Top 50 Fortean Locations

[Breakfastologist]

Callanais on Lewis. By far the most atmospheric stone circle I have been to- accessible and unspoilt.

 

[Anonymous]

O.K. Folks
We,ve covered most of England, Wales a bit of Scotland Egypt once China and South America so how about Ireland
There's newgrange as old as the pyramids with the added bonus of internal lighting at dawn on the soltices, Nowth and Douth which are near by are also worth a mention.

The Giants causway a natural formation of hexagolal stone.

Balinaspittal home of the origional moving statue if you want more miracles there's Knock shrine (and international airport)

Like most people I could spend hours retelling local ghost stories most from friend of a friend but some from personal experienceand that goes without mention of fairies, banshee or leprachuans (which personally I've never heard any stories)

for the cryptozoologist there's half a dozen lakes with strange inhabitants along the river Shannon alone.

So I propose Ireland be included in the Top 50 of world Strangness






80% of success is showing up

 

[gyrtrash]

If we're talking about places with a certain 'atmosphere', might I suggest the following:

Maes Howe, Orkney

Carole

And you don't have to visit now!

You can watch the webcam (well, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.! Just hope they get some cool sunsets...)

MaesHowe webcam

 

[SoundDust]

Ilkley Moor

and not just because of that song

Wheear 'as ta bin sin ah saw thee,
On Ilkla Moor baht 'at?!
Wheear 'as ta bin sin ah saw thee?
Wheear 'as ta bin sin ah saw thee?
On Ilkla Moor baht 'at?!
On Ilkla Moor baht 'at?!
On Ilkla Moor baht 'at?!

 

[gyrtrash]

Ilkley Moor

and not just because of that song

Ah yes! I know it, quite well;-

some idle wanderings...

 

[SimonBurchell]

Bluebell Hill, Kent, complete with all its phantom hitchhikers, disappearing road accident victims and bizarre figures which leap out in front of cars.

And Dartmoor (all of it) is an extremely weird place...

 

[Min Bannister]

1 licence to roam freely in Glamis Castle for me please. Oh and several of my friends, more likely to spot something you understand, not because I'm scared or anything.

I'd also like to go to Dartmoor, been round the edge a few times but would love to explore properly. With a friend. Or possibly several.

 

[Stormkhan]

Reculver Towers in Kent is a strangely atmospheric place, especially at midnight when supposed "happenings" occur.

This has nothing to do with the King Ethelbert pub not 50 yards away ... Wychwood "Circlemaster" is the brew that should be enjoyed by Forteans!

 

[OneWingedBird]

and of corse whitly (sp?) bay deserves an honerable mention for fictional forteania and Dracula lovers.

That's Whitby, North Yorkshire

not Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear

Which IIRC is only famous for bad 80s pop acts performing at the ice rink there...

 

[Stormkhan]

*Sob!* You bring back memories of Toyah performing at Butlins! Oh, the degredation! The inhumanity!

 

[OneWingedBird]

The thought of Throbbing Gristle performing at Pontins is worse (and it's still to come).

 

[Anonymous]

Hellfire Caves, West Wycombe.

 

[ProfessorF]

Roche Rock in Cornwall.

A Victorian folly but looks like something out of LOTR.

No, not a Hobbit!

Was up there at sunrise the other day - I thought it was dated back further than the Victorian era though?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v634/ ... 500052.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v634/ ... 500057.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v634/ ... 500075.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v634/ ... 500092.jpg

Well worth a visit. Nothing like going somewhere new, that may or may not be haunted, especially in the morning twilight. And then remembering not to fall off the top of the rock.

 

[Krepostnoi]

Pardon me while I do a bit of resurrection man stuff. *lays down shovel* Phew, that's better. Quite a good list, this. What would we add or remove, two decades on?

