed.). Oxford, England: practice of dark tourism (pp. 56-74). Oxford University Press. Bristol, England: Channel View Publi- Blaikie, N. (2000). Designing social cations. research. Cambridge, England: Polity Thompson, R. C. (2008). Entertaining Press. ghosts: Gettysburg ghost tours and the Campbell, C. (1987). The romantic ethic performance of belief (Master’s thesis). and the spirit of modern consumerism. Retrieved from London, England: Blackwell Publish- http://drum.lib.umd.edu/bitstream/1903/ ers. 8217/1/umi-umd-5417.pdf Curran, P. J. T. (1978). Principles and Thompson, R. C. (2010). “Am I going to procedures of tour management. Bos- see a ghost tonight?” Gettysburg ghost ton, MA: CBI Publishing Company. tours and the performance of belief. Denzin, N. K. (2006). Introduction in The Journal of American Culture, triangulation: A case for methodologi- 33(2), 79-91. cal and combination evaluation. In N. Uzzell, D. (Ed.). (1989) Heritage interpre- K. Denzin (Ed.), Sociological methods: tation: The natural and built environ- A sourcebook (pp. 471-475). Pisca- ment (Vol. 1). London, England: Bel- taway, NJ: Transaction Publishers. haven. Foley, M., & Lennon, J. J. (1997). Dark Wade, P. (2008, May 5) Scotland: tourism: An ethical dilemma. In M. Haunted by Edinburgh’s past. New Foley, J. J. Lennon & G. A. Maxwell Zealand Herald. Retrieved from (Eds.), Hospitality, tourism and leisure http://www.nzherald.co.nz management: Issues, strategy and Wight, A. C. (2006). Philosophical and culture (pp. 153-164). London, Eng- methodological praxes in dark tourism: land: Cassell. Controversy, contention and the evolv- Guiley, R. E. (2008). Ghosts and haunted ing paradigm. Journal of Vacation places. New York, NY: Chelsea House Marketing, 12(2), 119-129. Publishers. Wight, A. C. (2009). Contested tragedies: Inglis, D., & Holmes, M. (2003). Highland An ethical dimension. In R. Sharpley & and other haunts: Ghosts in Scottish P. R. Stone (Eds.), The darker side of tourism. Annals of Tourism Research, travel: The theory and practice of dark 30(1), 50-63. doi:10.1016/S0160- tourism (pp. 129-144). Bristol, England: 7383(02)00031-2 Channel View Publications. Lennon, J. J., & Foley, M. (2000). Dark tourism: The attraction of death and disaster. London, England: Continuum. Radford, B. (2007, October 29). Frighten- ing trend: Ghost tourism booms. Live Science. Retrieved from

Journal of Unconventional Parks, Volume 4 • Number 1 • 2012 19 Tourism & Recreation Research Journal of Unconventional Parks, Tourism & Recreation Research JUPTRR Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 20-25 ISSN 1942-6879

that as a site, a cemetery is sacred Solemnity and Celebration: space that should be respected, while Dark Tourism Experiences at others embrace a shifting attitude toward death as a fundamental part of life that Hollywood Forever Cemetery should be neither feared nor shunned (e.g., Lynch, 2000; Nadle, 2006; Matson, Linda Levitt 2000; Palmer, 1993). The perceived Stephen F. Austin State University morbidity of the gravesite pilgrimage for fans of stars buried at Hollywood Forever is tempered by the cemetery’s social As the final resting place of celebrities and notable public figures, Hollywood Forever events and by the increasing popularity of Cemetery in has long served as a and a site of public dark tourism focused on sites of celebrity memory. Unique among dark tourism sites, Hollywood Forever brings together the death and disaster (Laderman, 2003; gravity of death and a celebratory sense of remembrance. This is made possible in part Sturken, 2007). This essay considers the by the cemetery’s history as a tourist attraction and by its use as a site of festivals, film questions raised by contested uses of screenings, and other events. Tourists are encouraged to use the cemetery as social these sites as dark tourism grows as a space, transforming relationships to the site. Many visitors respond warmly to these commercial phenomenon worldwide. events, yet the cemetery faces disapproval from those who find these practices Heritage tourism is inherently inter- irreverent and lacking respect for the dead. pretive, and the perspectives presented to visitors are not necessarily aligned with In a scene from the documentary The Obrock relocated to Los Angeles to those who have a personal, vested Young and the Dead (Baumel, Berman, & join his childhood friend, Tyler Cassity, in interest in a site. This analysis draws on Pulcini, 2000), Bill Obrock, executive vice the operation and management of the Marita Sturken’s (2007) notion of “tourists president of Hollywood Forever cemetery cemetery. Cassity and his family business, of history,” which she defined as: in Los Angeles, sits on the steps outside Forever Enterprises, are behind the a particular mode through which the of a mausoleum. Obrock appears in profile transformation of the