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Fortean Holidays, Visits & Vacations

M

many_angled_one

Gone But Not Forgotten
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Myself and my other half are thinking of going on holiday around Scotland this year and we have been thinking about travelling around visiting sites of a Fortean nature. We are broadly interested in everythind supernatural/paranormal related as well as ancient sites, castles, etc

What I want from you guys is a suggestion on where we should go! I've been thinking about Clava Cairns at Inverness & Rosslyn Chapel in Edinburgh. Any other suggestions on what we might find intersting?
 
Glamis Castle is suitably steeped in tales of haunting.

Skara Brae is very interesting...probably the oldest settlement in the British Isles. Bit of a journey tho' but well worth it.

And a vote for Skye. It's more a case of the atmosphere of the place than anything else...it seems like an ancient land that doesn't really seem to belong in our time. If you go to the far north of the island around Uig, the landscape is unutterably strange.
 
I'm surprised no-one's mentioned Loch Ness.

And Greyfriars Bobby. Okay the dog itself isn't so fortean, but IIRC Greyfriars cemetary is haunted by something ghoulish and ghastly.

The Kirk of Alloway is where Tam o'Shanter saw the witches dancing to the Devil's bagpipes, according to Robbie (and I don't mean Williams).

Sawney Bean's cave is somewhere around Ballantrae, Ayr.

Culszan Castle has the honour of being the alleged abode of a Bluebeard style murderer. It also has a walk nearby called Piper's Brae, from which the sound of bagpipes can sometimes be heard, according to one legend, when a member of the Kennedy clan is about to marry.

Hermitage Castle is said to be haunted by Redcap Sly.

The fairy boy of Leith, a 'true' story from 1660's.

Glamis Castle

There's a well in Orton, 3 miles from Rothes, which is said to be a healing well.

To name but a few....
 
Ah, Sawney Bean!

How I loved that tale when I was a lad. The source was Nicholson's
Historical & Traditional Tales Connected with the South of Scotland,
1843, but I found it in a collection of horrid tales edited by Dorothy L.
Sayers in the nineteen twenties.

It came in the section headed "Tales of Blood & Cruelty" and I delighted
in reading out loud the section where a man and his wife riding home
from a fair are set upon by the Bean family:

" . . .the poor woman fell from behind him, and was instantly butchered
before her husband's face, for the female cannibals cut her throat, and
fell to sucking her blood with as great a gusto, as if it had been wine; this
done, they ript up her belly and pulled out all her entrails . . ."

The pickled limbs in the cave also impressed me wonderfully.

I was a slightly morbid eight year old.

But I am not certain of the status of the story today. Were the Beans for
real? Surely not an invention of the Scottish Tourist Board! :eek:
 
Yes James, I think the Beans were largely based on fact. (I seem to recollect some literary connection with Lorna Doone and Exmoor, too, but I could be way off beam there.)

Rosslyn Chapel (not far from Edinburgh) should be a must, and if you get out to the Hebrides, on Lewis there is Carloway Broch and the stone circle at Callanish.
 
The Beans were very much real. Alexander 'Sawney' Bean was born around 1560, and did nothing of note until he met 'Doris', whose real name is unknown. They ran away together to the caves at Galloway Coast. It was allegedly Doris who first came up with the idea of killing and eating passersby. She was constantly pregnant, and the bratlings inbred to their hearts content until there were about 50 odd Beans. After 25 years of incest and cannibalism, they were eventually discovered. They didn't bother with a trial, just dragged them into Leith. Mere hanging was considered far too good for the male Beans, who had their feet and hands cut off and bled to death in front of the female Beans. It took a couple of hours for them to die. Then, the female Beans were taken outside the castle, bound and thrown onto a bonfire.

Ah.. the good old days! :eek!!!!:
 
Will you make the suggestion to Spielberg, James, or shall I?

Or maybe the next Disney cartoon?? (with songs by Elton John)

Carole
 
Indiana Jones and the Caves of the Cannibals ?

alternately -

Of course, if they get Randall Wallace to write the film script, Sawney Bean would be a put upon, honest, upstanding farmer, driven to fight every passerby who encroaches on his hard earned, hard fought for land, before the waves of Imperialism batter him into a FIGHT FOR HIS LIFE and THE LIFE OF HIS FAMILY!!!!!!! (exclamation marks ad infinitum, ad nauseum)

YOU CAN'T TAKE OUR FRRREEEDOOMMMM!!!

