ghost

OUR Spotlight On column rounds up the best things to see and do in your favourite holiday destinations – and shines a light on some lesser known spots too.

This week, for our Halloween special, we look at Chester, which claims to be one of the UK’s spookiest destinations.

MUST SEE/DO

Whether you’re visiting around Halloween or not, you’ll still be able to learn about this city’s haunted history thanks to a year-round programme of nighttime tours with Chester Ghost Tours.

A local guide will steer you around some of Chester’s most eerie haunts as they recount spine-chilling tales of ghosts, ghouls and things that go bump in the night.

The tours last 90 minutes and cost £10 per adult, or £30 for a family of four.

HIDDEN GEMS

Liquor & Co may look like your ordinary, if rather sleek, bar but within this venue is another secret – an even more excellent bar. It’s only open to those in the know, however.

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Tell the bar staff that you’d like to “see the caretaker” and you’ll be taken to a plush seating area that serves scarily good cocktails.

For something unusual, Sick To Death tells the gory story of medicine through time.

Visitors can explore pestilence-ridden Diagnosis Alley, perform an autopsy and may even encounter the Grim Reaper.

The experience costs £8 for adults and £4.50 for kids.

BEST VIEW

The city walls offer an excellent vantage point to take in the main hub of Chester below.

The complete circuit stretches for about two miles.

Keep your eyes peeled for the ghost of a Roman legionnaire, which has been spotted between the amphitheatre and Newgate.

According to folklore, he fell in love with a local girl and frequently left his post to meet up with her. One night, her angry parents killed the soldiers left on guard.

The lovestruck soldier still haunts his post today.

RATED RESTAURANT

Keeping in line with the spooky theme, try Death By Tacos on Watergate Street.

The birria taco comes crammed full of slow-cooked beef that has been stewed in stout and is topped with grilled cheese, pink pickled onions and salsa verde.

The wings aren’t bad either, smothered in the restaurant’s spice blend

BEST BAR

The 1920s-themed Prohibition bar is a spectacular speakeasy, also on Watergate Street.

Inside are dark wooden bookshelves, red velvet curtains and sultry tones to accompany cocktails.

Try the Peanut Butter Old Fashioned, made from peanut butter-infused bourbon, maple syrup and aromatic bitters.

HOTEL PICK

The Pied Bull, a historic pub with rooms, is apparently home to a ghost that haunts its cellar.

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The rooms are far more appealing, however, with a cottage-like feel to them and cosy beds backed by floral wallpaper.

Double rooms cost from £133 with breakfast.

The pub is said to be haunted by the spirit of a teenage girl whose grave is under the bar – and she won’t let you turn the lights off till you wish her ‘goodnight’

A charming pub in England is making a strong bid for the title of Britain’s ‘most haunted’ boozer.

From the outside, it’s a quintessential British pub with white exteriors, hanging baskets and breathtaking riverside views. But step inside and you’re in for a scary surprise.

The eerie history of the pub becomes immediately apparent when you spot the grave under the bar. This isn’t your average local watering hole — it’s a supernaturally charged marvel.

The inn is said to be haunted by a heartbroken lover from the 11th century, whose gravestone lies within the bar and whose spirit is believed to still inhabit its four walls. A chilling tale surrounds this Cambridgeshire gem — the ghost of a teenage girl who died around 900 years ago is said to roam its corridors.

Staff insist she won’t let them switch off the lights until someone bids her ‘goodnight’, and there are numerous reports of menus mysteriously scattered on the floor. In fact, patrons have reported strange happenings at this St Ives pub — from restless nights spent on the premises, sudden cold spots and unexplained noises in the night.

The delightful pub, known as one of Cambridgeshire’s ‘most haunted’, gives The Eagle in Cambridge a run for its money. Not only does it serve up top-notch Sunday roasts and boast a stunning beer garden, but it also carries a chilling reputation that sets it apart as one of the county’s ‘most haunted’ pubs.

Once you hear the eerie tale associated with the tavern, it’s easy to see why. The story tells of a young woman named Juliet Tewsley, who was hopelessly smitten with a forester called Tom Zoul. Sadly, her feelings were not returned, a classic case of unrequited love.

Heartbroken, the 17-year-old is said to have taken her own life on March 17, 1050, by hanging herself from a tree near the Inn so that Tom would find her body on his way to work (or she drowned herself in the River Ouse on the same date in 1078, the details are somewhat unclear).

Given the stigma attached to suicide in the 11th century, Juliet was buried in unconsecrated ground near the Inn, her grave marked only by a simple stone slab. Over time, the pub has been extended and refurbished, and the young girl’s grave is now marked by a flagstone on the pub floor in the bar, having become an integral part of the interior.

Legend has it, her heartbroken spirit haunts the Old Ferry Boat Inn at midnight each year on the anniversary of her death. Juliet’s ghostly presence is said to be responsible for a series of unexplained phenomena, including lights that stubbornly refuse to turn off until someone says ‘Goodnight Juliet’, eerie sounds in the dead of night, and one particular night each year (March 17) when patrons claim they are kept awake by the palpable sense of paranormal activity.

In a 2019 interview with Cambridgeshire Live, Jamie Toms, former team leader and duty manager at the Old Ferry Boat Inn, shared some of the spine-chilling experiences he had while working – and living above the pub.

He said: “There’s a lot of things which go on at the pub, which people can’t really explain. Like sometimes the lights just won’t go out unless you say ‘goodnight Juliet’. Or menus will just appear on the floor.

“Sometimes when you’re here on your own you’ll hear things too like bangs and noises of doors opening. We’ve never seen an apparition but some guests and customers have said they’ve felt someone watching them in the bar or have felt very cold even when the heating is on full. Sometimes it can make you feel nervous but I’m pretty chill about it, we know we’ve got to respect the building and remember that it’s her building.”

Discussing Juliet’s death, Jamie revealed the week leading up to the anniversary is more challenging than the actual day. During this period, lights often flicker or brighten without explanation. “Guests will come down in the morning and say they’ve had a really bad night’s sleep – if that happens we always ask if they’ve walked over the grave which is in the restaurant.”

Jamie, who had been managing the establishment for eight weeks when he spoke to the publication in 2019, admitted he avoids crossing the grave himself.

The St Ives pub, like many others, claims to be England’s oldest. Dating back to 560 AD, it boasts connections to Anglo-Saxon England, reports Cambridgeshire Live. The Old Ferry Boat Inn is just four miles from St Ives and today, the venue preserves its heritage through its bar, traditional pub grub, and seven guest rooms.

Both locals and visitors can enjoy classic British dishes under the pub’s low wooden ceilings or in its charming beer garden by the River Ouse. The riverside pub offers a dog-friendly environment in a cosy setting, while the on-site accommodation provides guests with the convenience of staying overnight with parking available right outside.

So, if you’re a fan of the macabre and looking for a unique experience this spooky season – The Old Ferry Boat Inn might be just the ticket.

The site of one of L.A.’s most notorious murder-suicides, Greystone has been supposedly haunted ever since. In February 1929, owner Ned Doheny, son of oil tycoon Edward Doheny, was shot and killed by his personal secretary and childhood friend Hugh Plunkett who, minutes later, shot himself. The motive for the crime was never discovered, though rumors posited a sexual relationship, a dispute over Plunkett’s salary and, most plausibly, the pair’s involvement in the Teapot Dome scandal. Doheny’s widow lived in the mansion until 1955, after which a series of sales almost led to its demolition, prevented by an 11th-hour purchase by the city of Beverly Hills, which converted the house into an event venue and the grounds into a park. Since then, there have been many reports by workers of mysterious sounds, the smell of rotting flesh and shadowy, spectral figures. That has not stopped it from becoming a favored filming spot for film and television, from “The Amazing Race” to “There Will Be Blood,” and a popular wedding venue.

