I heard on the news the other night that Chernobyl is planning to open to tourists in 2011. The Ukraine’s Emergency Situations Ministry will open up the previously sealed “Exclusion Zone” around the Chernobyl nuclear reactor.
That means anyone interested in journeying to the actual plant itself will now be able to.
Ukrainian government official Yulia Yershova said: ‘Experts are developing travel routes that will be both medically safe and informative.’ From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-1339099/Chernobyls-Reactor-4-Exclusion-Zone-open-tourists-2011.html#ixzz18IMZkBrd
It’s been almost 25 years since the reactor exploded. (It blew on April 26, 1986.) Supposedly wildlife is doing a-okay in the area so they feel it’s safe enough to let people back in on a limited basis.
I found a site that already offers tours of Chernobyl. Wild stuff. They do an all day (9 a.m. to 6 p.m. tour) which includes a lot of stops, including the Red Forest, Pripyat, and a village where tourists can talk with “resettlers” (people who chose to move back to their villages after evacuation).
Here’s an a (long) but VERY good video from YouTube of the same areas you might see on a tour of Chernobyl. I loved the blending of then and now images in the beginning. Chilling.
But what I’m curious about, in part because of Destination Truth’s jaunt to Chernobyl, but also because of a comment Jack H. left on another post about ghosts drawing energy from power plants, is: will there be ghost tours there?
If ever there was an area loaded with potential energy for ghosts to use, Chernobyl is it.
However, as fascinated as I am with Chernobyl, would I be brave enough to visit? The radiation concerns me too. (Thank you, but I’ve been exposed to my fair share thanks to my cancer treatments. Don’t really want more!)
But I would be curious to see this place for myself. It’s very interesting. I think because it was just an ordinary day, maybe one very much like today, when this town truly froze in place. All memories had to be abandoned and left as they were when their owners were forced to hurriedly evacuate, unable to return and reclaim any of them.
Courtney Mroch is a globe-trotting restless spirit who’s both possessed by wanderlust and the spirit of adventure, and obsessed with true crime, horror, the paranormal, and weird days. Perhaps it has something to do with her genes? She is related to occult royalty, after all. Marie Laveau, the famous Voodoo practitioner of New Orleans, is one of her ancestors. (Yes, really! As explained here.) That could also explain her infatuation with skeletons.
Speaking of mystical, to learn how Courtney channeled her battle with cancer to conjure up this site, check out HJ’s Origin Story.
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That would be a wicked scary ghost tour. Sign me up. The Destination Truth episode there was one of my favorites. They did capture some strange things on their flir camera. One was a person shape sitting next to the cameraman. Too creepy!!!
Oh good! I’m glad you saw this, Jack. Saves me from tracking you down to tell you I was talking about you, lol! Hope you have a great Friday too!
Julie: I think we should do a Chernobyl Hug-A-Blogger MeetUp! See, that’s what I remember most from the DT investigation: all the great FLIR catches. It’s just such a haunting place. I can’t imagine touring it to some extent. But then to another, yes I can!
Although the Exclusion Zone is now open to tourists, the places where the majority of people died (the reactors) will not likely be available for tourists because of the large amount of gamma radiation still present. Check back in a thousand years or so…:)
HA! Matt, your comment is great. It’s not all comments that make me LOL. Yours did. Thanks for stopping by to leave it. (I mean, it was informative too, but your ending sentence was classic. Love humor!)