Mysterious Places

1000Islands.com is an online resource for the region on the US Canada border where the Great Lake Ontario feeds into the St. Lawrence River. I was interested in the section on shipwrecks.

Henk van Rensbergen’s Abandoned Places website features his photographs of unused buildings and sites in Europe. These dramatic images should inspire any number of adventures in Terra Incognita. See the links page for the work of other like-minded photographers, including some in the United States.

Check the website of these Adventure Specialists for information about some real expeditions into the mysteries of Colorado and Peru.

Africa — Planning an expedition into the Dark Continent? Try the BBC site The Story of Africa for information about African culture, history, geography, religion, &c.

Agartha — SpiritWeb has a nice section on the hollow earth, or Agartha, the Land of Advanced Races. If you need a little crackpot theorizing to tie your TI campaign together, look no further.

Alexandria — Treasures of the Sunken City is the companion website to the PBS special (which was rebroadcast last year) recounting the explorations of Jean Yves Empereur in the sunken city of Alexandria, Egypt. Among the discoveries: the Pharos, one of the seven wonders of the world!

The British Museum hosts a useful primer on Ancient Egypt.

Ancient World Web — An exhaustive annotated online resource concerning matters of ancient history.

Angkor Wat is one of those Places of Mystery that haunt one’s imagination. AngkorWat.org is a thoroughly utile resource devoted to the site.

Cyberspaceorbit.com hosts a wonderfully-hodgepodge page on various Antarctic Anomalies such as Lake Vostok and strange magnetic fields.

Appalachian Ghostwalks.com allows you to plan your walking tour of the paranormal areas that abound in these ancient mountains in the Eastern US.

ArchNet is a clearinghouse of links to archaeological web resources. You’ll find links to museums, topics such as historical archaeology, and fascinating sites such as Developing a Reconstructive Model and Planning System of Hawara Labyrinth Pyramid Complex and The Roman Period Cemeteries.

Atlantis: The lost continent finally found provides numerous serious articles concerning the lost continent.

Atlantis Found… Again — The BBC reports that scientists using satellite photography have once again located the probable site of the lost city of Atlantis, this time in southern Spain.

A-Tlan-Tis — This Ancient Mysteries Newsletter from Dandelion Books posits an Atlantis/Mexico connection. They have an archive of other such nuggets of wisdom, as well as a collection of newsletters on the Unexplained.

Australia the Mysterious— Rex and Heather Gilroy have assembled this ætheric homage to mysteries Down Under: Mysterious Australia. You’ll find a little bit of everything outré from an Australian perspective, including Yowies and enormous cats.

Australia’s Lost Kingdoms — Australia boasts a fascinating evolutionary history. The Australia Museum’s Lost Kingdoms website details the changes of the creatures through time. It is truly fertile ground for setting “Lost World” adventures.

Bannerman Castle — Perched above the Hudson River in New York State is the crumbling ruin of a castle constructed by Francis Bannerman VI, an enigmatic arms dealer. Read a brief story in Archaeology online magazine and then visit the website of the Bannerman Castle Trust.

Berlin in the Underground is trying to sell you a CD ROM, but there is a bit of information and a few images on the website, and the premise of a tour of subterranean Berlin is tempting.

It’s hard to believe, but the NAGS Society has not yet Dispatched a link to Bermuda-Triangle.org, “a journey into mysteries of the sea.” One interesting story (which has little to due with the triangle but rather the North Carolina coast) is the story of the Carroll A. Deering, a ghost ship from the ’20s.

Bolivian Atlantis — Devoted to the theory that Atlantis was located in South America.

Bosnia — The Times Online ran an article last year concerning a mysterious geological feature in Bosnia — a hill that contain a buried pyramid.

Caves — If you get the urge to explore terra incognita yourself, or just want to conduct a little research, you can find out more about those dark places from the National Speleological Society website. For still more, try the Cave Page.

