The global dark tourism market, which Market.us currently values at $35.1 billion, is projected to reach $45.5 billion by 2035, with Europe alone accounting for 41.6% of that market (or $14.6 billion). Although not listed on its own terms (outwith the broader UK), Scotland, with its incomparable gothic literary heritage, among other assets, is exceptionally well placed to capture this growing global demand. According to VisitScotland, visits to and interest in ghost-themed attractions, including historic graveyards and haunted castles, have risen significantly. That includes a 39% rise in visits to sites like Stirling Castle, Culloden, and St Andrews Cathedral during October over the past three years, alongside a 54% year-on-year increase in online searches for “ghost” and “haunted” experiences in Scotland.
As Dr Rachael Ironside of Robert Gordon University explains, “Supernatural stories and legends provide a different lens through which visitors can see, understand, and experience a place.” You can feel the power of immersive storytelling at The Real Mary King’s Close in Edinburgh, where lantern-lit tours lead visitors through genuine 17th-century closes. At Stirling Castle, the “Mystery and Malice” lantern tours blend real history with compelling ghost stories. Further south, Abbotsford, Sir Walter Scott’s former home, brings folklore to life through its Witch Corner sculptures, while the Gothic Glasgow walking tour explores that city’s macabre bodysnatching history. As Kathleen Cronie of Mostly Ghostly, a tour company based in Dumfries and Galloway, describes it: “Scotland’s dark past, rich with legends, ghostly tales, and mysterious traditions, has an inescapable pull that draws people in.” Beyond the in-situ scares, Gothic Scotland found a global audience thanks to Guillermo del Toro’s Netflix adaptation of Frankenstein, which was filmed across Aberdeenshire, East Lothian, and Edinburgh, among other places. (At Dundee University, the Mary Shelley’s Dundee is a digital curation of free educational and creative engagements with our most famous former resident.)
For visitors, the opportunities are already there. VisitScotland’s website offers an entire Frankenstein feature for fans keen to find the filming locations, alongside a growing calendar of Halloween events taking place across the country. Lantern tours, ghost walks, and folklore trails actually run well beyond 31 October, and many, like Gothic Glasgow, operate from April through December. With rising search interest and a timely global spotlight thanks to the Netflix Frankenstein, there is a real opportunity to help even more visitors discover the deeper literary roots behind the country’s most compelling gothic stories, from Shelley’s formative experiences by the Tay and Hogg’s unsettling Border tales of the uncanny to Stevenson’s divided Edinburgh and Alasdair Gray’s phantasmagoric Glasgow. Gothic Scotland is a living tradition shaped by real history, real folklore, and real places, and one that VisitScotland has done much to bring to a growing and captive audience. But there is so much more to be explored, and coordination among civic and cultural institutions across the country is therefore vital – how about a “Gothic Passport”?
Daniel Cook is a Professor of English at the University of Dundee and a General Editor of The Oxford Complete Works of Mary Shelley (Oxford University Press). His recent books include Frankenstein Retold (Bloomsbury) and Mary Shelley’s Gothic Tales (Penguin Classics).
