The Grotesque Glory of Blackpool's Stag and Hen Parties

Walk into a pub in Blackpool, England, and you risk having your shoes vomited upon or being whacked in the face by an inflatable pink phallus. That's because the seaside town is ground zero for the country's "stag and hen" bashes, pre-wedding blowouts that swirl booze, buffoonery, and public lewdness into shrieking tornadoes of pure party destruction.

During peak matrimonial season, Blackpool is crisscrossed by hooting hordes acting out America's version of bachelor and bachelorette parties. The U.K. phenomenon has become so rampant it's already contaminated much of Europe: Since 2001, British stags have made the news for peeing on a beloved monument in Latvia, killing a man by pushing him into a river in Ireland, and washing ashore deceased weeks after going missing in Brussels. But Blackpool will always have a legendary place in the history of these notorious jubilees: Local hotels that might've once been restrained now cater to stag and hen parties with special packages and invitations to get an embarrassing picture on the "Wall of Shame." Past government efforts to tone down these festivities have failed, despite the authorities trying out "tough powers normally applied to drug dens and brothels."