former Hollywood American public is encouraged to with a brightly lit corridor of mausoleum Memorial Park, which he bought out of experience itself as the subject of crypts behind him. He straps on a pair of bankruptcy in 1998. Cassity wanted not history through consumerism, media rollerblades and heads off to skate only to restore the cemetery but to images, souvenirs, popular culture, through the cemetery. Obrock’s voiceover transform the death care industry: he and museum and architectural reen- provides a foundational perspective for espouses the idea of celebrating life rather actments, a form of tourism that has Hollywood Forever not only as an than mourning death and encourages this as its goal a cathartic ‘experience’ of operating cemetery, but also as a tourist shift in cultural perspectives by inviting the history. (p. 9) attraction: “We love this place. It’s a world use of the cemetery as leisure space Although Sturken’s work deals primarily treasure. You step on the grounds and (Bernhard, 1998; Friend, 2005). The with sites of significant tragedy like the you can feel it. It is seething with some- cemetery has long invited visitors to pay bombing and September thing magical.” While the cemetery can their respects to the actors, directors, and 11 attacks, the packaging of dark tourism provide a peaceful respite from the hectic Hollywood celebrities interred on the sites as experiential and driven in part by pace of the city, Obrock noted that it has grounds, whether through organized tours consumption resonates with the practices another dimension: and events or as casual guests. As a dark at Hollywood Forever. Los Angeles Magazine declares us tourism site, Hollywood Forever draws on one of the 101 sexiest places in L.A. its history, mystique, and relationship to Cemetery Tourism And a lot of people do find cemeteries celebrity culture. The celebrity cemetery to be a little bit spooky, but it’s also an attracts visitors who are able to experi- In their book Dark Tourism: The At- extremely romantic place. It’s an ex- ence a sense of proximity to the famous, if traction of Death and Disaster, John tremely exciting and mysterious only by virtue of that star’s mortal remains. Lennon and Malcolm Foley (2000) place, and it’s a very sexy place. Both historically and with regard to excluded cemeteries from their definition (Baumel, Berman, & Pulcini, 2000) contemporary practices, Hollywood of dark tourism. They argued that “visits, That a cemetery is considered an exciting Forever is somewhat unique among dark whether by friends and relatives of the and romantic location in the popular tourism sites because the gravity of death dead or by those with other motives, can discourse immediately raises questions is intermingled with a celebratory sense of be broadly considered under similar about the use of this space beyond typical remembrance. This is made possible in categories to pilgrimage” (p. 14-16). In expectations of mourning and paying part by the cemetery’s history as a tourist their analysis of sites related to John F. tribute to loved ones interred there. While attraction and by its use as a site of Kennedy’s life and death, Lennon and Obrock shared these perceptions in the celebration, festivals, film screenings, and Foley singled out the eternal flame at 2000 documentary, public perceptions of other events. The contradictory perspec- Arlington National Cemetery as the this cemetery as a site with multiple tives on dark tourism at Hollywood location that holds the least reverence, meanings and uses clearly precede his Forever bear examination. Many find the despite being the gravesite of the former relationship with it. use of the cemetery as social space president. Their critique is drawn from the disrespectful, maintaining the perspective

Journal of Unconventional Parks, Volume 4 • Number 1 • 2012 20 Tourism & Recreation Research commercialization at the cemetery where that are “socially organized, systematized, death and disaster. Not only is there a tourists are told they have only a few and culturally specific, with consequences broad spectrum of reasons for such minutes to visit and photograph the site for individuals who have this sort of vision experiences, but the sites themselves before the next tour bus arrives (Lennon & as well as for the places, events, people offer varying degrees of shock, horror, Foley, 2000, p. 88). and things that become its object, i.e., reflection, and introspection. Recognizing Tony Seaton’s (2009) more recent tourist attractions” (p. 311). Anthropologist that both are well-known and popular work took issue with Lennon and Foley’s Jack Kugelmass (1995), for example, tourist attractions, it is clear that a visit to early defining principles, dispensing with made a distinction between Jewish Auschwitz has a different tenor than a visit some cynicism that may