Dark Tourist (2018–…): Season 1, Episode 3 - United States - full transcript

I'm a journalist from New Zealand,

and I've always been drawn
to the weirder side of life.

So I've decided
to investigate dark tourism,

a global phenomenon
where people choose to vacation

in places associated
with death and destruction.

This trip takes me to America,

where I visit
three dark tourist destinations.

In New Orleans, I go undercover
to search for real vampires.

Can I level with you?

I just look at you guys
and I think you?re here as food.

...and I discover a national tragedy



that?s turned
into a tourist attraction in Texas.

She'll have bone fragments in her hair,

and brain tissue is scattered
all over the car.

In Milwaukee, I join a dark tourist

on the trail of serial killer
Jeffrey Dahmer.

If you gave me a body and said,
"You've got to dismember this

and get rid of it,"
I would not know where to start.

I'm David Farrier,

and this trip gets
weirder than I ever imagined.

I'm in the United States,
and my first stop is in the Midwest -

the city of Milwaukee...

famous for beer and cheese
and a serial killer.

Now, I?ve always been fascinated
by serial killers,

the more graphic, the better.



But I'm on my way to meet someone
who's even more into the stuff than me.

She's a self-proclaimed dark tourist.

And she's agreed to let me join?her
on a gruesome tour...

dedicated to the Cream City cannibal,
Jeffrey Dahmer.

Police in Wisconsin
are investigating

a grisly discovery
in a Milwaukee apartment.

Numerous pieces
from as many as 15 human bodies,

including three heads,
preserved in a refrigerator.

I'm here to pick up Natalie.

She's a Dahmer fanatic

and she's always?dreamed
of coming to Milwaukee.

- Hey, Natalie.
- How do you do?

It's so nice to meet you.

- Nice to meet you.
- You've never been here, right?

- No. No, I haven't.
- Which is ridiculous!

'Cause Dahmer's your guy,
and you've never been here.

See, I was wondering
who would turn up, who it would be.

- I figured you might have been.
- I was looking for the black T-shirt.

You've got the black T-shirt.
All black, everything, you know.

But it's Morrissey.
He's a vegan.

So you're into a lot of this.
I mean, you are a dark tourist.

Yes. Mostly from the comfort
of my home, 'cause I like to read.

When did you first hear
about the Dahmer case?

When do you think
that kind of seized your brain?

Well, I was ten years old
when it happened, and...

it didn't really register. When you're
ten years old, you don't really...

have an understanding
of what cannibalism?is.

So far,
Natalie seems pretty normal.

But I'm still really curious to see
what makes her tick.

- Beautiful AirBnb.
- Oh, nice!

With the Dahmer story,
what is it about the gory aspects...

that draw people to it?

There's never been a case quite like his,
where there were... lobotomies,

attempts to turn people
into zombies, cannibalism.

All of this in one. And he wasn't
a sadist, either. He actually...

granted the small mercy
of drugging and strangling his victims,

if you could call it that, before,
you know, the eviscerations.

Yeah. He had that little element
of niceness to him.

If you want to call it that.
If you could call it that.

- Before he drilled into their brains!
- The small mercy, yes.

Because he was like literally in there
with all the?guts and the blood

and he was chopping them up.
He could not be more...

involved in the gore.

He started with... road kill,

and then gradually worked his way up
to lobotomies and intestines.

Natalie sure knows her stuff
about Dahmer,

but her passion doesn't end there.

She collects anything strange
and has something she wants to show me.

Who is this?

Juan Diego. He's a South American male.

Can I touch?
I?ve never really touched a real human...

sort of skull before. I feel like
Jeffrey Dahmer would have probably...

held a lot of these.

He did have a lot of those!

And then he?d crush them up
and get rid of them.

Well, he saved a few for his altar
that he was building in his apartment.

Do you sometimes see any little
correlations between the two of you?

No, I don't! This is...

strictly just me being weird.

I?ve barely met Natalie

and already
she?s showing me her bone collection.

Well, I'm just amazed
that you were allowed to travel

with that in your bag. But it's America,
right? Crazier things have happened.

