Thrill seekers

A place called Gary doesn’t immediately spring to mind as a tourist hotspot but that is exactly what the small industrial city in northwest Indiana has become following Michael Jackson’s untimely death – and the King of Pop Hometown Tour is reaching new limits…

A young Michael Jackson sang, “I’m going back to Indiana. Indiana here I come. I’m going back to Indiana. That is where my baby’s from.”

If you are a Jackson fan, it’s no longer just Neverland that is a must for a visit. Now, there are guided tours on offer in his hometown of Gary, near to the City of Chicago.

Ever since Jacko died, two women have started running The King of Pop Hometown Tour taking busloads of tourists on a four-hour trek through Jackson family landmarks in northwest Indiana.

The highlight is 2300 Jackson St, a small white-sided house as big as a two-and-a-half car garage where the Jackson family lived – with nine children – nearly four decades ago.

The tour has all the extras you would expect, including some of his most famous songs as a background track.

One of the tour guides, Denise Jordan Walker, said, “This is a tour of motivation and inspiration.”

Fans can get closer to the action in Gary than they can at the gated estate of Neverland in the hills above Santa Barbara, California, where Jackson lived as an adult.

“It hasn’t changed that much since the Jacksons lived here. It’s pretty much like time stood still.

“We want to paint a picture and let people really feel what the Jacksons went through on a day-to-day basis,” Ms Jordan Walker added.

Whilst you can’t actually enter the house, you can look around the identical home opposite to get a feel for the Jackson household, as well as visiting the steel mill where father Joe Jackson worked and Mr Lucky’s Lounge, where the Jackson Five first performed.

Check out www.thekingofpoptours.com for more information and to book a seat on the tour bus.

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