be inherent in tourists, particularly from the United to Graceland. Richard Sharpley (2009) critical views of tourism that commodify States, who transformed Auschwitz from a offered a typology of dark tourism in which death and disaster. Rather than seeing site of Polish memory and martyrdom to a he envisioned these practices fitting into dark tourism exclusively as a postmodern site of Jewish memory. In her study of four areas of consumption: dark tourism spectacle, Seaton posited that “dark German memory, Karen Till (2005) as experience, dark tourism as play, dark tourism experiences may be consumed in considered how physical places that are tourism as integration, and dark tourism as order to give some phenomenological landmarks of Nazism and World War II classification. In his discussion of play, meaning to tourists’ own social existence” should be marked and understood and Sharpley noted the importance of shared (Sharpley, 2009, p. 17). While sites of what kind of commemoration is appropri- experiences: disaster and atrocity demand introspec- ate and necessary. That is, although it is the death of an tion, a visit to the cemetery can be Studies of Day of the Dead celebra- individual or group of people that is contemplative as well, giving visitors the tions in Mexico and the United States the initial driver, it is the collective opportunity to consider their own mortality. point to the difficulties of dark tourism in celebration, remembrance or mourn- Such moments of self-reflection may be an instance of cultural convergence. ing that is the dominant factor. Thus, uplifting rather than morose, as one may Tourists visiting cemeteries in Mexico find dark tourism becomes pilgrimage, or choose to leave the cemetery wishing to the celebrations colorful and charming, yet a journey followed by the experience make the most of the time that remains. view the as culturally “othered” of ‘communitas,’ either as ‘one-off’ One may also find peace in cleaning the from the distance of the tourist gaze. events such as the of Princess gravesite and spending time with the Stanley Brandes (1998) observed that Day Diana or at annual celebrations like memories of a loved one. This is a deeply of the Dead rituals have been transformed the anniversary of Elvis Presley’s personal experience, different from the in many Mexican villages as certain death at Graceland. (p. 18) visit to a dark tourism site that marks the practices are enacted to meet expecta- As Sharpley (2009) asserted, dark tourism intersection of individual and cultural tions of tourists. This is not uncommon for at death sites and cemeteries may involve tragedy. heritage tourism sites. Brandes reported both mourning and celebration. This is This intersection is, however, com- that some villagers mourn the loss of certainly the perspective embraced by monly addressed in considering cemeter- longstanding traditions while others enjoy Hollywood Forever, where both pilgrimage ies such as Père Lachaise in Paris and the financial benefits of inviting tourists to and revelry are common and encouraged. Pierce Bros. Westwood and the Forest observe Day of the Dead rituals. Greg Along with the Rudolph Valentino Lawn cemeteries in Los Angeles, which Palmer (1993) also found Day of the Dead memorial service, held every year since are the final resting places of well-known traditions being threatened by commercial- 1927, Hollywood Forever hosts memorial public figures. At Hollywood Forever, fans ism brought on by tourists who lack events celebrating the lives of Douglas and tourists visit the gravesites of reverence for the cultural traditions that Fairbanks, Tyrone Power, and Johnny celebrities from across time and culture, bring them to the cemetery for celebration. Ramone. Each of these events blends from silent film stars Rudolph Valentino Hollywood Forever is among the few solemnity and celebration with perfor- and Douglas Fairbanks to cartoon voice cemeteries in the United States that invite mances of live music, film screenings, and master Mel Blanc and Golden Girls star observation of Day of the Dead, hosting a – in the case of Fairbanks – champagne Estelle Getty. Blanc and Getty are both community-wide celebration with more and cake. interred at Beth Olam, the Jewish section than 30,000 visitors building altars and Tourists who enjoy Hollywood Forev- of the cemetery. In addition to its stars, enjoying live music, face painting, crafts, er for its social events or for its green more than 80,000 everyday Angelenos are and food. As Day of the Dead blends space (as Bill Obrock contended), may not interred at Hollywood Forever. The respect and humor, celebration at the be aware that they are reviving social cemetery is thus a site of both personal cemetery blends Mexican tradition with practices that began in the 1830s in and cultural memory, and often the two Hollywood