Sometimes, I do it here. Every so often, I write about the tragedies of our past. I wouldn’t say that I’m fixated on these things, but I will say that occasionally, I am fascinated or intrigued. Well, it appears that I’m not alone in this.
Around the world, people often travel to sites of death and tragedy. It has a name — Dark Tourism. Thousands upon thousands of tourists frequent concentration camps, famous battle sites, or even places where mass horror occurred. The question is. What draws people to the dark side of things?
People, in general, have a penchant for places that are historically associated with death and tragedy.
This practice of “dark tourism” is a big-bucks industry. But it isn’t really new if you think about it. Throughout history, many people have been drawn to witnessing death or, at the very least, hearing all the details.
I can think of two big examples of this. The first was the old-time displays of public executions. And the second, the Roman gladiator games.
But what is this attraction all about? I mean, I’ve visited such places. We probably all have.
Well. They’ve done a study about this. And there are four common reasons, or themes, according to the findings.
The first? We must be cats — because curiosity appears to be the biggest factor. We want to know what happened, how it happened, and on.
Another reason is that we want to feel personally connected to the matter. Many tourists take part because they either feel connected or want to feel connected to whatever “event” transpired at a particular place.
The third reason, and I think this is true for a lot of people, is for educational purposes. Yes, simply to learn about what happened in history.
And finally, some people just visit because they happen to be visiting the same place of the dark tragedy. I mean, if you find yourself halfway around the world visiting the area of Auschwitz, you should probably go see Auschwitz.
Or another example might be the grave of a celebrity. “Hey, let’s go see where Liberace is buried. We’ll get pizza after….”
The study goes on to say that Dark Tourism doesn’t necessarily mean we are dark people. It suggests that we are engaged in the historical aspects of the world. We gather facts. We see how these events have been remembered and memorialized. Sometimes, we wish to see the political swaying of history and the tragedy that occurred as a result. Mostly though, it is not the morbidity that attracts us.
We see. We learn. We connect.
And it all makes us wonder.
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“For never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo.”
― William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
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“Everyone has a thousand wishes before a tragedy, but just one afterward.”
― Fredrik Backman, Beartown
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“Tears are words that need to be written.”
― Paulo Coelho
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We travel to see the dark side of seeing things.