Personally, I still think Stanton Drew stands up, and I've just posted elsewhere about my most recent visit. Avebury is always worth a detour, while the Uffington White Horse is worth a pilgrimage. Duloe in Cornwall is plain magic. The City of Troy in North Yorkshire is a very special place to me. Newgrange in Ireland made me burst into tears when I first glimpsed it from the shuttle bus service that takes you onto the site.

However:

Hi all, first (ish) post, nice to know ya....
Have to agree with Marion and Snowman - I love Glastonbury, although the town has gone downhill of late....
and Borley Rectory? Hoooooooooooo!
Wierd dtuff goes on there, seen more than enough documentaries on it, would love to see it...
and what about Avebury and Stonhenge. Especially Avebury, as you can get right into the thick of it...(hard not to really)
Took a couple of sceptics dowsing there and reallly showed them a thing or two!!!

This made me laugh, nineteen years later. I was there last week, and with the exception of the Tor, which remains a glorious experience, the rest of the town just seemed tawdry and drab. The two blokes in the jeep who had pulled up at the White Spring and were in the process of filling dozens of jerry cans just seemed to sum the place up.

 

[SimonBurchell]

Pardon me while I do a bit of resurrection man stuff. *lays down shovel* Phew, that's better. Quite a good list, this. What would we add or remove, two decades on?

Personally, I still think Stanton Drew stands up, and I've just posted elsewhere about my most recent visit. Avebury is always worth a detour, while the Uffington White Horse is worth a pilgrimage. Duloe in Cornwall is plain magic. The City of Troy in North Yorkshire is a very special place to me. Newgrange in Ireland made me burst into tears when I first glimpsed it from the shuttle bus service that takes you onto the site.

However:

This made me laugh, nineteen years later. I was there last week, and with the exception of the Tor, which remains a glorious experience, the rest of the town just seemed tawdry and drab. The two blokes in the jeep who had pulled up at the White Spring and were in the process of filling dozens of jerry cans just seemed to sum the place up.

Bluebell Hill, Kent, complete with all its phantom hitchhikers, disappearing road accident victims and bizarre figures which leap out in front of cars.

And Dartmoor (all of it) is an extremely weird place...

First, thank you for resurrecting this thread, great stuff.

Second, my first thought was to see if anyone had mentioned Blue Bell Hill and Dartmoor... and was surprised, and pleased, to see that I did so myself... 19 years ago! I did, however, neglect to mention the megaliths at Blue Bell Hill, Kit's Coty House, Little Kit's Coty house, and the White Horse Stone. I found the whole area to have a brooding atmosphere in spite of the busy roads criss-crossing it:

To that, I would add Kingley Vale and the Devil's Humps, on the South Downs, about which I have posted elsewhere... With some photos here.

 

[Tunn11]

Hermitage Castle. Associated stories/legends but is very atmospheric.

https://www.historicenvironment.scot/visit-a-place/places/hermitage-castle/

 

[Ogdred Weary]

Nan-Madol.

http://www.nan-madol.com/

 

[JahaRa]

Harte Canyon, outside of Aztec, NM; White Sands state park, New Mexico; Roswell, NM & the bottomless lakes near there. Marfa, TX (mystery lights). There is an old prison in Philadelphia, PA that is supposed to be haunted. Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico (where the natives slaughtered a whole regiment of Spainards who were planning on slaughtering them)

 

[Earthly oddity]

First, thank you for resurrecting this thread, great stuff.

Second, my first thought was to see if anyone had mentioned Blue Bell Hill and Dartmoor... and was surprised, and pleased, to see that I did so myself... 19 years ago! I did, however, neglect to mention the megaliths at Blue Bell Hill, Kit's Coty House, Little Kit's Coty house, and the White Horse Stone. I found the whole area to have a brooding atmosphere in spite of the busy roads criss-crossing it:

View attachment 54207

To that, I would add Kingley Vale and the Devil's Humps, on the South Downs, about which I have posted elsewhere... With some photos here.

