Dear Reader,
They say the past will haunt you. They write it, too, and slip it quietly under my door at night. For it is my inadvisable duty to document the gothic wherever it can be found. Welcome to the Gothic Dispatch, a gothic travel blog.
But you have questions. Questions like, “What is the Gothic Dispatch?” and “Why should I read it?” and “If you don’t know him and I don’t know him, who is the thirteenth guest at our dinner party?” I will answer those questions I can but, for many of them and much else, I’m afraid you’re on your own.
What is the Gothic Dispatch?
The Gothic Dispatch is a travel blog with the past in close pursuit. In these posts and pages, we’ll explore how it haunts the present through the locations, stories and characteristics commonly called gothic. To take your first fateful step, try browsing gothic travel destinations by country – like England or France – or searching for gothic travel destinations by type – like architecture or literature.
Why read the Gothic Dispatch?
Each post from the Gothic Dispatch introduces a different location, its story and my own miserable experiences – but leaves plenty for bolder travellers to discover for themselves. So, you can get a taste of the restlessness, excess and otherness of the gothic without the toll on your immortal soul.
What makes something gothic?
Many who ask that question are doomed never to find an answer. Sometimes, a location is gothic because of the way it is built. Other times, it is gothic because something particularly strange is supposed to have occurred there. For the purposes of the Gothic Dispatch, we’ll keep it broad. The gothic can be found in anything where the past haunts the present.
Now, the time has come to lock the door, light a candle and let someone know to check on you every once in a while. Thanks for reading the Gothic Dispatch.
Yours sincerely,
The Writer