They certainly have.

I leave Natalie
to wrap up her skull

and go down to Shaker's Bar.

It's the hub of the Dahmer tour industry.

Set up for people like me.

I've come here to meet Bella and?Michelle,
who run the Cream City Cannibal Tour.

- We like bad boys. Women like bad boys.
- Serial killers are definitely...

- Bad boys.
- By definition, a bad boy.

Yes, they are. I'm very much into spirits
and into death.

- That's something...
- You're into death?

- I'm into death.
- Hence Jeffrey Dahmer.

- Yes.
- Who caused a lot of death.

He did cause a lot of death,
but he was like the perfect storm

of issues that I think caused this?man
to become what he was.

So, I actually have a fair amount
of empathy and sympathy for him.

That's something
I'm struggling with,

because I understand the empathy
to a point.

But then at the same time, he did...

absolutely unforgivable things.
So, the empathy can only go so far.

He didn't enjoy the act of killing at all.
He just wanted someone there for him,

and didn't want
to have to take care of them.

I think that's something everyone
can connect with, in a way.

Everybody wants somebody there. Nobody
loves... People don't love being lonely.

I can't get my head around

why so?many women
seem to be attracted to Dahmer,

a gay serial killer.

I meet up again with Natalie.
She?s all amped for tonight?s tour.

That's funny
'cause your enthusiasm is infectious.

I feel strange that I am?enthusiastic
about it. Clearly...

nobody wants anyone to be murdered
and no one should be happy about it.

It will be interesting to see
who does turn up for it.

I've heard they get bachelorette parties,
which is kind of amazing.

Twenty...

and five.

Lets get a wristband.

All right!

Everybody that is coming on?the
Cream City Cannibal Tour this evening,

could you please join us outside,
in the alleyway,

so we may begin this tour?

Natalie was spot on
about the bachelorette parties.

The tour is dominated
by women in their 30s.

Maybe, like the tour guides,

they?re all secretly hot
for Jeffrey Dahmer,?the ultimate bad boy.

I?m just excited to finally satisfy
my bloody curiosity

by getting into the graphic details.

Another method he used

is he actually tried to create a sex slave
that wouldn't have any needs,

wouldn't speak, wouldn't do much,

but he still wanted them alive.
So, to do this,

he decided to drill an inch and a quarter
into their skulls.

And at first he poured boiling water,

and then he tried
different cleaning agents.

I?m into all these disgusting bits,

and I?m not the only one.

He's super interesting, yes.?'Cause he's
different than... your stereotypical...

I think women just also want to fix
everybody, too. I don't think that's...

- Way to be psychological.
- I know. Well, it's true. I mean...

Yeah.

How would you fix him??What would be
your methodology, do you think?

Little snuggles.

- Little drill in the brain.
- Right.

Snuggles, but not too close.

The tour takes us to Club 219,

where Dahmer picked up
many of his victims.

And things start to get weird.

If anyone is here with us right now,
can you please cross the rods?

That's a yes.

Now, can you please
uncross the rods for me?

If you're feeling low on energy,
you may use my energy if need be.

If we are speaking
to Jeffrey Dahmer currently,

can you please cross the rods?

Does anybody have any questions
for Mr. Dahmer?

They've lost me, Natalie.

- Have they lost you?
- Totally. Completely.

Very tacky as well.

- They annoyed me.
- It was annoying.

- Are you annoyed?
- I am annoyed.

I've got really no patience
for woo like that. Thank you.

- Woo or bullshit?
- Woo, yeah, bull...

That's a nice way
of saying bullshit.

I can?t imagine
how the families

of his victims would feel,

knowing this tour was trying
to call up Jeffrey Dahmer?s ghost.

Some real-life drama today
in a Milwaukee courtroom.

Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer
was sentenced?to 15 consecutive life terms

without parole.

Natalie and I are interested
in what makes Dahmer tick.

But the divining rods
weren?t going to give us any answers.

Before I leave Milwaukee,
it seemed?a waste not to dig deeper,

to get some real insight.

