Gothic Tourism

de Emma McEvoy

"From Strawberry Hill to The Dungeons, Alton Towers to Barnageddon, Gothic tourism is a fascinating, and sometimes controversial area. Looking at Fonthill Abbey, phantasmagoria shows, the Gothic design of 18th-century duchess, Elizabeth Percy, at Alnwick Castle, and the oeuvre of Horace Walpole, Gothic Tourism considers the origins of Gothic tourism, and Gothic itself as a touristic mode. It covers the Chamber of Horrors and looks at Madame Tussaud's, past and present, discussing waxworks as objects of horror and the uncanny, and the phenomenon of the Gothic museum. It also looks at the Berry Pomeroy Castle and considers the processes by which, over 230 years, the building acquired its haunted reputation. Ghost walks, prison museums, Severs' House, scare attractions, the Necrobus and a poison garden provide the opportunity to discuss Gothic tourism's relationships with literature, film, folklore, heritage management, arts programming, and the 'edutainment' business"--