CIA World Factbook — There’s nothing like a roleplaying game to necessitate facts at a moment’s notice. For geographical queries, try the CIA World Factbook for the lowdown on anyplace in terra incognita.

Here’s an article from the Fortean Times on England‘s mysterious Clapham Wood.

Conversation for Exploration looks to be an interesting radio talk show (the archives of which are easily accessible online) that treats all of our favorite topics of mystery. Here’s a story about a giant Chinese pyramid, for example.

Darkplaces.co.uk is “an independent meeting point for all explorers to chat, meet, share information, show off pictures and videos about exploring Urban and Underground places of Interest. We explore Drains, Quarries, Mines, Bunkers, Abandoned Buildings and anything else with history. ‘We shall not cease from exploration.’”

DeMille’s Lost City — Here’s a website devoted to a lost city of another sort — the set to Cecil B. DeMille’s epic movie The Ten Commandments, which the director ordered to be buried when shooting was completed. This sounds like the beginnings of a lovely TI, CoC, or d20 Modern adventure.

Derelict London is a website devoted to images of London’s abandoned or otherwise forgotten gems — buildings, tube stations, cemeteries, &c. They are terrific inspiration for certain kinds of campaigns.

The Discoverers Web site contains a wealth of information about the intrepid explorers of terra incognita. Articles and links are grouped by historical period, geographical region, and individual explorers.

The Spirit of Adventure is most certainly to be found on the Earthbound Adventures website, specializing in “adventure travel to the Himalayan countries of Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan, and India.”

Earth-Keeper.com is a great resource for those working on Professor Challenger’s “Living Earth” thesis.

The website of the Easter Island Foundation provides a variety of useful links on the subject, including maps and resources on travelling to the island itself.

Egypt —

You can count on our associates at the National Geographic Society to bring us the scoop on Egypt: The Secrets of an Ancient World.

The Egypt File includes downloadable maps, links to articles from NG Magazine, and links to other sites of interest.

Egypt: Land of Eternity is a rather old site which still holds a few interesting tidbits.

Here is an article from Tour Egypt concerning the search for hidden chambers within Egyptian pyramids.

Epigraphic Survey — Founded by famed Egyptologist James Henry Breasted, the Epigraphic Survey preserves Egyptian antiquities through non–destructive means such as photography and detailed line drawing. The site holds a wealth of information and images regarding the survey.

Find A Grave makes available online, in searchable format (Actors, Geographic Location,Victims of crime and disaster, &c.) millions of cemetery records, along with dates of birth and death and brief biographies. Thoroughly useful.

Ghost in my Suitcase.com is none other than “your guide to haunted travel in America.” The Haunted Places link takes you to many states, though, sadly, none in North Carolina….

One can never explore too many ghost towns. Here is the Ghost Town Webring, devoted to forgotten communities in the US that refuse to disappear.

Giants in the Earth — Here’s a bit of scholarship that giants (mentioned in the Bible) who were once in the Earth, were really there.

Gilgamesh’s Tomb — As this year-old BBC Online story relates, some scientists in Iraq think that they have uncovered the tomb of Gilgamesh, hero of the 4500 year old epic.

The aptly-named Gimghoul Castle is proof that one can find spooky environs in one’s backyard. Here’s a bit on the Legend of Gimghoul from iBiblio and another tidbit on the legend from the Carrboro.com site.

Global Education Resources — Ohio State University hosts a wonderful collection of “Global Education” resources concerning five areas of the world: Africa, East Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Slavic & Eastern Europe. There are numerous links to online information concerning the history, culture, and politics of these regions.

GreatBuildings.com is a useful resource for information of your favorite edifices. You can search the archives by building type or time period to find photos and many 3D walk-throughs using the free Design Workshop Lite software (which even works on Macintosh!).

The Great Pyramid of Giza Research Association website is a clearinghouse of information about this wonder of the ancient world. And for those with television access to the American Fox network, tune in Monday, September 16 at 8 P.M. (Eastern Time) to see the “Opening of Gantenbrink’s Door” with a cool robotic gadget — the first time non-Nags have seen this part of the Pyramid!