Dahmer was like an itch
I needed to scratch.

So I arranged to meet up
with Wendy Patrickus,

the lawyer who defended?Dahmer in court.

- Hello, Wendy.
- Hello.

- So, we're in town for Dahmer.
- Yes.

I mean, it's sort of curious to meet you
because we've met

with second-hand stories,
but you were there from the beginning.

Oh.

I spent so much time with him.
I mean, I saw him basically every day.

But I asked him flat out.
I said, "Is it true that...

you did eat some of the body parts?"
And he said yes.

I actually asked him how he prepared it...

and he...

he said that he went and got
a meat tenderizer from Sears, and he...

basically just cooked it up
like you would?cook up any steak.

And I gave him a piece of paper one day
and he drew for me

what was the shrine.

I've seen a picture
a thousand times. That's the shrine?

And he signed it
at the bottom and dated it.

Holy cow!

Oh, so he was going to have
a whole little sort of...

He did. He saved the entire bodies
of these two on the end.

He had a thing for hands.

He had saved?the hands a lot of times
and obviously the penis.

And then he had this lamp
that had these globes

that kind of went over the top of each
one of the skulls that he would have,

to kind of highlight it.

And then he would just sit there
in his chair.

BLACK PLUSH CHAIR

And it was his own little shrine
to himself.

It's so odd
'cause it's almost like a child's drawing

and yet it's about something
so incredibly...

I mean, this is like True Detective
or something. Right?

Right.

- But beyond.
- Way beyond.

It?s so eerie thinking
of Dahmer drawing this and signing it.

Then Wendy surprises us.

A tape of one of her interviews
with Dahmer.

So this was his first...

This was him talking about
his first Milwaukee victim.

Right.

You were telling me about
your motivation

is the fact?that you wanted them to stay.

Was it also for you the type of thing
that was sexually arousing?

Yeah, it was.

At the time
hat you were strangling him?

Not at that time, but afterwards.

Hearing Dahmer?s voice

spelling out the gruesome details
is chilling,

and Natalie seems to be in a trance.

- You were not erect?
- No.

Just knowing
that he was with me...

that he was still there.

He might have been a body only, but...

Did you do anything sexual
to his body after you strangled him?

Ah! Let's see...

ta-dah!

How was that for you, Natalie?

That was... Wendy is so cool.
It was fantastic. She's...

knowledgeable and matter-of-fact and...

really brings home that this?is something
that really happened.

And seeing the papers that she has,
the drawing of the?shrine that he made,

I couldn't take my eyes of it.
You couldn't either. I could tell.

- No.
- Going back to it.

- It was captivating.
- It really was.

Just this simple line drawing.

As someone
who?s never killed anyone,

or made a trophy room full of skulls,

it?s sort of fascinating getting inside
the mind of someone who has.

I think that?s why people like me
and Natalie are drawn to this stuff.

It?s like taking a weird holiday,
some escapism,

before going back
to your normal, dull existence,

grateful you?re alive and don?t have
any corpses rotting in your bathtub.

I always just think, why?are humans drawn
to those sort of gross?details?

You just kind of are drawn to it.

Even if you're going,
"Oh, my God, that's horrible.

That's sick. Tell me more!" So...

- Yes, tell me another gross thing.
- Yeah.

You're condemning it
at the same time maybe,

but you still want to hear

and see more about it.

That's the thing.
We're all sickos, Natalie.

That's what I think.

We just didn't know it until now.

I travel a thousand miles south
to my next dark tourist destination:

Dallas, Texas.

X marks the spot

where President Kennedy
was assassinated back in 1963.

Looking around, It?s obvious JFK?s death

is being exploited for money.
And business is booming.

Second window down from the top.
Look for the white box.

Second window?down from the top.

- There have been fights down here.
- Fights?

Over what?

Over territory. Men are very territorial.

So, we will get in fights over territory.

- Do you want some payment for this?
- Yes.

- You do? How much is...
- Forty dollars.

I've got... I can give you...

twenty. Is twenty good?

I want to understand exactly
how a grisly?death

can be turned into a?tourist experience.