Sad, really. Someone should buy that man a history book. Preferably one with big pictures.
 
. . . and of course, the English would be to blame for it all.

Or what about a Q Tarantino interpretation?

Sawney (biting into a victim's leg): "Mm-mm, that's a tasty bugger! In Edinburgh they call it a Royale with cheese . . ."

Carole
 
Originally posted by Helen
They ran away together to the caves at Galloway Coast.

The original Runner Beans?

After 25 years of incest and cannibalism, they were eventually discovered.

And so alike, they were like peas in a pod...

Then, the female Beans were taken outside the castle, bound and thrown onto a bonfire.

The original Baked Beans?


And now, sadly, a bunch of Has-Beans?


:D Groan. I know - but maybe a new line in Fortean Christmas Cracker jokes?
Click to expand...
 
Truly Fortean Holiday

I know that the specific area of interest is Scotland, but if you were to pop across the water to the Republic of Ireland then you could visit a truly Fortean site.

Just outside of the town of Kinsale you will find...

Charles Fort

http://www.cork-guide.ie/charles.htm

You don't get much more Fortean than that!:D
 
Fortean Travels

Hello all,

I am hoping to do a expedition in the summer of this year. Last summer I went on a trip to cornwall to photograph the stone circles in the area. However I found myself spending most of my time partying in Newquay. This was due to the fact that I found myself camping on an 18-30s campsite and I couldn't resist the drunken delights of the 18 year old girls! This year however I have vowed to be more strict with myself and would like a progect somewhere in Scotland. I have had a look around the internet and library but have so far found nothing that has lit the spark of adventure within me. I am planning a Trip to Roslyn Chappel in 2003 but don't really want to visit it until my knowledge of the grail histories is up to scratch. Ideally I would like to look into some kind of earth mystery, something that has not been deeply researched and would be a good project for a relative novice. I will probably be going for about four weeks, one of the benefits of being freelance is that I decide how many weeks holiday I have!
If anyone has any ideas or is interested in perhaps joining me on my camping adventures I would love to know.

cheers all,

Garlico.
 
You could do a lot worse than try Kilmartin Glen. The village of Kilmartin is between Lochgilphead and Oban on the west coast of Scotland. There are supposedly 350 ancient sites, 150 of them prehistoric, within six miles of the village. There is a museum, Kilmartin House, which used to have a website that I now can't find. Amongst other things the area has the greatest concentration of cup and ring rock carvings anywhere in Europe.

I'm a bit of a sceptic on the sly but I have to admit that Rosslyn Chapel is a beautiful and intriguing site. However it's attracted new-age ju-ju like a cows arse attracts flies. I wouldn't dream of putting you off - the opposite in fact. I think you should go before you bone up on grail theory rather than after. I don't wish to criticise anyones beliefs or interests but I think places like Rosslyn can get smothered by the amount of head-baggage people take with them.
 
What about the north east of Scotland. Grampian region apparently has more stone circles than anywhere else in Britain. Julian cope wrote a lot about them in 'The Modern Antiquarian'.

Cujo
 
why not try peru, it's expensive to get there at around £500 return but if you can take a tent, you will be suprised how cheap it is when you get there, you can get on a campsite for aboout 70p a night, breakfast will cost around 50p and i even had an argument witha barman because his beer was over priced at 30p a pint.

when you get there it's clear its a very fortean place, as well as all the famous areas of fortean interest ( nazca lines etc ) you will be blown away with ghost towns and ancient monaliths round every corner. they even have a cyber cafe in the middle of the jungle.
 
You might want to go and visit one or two of the Vitrified forts around Scotland.

Nobody has ever really explained how the stones have been melted when it requires such a high & sustained constant temperature to do it. Considering they are usually well up a hill and with the Scottish weather the way it is it is baffling how they are they way they are. Sore are even vitrified from above!
 
If you're going to Scotland, you should try to get to Callanish stone circle on the Hebrides. MUCH more atmospheric and impressive than Stonehenge or Avebury.
 
I told you we needed a Fortean Places forum months ago! But does anyone listen to me? Do they buggery. Oh, no -"There goes Spook talking shite again", they said. Don't mind me, I'll just sit here in the dark. No it's alright I've just got something in me eye. I'll be okay in a minute.

