Crime Experiences at Dark or ‘Gothic’ Tourism Sites: Edutainment and Storytelling at the Melbourne Watch House (Australia)

Storytelling is a vital feature of most crime and law enforcement related tourism sites. The Melbourne City Watch House (Australia) uses interactive and immersive storytelling techniques to create 'edutainment' opportunities for tourists, placing it on the 'lighter' end of Philip Stone's 'dark tourism' spectrum. This paper examines how the site utilises storytelling techniques and immersive experiences to provide a Gothically entertaining, yet educational experience for tourists. For example, tourists can be 'searched', 'locked-up' and have mug shots taken within a cell. Within the analysis, Philip Stone's 'dark tourism' spectrum and Gothic tourism frameworks are used to explore the tour and how the storytelling techniques become acceptable despite the 'dark' nature of the site and exhibits themselves. The use of actors to dramatise the experience provides audiences with a unique Gothic adventure that leaves visitors unsettled, yet entertained. Utilising participatory 'theatre' techniques and framing the narrative around 'law enforcement' versus 'offenders' enables such sites to promote 'lighter' forms of entertainment while nevertheless romanticising state power. It is evident that the voices of those detained at the Watch House are either silenced or manipulated through the storytelling process to reinforce political narratives around effective law enforcement.