So I?m going on the two biggest

JFK tours in town.

I?m curious to see who operates
these tours and how they tell the story.

My first tour promises to be
the most?in-depth and comprehensive.

- Robin.
- Hello!

- I'm David.
- David, I'm Robin.

- It?s nice to meet you
- Good to meet you.

There was no missing you here.

- You stand out.
- Did something...

Did something make me stand out?
Not my face.

I know you're here...

to take a look at the car.

Oh, there?s no missing it!

Really? Even someone your generation.
I?m impressed, David!

Robin calls himself a historian,

dedicating 40 years of his life
to researching the JFK assassination.

And he?s dead serious
about all the details that come with it.

So, David, if you want to sit
in the car where the president sat.

- David, you ready?
- I'm ready.

Let's take a ride.

What my customers want to do

is to re-live President?Kennedy?s
motorcade route.

We?re on it right now.
What we?re?talking about

is on that on?that day, November 22,?1963,

an American president,
our 35th president, John F. Kennedy...

was publicly and brutally murdered.

That is ground zero.

That's where it happened.

That cross represents where?the president
is when he first reacts to a?bullet.

5.9 seconds later,

the president's head
is taken off right?here.

Look at the picket fence.

There are professional assassins
behind that fence, David.

There's also a shooting team
in the Dal-Tex Building that day,

waiting for the president.

Robin is utterly convinced

that multiple people conspired
to kill the president.

Zapruder's offices are
in that building,

right there, 501 Elm Place.

By the way, some things y'all need to know
about the Zapruder film...

I really like Robin,

but I feel like?I?m?stuck in a car
with my eccentric uncle.

And for someone
calling themselves an historian,

this was sounding
a lot more?conspiratorial than I expected.

But he's not on the sixth floor
in that corner window with a rifle,

although there is someone in that window
at that moment with a rifle.

How do you retain
all this information?

It's constant. It never stops.

You know, David,
I mentioned the other day

I was with a couple from?Brisbane
for nine hours.

- I didn't shut up for nine hours.
- Is that why you started doing the tour?

'Cause your family got sick
of hearing about it?

Yeah, I needed another audience.

Robin ditches the motorcade,
but that doesn?t slow him down.

Okay, let's keep up.

- You're quick. We're motoring.
- Come on!

In 1964, in the?Spring of '64, David,

the Warren Commission members
come to Dallas

because they want to get in?that window,
because whoever's firing from that window

can't see the?President.

- There's cars coming.
- That's okay.

The President, when he... Come on!

When you're on the trail of the assassins,
it gets dangerous.

I can tell. I can tell
that you get excited by it.

Well, David,
even though I do this a lot...

these events still... boil my blood.

I get... I'm a?little?wound up.

The president was executed publicly
and brutally right here...

because he was withdrawing from Vietnam.

Robin's a patriot at heart,

but he?s convinced
the official inquiry got it wrong.

And this tour is his way
of setting the record straight.

He says that JFK was killed
by a sinister alliance

between the CIA and the mafia,
which involved multiple gunmen.

By now, Robin?s been going for four hours,

and I?m worried he?s gunning
to beat his record of nine.

...and it's blown out
the back of his skull.

The President's head is taken off.

- A third of his brain is gone.
- You're getting an audience.

And on top that,
he keeps getting distracted.

He would do things like

political assassinations
and overthrow governments...

I get the feeling
Robin isn?t in this for the money.

He just wants to spread his truth
to anyone who'll listen.

There?s shooters behind this fence.
You stay with us.

Robin's keen
to continue the tour,

but I'm already late
for my next JFK experience,

so I take the chance to?quietly slip away.

But there?s one slight hurdle.

I?ve been caught in the crossfire
of Robin?s endless tour.

Your pin number, please.

A hundred and five dollars later...

I travel to the other, slightly shadier
side of?town to meet?Ricardo,

who?s known for his speedier tours,

probably helped by the fact
he tells?the official,

much shorter version
of who killed the president.

I wonder what his take on the story is.

The cool thing
about Kennedy standing here is that...

we put him here for a reason.