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It’s clear from the existence and execution of “Black Phone 2” that Universal and Blumhouse never expected 2021’s “The Black Phone” to be a hit. If there was ever an inkling that the first film might have been more than a quick and dirty ’70s-style riff on a boogeyman tale, there’s no way those in charge would have let their big baddie, the Grabber, be killed off at the end of the movie.

But a hit it was and so, for a sequel, supernatural elements must be spun out and ’80s slasher classics consulted, especially since it’s now four years later, in 1982. Masked serial killer the Grabber, played by Ethan Hawke (we never really see his face, though we do hear his voice), continues to haunt, torment and maim children, despite the inconvenience of death.

Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill co-wrote both films, with Derrickson behind the camera as director. The first was based on a short story by Joe Hill (the son of Stephen King) and is set in 1978 Denver, where plucky Finney Blake (Mason Thames) had to escape the clutches of kidnapper the Grabber while fielding phone calls from the ghosts of his previous victims, offering tips and tricks. What distinguished “The Black Phone” was its shocking approach to violence with its young characters, who all sported entertainingly profane potty mouths. While it was daring in its hard-R riskiness and played on our basest fears, it didn’t reinvent the wheel, or even try to. However, the film’s phone conceit played well enough and young star Thames was outstanding.

In “Black Phone 2,” Finney’s now a high school student, drowning his trauma in weed and schoolyard fights, sometimes the bully himself. He’s protective of his sister, Gwen (Madeleine McGraw), who has the gift of psychic sight, but mostly he just wants to check out from his own brain. The sequel is primarily Gwen’s movie. She starts lucid dreaming and sleepwalking, receiving phone calls from beyond — like from their dead mother when she was a teenager beyond.

The messages bring Gwen, Finney and her crush, Ernesto (Miguel Mora), to a winter retreat for Christian youth, Camp Alpine, now run by Mando (Demián Bichir) and his niece, Mustang (Arianna Rivas). As it turns out, this camp is rife with the ghosts of young dead boys — the phone keeps ringing and it won’t stop until Finney picks it up.

If “The Black Phone” dabbles in crimes that are taboo and is even unforgivable in its depiction of brutality against innocent children, “Black Phone 2” commits its own unforgivable crime of being dreadfully boring. This movie is a snooze, not just because all of the action takes place entirely during Gwen’s dreams.

The film can’t shake its lingering scent of “Stranger Things,” but the filmmakers have also turned for inspiration to another iconic ’80s-set property: The whole movie is a “Nightmare on Elm Street” ripoff, with a disfigured killer stalking his prey through their subconscious. Those sequences are fine, action-packed if not entirely scary, but at least it’s something more rousing than the awake scenes, where the characters stand in one place and make speeches to each other about their trauma and backstories. The entire affair is monotonously one-note and dour, with only a few pops of unintentional humor.

You realize almost immediately what the deal is with these ghost boys, but the film takes its sweet time explaining it all. It’s a fairly simple story, so you do understand why Derrickson gussies it up with grainy dream sequences and shaky 8mm flashbacks, and a pretty terrific electronic score composed by his son, Atticus Derrickson.

It’s also a bit surprising that “Black Phone 2” turns out to be so pious and deeply Christian, which is a bit of an odd mix. For a film about Jesus and the power of prayer, it also features a scene in which a kid’s face gets sliced in half by a windowpane. Then again, horror’s trend toward the faith-based isn’t a surprise when you take a look at the success of the Bible-thumping “Conjuring” franchise.

However, it seems like this might be the Grabber’s last hurrah. You’ll root for the characters to vanquish him only because then the drudgery might finally end. Who knows, maybe it’ll be a hit and they’ll figure out another way to reanimate this utterly uninspiring horror villain. Personally, I’ve had my fill of the Grabber’s grabbing.

Katie Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.

Teoscar Hernández doesn’t believe in ghosts.

But just the same, the Dodgers outfielder declined to stay with the team at the historic — and allegedly haunted — Pfister Hotel in downtown Milwaukee during the first two games of the National League Championship Series against the Brewers this week.

Hernández told reporters before Game 2 on Tuesday that his wife, Jennifer, was the one who insisted on finding somewhere to stay other than the 137-year-old hotel that has been the source of spooky tales from MLB players for decades.

“I don’t believe in ghosts. I have stayed there before. I never see anything or hear anything,” Hernández said. “But my wife is on this trip, and she says she doesn’t want to stay in there. So we have to find another hotel.”

Hernández added, however, that his wife told him that she has heard from other players and their wives that there had been “something happening” over at the team hotel.

Asked to elaborate, Hernández said he had been told that in “some of the rooms, the lights, goes off and on, and the doors — there are noises, footsteps. … I’m not the guy that I’m gonna be here saying, ‘Oh yeah, I experienced that before,’ because I’m not, and I don’t think I’m gonna experience that.’”

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was asked during his pregame media availability Tuesday if he had any ghost stories to share from the team’s stay at the Pfister.

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“I don’t,” Roberts said. “Those stories went away when I was about 10 years old. So, no, not anymore. I’m OK to go to bed now.”

Over the years, not everyone has been as at ease about staying at the creepy old digs. In 2005, then-Dodgers closer Eric Gagne told The Times’ Steve Henson that the place freaked him out.

“It’s old, weird and scary,” Gagne said. “It’s very creepy. I don’t sleep well there.”

Henson also noted at the time that former Dodgers third baseman Adrián Beltré had “reported a ghostly presence turning on lights and tickling his toes” during a 2001 stay at the Pfister. Fellow Times staff writer Kevin Baxter reported in 2007 that Beltre Beltronce insisted on sleeping with a bat for protection after he had a brush with a ghost” at the hotel.

One-time Dodgers infielder Michael Young told ESPN that he once heard loud stomping noises in his room while he was trying to sleep.

“So I yelled out, ‘Hey! Make yourself at home. Hang out, have a seat, but do not wake me up, OK?’” Young said. “After that, I didn’t hear a thing for the rest of the night.”

Current Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts decided a couple of years ago he doesn’t want to take any chances at the spooky spot.

“I don’t know if they’re real or not, nor do I care,” Betts said of the hotel’s alleged ghosts after a 2023 game against the Brewers in Milwaukee. “My boys are here, so we just got an Airbnb. That’s really it.”

Betts admitted to the Orange County Register that the Airbnb rental was “just in case” the scary stories were true and “it was a good excuse” not to stay at the creepy old building.

Last, during another series in Milwaukee, Betts appeared to confirm that he will continue to find alternative lodging for road games against the Brewers.

“You don’t want to mess with them,” Betts said of the Pfister’s alleged ghosts. “I’m staying at an Airbnb again. That part is not gonna change.”

The Dodgers more than survived their two games in Milwaukee this week, riding dominant performances by starting pitchers Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto to take a 2-0 National League Championship Series lead over the Brewers.

The Dodgers who checked in to the Pfister Hotel also appear to have survived another stay in downtown Milwaukee. And with the next three games (if that many are necessary) taking place at Dodger Stadium, they have the chance to make sure they avoid returning to the (allegedly) haunted haunt this postseason.

A massive, seven storey ship that was once used as a luxury hotel in a Thai resort was deserted after reports of a curse and the apparent death of one of its workers

It was supposed to be a luxurious and unique destination in one of Thailand’s most beautiful areas, but a catalogue of disasters led to the downfall of an infamous hotel that locals believed was cursed.

The Galaxy looked like a huge cruise liner that had come aground on the unspoilt banks of the shore, but it was actually a seven storey structure its owner hoped would attract thousands of tourists.

Following its demise, it became a hotspot for urban explorers desperate to get inside the eerie ship – to discover what remained of the once glamorous interior for themselves.

One of these was US social media influencer Joshua T Yozura. He visited the site which lies seven hours south of Bangkok on Thailand’s third largest island, Koh Chang.

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The blogger shared his findings with his followers on his YouTube series, Exploring with Josh, where he explained the dark and mysterious history behind the abandoned ship.