kitsch. At most cemeteries, America. This period marks the establish- are intertwined as tourists seeking the family members come to clean and ment of Mount Auburn Cemetery in gravesite of a favorite celebrity cross decorate the graves of their loved ones, Boston and similar “rural cemeteries” that paths with mourners leaving a funeral or but Hollywood Forever invites anyone used it as a model. Established on the paying respects to a loved one. interested to build an altar. Hundreds of outskirts of urban areas, rural cemeteries The cultural conflict and ambiguity altars honor and remember the personal, provided a refuge of nature for city created by varied uses of sites of death political, and famous as both Latinos and dwellers. The rural cemetery also became and disaster is a longstanding concern. non-Latinos invite the dead to return and leisure space, a location for strolling along While meaning-making by a local or spend time among the living. These shaded paths and picnicking before the affected community remains primary, the cultural practices reflect the perspective development of city parks allowed citizens tourist gaze becomes a norm of interpreta- embraced by Hollywood Forever, to escape the noise and chaos of urban tion for those whose understandings of celebrating life rather than mourning life. Cemeteries provided the primary place are shaped by tourism’s point of death. space available for enjoying the outdoors view. Claude Jacobs (2001) drew on John As theoretical work in dark tourism in an urban context (Linden-Ward, 1989.) Urry’s notion of the tourist gaze as progresses, many researchers question Public parks began to take over some assigned to rhetoric and interpretations motives for seeking out sites related to of the green space functions of cemeteries

Journal of Unconventional Parks, Volume 4 • Number 1 • 2012 21 Tourism & Recreation Research at the turn of the last century; however, Festival, 2008, para. 5), Morgan echoed perspective on burial and was unwilling to Hollywood Forever continues to draw the philosophy of Hollywood Forever: allow what he saw as corruption of the people to its gardens and paths. Visitors Fairbanks wanted to be remembered sacred space of the cemetery. Yet this is stroll through the cemetery and are through his films, which is why I do also a perspective on death: that the lives welcome to do so. Yet the quiet and peace this. I feel it’s more in keeping with the of the dead should be revered, but not of the cemetery easily yields to public Fairbanks joie de vivre to host a cele- celebrated, in the cemetery. For Holly- events, whether a memorial event in honor bration, so I chose to throw a birthday wood Forever, the effort to change the of a celebrity or an outdoor screening at party instead of mourning the anni- public’s relationship to the cemetery the cemetery’s film series Cinespia. The versary of his death. While there’s no means overcoming opposition from within transformation of space is influenced by doubt he’s missed, I can’t imagine the death care industry as well as traditional use of Hollywood Forever for Doug thinking a wake in his honor encouraging new social practices within tourism and cultural activities and also was anything short of ridiculous. the cemetery space. Such arguments are because of the landscape. For Cinespia, The Fairbanks Memorial temporarily strained by the use of the cemetery as a visitors gather on the Fairbanks Lawn, the transforms the cemetery into a space of venue for entertainment for which visitors vast expanse of green space behind the celebration. Using the cemetery as social are charged admission. These paid guests sarcophagus of Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. space raises questions about protocol. If are, as Sturken (2007) described them, and Jr., and films are projected on the these are unconventional practices, what tourists of history who are experiencing external wall of the Cathedral Mausoleum. are the guidelines for appropriate the past through the lens of consumption Having open space away from grave- behavior? How should tourists and visitors and popular culture. This perspective stones and mausoleums is unusual, and behave in the company of mourners? Who colors the experience of the cemetery as a the lawn provides a welcoming open area decides what constitutes respect for the site of leisure and pleasure rather than a for a variety of events including musical living and the dead? site of mourning. performances, plays, and yoga classes. Should dark tourism sites be used The events at Hollywood Forever are only for a moral or social lesson? If Cinespia: Cinema and the unconventional, yet sites like Arlington tourists spend time at the Gettysburg Cemetery National Cemetery and Green-Wood Battlefield, for example, critics argue that