Oh, while you're at it you could try stopping off in Edinburgh for a couple of days. A more Fortean city you couldn't wish to meet. And wintermute is spot on about Callanish.
 
We already had a thread on Fortean places in Scotland (but I can't be bothered to search for it now - yawn).
 
Cheers for all the ideas, Peru sounds great, buit I dont think my battered renault five will make it there, also £500 is a little more than the £200 it will cost to camp in Britain for 3 weeks. Kilmartin Glen looks like it could be a winner, although the outstanding elagance of callanish also causes a stir from within!:)
 
What about the Orkneys? Loadsa places there - Scara Brae, Maes Howe, the Ring of Brodgar, to mention but three, plus they have their own brewery and distillery (with free samples if you visit . . .)

Carole
 
If you haven't already found it yet garlico the website for Kilmartin House is here.
Hope it's of some use.
 
Fortean Holidays

talking to a mate of mine over the weekend who works at Chillingham Castle (frequently voted Englands most haunted castle) and he tells me that although the Castle isnt selling iteslf as a ghost watcher type holiday venue, the number of visitors attracted by the places spooky reputation is on the inctease.

they have a pretty good 'Ghosts' section of their website here

he tells me more people are spooked by bumping into other ghost botherers silently stalking the corridors at night and that reports of screams in the night are usually attributable to two parties spotting each other down darkened corridors after midnight.

but not always....
 
Ooo spooky! Not sure I'd be brave enough to walk around these places at night. :eek:
I went to Warwick Castle a few years back and there is meant to be a ghost there of a Lord (can't remember his name) who was killed by his servant. When we got home, I found out from the back of the postcards I'd bought that the day this Lord was killed was the day we had visited the castle!! :eek!!!!: What chances were there of that happening?

Well, about 1 in 366 I guess. ;)
 
Fortean tourism

We have esoteric tourism with people chasing the Da Vinci Code and treading the well worn paths to Renne Le Chateau, Rosslyn, etc. Loch Ness doe very well from its cryptid. Now this article looks at UFO tourism:

Scots UFO capital set to twin with Roswell

By Bob Smyth

BONNYBRIDGE and the US city of Roswell are set to become twin towns because of their famed UFO links.

An advance party from the Scots town dubbed the UFO Capital of the World will “beam down” in March to make first contact with the New Mexico community that has become a Mecca for devotees of flying saucers from around the globe.

Falkirk Council’s Deputy Provost Billy Buchanan, who is councillor for Bonnybridge, is to take a delegation to Roswell to make a presentation about the plan at a meeting of the city council.

Notoriety

The move comes after he contacted Roswell’s mayor about the communities cashing in on their UFO notoriety.

Councillor Buchanan said, “Roswell has responded positively to the idea of becoming Bonnybridge’s twin, or ‘sister’, as the Americans call it.

“We have formed the Lights of Bonnybridge Twinning Group and we aim to take about eight people on a five-day visit.”

The Roswell Incident in 1947 led to claims that a flying saucer had crashed in the area and that bodies had been recovered from the wreck. The US military initially admitted an alien craft was involved, but later backtracked and the incident has been shrouded in mystery and rumour ever since.

A major draw is the city’s International UFO Museum and Research Centre.

Bonnybridge hopes to have its own version of the attraction. Earlier this year we revealed a planning application had been lodged for a UFO visitor centre in the town.

Backing

Among those who could be in the delegation to Roswell is Dutch entrepreneur Gerrit Wals, who owns an Argyll holiday park and is giving financial backing to the visitor centre plan.

Councillor Buchanan added, “Roswell has a population of just 50,000 but it’s a draw for thousands of tourists interested in the UFO phenomenon. That pumps millions into the local economy.

“While they have had one famous incident, we have had thousands of strange sightings in the sky above the town since 1992.

“We’ve been thrust into the world spotlight, with TV documentaries and UFO conferences, and it’s no wonder we’re called the UFO Capital of the World.

“However, we want to emphasise both places have more to offer than UFOs and we hope to take along people with tourism and business links to promote more general commercial tie-ups.

“The Falkirk Provost has told me he’ll be writing to Roswell, too.”

Roswell Mayor Bill Owen said, “We welcome the delegation coming to discuss the twinning idea. It would appear to be an interesting possibility that would benefit both our communities.”
Click to expand...

Source
 
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