Topic > Dark Tourism: The Jack the Ripper Tour

The Jack the Ripper Tour is being used to sell and “commodify” British culture because we are now turning the horrific story of a person who went around killing others into something much bigger. It's not just his creepiness that made him a commodity, it's the fact that he became famous in the city press that truly made him a commodity. By being published in newspapers and making headlines around the world, people might even sell stories to keep the press alive. With a tour like this now made available to the public and taken tourists to the specific locations where it all takes place. The company will now take a liking to horrific moments in British history and sell them for profit. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay For this tour in particular, it was noted that multiple tours were taking place at the same time. For every tour done, someone gets paid to continue Jack the Ripper's legacy. If the job is done correctly, people enjoy what they saw, so they will most likely tell someone about it. Word will spread, or it will circulate on the Internet, and people will become interested in these tours and more and more people will become interested in what the tour is about. This will attract more customers to pay for these tours which will allow these guys to continue to expand and make money. Another idea noted on the tour was another tour guide dressed as Jack the Ripper. This could be seen in several ways. Firstly, this is another way to keep the tourist interested by adding that extra charm to the tour and more people will want to do it again. Secondly, Jack the Ripper is already a huge commodity in times like Halloween because the character created by the press made it seem like he would be a scary character and if he was scary then it would be the perfect time to dress up as him for Halloween. Now not only is his identity and legacy being sold to the public for profit, but his appearance is also being sold for profit. It could also be seen as a consequence of the way this story was made into multiple films. Since 1900 many films have been made to tell even what they think they know happened to Jack the Ripper. For this attraction, the tour guide addressed the historical and social context in depth. Based on what was made public, the tour guides allowed historical landmarks to be established on the exact location where the murders occurred. It's interesting when the tour guide mentioned how the first woman he killed, Polly, her death was "just reported" meaning that not much information should have been noted at the time of the murder but when he explained the way where she was killed seemed very detailed. It is impressive how it is noticed during the tour, which may also have a tourist demand, what is emphasized or even deleted to make the tour more attractive. Dark tourism is seen as “visiting places where historically notable tragedies or deaths have occurred” that continue to impact our lives.” There are many dark tours where some are run for educational purposes and other tours are much more descriptive so they are used for a more educational purpose. Stone (2006) described that darker tourism is more education oriented, the tour location is authentic, and these events are shorter in duration. This tour could be described as more educational in purpose (one of the more obscure tours) due to the guide's descriptiontourist. What stands out most is the way these murders were depicted and the way these women were killed was done so strategically, as if Jack had some medical history beforehand. Many details have been told about pulling out the intestines and wrapping them around their bodies. Another example is that the latest victim reportedly first went into detail about who he was and what he looked like. Next, he described how they came into contact with each other. Finally, to go into even more detail, he described exactly how she was killed. From the way he slit her throat and breasts to the way he undressed her and folded her clothes as neatly as possible. If something has been deleted or sanitized from the tour it is because there is not enough time given to the tour guide to go into detail or the tour guide simply did not have accurate information about what might be true. My experience regarding attraction Any of the attractions we attended throughout the first week is the amount of money tourists spend on these attractions which helps the economy. Since we are visiting many of these tourist attractions, even walking tours around the cities, the tourism industry invests a lot of money to keep many of the tourist attractions presentable so that people can continue to pay for the tours. Interestingly, “developing infrastructure [or keeping cities clean] that attracts tourists has proven to be a catalyst for economic development, particularly employment” (Murphy, p. 100, 2017). Many jobs around the world are provided by the tourism industry. This occurred to me when there were other tour guides around offering the same tour as the one I was taking and that this could potentially be a source of income for many people. Even though the salary is lower than that of a normal job, it is still something we look forward to because they have obligations that they need to take care of. At the end of our tour, once the tour guide mentioned it, he would go home to his wife and Yorkie. I immediately thought that getting paid for the tour we all go on was what helped him pay for something regarding his wife or his dog. I want to go back to dark tourism as part of my analysis just because this was my first time experiencing a dark tour. As I read about dark tourism, I found it interesting how common it is and didn't know there was an actual name for it. I realized that these dark tours are turning death into education and even some entertainment “we actually neutralize it [socially]; it becomes harmless, and therefore less threatening, through its conversion and ephemerality in popular culture and the media. It is this social neutralization of death and the potential role of dark tourism that the paper now assesses” (Stone and Sharpley, p. 585, 2008). As I listened to our tour guide and as fascinated as I was, there was a point where I forgot that any of this was related to death and just knowing how normalized his death makes this tour as common as it is today. It's easy to forget how dangerous this man really was during that time because we are so intrigued by the details of the story and the fact that this happened so long ago. Highly publicized death is so common now that I'm sure there are other tours just like this one. The Jack the Ripper tour plays an important role in Jack's identity and tourism because without tours like this Jack's identity fades away. Jack the Ripper is still as relevant as it is today because there are many ways to keep the story going.