Embracing Darkness

With one week left till my Thesis is complete and turned in, I look to what I will need in the days leading up to the deadline. Coffee, little sleep, and possibly a wig after I tear all my hair out. However, if there is one thing I have learned from this process it is how much I love my topic. While violence and death may not be an easy subject for many to talk about, it is imperative to human life. We all must go through it, and we all must experience it. Some sooner than others, and some have such little interaction with it at all they may not know what the big deal is.
Yet when it comes to Dark Tourism I have found that if the truth is dark, then historians want to tell it. Because the truth is the truth, no matter how dark it is. At this point I have interviewed four places that can be considered spots of Dark Tourism, and when asked what drove each place they all said the same thing: The Facts. Historians and places of history care about their patrons, and they care about attracting their patrons, but the pursuit of the truth and the exposure and telling of that truth is their main focus.
I couldn't be happier, prouder, and more excited to enter this world. With my thesis drawing to a close I will be aiming to sit with it all this week to finish with the material I have. While I may stress, I am also excited to finish, sharing it with my peers. The interviews I gathered gave me such an incite into how these places run, how historical sites respond to their own Dark Tourism that it would be crazy for me not to be excited.
I have laid out a plan where I take every time I won't be immersed in other work to devote to my thesis to accomplish this goal. From there, it is the poster, and after that, graduation.

Questionnaires and Phone Calls

I'm getting closer and closer to contacting the interviewees for my thesis and it is rather exciting. I've been writing down every question I could think of in preparation for the actual interviews. My game plan as of right now is to call each place first. I want to introduce myself professionally, explain who I am, what I am interviewing them for, and ask them who I should contact, and in what way.

I want them to feel as though I'm really looking out for them--which I am. As a future public historian it is important to make it known that I am not against the practices that some of these institutions use. While I may not always agree with them, I am not in a position to tell them how to run what many of them may see as their own business. If they agree to interview with me, I will give them three choices: A phone interview, a google survey, or a written/e-mail interview. Each one will ask the same questions, and all of them will be recorded.

I have been asked however, what will I do if my interview is turned down? From here I will only evaluate their websites, and informational brochures if I can get my hands on them. I will still do it respectfully, as I do not intend this Thesis to be a bashing of methods, but simply a look at them and an ethical study of them. Questions I want to ask are the why, who, and what went into doing things a certain way. Why market the death and violence in your history this way, why leave that out, how do you justify this decision? How long has it been put in place and was it even your decision to begin with?

By the end I should know the ins and outs of every place and methodology on my list. If they do my interview, at least.

Evolving Death and its otherness

My topic has only evolved so much that it has been added to. While studying with Dr. Brown--also my thesis adviser--it has come to my attention that much of Dark Tourism, and the places I am researching form my topic deal with a certain kind of otherness. We do not relate so we can spectate in many a place without being impacted so much that we can head home and feel good about ourselves once more. If we make a place more relatable, people begin to think heavier. It is one thing I am bound to bring up in my thesis now.
I have also decided to eliminate Salem from my list of case studies. The Lizzie Borden house and Salem are very close on the list of being very 'gimmicky'. Therefore, it is not needed. Instead I will use the extra space to delve further into all of my places. I discussed my thesis outline with Dr. Brown last week since I was not able to stay for the peer evaluation of them. We came up with many changes, and overall I feel like I am headed in a great direction with my thesis.

Death & the Dark

         Possibly one of the most fascinating things I'm finding within my research is how much or how little death really has to do with Dark Tourism. While it may be called something else--grief tourism, prison tourism, ghost tourism--it still falls under the Dark Tourism umbrella. A site does not need to have death to be within it. Stress, harsh punishments, disaster, all of these can be what the site entails. If it is outfitted for entertainment or tourism purposes, it uses its darkness for just that, Dark Tourism.
         Prisons are very popular here, and while my thesis pertains specifically to places of violent death, I will be talking about the relation of just darkness and the death itself. Darkness manifests itself from any place where suffering takes place. This does not even have to be from human suffering, but animal suffering as well. Even used items can take up a feeling of 'darkness' have you ever been to a junk-yard or archives after hours? A human impression and past can leave a lasting 'atmosphere' on an object.

Violent Death & Historical Places

My thesis has evolved much since I began thinking about it. Originally I wanted to study places that were 'haunted' or at least thought to be. However I decided that toning it back to the heart of the matter was what was important, and especially to show in a professional light. I'm very interested in dark history, and I want to evaluate how various historical sites/museums deal with violent death in their history. Do they mention it? How do they talk about it? Do they make a joke or a gimmick out of it? These are many of the questions I want to look at by interviewing the staff at these sites.

The various sites I'm looking into include The Lizzie Borden House, Salem, Alcatraz, Antietam, and Sloss Furnaces. All of these sites have different levels of past violent death, and different ways of handling them today. I want to know the motivations behind each one of these decisions, and possibly lay down a code of ethics for talking about violent death at places of dark tourism.

-Jean Pietrowski