While in Japan, the “jiko bukken”, these apartments and houses haunted by tormented spirits, sell like hotcakes, the trend is gradually spreading to other countries such as the United States. Some tourists, seeking an unusual experience or openly fascinated by true crime, no longer choose their destinations based on the monuments or landscapes they offer, but rather on the dramas that have occurred there.
As The Telegraph reported on Friday, October 30, the “slaycation”, macabre getaways tracing the most famous crimes or ghost hunts, is now thriving with visitors who are fans of the paranormal and horror.
The Lizzie Borden House, the most popular
One of the most telling examples of this “dark tourism”? The success of the Lizzie Borden House in Massachusetts. The young woman had been accused of murdering her father and stepmother with an axe in 19th-century New England. She was ultimately acquitted after the jury concluded that a woman could not possibly have dealt the thirty blows of the axe that left Andrew and Abby almost unrecognizable.
The release of the series “Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story”, aired since September on Netflix, has revived a keen interest in this highly violent case. Today, the family home welcomes visitors to spend the night, for guided tours or other experiences around the paranormal. It can also be rented for weddings or to enjoy a breakfast similar to the one the occupants’ couple would have had on the morning of their death.
Some say they simply want to discover the history of the place, while others admit they want to meet ghosts there. Liam Martin, who came with his 12-year-old daughter, Everly, says he felt a presence during the night. “It’s not easy to sleep with dozens of eyes of dolls staring at you”, he tells The Telegraph. His daughter reportedly felt something touch her head, before he himself felt a similar sensation. It is also possible to sleep in the room where the brutally mutilated body of the mother-in-law was found, with black-and-white, particularly shocking, photos of the crime scene displayed on the walls.
Tragic stories turned into spectacle
The Villisca Axe Murder House in Iowa, where eight people, including several children, were murdered in 1912, draws the same fervor. Sensing a potential cash cow, other establishments have transformed their tragic past into a tourist draw, such as Gianni Versace’s former residence, now a luxury hotel in Florida. These stays also help keep small towns alive, claims this kind of clientele. “Even if some find it in bad taste, it keeps the entire town afloat”, says Josh Schultz, a true-crime enthusiast who spent his honeymoon in the Villisca house.
This curiosity, some would call unhealthy, raises questions about how victims and their histories are treated. “I think we are increasingly seeing that tragic human stories are sensationalized for entertainment purposes, particularly on platforms like Netflix”, warns psychologist Charlotte Russell.