It started out as a US Navy vessel before it was converted to a traditional Thai ship. A resident billionaire then bought the boat because his dream was to own a floating hotel. It was originally supposed to be located in Phnom Pen, Cambodia, but after that didn’t work out it was placed on Koh Chang instead.

The resort, which is now abandoned, sits deep in the jungle on a beautiful lagoon known as Koh Chang Lagoona. Back in 1998 it was popular with tourists who could stay in the impressive bungalows dotted about or on the ship which dominated the area.

The hotel sat on land next to a long untouched beach and swimming pools in the area were designed to look like a ship’s deck.

Originally the seven storey hotel and its 70 guest rooms were said to be the height of luxury with plush carpets, chandeliers and highly trained staff. When Josh visited the site, he witnessed a dilapidated wreck, with the once gleaming white exterior marked with streaks of brown rust.

The structure remained in the original plot, surrounded by palm trees and lush vegetation but there was a spooky silence in the deserted area. He and his crew had hoped to get inside the hotel to see what remained of the accommodation but they were followed by a man who told them to leave.

He explained that a variety of factors led to the failure of the impressive hotel. Its bad luck began when a Banyan tree was knocked down so the ship could sit in its location in the lagoon. This angered the highly religious and spiritual locals who believed the tree was sacred to the land, as were the elephants who could no longer roam freely. This was the moment that the hotel’s reputation of being cursed was born.

Josh revealed that apparently when the hotel was active a lot of workers and guests became sick, had falls and even died. “There’s a lot of legends and rumours that say people used to jump from the top of the ship to the bottom,” he said. “I can’t prove that online, it’s always up in the air with stuff like this. There was an article I read that a Russian guy actually got hurt and fell and died on the ship – it’s hard to say [if it’s true].”

As well as the spiritual ‘curse’, the hotel was doomed by its tropical location. The area, which was surrounded by water, was infested with mosquitoes. This led to Dengue fever and malaria and meant guests were fearful of staying there. It was also extremely humid and the ship was difficult to keep cool, which made for a very uncomfortable holiday.

When it eventually closed to staying guests in 2012 it was possible for a time to buy tickets to explore the ‘haunted’ relic with its many decks. However after the pandemic, the resort itself closed down because of lack of finances and tourism.

Then in December 2024 the ship mysteriously caught fire and was destroyed. It was left to smoulder before workers set about dismantling the top sections and removing materials for scrap. All that remains of the bizarre, ‘supernatural’ hotel is the charred hull and a wealth of folklore and legends.

Tyneham village in Dorset was abandoned in 1943 when the British military requisitioned the village for training purposes during World War Two – and the villagers were never able to return

A deserted Dorset village stands as a unique relic in Britain, abandoned yet not erased from memory.

Tragic events forced residents to flee their cherished homes decades ago.

Located along Dorset’s breathtaking Jurassic Coast, a visit to Tyneham village feels like travelling through time.

Visitors can peer into the lives of locals who were compelled to desert the settlement during World War Two.

The year 1943 marked the moment when this thriving community of Tyneham would witness their existence transformed permanently.

During the height of the Second World War, British forces commandeered the village for military exercises.

This resulted in heartbroken residents receiving just one month’s warning to vacate properties where countless families had resided across generations.

The wartime administration seized Tyneham village and its surrounding territory to serve as a training facility for Allied troops, positioned adjacent to the Lulworth firing range.

Locals trusted they were sacrificing their dwellings for their nation’s benefit and expected to return following the war’s conclusion.

A message was attached to the church entrance, stating: “Please treat the church and houses with care. We have given up our homes where many of us have lived for generations, to help win the war to keep men free. We will return one day and thank you for treating the village kindly.”

Sadly, the residents of Tyneham were never able to return home even after World War Two ended, as the village and surrounding land became a military training ground.

Now, nearly 80 years later, the village remains frozen in time and serves as a ‘thought-provoking and interesting’ tourist attraction. It opens at certain times of the year, offering visitors ‘fascinating insights into the lives of its former residents’.

When not open to the public, the gates blocking access are locked every evening.

One TripAdvisor review reads: “This deserted village has such an interesting history. The boards within the church detailing the villagers fight to be allowed to return to the village and the current position are very moving.”

Another review on TripAdvisor describes it as ‘a wonderful place – very atmospheric and sad but in a way that keeps drawing you back to visit’.

The last resident of Tyneham, Peter Wellman, passed away at the age of 100 in April this year. The centenarian made his final visit to the village in 2024, to see the place where he was born and raised.

During his last visit to Tyneham in 2024, Peter reminisced about his childhood days. He told the Dorset Echo: “We had no electricity, no mains gas and no running water – we had to pump that from near the church.

“I remember going to the beach and fishing and we often had mackerel. We were happy until we got moved out.”

Tyneham village, nestled in the Isle of Purbeck, is not actually an island but a peninsula, bordered by the English Channel in the picturesque county of Dorset.

PRIMM, Nevada — As the sun set just before 8 p.m., the bison-headed neon marquee welcoming visitors to Primm flickered faintly. The animal’s face was dark, though the words “Buffalo Bill’s” remained alight — for now — for the down-on-its-luck resort and casino.

Inland Empire residents Marcy Glenn and Kristina Gula parked in a mostly vacant lot and ran to pose for a selfie in front of the sign. One last snapshot.

“I’ve been coming here since I was a kid, when I was handed a bag of quarters to play all day at the arcade,” Gula said. “I just can’t believe it’s closing.”

Primm was once one of Nevada’s more popular gambling resorts, a less expensive, less flashy, slightly more kitschy alternative to Las Vegas that benefited from being a good 45 minutes closer than Sin City.

It was the place where you could stop and ride the iconic freeway-adjacent roller coaster, ogle the Bonnie and Clyde “Death Car” or shop at the premium outlet mall.

But a series of factors has contributed to Primm’s slow decline, including the COVID pandemic and increased competition from casinos popping up on tribal lands in California.

Those newer casinos are easier to get to than Primm from key Southern California population centers, reducing the value proposition.

Las Vegas has suffered a tourism drop, with regular and casual visitors complaining about the cost of resort fees, parking and other amenities. But that so far has not helped Primm’s prospects.

Lights still glow on the Buffalo Bill’s Resort and Casino sign in July.

The Western-themed Buffalo Bill’s resort in Primm concluded a 31-year run of regular business on July 6. Its owner, Affinity Gaming, ended its “24/7 operations,” not a positive sign in an area acclaimed for nonstop action. Buffalo Bill’s partial shuttering follows Affinity’s recent closure of its nearby Whiskey Pete’s resort, leaving the Primm Valley Casino Resorts as the lone survivor.

Rancho Cucamonga friends Glenn and Gula often visited the town — which includes a popular lotto store where Nevadans can buy California lottery tickets, chain fast-food spots, a pair of gas stations and a virtually abandoned mall that once welcomed crowds of daily visitors.

On this weekend, however, the duo stayed at a Sin City short-term rental.

“There’s no easy answer as to why Primm is in its current state,” said Amanda Belarmino, associate professor of hospitality management at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. “They’ve had a slow decline expedited by COVID-19, and they’ve been unable to respond to competition in California and southern Nevada.”

The Desperado roller coaster at Buffalo Bill’s Resort and Casino, once one of the tallest and fastest coasters in the world, has long been closed to the public.

A screaming coaster and a $7 prime rib dinner

In American mystery writer Dolores Hitchens’ 1955 classic, “Sleep With Strangers,” the novel’s hero, private investigator Jim Sader, drives from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, noting his trip includes only “empty valley” and the “shimmering mist of heat.”

When he finally pulls over at a state-line roadside diner, he finds a barn-like restaurant split into halves: one side for slot machines and cards and the other for a soda fountain and lunch counter. Customers “who couldn’t wait for Las Vegas” are pulling the levers at the slots.