Cemetery in Brooklyn have attracted visitors should mourn the loss of some On a typical summer Saturday night, tourists as well as those on a pilgrimage to 50,000 Civil War soldiers in a violent and more than three thousand Angelenos see the final resting places of politicians, bloody battle rather than cavort through enjoy picnic dinners, music, and movies military leaders, celebrities, and artists the grounds searching for evidence of on the cemetery grounds. Cinepsia, which they admire. Many cemeteries offer ghosts (see Stone, 2009 for discussion of draws large crowds and has become a guided tours as well as maps for visitors to moral implications of dark tourism). The popular cultural outing in Los Angeles locate the gravesites they seek. Like implication of such perspectives is that since its inception in 2002, works to Hollywood Forever, ’s Oakland those who celebrate life without the guise change the public’s meaning-making Cemetery provides a quiet respite in the of solemnity typically associated with the about Hollywood Forever. When thou- city center. The last lot at the cemetery cemetery intend disrespect for the dead. sands of people visit the cemetery for was sold in 1884 so visitors are far less In popular discourse and within the death leisure and entertainment, how that space likely to encounter mourners at Oakland care industry, many reflect the sentiments is understood in public discourse is than at Hollywood Forever, which is still of those who find such activities in the transformed. Because of the festive accepting new interments. Priding itself on cemetery irreverent. In his book of essays, environment created by the comfortable its architecture, horticulture, and historical Bodies in Motion and at Rest: On rituals of sharing food with friends and significance, Oakland Cemetery positions Metaphor and Mortality, essayist, poet, gathering with hundreds of others to listen itself much like a museum or city park, and Thomas Lynch (2000) to music and watch a film, visitors can offering tours and hosting both an annual found fault with the performance of a play easily forget they are in an operating Easter egg hunt and Arts in the Park – ten at a community cemetery. When family cemetery where still take place. days of performances, lectures, and art members of those buried in the cemetery The cemetery may cease to be ominous installations on the cemetery grounds complained about the play, the thespian or morbid through its transformation into (Historic Oakland Foundation, n.d.). group argued that the performance was a social space. celebration of the lives of the dead. In the Cinespia creates and perpetuates a The Cemetery as Social Space town’s newspaper, opponents argued the temporary but recurring public space. The practices of tourists at Hollywood cemetery: Jackson (1980) posited the idea that a Forever demonstrate the significance of …is full of fathers and mothers and landscape like the Fairbanks Lawn at celebrity culture, showing how people use daughters and sons who have no Hollywood Forever can serve a social their relationships to celebrities as sites of obligation to educate or entertain or function merely by virtue of being space identity formation and expression. Flowers instruct the living. Museums and li- shared among individuals within a and remembrances they leave behind braries, art galleries and public parks, community. It is, after all, in public space draw the interest of other visitors and are serve these purposes. The bodies of that people can spend time with others material evidence that a particular the dead make Oak Grove a sacred and establish the bonds that form celebrity is remembered and commemo- place. (p. 240) community. Jackson wrote: rated. Along with official events spon- Lynch added his own concern to that of A landscape should establish bonds sored by the cemetery, Hollywood Forever his neighbors, warning that “the harm, of between people, the bond of lan- welcomes fans to initiate events in honor course, is that once the gate is opened it guage, of manners, of the same kind of stars. The Douglas Fairbanks Memorial, is hard to close, and lost forever is the of work and leisure, and above all a for example, is organized by Fairbanks fan sacred and dedicated space that is only a landscape should contain the kind of and film historian Sparrow Morgan. cemetery and needs be nothing more” (p. spatial organization which fosters Announcing the 2008 event (Laugh & Live 242). Lynch maintained a traditional

