Abstract
Dark events are organized events that are inspired by, relate to or commemorate death, disaster
and suffering (Kennell & Šuligoj, 2024). The field of dark events research is diverse, and
increasingly multidisciplinary. It spans events that are fundamental aspects of the human
experience, such as funerals and memorials, celebrations of life and death that take place across
cultures, and politically charged commemorations of some of humanity’s darkest moments,
such as the annual Nezuk-Potočari Peace March in Bosnia-Herzegovina, which takes place to
commemorate the Srebrenica genocide in 1995 Many dark events can be playful occasions too,
making use of the symbolism of death or tales of ghosts and hauntings to create exciting and
engaging experiences for entertainment. For example at the end of October every year in the
United States of America, haunted house events take place for Halloween that offer participants
the thrills of playful encounters with death, without any genuine fear. Some events, while not
inherently dark, can also become dark through their associations with deviant behaviour,
violence or accidental death, increasing the complexity of this emerging field of critical events
research.
