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Posted: 19-06-2004 16:45 Post subject: Fortean Traveller

9/12/12 - this post previously had a large index of location-related threads. As we now have a dedicated Fortean Traveller section all relevant threads have been moved into this forum.

Many of the threads previously listed were redundant links, subsumed into other threads, etc, and as the remaining ones are now all corralled here the list was no longer needed. Many thanks to H James for compiling it - made my life much easier Smile

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Stu

Posted: 25-06-2004 18:27 Post subject:

Nothing interesting has ever happened in Surrey.

Even when we do get a decent ghost story, like the Silent Pool it turns out to be a victorian fake.

One of my mates did see a ghost near witley station once, though, and we did used to have an abc although that was very local to us and we always suspected that many sightings were of an unusually large black house cat that lived somewhere nearby.

Posted: 25-06-2004 19:38 Post subject:

I bet surrey isn't really a Fortean drought :p
any interesting local history?

Posted: 28-06-2004 14:36 Post subject:

We had a couple of sailors famously murdered nearby in the devil's punchbowl and a local church has a cauldron that belonged to the fairies, but aside from that surprisingly little interesting history to the area. The southern part of the country was pretty much forest for most of history and the soil is very sandy and poor so it didn't really encourage people to live around here.

The villages are quite old, but any sense of local tradition or folklore has broadly been lost as the area became the commuter belt and the local community was increasingly priced out of the area.

Posted: 28-06-2004 22:15 Post subject:

Oh, Breakfast, you are wrong! Go further afield to Kingston-on-Thames. I lived there for a while in a very lucky position-a flat overlooking the market in the town square. My bathroom overlooked the graveyard of the church where some of the Kings of England have been crowned (nope, can't remember which ones, or any years, I think some were wearing those pointy shoes you see in medaeval art!).
It was the best 12 months of my life (I could fall out of bed and into work, many pubs in staggering distance). The building was listed, from C16th I think. I decided to find out some local history about the place and found a shoddy book in Waterstones. On flicking to the "Haunted Kingston" chapter I was shocked, surprised and a little bit sick to see a pencil drawing of my building-listed as the most haunted in the town:eek:
I still love Kingston, it has a lot of history, spooky and otherwise.
I live in Essex now. Wink

Posted: 02-08-2004 21:20 Post subject: The Fortean Traveller

A little input requested here (and I'm not sure if this is the best place for this thread, so any mods out there watching feel free to move it - as if you need my permission Wink

).

I have recently had a little good fortune in the property market, and as a result I have been able to jack in my dreary drudge of 9-to-5 existence (bear with me, there is a point, I'm not just boasting). With some of the cash burning a hole in my bank account I have booked various trips to places I've always wanted to go. What I'm after is any advice on what might be on offer to the discerning Fortean (although these are all organised tours, there should be a chance to have a little unguided time).

Right, destinations are:

Borneo - clearly various cryptids/apemen, but what else is there?
Budapest - no idea what there might be here, but it's a long weekend on the lash with some old school friends, so the only inexplicable thing is likely to be how we got back to the hotel. Still, you never know ...
Nepal - yeti, Shambala, general mysticism. Any specific pointers?
Thailand, Cambodia, Laos - bit of a whistle stop, but what else apart from Angkor, the killing fields, and naga are Fortean.

I will naturally be taking a photo or two or 200, and if anybody's interested I'd be more than happy to share. The only real pain is that I'm flying back from Kathmandu on the 31st October, so I miss Uncon. Boo.

Absolutely any info, recommendations or comments would be most welcome.

Posted: 02-08-2004 21:40 Post subject:

My brother's been to Nepal, I can see what he says. There's a thread in chat all about Escargot's adventures in Hungary. Do ask her.

Congratulations, very happy for you. That's way cool.

Posted: 02-08-2004 21:43 Post subject:

Thank you very much - I am sooooo excited, it's like being a kid again at Christmas! One worry I have is that my flight to Borneo departs on, yes, you guessed it, September 11th. I honestly don't think I'll ever be able to be 100% comfortable flying on that particular date. Still, lightning never strikes twice and all that ...

Posted: 02-08-2004 21:45 Post subject:

Budapest- just gorgeous. Fantastic. I absolutely loved the place, beautiful. It's a place with lots of vantage points so you can see for miles, and you can visit every building and monument that takes your eye.

AND you can get to Vienna from there for a day trip. Another stunning city.

Posted: 02-08-2004 21:51 Post subject:

Excellent - the Budapest trip totally came out of nowhere - one of my friends rang up and said "Do you fancy going to Budapest for a long weekend?", I checked my incredibly hectic diary, and said "Okely-dokely!"

Is it one of those places that is fantastic in nice weather, but you just know it would be truly spell-binding in the midst of a gripping winter? That's how I felt about Prague (another superbly Fortean city IMHO) - stunning in June, but I would love to see Wenceslas Square covered in frost, with skeins of snow being blown across it ...

That's given me the shivers just thinking about it Smile

Posted: 02-08-2004 22:13 Post subject:

The river is very wide and has lots of bridges to wander along, gawping at the astonishing views. In the caves above, there are giant bats to ride on. Cool

Well, you could have a look at the 'does anyone know anything about Hungary?' thread on here. Smile

Take binoculars.

Posted: 02-08-2004 22:58 Post subject:

I think I might just do that - thanks for all the info Very Happy

Posted: 07-08-2004 21:16 Post subject:

bump (hope no one minds, I've added Italy)

Posted: 22-08-2004 00:24 Post subject:

For Glasgow you can't beat the Tontine Heads. They're just...look at the slide show and you'll understand.

http://www.glasgowmuseums.com/venue/showExhibition.cfm?venueid=11&itemid=59

Here's the garden it wich they are set:

http://www.glasgowmuseums.com/venue/showProject.cfm?venueid=11&itemid=9

Then there's the Necropolis: a hudge Victorian graveyard (big as in...over 50,000 burials.)

http://www.headstones.fsnet.co.uk/gnecrop.htm

Then there's the Cathedral wich has some nice Green Men.

Posted: 30-10-2004 11:17 Post subject: Local Forteana / folklore

There has just been a lady on excess baggage (Radio 4) called Sue Clifford this morning (30th October) talking about local folklore and a project to document it as part of a common ground project. I suppose if anyone reads this within 7 days they should be able to listen to it on the Listen again feature on Radio 4s website (link below: click on listen to most recent Excess baggage)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/excessbaggage/

Mr P