Meet the author who can take us for a guided walk on the dark side

Dark tourism is more than macabre, it shines a light on life and living, since visiting places of trauma can enlighten us about the people and events that happened in the past. By remembering them we can also be warned about potential present day mistakes and how to avoid them, author and academic Philip R Stone tells Gaby Soutar

- Gaby Soutar

Author Philip R Stone, whose new book 111 Dark Places in Scotland That You Shouldn't Miss (below) offers an insight in the destinations in Scotland associated with death, disaster or the macabre

Forget sunshine and golden sands, some of us choose to spend our time off visiting historic sites.

If you're one of those, you may want to pick up the new book 111 Dark Places in Scotland That You Shouldn't Miss, which was written by Dr Philip R Stone - a leading authority on dark tourism, which is the act of travelling to destinations that are associated with death, disaster or the macabre. Alongside battlefields and shadowy vennels, abandoned ruins and graveyards, it highlights Scottish places that even locals might not know about.

Why did you decide to write the book?

In 2018, a commissioning editor contacted me after reading an interview I did for the Economist about 'dark tourism'. She wanted to engage the scholarly subject with public markets of the 111 Places guidebook series. So, we decided to focus on England, and I published the 111 Dark Places in England book in 2021. It was only natural that Scotland should come next.

You're based in Lancashire, so how did you get interested in Scotland?