Journal of Unconventional Parks, Volume 4 • Number 1 • 2012 22 Tourism & Recreation Research such experiences and relationships; compared to “dark camps of genocide,” music, with enough lines to stop even the spaces for coming together, to cele- which occupy the far end of the spectrum most hardened metal fans in their tracks” brate, spaces for solitude, spaces that and focus on widespread human (para. 3). Slayer’s use of Hollywood never change and are always as atrocities. Forever is another means of the band memory depicted them. (p. 16-17) appropriating cultural symbols for their By situating Cinespia on cemetery Beyond Cinespia own purposes, to render what might be grounds, Hollywood Forever becomes a Building on the experience of Cine- deemed sacred as something not only space that can alternately provide both spia, participatory audiences now gather secular but a manifestation of malice and celebration and solitude. The conjunction at the cemetery for a variety of events, evil. The executive producer of God Hates of these two things – the social space of often focused on premiering television Us All is Rick Rubin, who has a long summer Saturday nights and the everyday series, films, and new musical releases. history with the cemetery. Rubin co- space of quiet and reflection – allows Many of these events capitalize on the founded Def Jam Records with Russell Hollywood Forever to become a uniquely relationship between these cultural Simmons in 1984. When he discovered meaningful place for visitors. productions and the cemetery as a site the word “def” was one of the new words Horror films have become an end-of- where, quite plainly, the dead are buried. scheduled for inclusion in the 1993 edition season tradition for Cinespia, with George Jay Boileau, executive vice president for of Webster’s dictionary, Rubin bought a Romero’s Night of the Living Dead Forever Enterprises, told this to the Los burial plot at Hollywood Memorial Park screened at the end of the 2006 season. Angeles Times: and organized a funeral for “def” with The film opens in a cemetery in which the When you walk on the grounds here, Reverend Al Sharpton presiding (Keister, dead come back to life to search for living you go through a mind shift. You look 2004). Rubin’s relationship to the ceme- humans who will be their cannibalistic at life differently. That, in itself, is a tery offers evidence that Hollywood prey. Originally released in 1968, Night of cultural resource. And you have all of Forever has a long history as a space the Living Dead was added to the National these stories, the ritual, the remem- where the solemnity of funereal practices Film Registry in 1999, one of 25 films brance. You can look at it as a collec- does not exclude the possibility for selected that year because they were tive artwork. So it's a logical place for whimsical or social uses. deemed “culturally, historically or aestheti- there to be gatherings and cultural cally significant” and thus worthy of events. (Lee, 2007, para. 10) Conclusion preservation for future generations Hollywood Forever’s notion of a cultural (National Film Preservation Board, 1999). center is expansive, including historical Sturken (2007) argued that “people Despite the recognized significance of tours, summer theater performances, and make pilgrimages to sites of tragedy in Romero’s work, screening horror films in a series of Shakespeare plays using the order to pay tribute to the dead and to feel the cemetery lends a different aura to the Fairbanks sarcophagus as part of the transformed in some way in relation to that space than a silent film or film noir, which scenery. Events at the cemetery also draw place” (p. 11). This perspective can be can enhance the appreciation for the on the darker sensibilities of the site, such enlarged to address tourism more historic significance of Hollywood Forever as those held by the heavy metal band generally: the desire to experience a place by virtue of the stars and directors buried Korn. The band began its 2007 Family is a strong driver to destinations of cultural there. When the film was suggested for Values Tour with a party held in the significance. Yet how one chooses to the 2003 season, LA Weekly reported that Cathedral Mausoleum. At the event, Korn experience a place, and the opportunities Tyler Cassity “ruled that zombie films in a lead vocalist Jonathan Davis, who is also available for visiting and interpreting that cemetery pushed the boundaries of good a former ’s assistant said, “We just site, can determine not only the personal taste just a little too far” (“Alfresco show up, brother. You’re having a party in meaning but can shift the public under- Theater,” 2003); eventually, he relented the cemetery and it’s like OK, cool. We did standing of a place as well. and deemed the Romero classic as it last year, too. It’s a cool place to throw The multiplicity of meanings attached acceptable fare for the venue. parties. Not a lot of people get to party in a to Hollywood Forever is not unique to Events at Hollywood Forever are cemetery” (Miller, 2007, para. 3). If the cemeteries, nor is it unique to public somewhat in keeping with the social and cemetery is an ominous place after hours, spaces in general. As a site of both