The Cult of Dark Tourism
About this episode
The episode explores the phenomenon of dark tourism and the motivations behind visiting sites of human tragedy.
This week, Amanda is joined by author and travel writer Sheila Yasmin Marikar (@sheilaym) to descend into The Cult of Dark Tourism, the booming travel industry built around vacationing where very, very bad things have happened. From Chernobyl excursions and serial killer pub crawls to war zone tourism, suicide forests, nuclear disaster sites, and the "haunted house" where people willingly sign up to be tortured, we’re asking what possesses someone to look at human tragedy and think: I should book a trip there. Helping us to unpack the cultiness is dark tourism legend David Farrier (@davidfarrier), documentarian and creator and host of Netflix’s Dark Tourist, to share what he learned after traveling to some of the strangest destinations on Earth. We discuss the bragging rights, rubbernecking, questionable ethics, and impressive mental gymnastics required to turn death and disaster into a bucket list. Because apparently, a beach vacation just isn’t enough for some people. Subscribe to Sounds Like A Cult on Youtube!Follow us on IG @soundslikeacultpod, @amanda_montell, @reesaronii, @chelseaxcharles, @imanharirikia. Pre-order Iman's…
People in this episode
Host: Amanda
Guests: Sheila Yasmin Marikar, David Farrier
Topics covered
- dark tourism
- travel
- human tragedy
- ethics
- vacation
- documentary
Keywords
- dark tourism
- Chernobyl
- travel writer
- human tragedy
- ethical tourism
- documentary
- vacation
Sponsors
unknown
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Netflix
Products: Once in a Timeline
Places: Chernobyl, LA
More episodes of Sounds Like A Cult
- The Cult of Incels
- The Cult of Bellum Entertainment
- The Cult of Celebrity Wellness Brands
- The Cult of Lush
- The Cult of Sister Wives
- The Cult of Y2K
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