So you can come up and take a selfie.

Aha!

There's a Lincoln Continental. We've got
the cruisers, and then we have the?buses.

Yeah, right. Does Robin keep...
What's Robin's car doing here?

Yeah, his car, we store it here.
We take care of it.

Right.

If something happens,
we need it cleaned up.

I thought he was the competition?

No, no. Definitely not.
No, he's a good friend.

What do you make of his tour?
He has?a very different operation.

He has a totally different operation
than we do, yeah.

We grab his six-hour tour,
and we break it down to about 15 minutes.

- So it's not like Robin's seven-hour...
- No, no. That's an expedition, brother.

The cool thing about the bus,
this is?the new VR tour that we have.

- VR?
- What?

- Virtual reality.
- You've got it, brother.

You're moving into VR?

It's such an unusual way
to show off the city, as well,

?cause this is all about
someone's assassination.

Well, I do find it strange.

Sometimes I think "Man, I'm?making
money off the assassination of Kennedy."

You know? But?I'm?also historically
giving a story.

Ricardo?s keeping
the story alive with new technology,

but I wonder if it might
be getting?in the way of the facts.

Once in a while, you'll get
a person that thinks it's kind of?tacky,

but that's one in a million.

And if it's not you doing it, someone else
will come in and fill that?spot.

- And fill that spot, probably.
- Yeah.

- I don't know if they'll do VR.
- No one's pushing it this far.

No, nobody's pushing it this far, no.

I?m fascinated
by all the different ways

he?s cashing in on the killing.

Today he wants to shoot a new VR scene
involving Lee Harvey Oswald.

He was the man the official inquiry says
pulled the trigger

and afterwards fled
to this suburban boarding house.

How are you doing?

Pat grew up here
and actually met Oswald when she was 11.

Welcome to 1963.

- It looks amazing in here.
- Thank you.

Is this as it was?

Yes, this is the configuration
the house was in,

in 1963, on the day of the assassination.

No one knows
what happened in this house,

so Ricardo?s going to fill in the gaps.

He sees himself
as a bit of an Oliver Stone.

You know, he was always calm, anyway,
you know what I mean?

In today?s scene,

Oswald has to come in?to get a gun
he'll later use to kill a policeman.

- Pat, I'm moving your pictures.
- Okay.

Let?s do it. All right, here we go.

Action.

Look around. Yeah, there you go.

Putting the gun back there.

Even with a skilled director
at the helm,

Ricardo's Oswald seems to be cracking
under pressure.

Have to redo it. It wouldn't
go in my... I couldn't get it to go.

- We've got to go again.
- Yeah.

- That's fine.
- It was close.

Now, don't forget...

Kyle, who's playing Oswald,
if it was?the real Lee Harvey Oswald,

he just killed?President?Kennedy
about 45 minutes ago.

So what's he feeling
and what's he really doing?

- Stressed out.
- There you go.

- He's out there.
- I think you captured that.

- How was that for you?
- Turned his back to the camera

and put the gun

so that everybody could see
that he was hiding the gun.

I think that was a good move.

- You?ve got to make up some stuff.
- Yeah.

Yeah, creative license.

Okay.

I feel like Ricardo?s creative
take on history

might be getting in the way of the facts.

I wonder what Robin would think.

So I?ve arranged to catch up with him
at his other job.

When he?s not dealing in dead presidents,
he's dealing in regular dead people.

What do we have here? We have pine,
we have oak, we have maple.

We have mahogany.

We have cherry.
We have different species of wood.

Robin can?t help himself.
Straight away,?it feels like another tour.

...made of wood.

So, we end up in this room.

Whatever you're talking about,
I feel you're a complete expert on.

Golf,

baseball, football,
the sports we play?in America.

Golf history, very important to me.

Of course, we know
golf originated in Scotland.

So, you're off again.

- What?
- On a topic.

You pick a topic
and you're just... you're deep into it.

- It's remarkable.
- Well, David, what can I say?

Have you always been like that,
since you were a kid?

Yes, and I'm incurable, David.