That vision of dining, playing and staying just across the state line was one that called to Ernest Primm. It was in the ’50s that he installed a motel and coffee shop at a spot in the road called State Line. Primm was the poker czar of the South Bay. Starting in the 1930s, he ran card rooms in Gardena, places where patrons might be lured in with a 25-cent steak.

He eventually relinquished control of six poker houses in Gardena to build Whiskey Pete’s in Primm. The area was renamed from State Line to Primm in 1996 after his death.

“When Primm was first developed, it was really a destination resort area for Southern Californians, people from the Los Angeles and Mojave areas,” Scott Butera, Affinity’s chief executive and president, said at a February meeting of the Nevada Gaming Commission.

The castle-shaped Whiskey Pete’s, which shuttered in December, opened in 1977, followed by Primm Valley in 1990 and Buffalo Bill’s in 1994.

All three enjoyed expansion and growth throughout the 2010s by utilizing low prices, gimmicks and attractions to lure guests.

Courtesy Primm Valley Casino Resorts

Each hosted the famed Bonnie & Clyde “Death Car,” the V-8 Ford riddled with more than 100 bullets in 1934. Whiskey Pete’s offered a 24-hour IHOP, and Californians and Nevadans visited Primm Valley’s 100-store outlet mall supported by shoppers bused into the mall for free or at discounted prices as a part of tours.

There was also Buffalo Bill’s Desperado, the tallest, fastest roller coaster in the world when it opened in 1994; it sent visitors screaming 209 feet above the freeway right outside the resort. A tram, now dusty and shuttered, connected all three resorts.

The Las Vegas Sun wrote in 2009 that Buffalo Bill’s also offered “$2 beers, $7 prime rib dinners and $25 shows” to guests who wanted a taste of old Las Vegas.

Buffalo Bill’s and its sister resorts closed in March 2020 when the pandemic hit, reopening between December 2022 and 2023. But they struggled to attract customers.

The Desperado roller coaster at Buffalo Bill’s Resort and Casino made its final run in Feburary 2020. (Bridget Bennett/For The Times)

A sign blocks an entrance to the Primm Mall in July. Once a popular shopping stop for travelers between Las Vegas and Southern California, the mall has seen a steep decline in recent years.

Affinity Gaming announced Buffalo Bill’s full-time closure in July, saying the resort would still host concerts and special events at its arena, with the casino, food and beverage services, and the hotel open during those times. Whiskey Pete’s was closed — at least temporarily — on Dec. 18. Affinity personnel asked the board on March 4 to approve an extended closure until Dec. 18, 2026, with the possibility of two six-month extensions.

The approved closure allows the resort to maintain its county gaming license while Whiskey Pete’s operates up to 40 slot machines at its adjacent gas station.

The company, which operates the casinos via a lease agreement with the Primm family, turned down requests to speak about its resorts or the future of Primm.

Gamblers inside Primm Valley Casino Resorts, the last casino standing, in July.

Not enough gamblers to go around

While other casinos in Nevada’s Clark County have cleaned up financially over the last 10 years, Primm’s have been — as UNLV’s Belarmino noted — on a slow slide.

In a letter to the Clark County Board of Commissioners, Erin Barnett, Affinity’s vice president and general counsel, wrote in October “that traffic at the state line has proved to be heavily weighted towards weekend activity and is insufficient to support three full-time casino properties.”

The story of Primm’s decline is directly tied to the rise of Southern California’s tribal casinos, according to Belarmino.

Yaamava’ Resort & Casino, run by the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, sits in Highland, about 200 miles from Primm but less than half that distance from downtown L.A.

The 7,000 slot machines at Yaamava’ make the casino the West Coast’s largest, with 4,000 more slots than any Vegas peers.

Once, Yaamava’ was much humbler than the Primm resorts, opening in 1986 as a bingo hall. But by 1994, the location expanded into a 100,000-square-foot casino. Yaamava’ completed its most recent $760-million expansion in 2021, adding a 17-floor hotel tower, three bars and about 1,700 new slots.

That casino’s growth mirrors the explosion of tribal gaming since California voters passed Proposition 1A in 2000, which allowed tribal casinos to operate slot machines and erased limits on card games.

Shortly after, Yaamava’ was one of several tribal casinos in San Bernardino and Riverside counties that declared an arms race with Nevada.

The tribal casinos are a pull for Southern Californians who might otherwise head to Primm, Affinity’s Butera acknowledged at February’s Gaming Commission meeting. “Now they have their own casinos,” he said, “quite large, nice casinos there.”

Still, Affinity is hoping a new airport planned for just north of Primm in the late 2030s and adjacent supporting businesses will spur a resurgence. Butera said at the February meeting that Primm was “in the process of doing a major repositioning.”

Primm 2.0 would have Primm Valley Hotel as its main resort, with national brands and new restaurant concepts and an improved truck stop travel center. There would also be a new $4-million marquee.

The vision is to restore Primm to a destination that Southern Californians traveling to Nevada would stop at, “get gas or recharge their car but also [have] something nice to eat, have a little fun at a casino and then move on.”

Signs alert any remaining passersby that this entrance at Primm Mall is closed. In July, the lone store in business was a thrift store.

Clothing time

It’s unclear if that would resuscitate Primm Valley’s 100-store outlet mall, an attraction that once extended Primm’s deals beyond cheap buffets and cocktails.

The Las Vegas Entertainment Guide wrote in December 2013 that Primm’s Prizm Outlets were “one of the top places to visit if you are visiting the Sin City and shopping is on your agenda.”

The 371,000-square-foot outlet mall, built in 1998, is attached to the Primm Valley Resort. Its retailers at one time included Neiman Marcus, Coach, American Eagle Outfitters, Fendi, Michael Kors and Kate Spade.

Las Vegas resident Lindsay Myer said the mall was a lure in its heyday.

“They had a jeans outlet and some good shopping,” said the 23-year-old as she stopped in Buffalo Bill’s before its closing in July. “Then the outlets closer to Vegas were built.”

Las Vegas North Premium Outlets, three miles from the Strip’s northern end, was built in 2003, with expansions completed in 2015. The South mall, near Harry Reid Airport, completed construction in 2011. They combined for more than 300 shops.

Meanwhile, more Primm storefronts became vacant.

By 2018, only 58 stores out of 111 total spots were operating. As of July, a thrift store was the only shop that remained.

Anna Barker and Chad Asindraza, both from Las Vegas, pose for a photo in front of the Buffalo Bill’s Resort and Casino sign.

For some, Primm just didn’t make sense

Scott Banks, a retired slot machine mechanic and salesman, said he never understood how Primm existed in the first place.

“I understand this is the first stop on your way through the desert to Las Vegas, but Vegas is only like 35 miles away,” said Banks, 65, a Sin City native. “The fact that people made that stop is something.”

Banks said he helped refurbish and update slot machines at Whiskey Pete’s in the mid-1980s, when it was undergoing one of its first expansions.

He was also a frequent visitor to Primm for its $1 hot dogs, the outlet mall and the roller coaster. When those amenities dropped away, so did he.

“Whiskey Pete’s, Primm, was an incredible gamble by the Primm family, and it worked, it worked for years,” he said. “That’s the way to look at it.”

Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles says large underwater attack drones have ‘very long range’ of operations.

Australia will spend 1.7 billion Australian dollars ($1.1bn) on a fleet of extra-large underwater “Ghost Shark” attack drones, in a move that officials said would supplement the country’s plans to acquire sophisticated nuclear-powered submarines.

Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles said on Wednesday that the Ghost Shark autonomous underwater vehicles will complement Australia’s naval surface fleet and submarines to provide “a more capable and more lethal navy”.

“This is a profoundly important capability for the Royal Australian Navy,” Marles said.

“We have consistently articulated that Australia faces the most complex, in some ways, the most threatening, strategic landscape that we have had since the end of the second world war,” Marles said.

