Darkness on the Edge of Town: Visual Criminology and the "Black Sites" of the Rural

"Black" has long been employed to inspire or communicate horror, isolation and dread. Employed the state and capital, from the CIA and municipal police departments to corporations, the "black site" is a geography that conceals the knowledge of its own existence and boundaries. "Rurality" is a spatial concept characterized by the unknown and the blurred edges of its own temporal and material existence. Taking the common rural prison and Contained Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) as examples of rural "black sites", we contend that efforts to render them visible can be enhanced by the lessons of paranormal/spirit photography.