Since before I started elementary school, I’ve been a regular visitor to haunted places. My parents and I used to spend my dad’s lunch hour having picnics in the local graveyard–one of the oldest in the state of Ohio, no less. The world of the weird and haunted has been the only one I’ve known. However, that doesn’t mean I don’t still muse about potentially disturbing the ghostly denizens. Across my haunted travels, I return again and again to this question: is visiting haunted places exploitive?
Now some people don’t believe in ghosts. For those who think spirits have better things to do than frequent the mortal realm, this question is pretty clear-cut: no, it’s not exploitive because there’s nothing to exploit. However, among those of us who do think ghosts are at least possible, this is an important issue to consider.
The question first came to the forefront for me when my husband and I visited Salem a few years back. In all of my travels around the world, I had never been so excited to see a town as I was that September afternoon. Then we went to the Salem Witch Museum and watched the disturbing show, complete with life-size sets and overwrought yet eerie music. Before the visit, I already knew all of the horrifying details since I read a stack of books and did a couple school reports on Salem as a kid (for the visual component of said reports, I was even morbid enough to do a Giles Corey diorama using a Ken doll and a bunch of little rocks.) But I was an adult by the time I visited Salem in person, and standing on the hallowed ground where all of the atrocities happened really got to me. After the museum, my husband and I walked the Salem sidewalks in somber silence; thankfully, our next stop at the Seven Gables lightened the mood a bit.
That being said, haunted tours and museums are a booming business, an industry that supports whole communities through tourism. These sights help to keep people engaged in the dialogue about history and sometimes the only tangible connection to the past. For all of its downtrodden narration, even the Salem Witch Museum has a link on its home page for New England Crafts. People love places where history and the macabre intersect. On the one hand, it might seem exploitive to make money from death. But what’s the alternative? Forget about a battle or an atrocity against humanity and let the related structures fall into disrepair?
The most important part of visiting anywhere–haunted or otherwise–is respect. As long as you are respectful toward the property and those residing there (living or not), then visiting a haunted place is completely acceptable. At least that’s the conclusion I’ve drawn after a lifetime of ghost tours and cemetery visits.
Here are a few tips on how to show respect at haunted places. Most of these apply to other sights as well but definitely bear repeating for locales where people are buried or have died.
1. Always ask before taking photographs.
Some artifacts might not respond well to flash.
2. Be careful where you step.
There might be a gravesite or other hallowed ground nearby.
3. Don’t litter.
This should go without saying, but especially if you’re traveling with children, make sure they don’t leave anything behind by accident.
4. When applicable, consider a donation or membership.
Haunted sights are often financially vulnerable, specifically during times of year outside of the Halloween season. Any extra funds can help keep them open for years to come.
So what do you think? Is visiting haunted places a great way to keep history alive? Or should people let the ghosts get some rest? Let me know what you think in the comments below!
Happy haunting!