The government said it signed the $1.1bn, five-year contract with Anduril Australia to build, maintain and develop the uncrewed undersea vehicles in Australia.

“This is the highest tech capability in the world,” Marles said, adding that the drones would have a “very long range” as well as stealth capabilities.

Australia is in the midst of a major military restructuring, focused on bolstering its long-range strike capabilities in an effort to balance China’s expanding military might in the Asia Pacific region.

Marles also said that Australia was now a leading player in “the world in terms of autonomous underwater military capabilities, and Ghost Shark is capable of engaging in intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and strike”.

Dozens of Ghost Sharks will be built in Australia, with opportunities to export to the country’s allies, Australian Minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy said, adding that the first Ghost Sharks will be in service at the beginning of 2026.

Australia’s Defence Science and Technology Group has said it wants to incorporate autonomous technology into the country’s defence forces because Australia has a vast coastline and up to 3 million square kilometres (1.1 million square miles) of northern ocean that needs to be defended, but only a relatively sparse population.

Separately, Australia plans to build stealth, nuclear-powered submarines with the United Kingdom and the United States under the AUKUS programme over three decades.

But critics of the AUKUS deal in the US have questioned why Washington would sell nuclear-powered submarines to Australia without stocking its own military first.

As a result of the criticism, US President Donald Trump’s administration has put AUKUS under review to ensure it aligns with his “America First” agenda.

A recent computer-generated video from Boeing includes MQ-28 Ghost Bat drones with apparent receptacles on top of their fuselages to allow for aerial refueling from boom-equipped tankers. Mid-air refueling capability would extend the MQ-28’s reach and on-station time, but would also add complexity and cost to the design.

Boeing released the video in question, seen below, last week. It is primarily intended to tout the ability of the company’s new F-15EX Eagle II fighter to act as an airborne drone controller, a role the two-seat jet is well-suited to, as TWZ has been highlighting for years now. Boeing is now reportedly actively pitching MQ-28 to Poland in combination with a possible purchase of F-15EXs.

The Ghost Bat was first developed by Boeing’s subsidiary in Australia for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), but other customers, including the U.S. Navy, could be on the horizon. The U.S. Air Force has also made use of at least one MQ-28 in the past to support advanced uncrewed aircraft and autonomy development efforts.

As seen in screen captures from Boeing video at the top of this story and below, the MQ-28s are depicted with panel lines and markings on top of their fuselage that are consistent with receptacles for receiving fuel in mid-air via the boom method. The markings, in particular, are virtually identical to those seen on F-22 Raptors and F-35A Joint Strike Fighters.

The full scenario shown in the video involves the crews of the F-15EXs using the Ghost Bats as additional sensor nodes to help find and target a hostile air defense system. One of the Eagle IIs then launches an AGM-84H/K Standoff Land Attack Missile-Expanded Response (SLAM-ER) cruise missile, another Boeing product, to destroy the target.

In addition, the video presents the MQ-28s as each carrying a pair of AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM) internally and being equipped with various sensors, including an infrared search and track system (IRST). At least two of the RAAF’s initial batch of MQ-28s have been seen equipped with an IRST sensor in the nose. In general, IRST sensors provide a valuable alternative and/or companion to radars, particularly when it comes to spotting and tracking stealthy aircraft and missiles. IRSTs are also immune to electronic warfare attacks and operate passively, meaning they don’t send signals that can alert an opponent to the fact that they have been detected and are being tracked. Drones with IRST sensors offer valuable additional passive forward sensor nodes that can hunt for threats and pass data to other platforms. For the MQ-28 (and other CCA-like drones) this would primarily be their controlling platform, which will often be operating to the rear of their locations.

It is interesting to note that real MQ-28s have similar, if not identical panels on top of the fuselage, but do not appear to have ever been seen with any markings pointing to it being linked to an aerial refueling capability. Whether or not Boeing has ever previously mentioned even the possibility of an aerial refueling capability for the Ghost Bat is unclear.

In response to queries from TWZ for more information about what is seen in the recent video, a Boeing spokesperson told us that “all I can share is that the video is conceptual in nature.”

Aerial refueling capability would extend the MQ-28’s overall range, which Boeing has said in the past is at least 2,300 miles (3,700 kilometers) on a single tank of gas. The ability to refuel in mid-air would also allow the drone to remain on station longer after arriving in a designated operating area. The uncrewed aircraft could break off to refuel and then return to station, or move to a different part of the battlespace, all without having to return to base first, as well.

Since a drone does not have a pilot that needs to drink, eat, sleep, and go relieve itself, aerial refueling capability could allow for a significant degree of additional persistence depending on the assigned mission. Airborne control of the drones could also be passed between crewed platforms rotating in and out of an operating area. All of this would open up new operational possibilities, as well as expand the number of potential launch and/or recovery locations, for air-to-air refueling-capable MQ-28s.

Australia, in particular, is present with challenges when it comes to projecting crewed or uncrewed airpower just by virtue of its location within the sprawling Indo-Pacific region. The “tyranny of distance” is a common refrain when discussing military operations in the Pacific, in general.

The RAAF would at least have a basic capacity to gas-up future MQ-28s with aerial refueling receptacles via its boom-equipped Airbus A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transports (MRTT), which are locally designated as KC-30As. Airbus has also notably been working on improvements to the core MRTT design to enable the safe refueling of uncrewed aircraft via the boom method.

MQ-28s with aerial refueling receptacles could also be of interest to other air arms with boom-equipped tankers. U.S. Air Force officials have talked about aerial refueling capability in the past in the context of the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) drone program. Air-to-air refueling is notably seen as one way to help balance range and performance requirements.

All of this, in turn, has raised questions about how much more complex and costly it might be to add this capability to any CCA-type design. It has also prompted discussions about how fielding large fleets of aerial refueling-capable drones might impact already strained tanker fleets. The Air Force has separately been exploring novel options for increasing its overall aerial refueling capacity, including boom-equipped buddy refueling stores small enough for tactical jets like the F-15 to carry. An uncrewed aircraft like the MQ-28 would sip relatively small amounts of fuel compared to a medium or heavy crewed fighter, as well.

It’s also worth remembering here that providing organic defense for increasingly vulnerable, but critical tankers and other support aircraft has long been a mission envisioned for the MQ-28, as well as various other ‘loyal wingman’ type drones. Uncrewed aircraft that can be refueled in flight could help increase the persistence of that defensive screen. In other words, tankers and surveillance aircraft can bring their own uncrewed combat air patrol with them and control them directly.

If Boeing can alter the MQ-28 design, specifically, for refueling via boom, the Ghost Bat might also be adaptable to receiving fuel in mid-air via the probe-and-drogue method. This would increase the total number of potential tankers that could refuel MQ-28s. Boeing has previously shown a render of a derivative of the MQ-25 Stingray tanker drone, which it is developing for the U.S. Navy, with a refueling probe. The Navy has expressed a “strong interest” in the Ghost Bat, or a variant or derivative thereof, potentially for future carrier-based use. Boeing has pitched a carrier-capable version of the design at least to the United Kingdom in the past.

It is important to remember here that extensive work has been done in the unclassified realm to develop the technologies necessary for the refueling of drones via crewed tankers using the boom-and-receptacle and probe-and-drogue methods, including various real-world demonstrations. Drones refueling other drones, as well as other crewed aircraft, using probe-and-drogue systems, has also already been proven out by Boeing (through the MQ-25 program) and others. The possibility has been raised in the past that the U.S. military has actually fielded uncrewed aircraft capable of recieving fuel in mid-air, at least on a limited level in the classified realm, but this remains unconfirmed.

Boeing has otherwise been betting big on the MQ-28, including with major investments to expand its capacity to produce the drones in Australia. The RAAF has already received eight Ghost Bats in a Block 1 prototype configuration, and Boeing is on contract to deliver at least three more improved Block 2 types that are seen as a pathway to an operational capability. Australian officials have openly discussed the possibility of acquiring further MQ-28 variants down the line.

