Karin Risko, center, tells a ghoulish tale on a Detroit street during the “Notorious 313 True Crime & Ghost Tour.” Other big cities also cash in on grisly tales: London with Jack the Ripper, New Orleans with ghostly haunts and Milwaukee with Jeffery Dahmer.DETROIT – A black-caped woman with a lantern guides more than two dozen people through downtown Detroit as night falls, spinning ghoulish, grisly tales from the gritty city’s history.
The visitors, including a woman from Denver and a couple from Bay City, some 90 miles north, take the theatrical attire and tales of murder, mayhem and mystery in stride.
While none of the participants seemed perturbed, some Detroit residents say the tour is in poor taste. It’s been criticized as an attempt to capitalize on the crime that still plagues the Motor City, also derisively dubbed “Murder City.”
Locals also say that the last thing they want is more bad publicity for a city that recently became the nation’s largest to file for bankruptcy and already draws tourists who gawk at its widespread blight.
The “Notorious 313 True Crime & Ghost Tour” routinely sells out, drawing hordes that hoof it through the city’s slowly rebounding business district.