Paranormal Tourism and Belief in Ghosts and Hauntings in Atchison - The Most Haunted Town in Kansas

Paranormal tourism is one way Americans confront questions of the afterlife and history. As a key source of revenue in some communities, paranormal tourism’s success often requires reformation of community identities and paranormal mythologies. Atchison, Kansas provides an example of this phenomenon by basing much of its economic development on paranormal tourism. Drawing on five years of experiences leading paranormal investigations at the Sallie House, Atchison’s primary haunted attraction, we argue that community folklore contributes greatly to paranormal belief and engagement with such attractions. Synthesizing participant observation and survey responses, we examined changes in beliefs based on visitor’s time in the Sallie House. Changes in perceptions of paranormal phenomena bordered on significance with participants more likely to believe in ghosts after the investigation, while prior understandings of the paranormal were stronger drivers of belief and engagement. Atchison’s success as a paranormal tourism destination is tied to their identity as a popular location to experience paranormal phenomena at several intensities and costs, thus allowing people of all levels of interest and budgets to participate. The Sallie House represents a microcosm of Atchison’s paranormal tourist environment with options for engagement at multiple levels, all drawing upon a rich, and ever-growing folklore.