Dark Tourism is a term specific to tourist destinations that have themes of death, destruction and decay. For some, there is a strange thrill and fascination in visiting these kinds of sites, whereas others simply enjoy the history and stories trapped within those walls. Here are some of the best "dark tourism" sites around the world.
1. Auschwitz-Birkenau, Poland
One of the Nazis' most infamous death camps, the site was one of the largest prisons, where people were forced into labor, inhumane experiments and mass genocide. The State Museum and memorial are devoted to the 1,100,000 people who were murdered in these camps alone during World War II.
2. Killing Fields, Cambodia
During the reign of the Khmer Rouge, many Cambodian civilians were slaughtered, one of the worst genocides in the 20th century. There are many photos of emaciated corpses here, victims of torture and murder, and rusty blood spatter stains still dot the checkered tiles of the site's decommissioned prisons.
3. Pripyat, Ukraine
According to National Geographic, the site was deemed unsafe for human settlement for 24,000 years. Pripyat in the Ukraine was the hardest hit during the Chernobyl power plant disaster and tourists can visit the Exclusion Zone which is the abandoned area above the reactor, as well as the ghost town, where nobody lives but resident's personal belongings and mementos are scattered and untouched.
4. Pompeii, Italy
Having been a travel destination for 250 years, Pompeii is most likely the original dark tourism site, according to The Telegraph. The site is sunny but eerie, with ruins of its Roman past, and even its sleeping inhabitants caught in the eruption immortalized in ash forever.
5. Hiroshima, Japan
Besides all the beautiful sights and good food Hiroshima has to offer, one of the most important landmarks in this city is the A-Bomb Dome, part of Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Park in dedication to the tens of thousands of people who died during America's atomic bomb attack in 1945. In addition, a Children's Peace Monument has also been put up featuring folded paper cranes sent by people from all around the world.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
