One lazy Saturday morning, I was scrolling through the Netflix menu, searching for travel documentaries, when I stumbled upon The Dark Tourist. An eight-episode long documentary series covering various destinations promoting Dark tourism around the world.
What is Dark Tourism?
Honestly, I had never heard of Dark tourism until now. I knew something called Disaster Tourism, where you visit places struck by a man-made or environmental disaster. The best example is Chernobyl and Fukushima. However, Dark Tourism is a new world in travel and tourism. It includes places associated with a disaster, death and any form of tragedy (murders, assassinations, sacrificial rituals, etc.).
About the show
Journalist David Farrier hails from New Zealand, leads the show in his undeniably charming way. He encounters many infamous people in his journey, from Escobar’s favourite hitman to Boogieman’s best friend. Through these eight episodes, Farrier shows us a different side of tourism like Disaster tourism, Slum tourism and War tourism.
Like in the first episode of The Dark Tourist, Farrier heads to Medellin Columbia to investigate the past life of the infamous drug lord, Pablo Escobar. The tour includes a visit to Escobar’s grave, his former residence and his prison at the hilltop, where he meets his former hitman Popeye.
In one of the episodes, he heads to Japan for some bone-chilling experiences. From visiting the world’s most suicidal spot to a Tsunami inundated area to a radioactive zone, giving us a glimpse of Nuclear Tourism. And in another episode, he visits Paddock Wood to attend the Dark tourist festival. A five-day event, where the tourists participate in war re-enactment from both the battlefield and home front.
I found the series captivating and full of surprises. Many places and events shown in the docuseries made me think, what makes such infamous spots so famous amongst the tourists?
On a quick Google search, I came across a book by J. John Lennon and Malcolm Foley on Dark Tourism that eases my curiosity. The author theorizes several reasons why this is booming. One is the desire to understand & connect with history better, and another is a subliminal desire to get closer to death.
I have visited two such spots in India, and the experience was not great mentally. Every nook and corner screamed of pain and agony. However, the experience gave us a better insight into the history and the events.
Here’s a list of a few tours shown in the series.
1. The Real Pablo Escobar Tour, Medellín, Columbia
2. Vampire and Voodoo Tour, New Orleans, US
3. Fukushima Disaster Area Tour, Japan
4. JFK Assassination Tour, Dallas, US
5. McKamey Manor, Tennessee, US
6. Helter Skelter Tour, California, US
7. Voodo Festival, Benin
8. Cleaning the dead ceremony, Taroja, Indonesia
Let me know your thoughts on Dark Tourism and The Dark Tourist series.
4 Comments
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-Rajkumar R
I’ll look into it, thanks a lot 😀
Dark Tourism is a new term for me. I read out the whole topic and learn so many unknown issue through this writing. This amazing writing and thanks for sharing these information with all of us.
glad you liked it 🙂
I was so surprised to learn about the level of popularity around dark tourism. The show was really an eye opener. 😯