Abstract
Dark tourism consists of a wide range of subsections, and this chapter focuses on a less explored part of it, serial killer tourism. The demand side's fascination with death and murderers from led to diverse tourism offer types, such as museums and walking tours. This research gives an overview of these attractions and an answer to why people are visiting them. To understand the topic, three research questions were formed: What is the reason behind serial killer tourism? What type of attractions are the most attractive? and What is the attitude of the consumers. Based on the research, visitors want to be educated, to prepare to face the dark reality, but also want to be entertained. By exploring this topic, tourism professionals will get insight into the visitors' motivations, how and who to promote these attractions, and how to develop new tourism products.
TopIntroduction: The Fascination With Death
The duality between life and death always fascinated humans. The history of mankind always been bloody: seeing public executions and cheering on gladiator games were one of the first reasons to travel (Lennon, 2018), and our civilization cannot escape from the memories of wars, genocides, and terrorism. To be curious about this side of the past can be considered as a normal, emotionally engaging behavior, rather than pathological one (Carrabine, 2011).
This curiosity and fascination come from the need to understand the one thing nobody can be sure about: death. Visiting sites associated with atrocities, murders and wars have been considered as part of heritage tourism in a broader sense, but it is also associated with ‘thanatourism’ or ‘dark tourism’, as the motivation to see these places involve a desire to have a contact with death (Tunbridge & Ashworth, 1996; Seaton, 1996; Hartmann, 2014; Light, 2017). Carvalho (2023) identified five dark tourist categories: ‘dark contemplative tourist’, ‘dark history tourist’, ‘dark passive tourist’, ‘dark enthusiast tourist’, and ‘dark occasion tourist’.
Since dark tourism consists of an enormous number of types, such as genocide tourism, holocaust tourism and graveyard tourism, this research focuses primarily on a smaller, more easily identifiable subsection of dark tourism: serial killer tourism. The psychology behind the actions of serial killers is appealing, the fear of their existence, and how other people view their acts. People find them frightening and attractive at the same time, which is one of the main reasons to visit places, museums and other attractions connected to serial killers. The morbid curiosity that induces people to seek out macabre entertainment and things related to serial killers is not gender-based, as it is a topic that interests both men and women equally as a method to learn to avoid being a victim (Harrison & Frederick, 2020).
By exploring why people are fascinated with serial killers, tourism professionals will have a better sense of the motivation behind visiting dark tourism attractions. It would help local destination management organizations, websites and travel blogs to know what to offer and how to promote them for the interested tourists. The findings of this research can be helpful for destinations on how to influence destination marketing strategies on how to develop tourism products. It also may help to develop an understanding of how the tourism industry preserves the memory of the victims.
To understand better the topic, three research questions were formed that could be answered based on observations when searching for attractions connected to serial killers, on the available literature about serial killers and dark tourism, and the empirical research.
These are the following:
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What is the reason for serial killer tourism?
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What type of attractions connected to serial killers are the most attractive for the visitors?
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What is the attitude of the consumers towards the attractions connected to serial killers?
According to our research the darker side of the destination is attractive for the tourists, but only in moderation. While they want to be educated, they also want to be entertained when they are traveling, therefore both the emotionally taxing, darkest side of dark tourism and the lighter side that offers macabre fun can be attractive for travelers.
While the morality of dark tourism, especially “serial killer tourism” is questionable, the respondents were interested in both. They want to learn about these criminals, they want to feel more prepared to face the reality of serial killers, but the offer of attractions is not what they require. They think these places are unethical and only those were attractive for the respondents that are either educational or had a distant relation to the actual crimes.
The essay presents what makes these places interesting, why people are visiting them, how ethical and moral it is to make murder into attractions and how a city can use the history of its serial killer to attract more tourists. This study seeks to find an answer to the broader question about what attracts people to consume dark tourism sites, intending to examine how consumers perceive these places.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Serial Killer Tourism: Visitation of places that has a connection to serial killers, like their birthplace, the crime scene, a memorial for the victims, or an exhibition that contains an object from the serial killer.
Destination Management Organization: Marketing organizations that promote certain locations as attractive destinations with the intention of encouraging tourists to visit them.
Walking Tours: Insightful, informative tours in an urban setting, to get to know the history and myths of the visited sites, undertaken by foot and guided by an escort.
Dark Fun Factory: Dark tourist attractions with the focus on interactive and entertaining performances instead of remembrance or learning.
Serial Killers: Serial killers are murderers, who killed more than two people in a certain time period. Most of the time they kill in a special, unique way, and can be motivated by either sexual urges or mental health issues.
Shades of Dark Tourism: How closely related the given site is to death and suffering, what is its interpretation about the history. Places with only a loose connection (e.g., theme parks) are considered light, while sites of actual death (e.g., Auschwitz-Birkenau) are the darkest.
Dark Tourism: Travels related to death, disasters, morbid events and/or human suffering, where the motivation is curiosity towards the darkest parts of human history.