cultural functions carried out at other then the spectacle of a heavy metal tour personal memory and cultural memory, cemeteries, albeit with a Hollywood twist. party seems to add to perspective of visitors have different reasons for coming Many who feel comfortable with the disrespect often voiced in response to to Hollywood Forever: some to mourn, presentation of a play or performance of alternative cultural uses of the cemetery some to commemorate, and some as a classical music at a cemetery disapprove space. pilgrimage. At the celebrity cemetery, of Cinespia: showing films in the cemetery Yet Korn is not the first metal band to these meanings can overlap, not only as and projecting them on the mausoleum use Hollywood Forever as social space. In tourists walk discreetly past mourners, but wall seems disrespectful toward the dead. 2001, the thrash metal band Slayer held a also as each visitor intent on paying In some regard, this disapproval veils a listening party for the album God Hates Us respects to an admired celebrity has his or highbrow/lowbrow critique, namely that All at Hollywood Forever. While many her own personal reasons for doing so. “culture” can find its place on sacred metal bands were critiqued during the Seaton (2009) noted that “although most ground but popular culture cannot. “Satanic panic” of the 1980s for their thanatourism sites are historical ones, Similarly, Stone’s (2006) typology of dark seemingly evil content, Slayer’s lyrics are they are often bound up with important tourism experiences demonstrated overtly and deliberately anti-Christian. issues of personal identity for people who degrees of comfort with these cultural Music critic Adrien Begrand (2006) encounter them in the present” (p. 97). His practices. On one end of the spectrum are described the 2001 album as one that examples include visitors to antebellum “dark fun factories,” where death and the “had the band looking inward more, plantations who feel the resonances of macabre are presented for commercial exorcising their own personal de- slavery in the South, yet cemetery tourism entertainment. At these sites, visitors may mons….The album’s rampant anti- provides innumerable instances of those tolerate a lighter mood and interpretation Christian theme was as heavy as the

Journal of Unconventional Parks, Volume 4 • Number 1 • 2012 23 Tourism & Recreation Research who aspire to pay their respects to actors, Acknowledgements 1917 silent film, A Modern Musketeer, musicians, political leaders, and others at Hollywood Forever Cemetery [Press whose public and creative work provide Portions of this manuscript were previous- Release]. Retrieved from avenues of identity formation for fans. In ly published as a doctoral dissertation http://laughandlive.com/about/about- these instances, one’s parasocial Hollywood Forever: Culture, celebrity, and the-douglas-fairbanks-memorial/2008- relationship to a particular celebrity may the cemetery for the University of South memorial/press-release-2008/ serve as motivation for the cemetery visit. Florida. Lee, C. (2007, May 17). Graveyard shift: Along with those paying respects to a For a good time, says L.A.’s hipster celebrity or a loved one, Hollywood References Gina Gershon, call Hollywood Forever Forever invites tourists who are interested Cemetery. Los Angeles Times. Re- in the natural or architectural features of trieved from Alfresco Theater. (2003, August). L A the cemetery as well its history. For these http://articles.latimes.com/2007/may/17 Weekly. Retrieved from tourists, the cemetery is largely seen as a /news/wk-cover17 http://www.cinespia.org/_press/bestofla heritage site. Further, the events hosted Lennon, J. J., & Foley, M. (2000). Dark .pdf by the cemetery create another kind of tourism: The attraction of death and Baumel, E. (Producer), Berman, S. S., & relationship with the space. In addition to disaster. London, UK: Cengage Learn- Pulcini, R. (Directors). (2000). The offering yoga classes on the Fairbanks ing EMEA. young and the dead [Motion Picture]. Lawn, the cemetery has renovated the Linden-Ward, B. (1989). Silent city on a United States: Tail Slate Pictures. Masonic Lodge on the grounds and uses it hill: Landscapes of memory and Bos- Begrand, A. (2006, August 7). Slayer: as performance space for music, live ton’s Mount Auburn Cemetery. Colum- Christ illusion. PopMatters. Retrieved theater, and the “Comedy is Dead” bus: Ohio State University Press. from standup series. The cemetery that hosts Lynch, T. (2000). Bodies in motion and at http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/ this comedy series, and those who attend, rest: On metaphor and mortality. New slayer-christ-illusion are clearly comfortable with a lighthearted York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company. Bernhard, B. (1998, November 19). The perspective toward