Just last week, Boeing announced a number of RAAF testing milestones it says were achieved before the end of June, including “autonomous behaviors and mission execution,” “multi-ship operations to provide combat mass,” and “data fusion and sharing data between multiple MQ-28 aircraft and transmission of that data to a crewed platform.” Back in June, Boeing had already disclosed a successful demonstration of the ability of RAAF personnel aboard an E-7 Wedgetail airborne early warning and control aircraft to direct MQ-28s to engage an aerial threat. Once again, this could help pave the way for large support aircraft bringing along their own defensive drone patrols.

Boeing also said the MQ-28s built to date have now completed 150 hours of testing, with another 20,000+ hours of testing of the design in virtual environments.

“The RAAF set the task of proving the first four steps in the Air Combat chain for the MQ-28, and we have accomplished that sooner than anticipated,” Glen Ferguson, Boeing’s MQ-28 global program director, said in a statement today. “Completing this work early allows us to accelerate the next phases of development – engage and assess – with an air-to-air weapon shot planned for later this year or in early 2026.”

Exactly when the RAAF might begin flying MQ-28s in any configuration operationally is unclear. Australia’s National Security Committee is expected to make a decision about whether or not to proceed with additional Ghost Bat purchases before the end of the year, according to a report last week from Aviation Week.

Altogether, while the idea of an MQ-28 capable of being refueled in flight may just be a concept now, it could well prove to be an attractive addition to the still evolving Ghost Bat design.

Contact the author: [email protected]

This fourth “The Conjuring” movie claims to be “Last Rites” and let’s hope that’s a promise.

While it’s highly likely the wildly successful Conjuring Cinematic Universe will itself continue — whether via scary nun, creepy doll or some other cursed object — the story of Ed and Lorraine Warren has been thoroughly wrung dry at this point and there’s no juice left to squeeze, as demonstrated in the dirge that is this final movie.

Credit where it’s due: The horror franchise has turned in some spectacularly scary and entertaining entries, anchored by performances from Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as the married paranormal investigators the Warrens, based on an infamous real-life couple. Thanks to their presence, these films have been the best of the Conjuring series, exploring themes of faith and seeing as believing when it comes to both God and the Devil. These films have also offered portrayals of the Warrens that skirt any of their personal controversies, presenting them as blissfully married, heroic figures. Onscreen text might indicate that they were polarizing figures, but the films itself never engage with the scandals.

The first two films, directed by James Wan, ingeniously engaged with many variations on the idea of vision: physical, psychic and through a camera’s lens. Bravura cinematography aligned the audience point of view with Lorraine’s terrifying otherworldly dreams of hauntings, possessions and demonic presence. Michael Chaves, who directed the spinoff “The Nun II” and “The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It,” has mostly upheld these requirements, though his approach is more bombastic than Wan’s elegant style.

Chaves is once again behind the camera for “The Conjuring: Last Rites,” with a script by Ian B. Goldberg, Richard Naing and David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick that promises to deliver a final Warren case that devastated the family and ended their careers on a dark note. Instead, “Last Rites,” is merely a sluggishly routine send-off for the Warren family.

If you’ve seen a “Conjuring” movie, you’ll know what to expect and “Last Rites” doesn’t break with formula. While the film starts in 1964 with the harrowing birth of the Warren’s beloved daughter Judy, the plot largely takes place in 1986, an annus horribilis for the misbegotten Smurl family from West Pittstown, Penn., haunted by an antique mirror adorned with three carved baby heads, picked up from a swap meet. After a series of unfortunate eventsand increasingly violent visitations, a media frenzy surrounds them and the Warrens turn up to rid the house of creepy crawlies.

This time there’s the added complication of wedding planning: Judy (Mia Tomlinson) is about to get married, but she just can’t shake those pesky psychic flashes she inherited from her mother. Judy is the one who ventures to the Smurl household first. Then her parents, who had been hoping to hang up their ghost-hunting spurs, reluctantly join her for one last ride. Ax-swinging ghouls, terrifying baby dolls and demonic possessions ensue.

In “Last Rites,” the thematic metaphor for seeing is the mirror itself, suggesting that we need to look at the darkest, most terrifying parts of ourselves and not shut them out. Lorraine has tried to protect her girl from the life she has led, facing down the most terrifying demons, ghosts and spooks, but she can’t stop Judy’s destiny and the only way out is to not look away.

“Last Rites” extends the concept of a new generation by incorporating Judy’s fiancé, Tony (Ben Hardy), as a fresh member of the family business. His function in the story is a bit awkward and random, but required for the Warren plotline to end on a high note (that opening bit about the family devastation never seems to come to pass).

The heart of these movies has always been Wilson and Farmiga, and without them, the “Conjuring” movies wouldn’t be worth it. With this fourth movie, the Warren lore has been so thoroughly picked over, the tropes and rhythms now so ingrained, the jump scares end up feeling routine at best. Enduring the dour drudgery of “Last Rites,” it’s never been clearer that it’s time to give up the ghost.

Katie Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.

Wars, recessions, overtourism protests and fed-up locals are just some of the reasons why visitor numbers are slumping in some resorts that rely heavily on holidaymakers

Five European holiday hotspots beloved by holidaymakers are struggling to attract visitors as the ‘ghost townification’ of certain destinations continues.

Wars, recessions, overtourism protests and fed-up locals are just some of the reasons why visitor numbers are slumping in some resorts that rely heavily on holidaymakers.

While the travel industry is generally booming across Europe, with Brits taking a record number of holidays, the story of unfettered, seemingly never-ending growth that was being told post-COVID is no longer the case in every destination.

Below are five holiday destinations where a different story is beginning to be told.

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Faliraki, Rhodes

It was once the ultimate party resort. The Rhodes town was infamous for the unruly tourists who would descend on it every summer. For A-Level school leavers of a certain generation, Faliraki was the place to go.

But then Greek officials, pushed by unhappy locals, hit breaking point. In 2003, they decided that enough was enough, announcing a ban on pub crawls and a new tough policy on violence and scantily clad revellers. And it worked. When the Mirror’s Melissa Thompson visited in 2013 she wrote that “Faliraki is unrecognisable.”

However, the clean-up came at a cost. “While the vomit-covered streets, couples having sex in alleyways and late-night punch-ups are gone, so too is the money the tourists brought with them,” Melissa noted.

Local businesses say the clean-up has all but decimated the place. While the town once enjoyed a six-month season packed with British tourists from May, their departure left them struggling to make ends meet in a summer that lasts just three months, starting in July.

The behaviour crackdown has not been the only factor blamed for the slump in Falirakian fortunes. The arrival of large all-inclusives along the east coast of Rhodes, as well as sizzling hot summers that have seen major wildfires, has dented fortunes along the strip.

As of 2013, some businesses report a 90% dip in earnings. Sofia Gkouma, 45, who has owned the Acropolis restaurant on the corner of two of the town’s busiest streets since 1990, said: “Before, this area would be filled with young English people. They were good customers. For 15 years we had them on pub crawls on 18-to-30 holidays, but then there was trouble because the hotels that catered for families couldn’t deal with them. They just wanted older people and families. They cracked down on young people and they left, with nothing to replace them.”

When I visited earlier this year, things had clearly improved a little. The area was smarter and cleaner than during its ‘Faliraki fishbowl’ debauched heyday. But it also felt as if it had struggled to fully capture a new identity, with most bars only partially full and a strange mix of karaoke-singing families and out-of-place young partygoers.

Bulgaria

Over the past decade, the former Soviet state of Bulgaria has caught the eye of an increasing number of tourists, who have been won over by the great prices and good weather on offer along the Black Sea coastline.

The destination became popular enough to inspire its own UK reality TV show, Emergency on Sunny Beach, which offered a glimpse into the larks on offer in the cheap and cheerful resort as it went head-to-head with established favourites such as Magaluf.

