A short list of fun places that are probably illegal and possibly very dangerous

[rynling]

Question #5: Dark tourism is the recreational practice of visiting locations associated with death and disaster. Please give an example of one such location and explain why this is (or isn’t) “dark.”

Student answers include:

- USP Florence prison
- Pripyat in Chernobyl
- Pablo Escobar's house
- New York sewer system
- Beijing Amazon warehouse
- Krak de Chevaliers in Syria
- Century III mall in Pittsburgh
- Korean demilitarized zone
- Area 51 in Nevada
- Waffle House

Someone also wrote "single-player Minecraft," and I gave them full credit.

ETA: In retrospect, I realize that the majority of these answers were generated by ChatGPT. I sure hope the students using ChatGPT for college quizzes now aren't going to be using ChatGPT as law students and medical interns in a few years haha oh man. It's fine, we're all fine.

Comments

[runicmagitek]

I just needed you to know I read this to my bf and he fucking died laughing at the Waffle House mention (and also agreed bc Waffle House). I also misread USP Florence prison as USPS initially and having to deal with the post office, especially in recent years and even more so during Christmas Time, I feel that could qualify too. Bless your students for this 💖

[rynling]

I assumed the students were going to answer the question with totally normal places they could find at the top of a Google search, like Gettysburg or the Mütter Museum, but they surprised me. Their insane answers make me respect them a little more, I think.

And USPS is definitely like that. Everyone who works in the post office without actively murdering people is far stronger than I can imagine. I completely understand why military service is a soft requirement for employment in most branches in Philadelphia.