Belanglo State Forest Extreme Terror Tours

[icyfroth]

Belanglo State Forest 'extreme terror tour' angers families of murder victims

An "extreme terror tour" of serial murderer Ivan Milat's killing ground, the Belanglo State Forest, has angered the family of a murder victim and victim support groups who are disgusted and upset about old wounds being opened. 

The new Goulburn Ghost Tour is billed as an extreme terror tour that starts at 10pm in the Belanglo State Forest for a cost of $150 per person. The online promotion says: "Come with us to Belanglo where Ivan Milat buried the bodies of his victims".

The chief executive officer of the Victims of Crime Assistance League NSW, Robyn Cotterell-Jones, said the Belanglo tour would impact on families of murder victims more widely. 

"It will be greeted with revulsion and disgust with people who would like a bit more respect for their own suffering," she said.

"While human beings seem fascinated by the macabre and frightening, for the families of victims, the impact of the death of their loved ones is never ended. For them, to hear people are using places of such horror for their amusement and profit is obviously going to cause scars to be ripped open again.

The head of the backpacker taskforce Clive Small said he could understand the concerns of the victims of crime group and public curiosity in the site.

"I think it really depends on how the tour is conducted," he said. "I can understand the public interest in the matter and in a sense the public curiosity that still exists.

"But it has to be dealt with sensitively to take into account the families of the victims and other murder victims who would be reminded of their pain."

Entire Article Here

It does seem pretty sick and disgusting that these tours are making a profit out of the pain and misery the victims and their families have gone through.

I must be some kind of sicko as well, because my inner ghoul would love to go on one of those tours.

[raptor_rebooted]

true

[k0llectable5]

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@djlukjilly wrote:

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@secondhand-wonderland wrote:

Yeah sounds creepy...  I'd love to go on a tour of Port Arthur, not like the ones they provide, but a massacre day tour.  Cant see that happening though, the last time I visited port arthur all us "tourists" were strongly advised not to mention anything about the massacre as some of the people who were there on the day still worked at Port Arthur.  

It does seem pretty sick and disgusting that these tours are making a profit out of the pain and misery the victims and their families have gone through.

What about holocaust museums? Aren't they running on the same pretext as something like this? 

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Pretext? the holocaust happened and the memorials and museuems is to remind us all what did happen and can happen.  To equate the death of 6 million people to a ghoul tour?? 

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It's not about how many people died, it's about the  making a profit out of the pain and misery the victims and their families suffered. It may be called a ghoul tour, but that is just a name... People aren't going to actually see any ghouls...

The WW2 atrocities weren't called the holocaust until the 1970's...

On another unrelated note, the Wolf Creek movies which were based on the Ivan Milat murders.  Why are they okay re;making a profit out of the pain and misery the victims and their families suffered  and the tour not? 

[amalan11]

Its a time thing I guess,look at the popularity of Jack the Ripper tours in the UK  . Its human curiosity to be interested inhigh profile crimes ect. I would bet its a popular spot for people to stop and look anyway if murders interested them .

According to tonights news the local council  has stepped in as the people operating  the tours have no permit 

[imastawka]

On The Project tonight it was stated that, in their brochure it says

"If you're lucky, you might find another body"

There are still  families grieving for their children that haven't been found yet

Extremely bad taste IMO

edit:   They are going to honour tickets that have been bought,

but will not be doing any more tours.

Good to hear

[icyfroth]

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@imastawka wrote:

On The Project tonight it was stated that, in their brochure it says

"If you're lucky, you might find another body"

There are still  families grieving for their children that haven't been found yet

Extremely bad taste IMO

edit:   They are going to honour tickets that have been bought,

but will not be doing any more tours.

Good to hear

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It's certainly caused some outrage.

[nevynreally]

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@secondhand-wonderland wrote:

The WW2 atrocities weren't called the holocaust until the 1970's...

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Not true.

[k0llectable5]

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@nevynreally wrote:

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@secondhand-wonderland wrote:

The WW2 atrocities weren't called the holocaust until the 1970's...

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Not true.

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Oh how so? I cant remember the doco I was watching (think it was from the history channel).  But a quick search on wiki confirms it was the mid 1970's..  

By no means am I disputing the holocaust.  Just using the museums as a comparison regarding;  making a profit out of the pain and misery the victims and their families have gone through.  Even though they are two totally different atrocities, the principle still applies imo.  

I totally agree that the marketing techiniques used to promote the tour are in extremely bad taste.  If their advertising slogans were more pallatable whould it still have caused such an outcry? If the families of the victims shared a % of the profits from this would it have been so controversial? I question whether the families made any money from the Wolf Creek films? 

[polksaladallie]

Belanglo Forest ghost tours cancelled after community backlash over Ivan Milat advertising

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-14/belanglo-forest-ghost-tours-cancelled-after-community-backlash...

[azureline**]

Good, glad they cancelled.

As interested as I am in crime and crime solving and why people do the things they do, I thinks it's a bit over the top to have those kind of tours.

Maybe they could have one that actually searches for victims, given we are told often that there are more bodies there.

[polksaladallie]

I am pretty sure that the reason MIlat is always smiling is that he knows he is smarter than the law because he knows that there are more bodies there which the law can't find.