In recent years, many of the beach resorts along the Black Sea have started to feel conspicuously empty. The Bulgarian Hotel and Restaurant Association announced that hotel occupancy rates had dropped 40% in some typically bustling areas. Only Sunny Beach had bucked the trend and seen an increase in visitors.

The declining fortunes of hotspots dotted along Bulgaria’s 235-mile coastline are primarily due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. After Vladimir Putin launched the offensive, Bulgaria stopped air links between the countries, which led to a tenfold decline in Russian visitors, from a 2019 high of 500,000 a year to 50,000 in 2024.

The impact has been a hollowing out of certain resorts once popular with Russians, with Varna particularly impacted. The town sits close to a village called Bliznatsi, which, according to Radio Free Europe, is actually owned by the Russian state. Many ordinary Russians have attempted to sell their holiday homes along this stretch of coastline since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine began.

Despite such turmoil, beyond the Russian market, Bulgaria’s tourism industry is on the up. Last year, the country’s Ministry for Tourism confidently announced it would hit record visitor numbers and tourism revenue of £6billion a year. The EU’s tourism dashboard shows a steady increase in arrivals across the country year-on-year.

Marbella, Spain

In Spain at large, tourism is booming. Visitor numbers are up in almost every part of the country. However, one place in particular is now facing a slump.

Tourist numbers have declined on the Costa del Sol this summer, marking the first time since the pandemic that numbers have dropped. The downward dip has been felt particularly keenly in Marbella, where there was a 34% drop in Spanish tourists in June, according to data from the National Statistics Institute (INE). In July, 68,630 people came to visit the city, which is 8,201 fewer than in 2024.

The fall in visitors is causing misery through the hospitality sector in Marbella, with business owners wondering how they’re going to make ends meet.

“There are days when we feel like we’re not holding our heads in our hands from so much work, and others when the restaurant is empty. It’s as if people are more restrained when it comes to going out,” Yolanda, a waitress at one of the downtown hospitality establishments, told Sur.

A retail worker in Marbella told the publication that those Spaniards who are visiting the destination have less money to spend. They blamed “how expensive accommodation has become” as well as a lack of public transport between Malaga and Marbella – which sit 40 miles from one another on the coast – for the 10% dip in tourist numbers overall this summer.

While visitor numbers are down, Marbella is far from feeling empty. Hotel occupancy has reached 80.08 percent, with an average stay of 3.95 nights – the highest since 2016.

Estonia

After two years of pent-up demand during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, many European countries enjoyed bumper years in 2023 and 2024 as visitor arrivals and average spends shot up. In Spain, August arrivals increased by two million to 19 million in 2024, compared to the pre-pandemic 2019 peak.

But not every country has enjoyed, or, depending on your perspective, had to tolerate such booming figures. Estonia’s visitor figures are 22% down now compared to 2019, with hotel bed occupancy rates hitting just 40% this summer, according to EU data.

There are a number of reasons why. The proximity to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine has likely kept some concerned tourists away, while a ban on Russian visitors has certainly dented numbers. According to Travel and Tour World, cruise ship arrivals in the capital Tallinn are also down significantly.

So far this summer, the situation has been particularly tricky in the southeast of the country, where many resorts run along the vast lakes Peipus and Pihkva. An unusually cool summer is to blame.

“Occupancy has dropped by about 30 percent — at least for the first two months that just ended,” said Triinu Vähi, a board member at Taevaskoja Tourism and Holiday Center. She told ERR that July is also shaping up to be relatively quiet, with occupancy down around 20 percent.

However, as much as Estonia’s tourism sector may have had a slow start to its post-Covid recovery, it clearly has a lot to offer. The Mirror’s Ines Santos visited earlier this year and was blown away by a country she likened to a more laid-back but equally as beautiful Sweden. It was also named one of the world’s cleanest and most walkable countries.

Cyprus

The island of Cyprus is home to one of the most famous abandoned towns in Europe, or perhaps even the world. Famagusta was once loved by Europe’s elite, but now the disputed area sits empty: the consequence of conflict between the Turkish and Greek-controlled parts of the country.

Despite the simmering tension and general unease evident between the two sections of the island, tourism in Cyprus has been booming for years. That is, until early in 2024, when the number of arrivals fell for the first time in three years. A big reason why was the war in Ukraine, with Russian visitor numbers falling 70% in 2024.

Those in the hospitality industry have been sounding the alarm since 2023, warning that the rise of Airbnbs and other holiday letting companies is taking customers away from hotels and also pushing up locals’ rents in popular areas. Visitor numbers to the Turkish-controlled Northern Cyprus have doubled in recent years, according to President of the Cyprus Hotel Association, Thanos Michaelides, which has taken visitors away from the Greek part of the island. Hotel occupancy in June last year was at its lowest in three years, at 49.6%.

Mr Michaelides has warned that 30,000 fewer tourists will visit the island over the summer season, meaning around £20 million less will be spent on the island. The faltering UK economy has been cited as a major factor, given the 1.3 million who visit Cyprus most years, and a decline in Israeli visitors.

The hotel boss said “significant threats to the demand for tourism in Cyprus” remained.

Unlike in the UK where the vast majority of beaches are open to the public all year round and there is a culture of bringing picnics and wind‑breakers from home, renting loungers and parasols is a normal part of heading to the beach in Italy.

Italian beaches are unusually empty this summer as high prices drive sunseekers away.

Citizens of the boot‑shaped country appear to be snubbing beaches amid claims they are rebelling against the high prices charged by kiosk and sun‑bed owners.

Unlike in the UK where the vast majority of beaches are open to the public all year round and there is a culture of bringing picnics and wind‑breakers from home, renting loungers and parasols is a normal part of heading to the beach in Italy. This comes after plans to stop influencers from flooding the Dolomites badly backfired.

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This year however, there has been a big slump in visitors to private stretches of beaches, the Guardian reports. In July, there was a 25% fall in beach‑goers, compared to the same month last year. The problem is particularly acute during the week, when the throngs of the weekend are increasingly replaced by empty stretches of sand. What’s particularly worrying for business owners is that those who are going are spending less.

Fabrizio Licordari, the president of Assobalneari Italia, said the problem is to do with the decreased spending power of Italians generally. “Even with two salaries, many families struggle to reach the end of the month. In such circumstances, it’s natural that the first expenses to be cut are those for leisure, entertainment and holidays,” he told Ansa news agency.

The price of hiring a sun‑lounger is a serious point of contention in Italy, in part due to sudden sharp increases. The cost has risen 17% in four years, according to the latest figures from the consumer group Altroconsumo. Those heading for a spot of relaxation in Lazio will end up spending at least €30 (£26) a day for two sunbeds and an umbrella. If you head for the more up‑market areas, such as parts of Puglia, you’ll end up splashing out three times that much.

According Si Viaggia, the title of most expensive beach in Italy in August goes to Alassio, in the north of the country. There, to enjoy the sea with a beach umbrella and two sun loungers positioned in the front rows, you have to fork out an average cost of €340 per week.

Alessandro Gassmann, a famous actor in Italy, has started a debate at the cost of Italian beaches by posting a photo of a row of deserted sun‑beds. “I read that the season is not going well. Maybe it’s because the prices are exaggerated and the country’s economic situation is forcing Italians to choose free beaches? Lower the prices and maybe things will get better,” Allessandro wrote in the caption.

Consumers association Codacons has argued that going to beach resorts had become “a drain” on people’s finances, suggesting that those profiting from renting beach furniture were “shedding crocodile tears” when they complained of rising costs.

Turkmenistan, a former Soviet state, welcomes very few foreign visitors a year and is centered around a strange capital, Ashgabat, that is largely empty. That may soon change.

One of the most isolated and “strangest” countries in the world is preparing to open itself up to more visitors.

