'Ghoulish Tourism' Develops in Amstetten

Incest dungeon site attracts out-of-towners
By Sam Gale Rosen,  Newser Staff
Posted May 13, 2008 5:06 PM CDT
'Ghoulish Tourism' Develops in Amstetten
Members of a forensic team arrive with a sniffer dog at the house of Josef Fritzl in Amstetten, Austria, Tuesday, May 13, 2008.   (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)

Tourists are flocking to Amstetten, Austria, and snapping pictures at the site where Josef Fritzl kept his daughter imprisoned as a sex slave for 23 years, the Telegraph reports. "It is bad enough that journalists and TV crews have beleaguered our town, but now there is this ghoulish tourism," complains one resident.

"People are coming especially to have their picture taken in front of the house. It has become a sort of pilgrimage site," says one of the police officers tasked with guarding the three-story house. Before news broke of Fritzl's atrocities, the small town of Amstetten was known mainly for the production of apple wine. (More Josef Fritzl stories.)

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