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Fortean Days Out

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Anonymous

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Hiya,

I wonder if anyone can suggest interesting Fortean-themed days out that are a car drive from London.

I remember from reading the magazine they used to have one page articles highlighting mysterious and obscure locations with perhaps short location or travel advice.

Can anyone remember the name of this series or especially if it has made it intact to the website? (maybe it's been published as a book?). I have back issues, but before I drag the from the lockup, I'd like to see if they're collected.

So, any help is appreciated!

Jeff
 
Hey ! I remember that series.... what was it called though, I can't think at the moment ... ??

However i could suggest this I recently went to Avebury (Wiltshire) which is about 2hrs drive from London (depending which side you live on )..

It was brilliant - a little village surrounded by a very large scale stone circle (which makes a really nice circular walk) plus 'avenues' of stones leading out from each end of the village..
You'd need to do a bit of research before you go as many of the stones significant in different (and sometimes amusing!) ways ;

including a 'wishing' type of stone, the 'barber' stone (underwhich a mediavel barber was said to have been crushed while trying to smash the stone) and a stone that looks like female bits !! (over which a shadow was said to be cast by an equivalent male stone at a certain time of year).

There is also a nice pub in Avebury too (though the name escapes me too !).

On our trip we went inside west kennet long barrow (which is quite close by) in the dark with candles which was very atmospheric..

Hope this has given you some ideas... Haarp
 
a couple of places I'd recommend. Firstly the standing stones nr Chipping Norton. Known as the Rollright stones for their position near the Village of Little Rollright, the site consists of a circle of standinf stones, a group nown as the knight and king stones, and a long barrow. Directions can be obtained by asking nice people in Chippy!

The ridge way goes from nr London (Ivinghoe I think it's called) t83 miles to the edge of Hereford. The most famous places on route are the White Horse at Uffington and the nearby Waylands Smithy - a bronze age longbarrow.

Also of interest - and unfortunately I've not been yet despite having worked there for over a year - is the site of one of the infamous Hellfire clubs. In West Wycombe, near High Wycombe, there is a curious folly on the hill, with a spherical golden orb on top (allegedly the site of black magic rituals) also a series of caves (entrance £7.50) in which the club met.

Also heard on the radio that this week a series of interesting places will be open for the public (i.e. they usually aren't) I'll look pu the references and get back 2 u.
 
I can't seem to find any more details - yet - I think the weeks called something like 'London, open city' and it was advertised on london live radio. Maybe someone can find some more details out.
 
Hello !

I've done some investigations as I think we'll be out seeing some of the 'open houses' in London this weekend... !!

Heres the link for the 'Open London' website :

http://londonopenhouse.londonweb.net

It gives a full list of all the properties participating in the open London weekend ..
You can also find some more useful info on the 'London Live' radio website !!

Hope this is of help...


Haarp
 
Hiya,

Just got back from a sucessful Fortean day out at the Royston cave!

It was a perfect little jaunt that's just right if you want to go out, have lunch, ogle the cave and argue with the guide and guy in bookshop above about things Templar and be back for dinner.

I'll scan in the small pamphlet explaining the carvings and setup of the cave and email it to anyone interested. (100k or so)

BTW dot23, Thanks for the info on the Hellfire cave. I was in Mendenmen (sp?) a week ago and wish I'd known then, but know if I get back there what to see. Sounds like my type o thing.

Jeff
 
Hi Homeslice !

Sorry to seem like a philistine but where is Royston ??

I'm quite keen on these fortean days out you see !


Haarp
 
it might be a nice idea to get together for some of these events/trips. We could hire minibuses (for those like myself that don't/won't drive) and organise cheap entrances to places (as they often give money off of parties over 8).

What do people think?

It would be cool to meet up anyway, perhaps for beverages, and so we can meet the faces behind the names.
 
Just got back from a sucessful Fortean day out at the Royston cave!
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But surely that's a local cave for local people - there's nothing for you there!

Coming, Tubs...:madeyes:
 
It would be cool to meet up anyway, perhaps for beverages, and so we can meet the faces behind the names.
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I was thinking the same thing myself... Easy enough for those who live in London, but it would be good to have a more wide ranging get together too.

Meeting up for days out is an also an idea I think is excellent!

I don't/won't drive either (can't ever decide which)...
 
I think I'd probably be up for the 'meeting up for a fortean day out thing'

- but aren't you lot worried ... I mean I could be a phantom hitch hiker / mad axe killer / or any other urban legend manifestation !!! ??

Let me know !

Haarp
 
As blair/bush would say, 'Less talk, more ill-thought-out action!'

Perhaps we should do this on a regionla basis? I imagine quite a few people are from the London area, we've got quite a few lancastrians/ yorkists and the like, so it would be good to set up regional fortean societies, through which meetings, events and days out could be organised. For londoners, I imagine strange attractor would be a good focus for the time being, we could arrange to meet at the next one (14th november) and plan some forays into the surrounding countryside. Anyone got a minibus/ people carrier that could be used?

As for our liminal friends, sort it out yourselves!

Oh, and we could have a yearly get together/ party too ;)
 
Aye, Strange Attractor sounds good - I started a thread about it a little while back but starved of attention and love it slowly withered, taking on the worthless husk of irrelevancy...