A few family members have tried
to cure me.

You do a thing that I've noticed
that's quite a good technique,

where you always say the person's name
that you're talking to in the?sentence.

It makes you feel really wanted.
Is that something you've always done?

- I learned this from my dad.
- That's a dad trick.

There's no sweeter sound to anyone's ears
than their own name.

It works. It really works.

Believe it, there are times
that I like to be quiet.

- I know you don't believe that.
- I don't believe you.

But maybe I'll convince you later.

But, anyway...

Shall we meet your wife?

I think that would be fantastic.

That is my...

Robin is rather proud

that the house is modeled
on the White House.

And I wondered,
who was the Jackie to his JFK?

Who would live with this walking,
talking Wikipedia page?

What do you think of his...

I guess, his attention to detail
and storytelling and...

It drives me crazy.

- Does it?
- It does.

That's what you wanted her to say.

Just give me the basic details
and let's keep moving.

But he likes to get into
what we call the minutiae.

- Do you want to see some more rooms?
- Yeah, we'll have a look around.

This was my chance to see
what Robin thought of Ricardo.

Ricardo and I
have very little in common...

including the Kennedy assassination

because he doesn't know a damn thing
about the Kennedy assassination,

and I've told him that to his face.

Is that too blunt
for an international audience?

- I think they can cope.
- But...

there is a market for Ricardo.
Ricardo is a very good businessman.

He knows how to entertain people.

With Ricardo,
it's more about entertainment.

We have an unholy alliance.

I've never met Ricardo,

but I think the difference
between Ricardo and Robin is

Robin is a historian,
and Ricardo is a tourist trap.

- Are y'all ready?
- Ready!

I can't hear you
in the back, folks!

- Are y'all ready?
- Yeah!

Let's do this! Bubanowskis!

Ladies and gentlemen,
look over to the right side.

We have Mrs. Kennedy
coming on our tour with us.

Like his VR experience,
Ricardo's night tours are pretty bizarre.

The tours retrace JKF?s last ride
in a convoy of Texas-themed golf?buggies,

complete with their own
pumping sound systems.

Ricardo is all about adding value.

- Can I hear an "amen"?
- Amen!

That's what I'm talking about.
Ms. Jackie, come on out.

He pays an actress to dress up
as Kennedy?s wife.

And in this town, bad taste or not...

she's a photo magnet.

Jackie's been
quite depressed tonight, but...

she's cheering up for the photos.

Well, Jackie,
she just lost her husband.

- So she's acting sort?of the part.
- Are you kidding me? She has to.

Once she puts that hat on,
she's not even supposed to be smiling.

- Right.
- It's in her contract.

As we approach Dealey Plaza,

Ricardo turns the music down
and dials up the drama.

Ladies and gentlemen,
on November 22nd, 1963,

that road right there right behind us

is the exact direction?that President
Kennedy was coming that day.

But someone'll be on the top of?the
sixth floor of that building right there.

And that man is Lee Harvey Oswald.

How important is the truth to you?

I think more I go with
the entertainment part, you know?

Some people want to be...

You come to a new city,
you want to have a?good time.

That's us. Know what I mean?
We know how to good time,

and I will over-exaggerate some parts...

but the story line we'll keep straight.

Lee Harvey Oswald from the sixth floor
of the Texas?School?Book Depository

has that weapon pointing down,
and the first shot will go off right?here.

It will miss the president,

but the second?shot will hit him
right there where the X is.

And automatically, Ms. Kennedy
is covered with blood.

She'll have bone fragments in her hair,

and brain tissue is scattered
all over the car.

She just saw her husband's head explode
right next to her.

It?s a hell of a way
to end a tour,

and it?s certainly killed the party vibe,

but it?s definitely memorable.

And perhaps sometimes
people need to be shocked

so they don?t forget the past.

The only reason she doesn't want
to move is ?'cause she?s scared

that more of his brain will just fall out.

With dark tourism,
nothing is taboo.

And that is the end
of your JFK tour. Ta-da!

And people love it.