Former Soviet state Turkmenistan is a funny old place. Jordan Egbert, who runs the Counting Countries YouTube channel, offered his audience a peek into his travels through Turkmenistan, and concluded: “This is the strangest country in the world – there are no people around anywhere.”

Jordan was shocked to find out that the capital city, Ashgabat, was full of lavish monuments, sparkling shopping centres and hotels, but all of them were empty. “The question is, where is everyone?” he asked.

“After visiting more than 130 countries, this place is unlike anywhere I have ever been. The president requires all buildings and cars to be white. Tourists are under strict requirements to have a guide with them at all times and are banned from visiting certain places and cities.” His visit came ahead of an announcement that some tourists to the US may soon have to pay a $15,000 bond.

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The content creator also ventured into an airport that appeared to house more staff than travellers, before examining government buildings, a graveyard, and traditional nomadic tent settlements. He additionally revealed that Turkmenistan blocks access to most online platforms and applications, with Wi‑Fi being “pretty much non‑existent.”

Jordan discovered that even the tourist trail was deserted. A popular swimming spot and the famous Door to Hell gas crater were empty, as was a plush yurt camp. The YouTuber claimed that the capital’s airport had more staff than passengers.

There would be a good reason for that. Turkmenistan welcomes very few tourists each year. While exact figures are difficult to obtain due to the government’s secretive nature, most inbound estimates are well below 100,000 each year. Some put them as low as 7,000, in a country of seven million.

That could soon change, however. In April, the country’s legislature approved procedures enabling would‑be foreign visitors to obtain e‑visas, Eurasianet reported.

That should make obtaining a visa much easier than the current, complex, and baffling system, which can take months and result in a denial without any reason. Hopeful visitors have to score a Letter of Introduction from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after booking their visit with a government‑approved tour operator, before the visa is granted, meaning you need to be willing to stump up money before your trip is guaranteed.

Although e‑visas have yet to come into force, when they do, it’ll be possible to get a visa online without needing a Letter of Introduction, according to CNN. Prospective holidaymakers will still need a “sponsor” in Turkmenistan, which means booking onto a tour.

Goodsprings, Nevada, is a ghost town located just 30 minutes outside of Las Vegas – and it’s proving incredibly popular with tourists, with thousands flocking in each year

Located in the middle of nowhere and allegedly haunted, the ghost town of Goodsprings is far from the most obvious tourist destination.

Coupled with its proximity to the dazzling lights of Las Vegas, it would be easy for Goodsprings to be overlooked. But, despite its spooky history and sparse amenities, the town finds itself subject to thousands of visitors every year.

Just half an hour away from the city’s bustling strip and vibrant nightlife, life in Goodsprings could not be more different. Home to around 200 residents, this quiet town at the base of the Spring Mountains in the Nevada desert was once a bustling mining hub.

In its heyday in the early 1900s, it housed 800 inhabitants and boasted amenities such as a hospital, hotels and a school – which remarkably still operates today, albeit with only two pupils on its roll. However, as the ore reserves in the Goodsprings mines dwindled, so did its populace.

In 1942, the town served as the base for a special search mission following the tragic plane crash that claimed the life of actress Carole Lombard. Her aircraft crashed into Potosi Mountain, and her husband, Hollywood legend Clark Gable, anxiously awaited news at Goodsprings’ Pioneer Saloon.

It’s said that Gable’s cigar burns can still be seen on the Saloon’s bar to this day. Consequently, there’s a memorial room at the Pioneer honouring its connection to the iconic couple.

Today, Goodsprings has a somewhat eerie aura. A drive through the town on its dusty roads evokes a spooky feeling.

Often the subject of folk tales and ghost hunts, Reddit users have shared their experiences of visiting the town. One stated: “When I went to Goodsprings a few years back with my wife, it was completely dead.

“No one was outside or driving around, it looked like a wild west ghost town that time had forgotten”.

Despite its remote location, the owners of the Pioneer Saloon are eager to provide a warm welcome to visitors. Stephen Staats, also known as Old Man Liver, purchased the iconic pub in 2021 and discovered Goodsprings’ unique place in pop culture.

The town serves as the starting point for the cult classic video game Fallout: New Vegas, which features the main character revived after being buried alive in Goodsprings cemetery. Many of the game’s characters are based on real-life residents, and the Pioneer itself is featured in the game, rebranded as the Prospector Saloon.

Recognising the town’s popularity, Staats hosted a Fallout-themed event on National Video Game Day, July 8, in 2022. He expected “maybe 100 in a crazy world”, but was taken aback when more than a thousand fans showed up.

Since then, it has grown year on year, and following the launch of the acclaimed Amazon Prime Video series based off the game, 6,420 people visited Goodsprings in 2024. Fallout fans have praised the town’s atmosphere and welcoming spirit on Reddit, with one saying: “The locals love it, and it’s kind of their only form of tourism.”

Another, who visited before Staats took over the Pioneer, said: “They were incredibly friendly and welcoming both times I went, and there’s even a marble wall inscribed with the town’s residents since it’s founding, movies and TV shows that have filmed there, all sorts of stuff.”

With a second season of the Amazon Prime show greenlit and likely to be set in and around ‘New Vegas’, Goodsprings could become an unlikely destination to rival the dazzling city that casts its wide shadow over the Nevada desert.

A former bustling resort loved by affluent holidaymakers now lies as a forsaken and crumbling ghost town.

Elkmont, Tennessee, was once a thriving town and popular holiday destination for wealthy tourists. The town now stands as an abandoned and derelict site within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Famed for its countless walking paths, the spectacular 80-foot Laurel Falls, and the yearly synchronous firefly display that illuminates the mountains, Elkmont is most celebrated as the “abandoned town of the Smokies”.

Initially called “Little River”, the US region covered 86,000 acres of terrain and was bought in 1901 by Colonel Wilson B. Townsend, who established the Little River Lumber company.

The building of a railway for his timber operations led to a surge of visitors and transformed this location into a sought-after holiday spot for well-heeled travellers, reports the Express.

Eventually, this weekend retreat developed into a permanent home for residents from Knoxville, and the settlement became recognised as Elkmont.

But when the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was formed in 1934, property owners faced an impossible choice.

They were forced to pick between selling their homes and moving away immediately, or disposing of their assets at a reduced price to the National Park Service in return for a lifelong lease. Homeowners continued to reside and negotiate lease renewals until the late 80s.

However, by 1992, most leases had expired, forcing residents to vacate their homes. This resulted in 70 historic buildings being abandoned, and the once bustling town of 1500 residents earned the eerie nickname Elkmont Ghost town.

With the decision that no one would return to Elkmont, questions arose about the fate of the buildings and the town after everyone’s departure.

While history buffs wanted to preserve Elkmont due to its century-long history, environmentalists pushed for the demolition of these cabins to allow the land to revert to its natural state.

The National Park Service also favoured demolition, but it was decided that 19 of the 74 structures would be listed on the National Register of Historic Places, preventing their destruction and ensuring their restoration. The remaining buildings were demolished.

Buried within the Tennessee mountains, haunting photographs show rotting and deteriorating cabins that have remained undisturbed for more than 40 years.

Today, visitors are invited to explore this deserted town in the Smoky Mountains at their own pace and witness structures slowly being reclaimed by nature.

As the photos reveal, you’ll encounter broken wooden floors, flaking paint, collapsed roofs, and vacant cabins, all reminiscent of houses from a horror film. You’ll also have the opportunity to tour the restored structures during your visit.

Reddit users have taken to the site to talk about Elkmont’s slow demise. One user said: “Ghost towns never cease to amaze me… like a little sliver forever frozen in time.” Another said it was “cool” and gave them “Friday the 13th vibes”.

Despite this, many walkers and tourists add this hidden treasure to their must-visit list in Tennessee, finding Elkmont a surprisingly tranquil spot. Maybe you’d fancy stepping back in time and exploring this ghost town for yourself.