Ghosts, Murders, Tourists and the Quality of Fear

Ghosts, Murders, Tourists and the Quality of Fear

Why do people enjoy being frightened? Does the subject matter, matter? At Macabre

Tours UK, we run highly popular ghost tours in both Bath and in Bristol, but we also

have a dedicated Jack the Ripper Tour in Whitechapel, London. One of the

interesting features that we have observed is the difference between how people

approach the ghost tours compared to the way they approach the true crime story of

A beautiful yet infamous laneway in Spitalfields, London, did something terrible happen here perhaps?

Jack the Ripper. Whilst, on the face of it, the tours operate in very similar spaces,

and the guides themselves who lead the tours are very similar in their approach, the

responses that these stories elicit, can be very different. Not all fears are equal, and

not all fears feel real it seems.

One thing is certain, people like ghost stories, and people like true crime stories.

Podcasts, YouTube videos and mainstream media have attested to this enthusiasm

in the general public. But why? What is it that people enjoy? And how does the

appeal of ghosts differ from the appeal of true crime? There seem to be several

common aspects of them that give them their appeal, and a few key elements in

which they differ.

Curiosity – Why Ghost Tours feel Safe

The first factor is that of simple curiosity. The joy of a ghost tour, or a ghost story, is

that the fear is largely controlled. It is the same frisson one might get from observing

tigers in the wild on an organised tour; close to danger, but shielded. We guide

tourists through the streets of Bath and Bristol on our Ghost Tours. Along the way,

we explain such horrors as the ghost that haunts the Royal Mineral Waters Hospital,

or the Man in the Black Hat who traverses the Gravel Walk, or the ghost of the young

Trooper, that was brutally executed on College Green. As we tell these stories, you

can see on the faces of guests, the genuine sense of proximity to such horrors. The

fear is real, but it is rollercoaster fear, not earthquake fear. It is controlled and

insulated.

True crime is similar. To visit the sites of such evil and hear the stories in situ, is

clearly an evocative experience. The difference perhaps lies in the attitude of the

guests. We are always very firm in our respectful approach towards the stories we

tell, on all of our tours. With our ghost tours, regardless of our own or our guest’s

personal beliefs, there is a quiet respect offered at all times. We have fun, we laugh,

we enjoy ourselves, but we never lose sight of the fact that if the spirits are obliged to

remain in a place, it is incumbent on us and our guests to exercise good manners,

after all why take the risk? This respect is important on our ghost tours, but it is even

more essential and fundamental on a true crime tour.

Victims and Shadows

Real crimes have real victims. No one doubts that the victims of Jack the Ripper

were subject to horrific cruelty and violence. The same is less true for ghosts. Some

of our ghost tour guests are sceptical and often outright dismissive of the stories we

tell. This is welcome and important. It therefore means that there is always the ability

to tell children or nervous guests that it’s not real, it’s just a story. There is no such

option on a true crime tour however. It happened. Awful things can and do happen

and, very quietly, whisper it, they could happen to you.

The Long Arm of Justice.

One of the key features of a ghost story is often that the evils we do in life are not

forgotten. Retribution can be visited upon the perpetrators even after death. The

compassion we feel for the victims of injustice is satisfied and confirmed by the fact

that their abusers didn’t simply get away with it. They are forced to lurk in the

shadows of night, repeating over and over strange rituals or behaviours. This is

satisfying to us. It speaks to the sense of justice that lives inside us all.

A true crime tour does not offer us this judicial arc. We know that the crimes took

place but, especially in the case of historic crimes like those of the Ripper, we have

no solution. No answer. No justice for the victims. There is no safe place in which our

minds can hide. People were murdered, people suffered dreadful agonies. And no

one paid the price. There is fascination, there is curiosity, but there is no satisfaction.

Safety and Threat in Ghost Tours and True Crime Tours

At its core, this then is the difference. A ghost tour is safe, it is speculative and

intriguing. A true crime tour is not. It is real, the blood of the crimes still stains our

streets, and our imaginations. There is no retreat into the idea that it is just a story.

Macabre Tours UK

So come on one of our tours. Walk the streets of Bath and Bristol on our ghost tours,

or join us in Whitechapel for our Jack the Ripper tour in London. See the places

where events took place, hear the sounds, feel the creeping atmosphere and the

horrors that seem to lurk just beyond the perception of most of us. Are you brave

enough? Does your curiosity burn that brightly?