death. Matson, T. (2000). Round-trip to Deads- new cemeterians: The future, they say, Hollywood Forever can host these ville: A year in the funeral under- isn’t about death. It’s about life. L.A. cultural events with minimal conflict ground. White River Junction, VT: Weekly. Retrieved from because of its long history as a tourist Chelsea Green Publishing. http://www.laweekly.com/1998-11- attraction, its location in Los Angeles, and Miller, B. (2007, April 23). Korn hold their 19/news/the-new-cemeterians/2 its position as a cultural destination. The annual cemetery party celebrating Brandes, S. (1998). The Day of the Dead, cemetery now has a substantial history of family values. Artisan News. Retrieved Halloween, and the quest for Mexican hosting Cinespia, live music, and comedy from national identity. Journal of American performances, establishing itself as a http://www.artisannews.com/ans101/te Folklore, 111(442), 359-380. cultural center in ways that enable visitors mplates/default.aspx?a=3653&z=143 Friend, T. (2005, August 29). The shroud to be comfortable with the reality of being Nadle, J. K. (2006). Mortician diaries: The of Marin. The New Yorker, 50-63. entertained while thousands are buried dead-honest truth from a life spent with Historic Oakland Foundation. (n.d.). About nearby. These events have normalized the death. Maui, HI: Inner Ocean Publish- Oakland. Retrieved from Historic Oak- use of Hollywood Forever as leisure ing. land Cemetery: space, and those who choose it as a final National Film Preservation Board. (1999, http://www.oaklandcemetery.com/abou resting place now do so with the under- November 16). Films selected to the t.html standing that the sanctity of the cemetery National Film Registry – 1999 [Press Jackson, J. B. (1980). The necessity for is often colored by other rituals and Release]. Retrieved from ruins and other topics. Amherst, MA: practices. http://www.loc.gov/film/nfr99.html University of Massachusetts Press. As previously noted, many cemeteries Palmer, G. (1993). Death: The trip of a Jacobs, C. F. (2001). Folk for whom? welcome cultural, social, and historical lifetime. San Francisco, CA: Harper- Tourist guidebooks, local color, and the events that have a positive effect on the Collins. spiritual churches of New Orleans. community and on public perceptions of Seaton, T. (2009). Purposeful otherness. Journal of American Folklore, the cemetery. Some communities remain In R. Sharpley & P. R. Stone (Eds.), 114(453), 309-330. adamant that, as Lynch (2000) argued, the The darker side of travel: The theory Keister, D. (2004). Stories in stone: A field cemetery need only serve one purpose, to and practice of dark tourism (pp. 75- guide to cemetery symbolism and be the final resting place of the dead. As a 108). Bristol, UK: Channel View Publi- iconography. New York, NY: MJF contested space, Hollywood Forever has cations. Books. pushed the boundaries of entertainment Sharpley, R. (2009). Shedding light on Kugelmass, J. (1995). Bloody memories: by hosting metal bands and horror films, dark tourism: An introduction. In R. Encountering the past in contemporary as well as the carnivalesque celebration of Sharpley & P. R. Stone (Eds.), The Poland. Cultural Anthropology, 10(3), Day of the Dead. This cemetery could be darker side of travel: The theory and 279-301. dismissed as unique by those who fear practice of dark tourism (pp. 3-22). Laderman, G. (2003). Rest In peace: A cultural experiences among the dead are Bristol, UK: Channel View Publications. cultural history of death and the funeral irreverent. Yet the increased popularity of Stone, P. R. (2006). A dark tourism home in twentieth-century America. sites of heritage tourism and dark tourism, spectrum: Towards a typology of death New York, NY: Oxford University along with changing attitudes toward and macabre related tourist sites, Press. death and dying, indicate that events like attractions and exhibitions. Tourism: Laugh & Live Festival. (2009). Celebrate those at Hollywood Forever are likely to th An Interdisciplinary International Jour- the 126 birthday of classic film star become more commonplace. nal, 52(2), 145-160. Douglas Fairbanks Sr. on Friday, May Stone, P. R. (2009). Dark tourism: Morality 22, 2009 with a free screening of his and new moral spaces. In R. Sharpley

Journal of Unconventional Parks, Volume 4 • Number 1 • 2012 24 Tourism & Recreation Research & P. R. Stone (Eds.), The darker side of travel: The theory and practice of dark tourism (pp. 56-72). Bristol, UK: Channel View Publications. Sturken, M. (2007). Tourists of history: Memory, kitsch, and consumerism from Oklahoma City to Ground Zero. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. Till, K. (2005). The new Berlin: Memory, politics, place. Minneapolis, MN: Uni- versity of Minnesota Press.

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