Cemeteries have a strange and macabre attraction for the curious and the morose.  The dark symbolism of granite headstones, monuments, and crypts, viewed by some with sorrow and grief, is often no more than a part of a sightseeing itinerary for the general populace. 
Pere-LaChaise in Paris, France, a burial place for such notable figures as […]

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Gettysburg battlefield in Pennsylvania, the scene of the largest conflict ever fought in the Western Hemisphere, is considered by many to be the final turning point of the Civil War.  For three days, the brave armies of the North and South fought against each other, each equally strong in their beliefs, and each reluctant to […]

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Alacatraz prison, officially closed in 1963, sits on an island of 22 acres, surrounded by freezing waters and rapid currents.  Juan Manuel de Ayala, who gave it the name of La Isla de las Alcatreces, “the Island of the Pelicans,” discovered the island in 1775.  In 1850, Alcatraz, better known as “the Rock,” was established […]

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We watched in disbelief and horror the tragedy unfold on Tuesday, September 11, 2001.  Never before had the peace and security of the United States been threatened with such evil and disaster.  This was to be no ordinary day for any of us and tragically, for some, it would be the last day of their […]

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The states along the Gulf Coast of the U.S. have a reason to fear the onset of hurricane season and the inevitable disasters that occur.  Storm warnings had been issued from Florida to Louisiana and yet, many thought this would be just another hurricane.  On August 29, 2005 Katrina came ashore, bringing a storm surge […]

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It was a cruel event that made Hiroshima the tourist attraction that it is today. The United States War Department, in accordance with the Manhattan Project, issued the final order for the bombing of Hiroshima, Japan on July 25th, 1945.  On August 6, 1945, at 8:15 a.m., the first atomic bomb in the world, flown […]

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Grief Tourism is possible in many countries and our aim is to share some of the various tourist destinations that appeal to grief tourists. We are referring to tourist destinations associated with both natural and man-made disasters.

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Auschwitz, in the suburbs of Oswiecim, Poland, was a complex of three concentration camps, Auschwitz I for death, II for slave labor, and III for transport.  It was the scene of one of the world’s greatest tragedies, the mass genocide of over one million Poles, European Jews, and Roma people (the gypsies) in the darkest […]

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The town of Soham in the English county of Cambridgeshire is a peaceful village of approximately 9,000 people.  Since 1944, crime of any sort was practically non-existent, and certainly, the media had taken little notice of Soham until August 4, 2002.  The disappearance of two local 10-year old schoolgirls, Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman and […]

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On the morning of December 26, 2004, Phuket, the largest island of Thailand, felt the first shock of the 9.0 earthquake that brought the “Andaman Wave” to the shores of the Andaman Sea on the Indian Ocean coastline.  Hotels along the waterfront were filled with tourists on vacation for the Christmas holidays, unaware of what […]

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