Great Pyramid — Search for Kinnaman's Entrance by Stephen Mehler — An informative article, first published in World Explorer Magazine.

Guatemala Sinkhole — The National Geographic News webpage reported in February on the massive sinkhole which opened in Guatemala City. At 330 feet, it could hold two Statues of Liberty.

HauntedHouse.com is an excellent resource for finding haunted houses, building haunted houses, buying stuff related to haunted houses, and meeting other folks interested in haunted houses.

Hollow Earth - 24 Day Trip — Steve Curry’s Expedition Company is planning a trip to the Earth’s hollow core, departing June 26, 2005, and reasonably priced just shy of $19,000 US. (I’m sure Mr. Curry is a former member of the NAGS Society; I’ll have to check the membership roll). For more on the expedition organizers’ inspiration, see the pdf book World Top Secret: Our Earth is Hollow.

V-J Enterprises host a nice webpage discussing the niceties of the Hollow Earth Hypothesis.

The Hollow Earth Insider (a perfect name) is Dennis Crenshaw’s attempt to promulgate the truth on such matters.

Apparently the discovery of the Hollow Earth has been patented. Read the details from Mark Harp.

Hollow Earth Images — Perhaps everyone else has begun using Google’s image search engine, but it’s new to me. Take a favorite topic, such as the Hollow Earth, for example, and one is presented with a smorgasbord of inspirational images, maps, &c. Thoroughly useful for putting together adventures and player hand-outs.

Hollow Planets is Jan Lamprecht’s feasibility study for the (quite reasonable) hypothesis that Mercury, Venus, and the Earth, are in fact hollow. You can read news reports, listen to radio interviews, and then, once you truly believe, buy the book.

Horemheb’s Tomb — Osirisnet.net is a fabulous resource for researching ancient Egyptian architecture, among other things. Have a look at the maps and graphical reconstructions of General Horemheb’s tomb.

Going underground in New York, one could explore the Hudson Tubes, now home to the PATH trains, and one of the earliest subway systems.

The Inca Trail, Machu Picchu and Mysterious Peru. The name says it all.

Indonesian Lost Kingdom — This news is almost a year old, but scientists have uncovered the remains of a “Lost Kingdom” in Indonesia, buried in “the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history” in 1815.

I had no idea that the Isle of Wight was ”the world’s most haunted island,” though I suppose the name should have given me a clue….

The Khemri Project is a source of inspiration and images for Egyptian adventures.

For those who like to do gaming research first hand, Ladatco Tours advertises a Mystery Explorer package, a 21 day tour “Highlighting Ancient Mysteries of Peru, Bolivia, and Chile.”

Visit Lake Vostok, a mysterious body of water in the midst of Antarctica.

Occult-Advances.org provides a wonderful scholarly treatise on the Language of the Lost City of Atlantis, as reconstructed from its descendents, ancient and modern.

Library of Alexandria — For those Nags who have overdue books to return to the famous Library, here is a brief article discussing The Mysterious Fate of the Great Library of Alexandria.

LLactapata — This brief report from Netscape/CNN reveals that archæologists have discovered the ruins of Llactapata, a lost city in the Andes, and quite nearby the famous Machu Picchu.

London — For images of a fae haunted city, see the Collage website, a database of 20,000 images of London. Diane Burstein offers walking tours of Secret London. See the website for a taste.

The Old London Bridge, although predating the Victorian/pulp Terra Incognita timeline, was a fabulous setting for a variety of adventure games. The bridge was a community unto itself, with houses, shops, and a chapel. Wikipedia offers a précis of the bridge’s history while the BBC offers a virtual tour.

London Underground — I discovered this informative Wikipedia entry on the topic. The thing that I found invaluable, and perhaps everyone else already knew this, is that the Wikipedia has entries for every year. For example, see the entry on 1863, the year the Underground opened — day by day events. Simply amazing. Underground History is the website devoted to those dark and disused corners of the London Underground subway system, which of course is where all the interesting stuff happens.

Like nearly everything these days, Lost Prehistorica is intended for fantasy campaigns, but the enterprising historical roleplayer might just find bits of inspiration here and there. “Packed full of new playable races, information upon long lost cultures, lost continents, nomadic tribes and settings specific monsters, this book could be just what you need to spark a whole new range of adventures in a land untouched by time where dinosaurs still roam!” The book is a 3.5 MB pdf file for $6.95 US from RPGNow.

Sweetwater, Tennessee (USA) is built atop the world’s largest subterranean lake — The Lost Sea. The website is bare bones, but eminently useful for inspiration.

Vincent Bridges hosts the Magickal Mystery Tours site, which hosts actual tours of Places of Mystery, as well as providing some great online information about chestnuts such as Fulcanelli and the Mystery of the Cathedrals.

The Marine Biology website has a nice section on ocean mysteries such as monsters, mermaids, and the Bermuda Triangle. The site is also a great reference for marine creatures of all sorts.

Mazes and Labyrinths by W.H. Matthews (1922) is a fascinating account of the history of these enigmas. Read it online from Sacred-Texts.com.

Mu — FlyerTalk — “The world’s most popular frequent flyer community” — features an interesting post by a flyer who travelled to the Orient in order to dive to the sunken continent of Mu. It is refreshing to se that the Spirit of Adventure is still alive in the world.

Museum of Unnatural Mystery — A recommended primer on all things outré.

Mysteries of the Minoans — Provides some background, timelines, and links concerning the mysterious culture of ancient Crete. There is even a handy connection to the lost continent of Atlantis. Best of all, one of the Minoan languages, Linear A, is still undeciphered!

Mysterious Africa — an “InstaBlog” site — contains some inspirational images of the people, flora, fauna, and terrain of modern Africa.

Mysterious Islands: Forgotten Tales of the Great Lakes is a website promoting a book and video of the same name that explores some of these mysterious spots.

Mysterious Places — Notable for photographs taken by the site's author.

If you’re looking for images of your favorite mysterious places, here are a couple of sites of interest: the Mysterious Places and Artifacts Photo Gallery and Mysterious Places Stock Photos.

NationalMuseet — While the text is in Swedish (I think) which I don’t read, the NationalMuseet site features scads of scans of pictures from 19th century African colonies.

Modern Ruins — Shaun O’Boyle’s photographs of modern ruins can provide inspiration for interesting locations for your TI adventures.

Mysteries of the Deep — New Scientist.com features an informative article about the Mysteries of the Deep.

Here is an online tour of some of New Orleans’ cemeteries, which are all-the-more creepy by being above ground.

OrientalArchitecture.com is a collection of photographs of famous and architecturally significant structures throughout Asia. Great for researching the setting of your next Far East Adventure.

If you happen to find yourself in Oxford, England, you can visit Oxford Castle:

The walled site has been used as a place of incarceration since 1071, continuing until the closure of HM Prison in 1996. The old buildings have been preserved and are now open to the public revealing a time capsule – allowing the buildings to tell their story.

Experience the austere confines of the 18th-century Debtors’ Tower and Prison D-wing and the dark atmosphere of the 900 year old underground Crypt; marvel at the Mound of the 11th-century motte and bailey castle with vaulted well chamber; climb the Saxon St George’s Tower, now open for the first time in its history, and enjoy its stunning 360° panoramic views over Oxford.

Oz — Certainly within the TI timeline but worlds away geographically, L. Frank Baum’s Oz is a classic American fantasy setting. The Piglet Press Oz Encyclopedia is an excellent online resource for the multifarious world of Oz, including entries on all the characters, places, as well as links to interpretive articles. If you only know of Oz through the movie, try reading one of the original books by Baum — it’s well worth your time.

The Curse of Palmyra Island provides a concise overview of the mystery surrounding this Pacific island, courtesy of Labyrinth 13.

Paris Catacombs — The Wikipedia has a nice entry on the famous catacombs beneath Paris, complete with photographs.

Petra — Here’s a bit from the online version of Archaeology Magazine on the Great Temple at Petra.

Mark Rigby’s World of Egypt is a helpful site for researching background information when your adventures extend to Egypt. There is a nice piece on the pyramids, Tut’s tomb (with a map), a chronology, and a series of pages on the Egyptian Museum. All well worth your time.

Rome — Anyone planning a Roman recursion should plan for a visit to Virtual Roma. The site features images, chronologies, treatises on Roman currency, and other sundries that can fill those knowledge gaps.

Rongo-Rongo: The Easter Island Tablets discusses the mysterious writing found on the island.

Rub Al Khali — or the Empty Quarter — is the Central Arabian region reclaimed by the desert. This website will point you towards some of its more interesting secrets, including the afore-Dispatched Atlantis of the Sands, the lost city of Ubar.

SacredSites.com is a great jump off point for learning about those crucial sites that invite adventure.

San Francisco — Haunted Bay would seem to be a website devoted to the spooky side of San Francisco.

San Splendido — If you’re looking for a banana republic to invade with your new Caribbean Empires figures from Brigade Games, Tom Mouat has created just such a place in San Splendido. The setting was apparently used for educational games to teach defense policy — suffice it to say that it features lots of interesting tidbits, including a scenario or two.

If you can’t get to London itself, the virtual Secret London Walks will give you a taste for the mystery.

Secrets of Japan — The NAGS Society has been patiently awaiting a sourcebook for mysterious Japan — leave it to Chaosium to come through. Secrets of Japan by Michael Dziesinski is currently at the printer and expected in July (348 p., $34.95 US). While intended for modern day adventures, I’m sure there will be enough historical information to sate the appetite.

Seven Wonders — Alaa K. Ashmawy has assembled a wonderful site devoted to the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Check out the Other Wonders page for some other wondrous sites around the world.

Sewer History — I suppose one could guess that there would be a website devoted to the history of sewers.

Showcaves features clickable maps that will guide you to the world’s many caves. Show caves are those with lights and tour guides available;— not those visited by members of the NAGS Society, but perhaps by gamers in quest of inspiration.

The South American Explorers website is useful for factual information about travel in South and Central America. Of particular interest is the article concerning theories about Easter Island.

The Sphinx Temple has links and articles about my favorite Egyptian monument, the Giza Sphinx.

Stonehenge — Being the summer solstice, one feels strangely compelled to participate in Druidic rites at Stonehenge….

The Stone Pages Web Guide to Megalithic Europe is an extremely informative guide to ancient stone structures our forebears bequeathed to us.

Submarine Adventures —

Aquanef, from Wessex Games and not yet available will be the submarine component of Les Guerres Extraordinaires VSF universe (which already includes Aeronef, Land Ironclads, and Voyages Extraordinaires).

Aquazone is another free game on the web, also with inspirational images. The rules are based on Full Thrust.

Beneath the Waves was a game in development from Planned Movement Production. The site included a draft of the rules and some cool images of their largish submarines, some constructed from Pringles cans! The Beneath the Waves stuff is all gone from their website. I was able to resurrect some of it using the Wayback Machine (thanks again for the reminder, Warren, and to Mr. Peabody for inventing it) though you’ll have to dig through all of the listed files to find the relevant files, should you care to. The Wayback link to the former index for the site doesn’t lead directly to the individual files.

Depth Factor was another free online game, also based on Full Thrust. I could get to the index easily via the Wayback Machine, and I’m certain with diligent digging, one might unearth the remainder of the site’s information.

Stingray is free online, based on an English television show. The website has rules and lots of inspirational imagery of a scratchbuilt undersea environment.

Here is a photo essay from the US Geological Survey depicting a submarine cave beneath the Caribbean island of Navassa.

Here are excerpts from what are no doubt scholarly works on subterranean river canyons of California.

One could have guessed that there would be a Wikipedia about the Subterranean rivers of London.

Subterranean Seattle — When one imagines mysterious subterranean labyrinths, one generally calls to mind ancient European cities such as Paris or Rome. The work of the NAGS Society has revealed the existence of similar ruins beneath the rain drenched streets of Seattle, Washington. Have a look at the Wikipedia-based Seattle Underground Tour.

In this excerpt from Subterranean Worlds, Timothy Beckley describes a number of entrances to the world beneath.

Teotihuacan: City of the Gods — The NAGS Society is particularly interested in ongoing exploration of Teotihuacan, near Mexico City. This site maintained by Arizona State University offers some background, movies, maps, &c. Count on Crystalinks to have an informative page on that fascinating, pyramided Mexican city of the dead, Teotihuacan. And here’s a nearly ten year old article concerning the discovery of a tomb in one of the pyramids.

Tombs! — Mysterious, ancient burial places can be the heart of many a TI adventure. While intended for fantasy games, Dreaming Merchant Press’ new pdf release, Tombs!, is a 44 page guide to tomby adventuring. (Note: I’ve only read the description at RPG Now, not the file itself—if any one does get to read it, feel free to send a review).

Ubar, the Lost City — Here is the website for the PBS Nova special on the search for Ubar, the Lost City of Arabia.

Underground History is a website devoted to disused stations on the London tube.

National Geographic Magazine reported back in March that divers have been mapping what is likely the world’s longest underground river in Mexico.

The website of the Advisory Council on Underwater Archæology provides a wealth of links to websites on the subject, including guidance on one could merge one’s gaming and work worlds by studying to become such an archæologist….

The Cyberpursuits Underwater & Maritime Archaeology website collects a plethora of links concerning the mysteries of the deep.

The Public Broadcasting System (PBS) has created a website in support of the show Underwater Dream Machine which describes Peter Robbins’ quest to build a submersible. There’s a tiny bit on the history of submersible craft and the inspiration from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

UnexplainedEarth is “the online journal of [Chris Maier’s] personal accounts of exploring mysterious places and unexplained phenomena.” This one is commercial — about $7.00 US — and I’ve not yet bit for it, so I can’t comment on the quality. The photographs look beautiful, however.

the Unquiet Tomb offers photo essays recording visits to abandoned or historic buildings, cemeteries, and oddities.

For those who prefer reality to imagination, Urban Adventure details the quite likely illegal activities of “drain exploration, college tunnels, abandoned buildings, catacombs and other Urban Exploration around the world.”

The Urban Exploration Ring is a collection of websites describing and depicting elicit explorations of urban infrastructure such as sewers, steam pipes, tunnels, &c. Such exploits are right out of my suburban youth and thus undoubtedly went into my subconscious, later to emerge in Terra Incognita.

Vanishing Point— Stephen Goodfellow offers some interesting mathematical philosophizing about the master plan behind the Pyramids at Giza.

Washington, DC — The Secret Architecture of Our Nation‘s Capital: The Masons and the Building of Washington, D.C. by David Ovason looks to be a fascinating read.

Waterworld — When a nefarious villain comes up with a plan to reflect solar radiation onto the polar ice caps in order to restore the Earth to prehistoric times, one might wonder just what the new coastlines might look like. As one might expect, PBS comes to the rescue with the Waterworld website, with a number of maps depicting various coastlines 20,000 years ago, and if the East and West Antarctic ice sheets were to melt. Likely your villain would have just such maps on a screen in order to taunt the heroes.

This one is simple: a list of the world’s deepest caves.

Look to Wreckhunter for all you need to know about shipwrecks and those who seek to uncover them. Among the finds described is the World’s Oldest Wreck!

I’ve never been to Seattle, but if I go, I will head straight to Ye Olde Curiosity Shop.