The Hole

 The Hole,

I am introducing is in Providenciales, TCI.

Enjoy!

Häxan

 Häxan is a 1922 (105 minutes) Swedish silent film written, directed and starring Benjamin Christensen. It was re-released and edited for the western market as Witchcraft Through the Ages (1968, 74 minutes).  The pseudo-documentary style traces the history of witchcraft from the Middle Ages to the 20^th century.  The movie is based on Malleus Maleficarum (Hammer of Witches) written by German Catholic clergyman Heinrich Kramer that was published in the late 1400s.  The author blamed women for the troubles of the world and promoted torture and death as a means to get confessions and finally death as the only way to remove witchcraft from the planet.  Despite criticism by top leaders in the church, it was nonetheless popular among the normal “Joes.”  (get my drift?)

Special effects included reverse motion, makeup, color tinting and others.  Even with intertitles, it was not until the English subtitles were added that this title reached a global audience.

You need to remember that witches were a constant threat to humanity during the period and translated in the horrific events of the Salem Witch Trials in America in 1692.  While Salem and Häxan have similarities, the interest to the Fright Tourist is the theme of witches.  For the fright tourist a basic understanding of the evil centered on witches is essential.  For this reason, this film is popular in film studies University classes, since it would likely be banned in primary schools found in Red States.

In Häxan the film is broken down into several parts or chapters.  The first is based on early paintings and wood carvings illustrating demons and witches and the role of hell within our finite Earth.  Next are a series of short vignettes that illustrated, with the help of the intertitles, witchcraft supporting the work of the devil.

This prompted the formation of witch hunters in the Middle Ages, where any unusual death or malady could be attributed to a woman, typically the wife.  A subsequent torture would cause the woman to confess, only to be burned at a stake.  Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

The more modern parts of the story relate the behavior of witches as a psychological disorder that we would not find in the current edition of the DSM.

We must be reminded that witches are found in every culture in the world. While the reader is most familiar with America’s examples, including Charmed (US TV 1998-2006) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (US TV 1997-2003) where witches are shown to be some of the beautiful people, this is certainly unlike Häxan’s characters.  Elsewhere, the witches of Europe have been frequently displayed in film and include the Witchfinder story line in the 1960s and 70s that catered to the violence loving audience.  See Witchfinder General (1968) with Vincent Price for one of the “softer” rated themes.

Witch movies are still found around the globe albeit with different names like Aswang, Djambe, Bruja, Majo, Phu Thuy and more.  Häxan is in public domain so is readily available for viewing on the web.  The definitive source is available since 2019, the Criterion Collection released the 2016 digital restoration exclusively on Blu-ray in the US.

Aurora Borealis in Southern Illinois?

Yep, first we had the Eclipse last month, and now this?

 

Check to see if you can observe it on this website.

I have experienced the northern light twice before.  The first was in New Hampshire on 15 September 1974 as I was backpacking south on the AT.  The second was in Iceland on 6 October 2015 after this conference.

Happy Face

 Speaking of air photos, try this one from Canada.

This is why I like the window seat.

Greenland from Above

 Certainly on my bucket list to actually stand on the ground on Greenland, but for the meantime, here is a shot from above.

And a couple still shots

National Trails Day 2024

 Again time to honor National Trails Day, coming June 1st.

Get out on our trails!

The Future of Dark Tourism: Enlightening New Horizons Pre-order ready

 The Future of Dark Tourism: Enlightening New Horizons is ready for a pre-order on Amazon.

This book offers critical scenarios of dark tourism futures and examines how our significant dead will be remembered in future visitor economies. It aims to inspire critical thinking by probing the past, disrupting the present and provoking the future. The volume outlines key features of difficult heritage and future cultural trauma and highlights the role of technology, immersive visitor experiences and the thanatological condition of future dark tourism. The book provides a collection of informed observations of how future societies might recall their memorable dead, and how the noteworthy dead might be (re)created and retained through dark tourism. The book forecasts a dark tourism future that is not only perilous but also full of possibilities. It is a helpful resource for students and researchers in tourism, heritage, futurology, sociology, human geography and cultural studies.

Contributors

Philip R. Stone and Daniel W.M. Wright: Preface: Dark Tourism Futures: Thoughts, Ideas, Scenarios

Chapter 1. Philip R. Stone: Vertopia: The Future of Dark Tourism Places and Our Digital Dead

Chapter 2. Rachael Ironside and Craig Leith: Virtual Afterlife: Dark Tourism in the Hereafter

Chapter 3. Santa Zascerinska: From 'Bucket List' to 'Afterlist': (Dark) Tourism for the Afterlife 

Chapter 4. Daniel W.M. Wright: 'Beyond Human': Dark Tourism, Robots and Futurology

Chapter 5. Özge Kılıçarslan, Mehmet Yavuz Çetinkaya and Kamil Yagci: The Future of Technology and Dark Tourism Experiences 

Chapter 6. Diāna Popova, Elizabete Grinblate and Raivis Sīmansons: Bridging Virtual Reality and Dark Heritage 

Chapter 7. Richard Fawcus: 'Virtual Monument Wars': The Digital Future of Difficult Heritage

Chapter 8. Marián Alesón-Carbonell: Language as a Mediator: Commodifying Future Dark Tourism

Chapter 9. Saffron Dale, Crispin Dale and Neil Robinson: 'McDeath': A Future of Dark Travel and End of Life Palliative Care 

Chapter 10. Alix Varnajot: Enlightening Dark Tourism Horizons in a Post-Apocalyptic Arctic: A Geopoetic Approach

Chapter 11. Max Korstanje: 'Shrines and Rites of Passage': Toward a Future of Dark Tourism Chronicles

Chapter 12. Elspeth Frew and Clare Lade: Survivor Voices and Disaster Education: Future Commemoration and Remembrance at Dark Tourism Sites 

Chapter 13. Abit Hoxha and Kenneth Andresen: Future of Dark Tourism in Kosovo: From Divisions to Digital Possibilities

Chapter 14. Ann-Kathrin McLean: Millennials, Transitional Memory and the Future of Holocaust Remembrance 

Chapter 15. Aija Van Der Steina, Maija Rozite, Inese Runce and Kaspars Strods: Between Revival of Memory and Dark Tourism: The Future of Holocaust-Related Sites in Latvia

Chapter 16. Marta Soligo: 'Mirrors of Society': Cemetery Tourism Futures 

Chapter 17. Janine Marriott: 'Not the Right Sort of Visitors': Future Challenges of Cemetery Tourism

Chapter 18. Allan Brodie: 'Into the horrors of the gloomy jail': Towards a Future of UK Prison Tourism and Penal Architecture 

Chapter 19. Brianna Wyatt: 'Finding a Light in Dark Places': Lighter Dark Tourism Futures

Chapter 20. Luisa Golz and Tony Johnston: Future of Dark Tourism Festivals: Technology and the Tourist Experience

Chapter 21. Robert S. Bristow, Alina Gross and Ian Jenkins: Future Dystopian Attractions: Benign Masochism in Dark Tourism

Chapter 22. Michael Brennan: Future Directions in Death Studies and Dark Tourism

Philip R. Stone: Afterword: Back to the Dark Tourism Future