Analysis of the Demand of Dark Tourism: A Case Study in Córdoba (Spain)

Visiting places where death is present, either due to a natural tragedy, war, the Holocaust, etc., or because there is the presence of a non-visible entity or paranormal phenomenon, is increasingly more accepted in modern times. It has become a kind of tourism that has grown in demand, though it remains a minority. The city of Cordoba, in the south of Spain, is swarming with houses and places where legends have endured over centuries as a consequence of the coexistence of three cultures – Jewish, Christian and Arab. In turn, popular culture considers these places as having a characteristic “charm” due to the phenomena that happen there. This work analyses the profile of dark tourism tourists, particularly in two sub-segments - that of ghosts and of cemeteries - as well as the existing offer. The aim is to design and improve a quality tourist product that is adapted to the requirements of the demand.

Critical Thinking and Belief in the Paranormal

The critical thinking ability of 13 believers and 13 nonbelievers in paranormal phenomena was examined in two studies. In the first study, believers and skeptics were given Watson and Glaser's (1964) Critical Thinking Appraisal Scale as well as Trodahl and Powell's (1965) Dogmatism Scale. Skeptics showed a significantly higher level of critical thinking ability than believers and were significantly less dogmatic than believers. A second study was carried out to evaluate the critical thinking ability of believers and skeptics on a task dealing with the paranormal. 18 believers and 17 skeptics were asked to evaluate critically either a research article on a paranormal phenomenon (psychokinesis) or an almost identical article on a nonparanormal phenomenon (pain tolerance). It was anticipated that believers would show a bias in favor of the paranormal article; however, results indicated that believers and nonbelievers were equally critical of the paranormal article.

Remote Viewing: Failures to Replicate with Control Comparisons

The paranormal phenomenon termed “remote viewing” was investigated using procedures employed in successful demonstrations of the phenomenon. 20 selected college students volunteered as receivers and were given two “remote viewing” trials. A control condition was used on Trial 1 to evaluate chance factors in “remote viewing.” Independent judges and the receivers evaluated the accuracy of “remote viewing” by comparing the receivers' protocols to senders' descriptions and by visits to the target sites. The results offered no support for a “remote viewing” hypothesis. Means for judgments of correct receiver protocols were not significantly different between experimental and control group receivers and were not significantly different from judgment means for incorrect receiver protocols. A psychic/nonpsychic interpretation of judgment successes was discounted by the finding that successes could be accounted for in terms of differences among rating means for targets or differences among rating means for individual judges.

Remote Viewing: A Response Bias Interpretation

The psychic or paranormal phenomenon termed “remote viewing” was investigated using a signal-detection experimental procedure. “Remote viewing” involves the reported ability of a person (the receiver) physically separated from another person (the sender) to describe the surroundings (the target) of the sender. 90 volunteer college students were used in an experimental condition designed to measure the accuracy of “remote viewing” and 25 students served in a control condition designed to provide a baseline for guessing or response bias. The accuracy of “remote viewing” was objectively measured by having receivers select color photographs of the sender's location and rate the confidence of their selections. The results offered no statistical support for “remote viewing” either in terms of the proportions of correct and incorrect selections or in terms of the confidence ratings attached to correct and incorrect selections. The finding that successful receivers offered reliably more selection responses or guesses than did nonsuccessful receivers provided a basis for possible interpretation of success in demonstrations of “remote viewing.”