Five hundred miles east,
in the deep South,

my last stop is in New Orleans,
the Big Easy.

Most tourists come here for the jazz
or to dance on Bourbon Street.

But you can also find vampire tours
on every?corner.

While a lot of it
is just theatrics,

I've heard real vampires live here,
ones that need human blood to survive.

I'm going undercover as a dark tourist...

to find the living dead
and watch them feed.

I meet a man called Maven,
who makes a living making fangs,

a vocation so rare,
he invented his own job title.

I started seeing this vision of...

of a silhouetted blacksmith...

pounding away at something.
It just kind of came to me.

And I said, "Blacksmith, blacksmith,
blacksmith." And then I?said, "Fangsmith."

Now here you are.

- Full-time fangsmith.
- That's right.

Why are you getting fangs?

Because I love it.
I think it's absolutely sexy.

- Everybody loves vampires.
- Yeah.

- Are you a vampire, Maven?
- What you're talking about?

Because you do have
a certain look going.

Oh, you know, would a predator
tell its prey what it is?

It's a reasonable answer.

But, I mean, do you identify as...
a vampire?

I got my first set of fangs...

when I was 20... 21.

And it was
a very life-changing experience.

I started feeling all these new feelings
and I wanted to explore them.

I don't think there's any right
or wrong... way to be a vampire.

It's something very personal to everybody.

So it's like a scene.
It's like being a goth

- or an indie kid?
- No, it's not like being a goth.

One more close-up.

A little... There you go.

I love it, thank you. Thank you.

- No problem.
- I love them.

At a hundred and fifty dollars,
it?s more expensive than being clamped.

But if being fangsmithed will help me
fit into this strange new world,

I'm prepared to give it a go.

- Well, are you ready for the big reveal?
- Yeah, I?d like to see them.

Okay. Have a look.

Oh, they?re great.

Now I've got Maven's trust,

he tells me I should meet a couple who?ve
recently had an elaborate?vampire wedding.

What I get excited about is the fact
they claim to drink human blood.

I vow to share every part
of myself with you?in this life...

and every life hereafter.

Logan and Daley agree
to meet me and bring along their ?donor.?

I?m over the moon.

I?m about to see some neck biting
and furious sucking.

Can I level with you?

I just look at you guys
and I think you're here as food.

No, that's just me.

- That's true.
- That is what...

That's how you came into
this relationship?

You all feel
quite sexually charged to me.

- Thank you!
- That's just all the time.

I mean, yeah, even your breasts
are always out there.

- They're just lovely.
- You know, I can't really...

She just can't control these
half the time.

Is it like feeding and sex
at the same time?

I feed primarily sexually.
That's where I get the most out of it.

In this whole situation, is it?like
a threesome... of some kind?

- Sometimes.
- So it is all a big...

- Sometimes.
- Sort of... Okay.

I just kind of feel like
I want to see... the process.

Is that appropriate?

If they?re fine with it,
then I?m fine with it.

I?ll take one little one here...

and another one directly to the side,
so that way it just kind of opens up.

I always like it to trickle,
just a little bit.

Visual stimulation,
mental stimulation.

Always very gentle.

I don't fully understand
what's going on.

This feels a bit more sex
than survival.

And It was hardly the bloodbath
I was expecting.

Thank you so much, darling.

While I?m grateful
hey had let me into their private world,

I?m not convinced they need
each other?s blood?to stay alive,

which is my definition of a vampire.

I do have one last hope,
and it?s way off any tourist trail.

I?ve been told about a house
out in the suburbs,

which is home
to a bunch of authentic vampires.

There, I?ll be front row
at a vampire?ritual

where someone feeds on blood for survival.

- Laurie, how are you?
- Hello.

- I'm David.
- Nice to meet you.

Despite living forever,
apparently,

vampires still celebrate birthdays.

Yes. We have a birthday.
We have a birthday party tonight.

So far,
everything seems fairly mundane.

I wonder if they?re all here for the blood
or just a slice of cake.

- There's some people in there.
- People everywhere.

- There?s another bathroom in there, too.
- I'm David.