- but aren't you lot worried ... I mean I could be a phantom hitch hiker / mad axe killer / or any other urban legend manifestation !!! ??
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Maybe we all are. A get together of mad-axe-killers... Hmmm:eek!!!!:
 
I'd love to meet up with other Fortean-minded people - that'd be great.
I had toyed with the idea of starting a Fortean-type club in the Cambridge/Saffron Walden area, but I wasn't sure if people would be interested...
 
I know it might appear to be too far, Myth, but if one uses the more the merrier and cheaper dictum, it would make more sense for you to find people in your area and bring them down to London - it's only an hour and a half or something.

Alternatively you could find some cool stuff around cambridge and we could come up there.

I've just had a thought - something we could ask them to add to the FT site - a mythical map of the UK, showing places of interest etc. Now that would be handy!
 
Any Irish people here? Or rather people living in Ireland?
 
Homeslice said:
I wonder if anyone can suggest interesting Fortean-themed days out that are a car drive from London.
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It's just a thought but (working on the principle that people often ignore their own back yard) before you get in the car get hold of a copy of London The Biography by Peter Ackroyd and an A to Z and start delving. Don't let me talk you out of getting out of the Smoke but you are sitting on a mother-lode of strangeness.
 
Actually this thread has got me thinking. Anyone else think that a forum dedicated to Fortean Places might be good idea? It would mean that someone new to, or unfamiliar with, an area would have the potential to access other peoples knowledge and experience. Guide books of the Mysterious Britain type are fine but they tend to concentrate on the better known sites at the expense of all the nooks and crannies and many of them simply repeat the same information. With a dedicated forum we would have access to potentially hundreds of different peoples local knowledge and, god knows, there are certain among us who need to get out a whole lot more - maybe this would help.
 
Well, if anyone fancies coming for a ghostwatch in my haunted manor house, I'd be up for it. We're currently closed on Sundays and Mondays, so that would be an ideal time. We'd have 66 spare beds going. Mind you, that many people would probably scare the nuns out of making an appearance...

Having just watched The Stone Tape again, I'm beginning to have second thoughts though:eek!!!!:
 
-M- said:
Aye, Strange Attractor sounds good !:
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Morning ! I hadn't previously clicked on the 'strange attractor' link on the FT website, but was glad I did - I've just joined the mailing list so I can hear about all the future events... I'll be happy to join everyone there if we can all agree on an event to go to !

Haarp:)
 
well, like I said, the next one's on NOv 14th and features a reconstruction of the jonestown massacre. There's a pub on the corner directly opposite and we'll probably be there abot 6:30ish (me n my bird!).
One place I'd really like to visit is the caves in High Wycombe, where the hellfire club used to meet, it's a bit pricey to get in, but if we had enough people I'm sure we could get a discount!
Also, like spook says, London itself is full of interesting places, perhaps we could start compiling a list of the most interesting and organise trips from there...?
 
get hold of a copy of London The Biography by Peter Ackroyd and an A to Z and start delving
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An excellent book and an excellent idea...

A page or forum on Fotean places would be really good too. An old book I have 'Folklore, Myths and Legends of Great Britain' (I think) has a UK map and county maps with icons detailing strange sites... Not amazingly indepth but good nevertheless...
 
London - the Biography

Thanks for the recommendation Spook.
I nearly bought that book a few weeks ago but decided to spend the money on food or something daft instead. Maybe I'll treat myself and pick up a copy tomorrow.

Mythopoeika> Your club in the Cambridge area sounds like a good idea. East Anglia is a pretty spooky place
 
Yes - I think I will start a local club...
I had thought of calling it the Cambridge Phenomena Society, or something like that. Any other suggestions?
I'll sort out a website soon (damn! that's 4 websites I have to do now...).

~Mytho~
 
dot23 said:
well, like I said, the next one's on NOv 14th and features a reconstruction of the jonestown massacre. There's a pub on the corner directly opposite and we'll probably be there abot 6:30ish (me n my bird!).
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I have to apologise in advance for not being there on the 14th of Nov - though hopefully I think I'll be coming to the following 'strange attractor' instead (not yet sure of the date ?), as I'll be bringing my other half, and as he is a 'first time fortean' I don't want to put him off by introducing him to the horrid subject matter of the Jonestown massacre on his first fortean outing !!

Hopefully we can come to something more 'warm and fluffy' later on !!!


Haarp:)
 
Secret Country

Aha!

News on the series that started this all!

I finally dragged my old FT's from the back of the shed and the series was called 'Secret Country'!

It was in the Gazette section, clearly marked, and I've not found a sign of it past FT issue 95, where my collection is nearly complete.

I've found the following numbers in the series:

No.14 Issue 74
No.16 Issue 77
No.18a Issue 80
No.18b Issue 82
No.19 Issue 83
No.19! Issue 84 Numbering Anomoly!
No.20 Issue 85
No.25 Issue 95


Maybe now that we know what and where it is, we can collate a complete set.

I can send those interested a zip as soon as I get it down to a reasonable size (and thanks, I do what I'm doing, I work in a games company! It will just take some sparetime, the scanning has cut into my work!)

More soon,

'Slice
 
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