It is a shame they had to put a fence around those stones.

 

[Spudrick68]

How have I missed this thread?

I need to plot these places and get to as many as I can.

 

[SimonBurchell]

To that, I would add Kingley Vale and the Devil's Humps, on the South Downs, about which I have posted elsewhere... With some photos here.

I just revisited Kingley Vale last week... here's a pic of another spooky tree, inhabited by the tortured souls of fallen Viking warriors (well, maybe):

 

[Bad Bungle]

A personal favourite is the remains of a gibbet last used in 1699 (Jonah Snell) in Potsford woods near Wickham Market (Suffolk).



If you can find it ..

 

[Kondoru]

Two minutes and a map?

 

[Bad Bungle]

Forty-five minutes and a road atlas. Made finding it so much sweeter.

 

[Patrick30]

I’d like to see a US list.
I’ll start
Bonaventure Cemetary, Savannah GA
Sloss Furnace, supposedly haunted abandoned steel mill in Birmingham AL
Just about any location along Hwy 61 thru the Mississippi Delta, ghosts of slaves and poor sharecroppers, cruel masters, and bluesmen who sold their soul.
Mt Pleasant WV-Mothman
New Jersey Pine Barrens-Jersey Devil

Since we don’t have any really old stuff in the US other than native sites and nature it seems to me most of the truly Fortean places are out in the sticks. Anywhere there’s few people, from the deserts to the high plains and mountains to the tropical and sub tropical deep woods and thickets. Just about any random middle of nowhere US is a good location for a Fortean experience.
I’d like to see a list of some of these off the beaten path locations.

 

[Marwood]

There's three infamous trees near to us in Grovely Woods...there was another but it got blown over!
Each one represents where each of the four Danish sisters were slaughtered and buried over 200 years ago, accused of being witches by the townsfolk.
You can't miss them, they're so gnarly compared to the rest of the trees...plus people keep hanging stuff on them!

 

[Bad Bungle]

Since we don’t have any really old stuff in the US other than native sites and nature it seems to me most of the truly Fortean places are out in the sticks. Anywhere there’s few people, from the deserts to the high plains and mountains to the tropical and sub tropical deep woods and thickets. Just about any random middle of nowhere US is a good location for a Fortean experience.
I’d like to see a list of some of these off the beaten path locations.

Saw a US prog on a family who make their money from metal detecting/ treasure hunting, with input from artifact experts and historians. They were following a trail of finds through grassland and over stone walls and the buttons, cap badges and general debris retrieved suggested the transit of a local miltia group. The experts speculated these to be from the Mormon War (1838 possibly, there were several wars in Utah and Missouri). It was the atmosphere of the field/grassland that made me so want to be out there - maybe detect, but mainly just wander through ghosts and hidden history.

 

[maximus otter]

View attachment 54711
There's three infamous trees near to us in Grovely Woods...there was another but it got blown over!
Each one represents where each of the four Danish sisters were slaughtered and buried over 200 years ago, accused of being witches by the townsfolk.
You can't miss them, they're so gnarly compared to the rest of the trees...plus people keep hanging stuff on them!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grovely_Wood#The_Handsel_sisters

maximus otter

 

[Patrick30]

Saw a US prog on a family who make their money from metal detecting/ treasure hunting, with input from artifact experts and historians. They were following a trail of finds through grassland and over stone walls and the buttons, cap badges and general debris retrieved suggested the transit of a local miltia group. The experts speculated these to be from the Mormon War (1838 possibly, there were several wars in Utah and Missouri). It was the atmosphere of the field/grassland that made me so want to be out there - maybe detect, but mainly just wander through ghosts and hidden history.

Have a friend who does a bit of detecting here in North Alabama. His fav places are old homesites on empty small town city lots or scattered rural country sites. His best find so far was a Confederate Army belt buckle.

 

[Jepra Peld]

Dalby, Isle of Man and you can take in Peel Castle too.