Legend-Tripping in Spooky Spaces: Ghost Tourism and Infrastructures of Enchantment

Abstract

This paper investigates the increasingly popular practice of ghost tourism comprising urban ghost tours and organised paranormal investigations. Set in the context of modern forms of enchantment, wherein audiences engage in a knowing and reflexive sense of ‘delight without delusion’, the paper explores the various infrastructures, (discursive, affective, and material) that engender a sense of supernatural possibility. I argue that practices of legend-telling, legend-tripping, ostension, and play produce affective assemblages of supposition and wonder that momentarily transform space into something charged with the strange and anomalous. This infrastructure relies on the engineering of dispositions that are both shaped on and brought to the tourist event itself. As such, those with deeply held beliefs in ghosts and the afterlife, as well as those for whom the infrastructures fail to generate wonder, place limits on the artifice of modern enchantment. The paper uses examples from participant observation on ten ghost tours across the UK, an overnight vigil in a Tudor mansion, and interviews with tour guides.

Walking on the light side

“…Moreover, the ghost tourist is seen today less as a "disembodied sightseer" but with greater attention paid to the embodied and performative nature of the role. Indeed, there is substantial evidence to indicate that throughout the tour the tourists become active, and a source of ghost tales themselves (Gentry, 2007;Holloway, 2010). In most cases, authors identify entertainment as the main reason behind attending the tour, and place humour as a key aspect of performance and narrative for the effectiveness of tours.…”

“…In the context of ghost tours, EM is used to build and sustain a viable business through delivery of a memorable experience to tourists, and importantly, the creation of customer value and satisfaction. Ghost tours, like all dark tourism products, rely on a factual basis for generation of the dark or morbid stories featured within the tourist experience on offer (Gentry, 2007;Holloway, 2010;Inglis and Holmes, 2003;Thompson, 2010). Therefore, it is feasible to suggest that using EM, ghost tour operators draw upon these facts and past historical events to form a platform for EO activities that support the expression of MO through curation of a "ghostly" customer experience that fulfils customers' needs and wants.…”

The place of spirit

“…Significantly, although not concerned with sacredness, Finlayson's sensitivity to affect and emotions in religious and spiritual practices highlights people's spiritual experiences. Meanwhile, there is even less work on the occult phenomena and occulture (though see Bartolini et al, 2013;Dixon, 2007;Holloway, 2006Holloway, , 2010MacKian, 2012;andPile, 2005, 2006). Nonetheless, it is these margins -in the 'alternative' spiritualities of modern Western culture -that we believe proffers the best perspective from which to launch a different understanding of the place of spirituality in modern social life.…”

You Look Like You’ve Seen a Ghost: A Preliminary Exploration in Price and Customer Satisfaction Differences at Haunted Hotel Properties

“…Nearly 75% of Americans believe in some form of paranormal activity and approximately 37% of Americans believe that a structure, like a house or a hotel, can be haunted (Gallup, 2005). Within the tourism industry, using ghosts and hauntings as a marketing tool for exploitation can be a common practice (Holloway, 2010). Just as some hotels can use third party awards and ratings to develop a brand image perceived by customers (Nicolau and Sellers, 2010), properties can also utilize a haunting to attract specific customers to a destination.…”