'They Ain't Afraid of no Ghosts': Dark Tourism at Historic Sites

Abstract

Dark tourism, a subsection of heritage tourism, is growing in popularity and center around historic sites and museums. Those sites are put in the position to take advantage of the surging popularity of dark tourism by offering programming that complements it. Ghost tours, paranormal investigations, and haunted houses have all been utilized by museums and historic sites to boost revenue and attendance numbers. The implementation of dark programming raises difficult discussions on the role of museums in society and the ethics of profiting off of ghosts, spirits, and the paranormal. The decision to produce dark programming as a complement to dark tourism is best decided on a case to case basis, as no two museums or historic sites are the same. But every site that is considering dark programming needs to weigh their mission, ethics, their stakeholders, and the memory and space of their site before coming to a decision.