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Find out more about Susan: Susan Finch grew up in a family of airline pilots, spending her childhood navigating layovers across the US and Europe. She's now a freelance writer for national publications and specializes in the challenges of budget travel. Email Susan: travelexaminer@yahoo.com |
What better way to learn about a city than take a tour of its sordid and twisted past? Learn about local architecture, rock, politics, social commentary, and famous crimes.
Los Angeles' Esotouric tours skip Hollywood's usual celebrity fanfare and mansions and opts for the dark, gritty side of its history. Their tours also delves into the social and political commentary of the time and explores the city from a victim's, and hysterical locals', point of view.
Best known for its focus on the famous The Black Dahlia case, Esotouric also exposes guests to stories of a husband who lets a rattlesnake bite his wife in hopes of collecting the insurance money, only to hire an outside source to drown her and finish the job.
Also on the 2008 - 2009 roster? James Elroy Digs LA, a tour that allows guests to accompany the author to parks where he stalked classmates, houses he broke into, and the history of 1950's murder cases that captivated him as a youth and feeds his passion for writing today.
Since its inception in 2005, the tours have become increasingly popular. With a current cultural climate of reality TV, slanted news, and media voyeurism, it seems like a creepy yet natural extension of life. But more interesting to me than the tour itself or its statement about society today, is how it all came into fruition.
Founder Kim Cooper started blogging in 2005 about crime scenes of each day from 1946. As her readership and contributors grew, she began offering tours of the chilling crimes and mysteries she blogged about.Tours run approximately $58 on up and gift certificates are even available for your twisted loved ones. For those who want to make crime tours part of their life, season passes can also be arranged. And who knows, maybe you'll even stumble upon a fresh crime scene that needs solving.
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Email me your budget travel questions and challenges at travelexaminer@yahoo.com. I'll post them here and help you get on the open road.
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