Book Review for West Virginia's Dark Tourism

Title: West Virginia’s Dark Tourism
Author: Tony Urban
Published by Schiffer Publishing, 2016
Amazon Purchase Info

I’ve actually had this book, half-read, sitting on my shelf for nearly two years.  I don’t know why I never got around to finishing and reviewing it, but I figured I’d use the recent worldwide unpleasantness to get caught up on some reading, this book included!

West Virginia’s Dark Tourism follows author, Tony Urban, often accompanied by his mother, Sharon, and his dogs around the Mountain State in search of haunted locations, urban legends, and other weird and spooky sites. Recently, the term ‘dark tourism‘ has been defined as tourism involving travel to places historically associated with death and tragedy. More recently, it was suggested that the concept should also include reasons tourists visit that site, since the site’s attributes alone may not make a visitor a “dark tourist”. The main attraction to dark locations is their historical value rather than their associations with death and suffering.