- Hi, David.
- This is David.

- Donovan.
- Donovan.

- I'm Zar.
- Zar. Nice to meet you, Zar.

Nice to meet you!

And I understand everyone here
is a vampire, is that correct?

- Everyone that we know, yeah.
- Amazing. Except us and our crew.

We don't know that.

I don't know that yet, actually.
I might be, I just don't know it.

You don't know.

We went on the vampire tour
when we got here

and we met a few vampires,

and it just seemed like everyone?was
putting on an act, whereas you seem

much more like a real...
You don't feel like you're acting to me.

Well, this is my home.
I mean, this is my life. This isn't...

This isn't a show. This is our family.
This is family to us.

May not be necessarily accepted
by their biological family.

People call that chosen family.
That is the cutest thing!

That is the cutest thing.

Is this your typical vampire
birthday party, would you say?

We like any excuse to eat.

Any holiday to get together!

It?s surprisingly stress-free
hanging out with vampires.

But I?m still hungry to see
someone drink some blood.

Zar starts chanting

and spitting alcohol
into the doorway to fend off?bad spirits.

This is New Orleans? voodoo.

I?m unsure if this is part
of vampire culture,

but he insists on doing it before feeding.

What a lot of people
don?t understand is...

evil is brazen.

It's not going to sneak up
your drain?pipes.

It's not going to crawl
through your windows.

It's going to walk through your doors.

Zar has chosen his donor
for the night...

his roommate, Donovan.

I'm excited by the idea...

but nervous as hell for Donovan.
Apparently, it?s his first time.

He?s a virgin donor.

Why are you doing this,
I guess, was my question.

Because I trust him, and if I was
in the same position as him,

I know he'd do the same for me.

- You may as well pop that off.
- And you guys...

You're gay,
but you are not together. This is a...

- Nah, he's straight.
- You're straight.

You're gay. So, the feeding thing
is just entirely separate

from sexuality or sex.

Yeah.

If he walked into my house straight,
he'll leave my house straight.

I can?t help
but feel this vampire stuff

always ends up having a sexual?vibe to it.

Or maybe I?ve just watched
too much Twilight.

And how often do you need to do this?

At my most hungry,
if I'm super spiritually active...

six ounces.

That's quite a lot.

Or is it not? It is to me
because I don't have any.

I don't need any blood,
so it seems like a lot to me.

Six ounces is
three quarters of a cup,

for those who don?t do a lot of?baking.

If you don't do this,
what happens?

My hair will be dull and lifeless,
my eyes will be kind of glazed over,

hard for me to focus on things.

This is an antiseptic wash.

I had no idea vampires
were so obsessed with hygiene.

Get it bleeding.

See how it starts to... bleed out again.

And how does that...

feel... or taste or...

In all honesty...

when the blood hits my tongue,
there's just this...

I don't know, crackle of energy.

So, I'm not...

The easiest way to say it is, it's like...

It's very much like
I've finally come to life.

One more time.

Okay.

It is quite strange, isn't it?

- What?
- I mean this.

I mean, we're in a little bathroom.

You're getting your energy from...

someone else's blood.

To quote...

Anjelica Huston in...

in The Addams Family,

"What's normal for the spider
is chaos to?the fly."

I've been prescribed prenatal vitamins.

I've been prescribed vitamin B shots
in the backside. I've been prescribed...

stay away from this kind of food,
eat this kind of food,

drink this kind of drink,
and none of it worked.

But the blood does?

The blood helps me
because I am a vampire.

Happy birthday, dear MK

Happy birthday to you

This is definitely

in my top?ten birthday parties
of all time.

I?ve finally met some real vampires
who feed on both blood and ice-cream cake.

I had felt uneasy watching a grown man
lick up Donovan's back blood...

but I?ve decided vampirism
has very little to do with actual blood

and more to do with a group of outsiders
finding a community.

I?ve been waiting
for this ice cream all day.

Being a dark tourist
has given me access

to a world I would never?normally see.

And I've found that even in
the most secret, hidden corners,

there?s always a glimmer of light.

Subtitle translation by: