FORTEAN (ARMCHAIR) TRAVELLER
Virtual voyages
Travel restrictions, lockdowns and short, cold winter days have kept many an adventurous fortean housebound these last couple of months. Even though there is hope of release on the horizon, a return to the pre-pandemic days of carefree travel is still some way off. So what’s a curious mind with itchy feet to do, to while away the long, dark evenings? Well thankfully, plenty of fascinating and strange places – and even some alternative realities – are available to explore online. Lately I’ve been popping into Rosslyn Chapel at lunchtime, followed by dinner on the Giza plateau – and there’s still time for a trip to outer space with a mug of Horlicks before bed…
ANCIENT TEMPLES
I love a good ruin, and they don’t come much more laden with mystical baggage than
Stonehenge. Was it erected by Merlin, aliens, or stone-age people with a space-age grasp of astronomy? In the immortal words of Spinal Tap’s Nigel Tufnell: “No one knows who they were or what they were doing…” but you can explore their legacy via a live webcam slap-bang in the middle of the circle at ( www.englishheritage.org.uk/visit/places/ stonehenge/history-and-stories/ stonehenge360/). And at ( www. stonehengeskyscape.co.uk/) you can get more information in a self-directed virtual tour, plus some nifty astronomical overlays.
The pyramids and Sphinx of Egypt’s Giza plateau are the focus of at least as many freewheeling theories as Stonehenge. In normal times, the site is easy enough to visit but getting inside the Great Pyramid itself can be trickier. Luckily there’s a good 360° video on Youtube ( www.youtube. com/watch?v=TMzouTzim0o) Harvard University’s Giza project provides navigable 3D models of the monuments and temples in their heyday (http:// giza.fas.harvard.edu/) and you can take a walk around the whole plateau as it is today via Google Streetview (www. google.co.uk/maps/about/ behind-the-scenes/ street view/ treks/pyramids-of-giza/).
Of course, after the ancient aliens had finished in Egypt they popped over to the Americas to knock up a few more pyramids – this time with a funky stepped silhouette. There are lots of touristmade 360° videos of these on YouTube, some good and some less so. A website called www. airpano.com has high quality aerial 360° views of many sites, but the best in my opinion is their view over the Nazca lines of Peru.
A lesser-known place but one of my personal favourites is the hidden subterranean temple of Hal Saflieni in Malta ( FT168:5051). Known as the Hypogeum, it’s an atmospheric gateway to the mindscape of our prehistoric ancestors. In real life, visitor numbers are controlled to preserve the red ochre wallpaintings, but Google has an informative photo tour ( https:// tinyurl.com/yx9lsp23) and best of all, a self-guided 360° walkthrough ( https://tinyurl.com/ yxw68a5r).
CRYPTOZOOLOGY
Cryptozoologists have a tough time. They can spend their entire lives researching, with barely a footprint or a tuft of hair to show for it. The growth in live-streams and camera-traps ought to make surveillance easier (or at least less cold and wet) but you still need to be lucky to be in the right place at the right time. A well-established web cam at Loch Ness has captured a few suggestive ripples over the last few years ( www.lochness.co.uk/ livecam.html), although at the time of writing, it was showing photos updated every few seconds rather than live video, due to technical issues.
For cryptids like Yetis and Sasquatches, which roam much larger areas, a dedicated livestream isn’t really an option, but there’s just a chance you might spot something on one of the many live weather-cams posted in mountainous parts of the world. In fact, some claim that a Bigfoot has already been caught on a traffic-cam in Washington State: ( https:// globalnews.ca/news/6456218/ bigfoot-traffic-camera/).
Lots of the world’s bigger museums now have very sophisticated ways of making their collections available to digital visitors. The Australian Museum has a fascinating natural history collection ( https://australian.museum/ learn/collections/) that’s easy to explore online, and the section on thylacines is full of
information, photographs and even a rotatable 3D thylacine skeleton. Some might argue that this shouldn’t be part of the “Extinct Animals” section, but as it is I ended up discovering more fascinating stuff about dead antipodean megafauna along the way.
Sometimes cryptozoology wanders into the liminal territory between consensus reality and folklore and that’s why my final recommendation in this category is a museum so cryptic it may not even have a physical existence. At www. merrylinmuseum.com/ you will find dozens of preserved specimens of fairies, dragons and chthonic horrors, all beautifully photographed and carefully described ( FT283:4850). There are no fancy 360 walk-throughs and the museum is not open to visitors, but you can spend hours wandering among the display cases of the imagination, studying this collection of relics from the world of stories.
GHOSTS & PARAPSYCHOLOGY
For serious students of the paranormal, you can’t beat the Society for Psychical Research. Their programme of talks and conferences is now being delivered via zoom and their website ( www.spr.ac.uk) contains decades-worth of research materials to pore over.
For those of us just looking for a bit of spooky fun, a ghost walk is a good option, and pretty much all the towns and cities which usually offer these events have an online version. It’s a crowded field, so the best way to find something you like the look of is to search for the place of your choice plus “ghost walk” on either Facebook or YouTube. You’ll find recordings of previous walks and notifications of upcoming live walks – some are amateurish, some are slickly professional and some charge a fee. The choice is yours; but as with the real-world events, there’s no guarantee the spooks will show up.
A favourite fortean curiosity, The Winchester Mystery House ( FT166:50), offers a good self-guided tour of some of its labyrinthine rooms and corridors – though as this is pre-recorded, you’re unlikely to spot one of the legendary ghosts. It’s not free, but if you can’t travel to California, this could be a cost-effective way to explore a unique building ( www. winchestermysteryhouse.com).
Another allegedly haunted visitor attraction, the Museum of Shadows in Omaha, Nebraska, offers a live webcam feed – for a fee – allowing eagle-eyed ghost-hunters to scan the shadows for spooky goings on. The museum claims to hold “Over 3,000 verified haunted objects” from around the world, and visitors have reported seeing apparitions, hearing voices, physical sensations and poltergeist activity within the museum. During normal opening hours they offer ghost hunts through the collections or the opportunity to spend 10 minutes alone in a darkened room with a cursed object. What’s more, if you’re troubled by a haunted item in your own home, you can send it to the museum where they will quarantine it before moving it to secure storage, out of harms’ way ( www.museumofshadows. com).
UFOLOGY
Unfortunately, I failed to hack into the security camera system of Area 51 so I can’t give you a link to a live feed from the extraterrestrial research labs. I think the next best option is the live feed from the International Space Station ( www.youtube. com/watch?v=DDU-rZs-Ic4). You get a beautifully clear and crisp view of Earth from space, which should show any aliens trying to sneak up on us – although the feed does periodically revert to recorded material when the station goes out of range. In fact, several clips from the ISS cameras currently circulating online are said to show alien craft approaching Earth, but I’ll let you make your own judgements on those. Personally, I find just watching our little blue oasis gently turning in space is a wonderfully sobering and calming experience.
Back on terra firma, one of the oldest established extraterrestrial contactee groups, the Aetherius Society ( FT104:49, 173:26, 271:52), is proving to be one of the most skilful at adopting new technology to share their message of universal spiritual harmony. Since Covid-19 disrupted regular operations, they’ve been live-streaming services from their temples in London and Los Angeles – but only those with the initiative to
The section on thylacines is full of information and photos
seek out the correct password can access the broadcasts from www. aetherius.org.
A few years ago, the Hessdalen Lights of central Norway caused excitement among UFO and Earth Mysteries communities ( FT103:26-31; 189:30; 204:29; 218:42-48, 316:26). Now the excitement has died down a little, but the curious and unexplained glowing orbs still occur from time to time. You can access livestream video from the valley via www. hessdalen.org, but don’t expect a spectacular son et lumiere. You’ll have plenty of time staring into the blackness to formulate your own theories about the origins of this curious phenomenon.
For a more reliable lightshow, several websites give access to cameras streaming the Aurora Borealis or Aurora Australis, and there are apps and social media groups to alert you when a good display is in progress. One reliable example can be viewed at https://tinyurl.com/ y5m8ds2a, and you can find information about others at https://auroranotify.com/auroralinks/. You might even spot some unexplained aerial phenomena while you’re aurora-watching.
MYSTERIOUS PLACES
Some mysteries are just too beautiful to be pinned down by explanations and I’m delighted that four of my favorites can be explored online.
Whether it’s an ancient temple, an occult clubhouse or a Georgian folly, the Margate shell grotto ( FT230:76-77) is an astonishing creation of delicate beauty. I can find no official online tours but you can get a reasonably good taster of it here: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=1wVA9UwpYpE.
Royston cave ( FT193:28-30, 259:42) is a similarly undated subterranean work of art but in a somewhat different style. There’s a splendid interactive 3D model at www.roystoncave.co.uk/post/ virtual-experience.
As you’ll have guessed, I’m a bit of a troglophile, so I have to mention Creswell Crags ( FT392:36-43). They’ve created a high-quality 3D virtual model of their caverns, including details of the extensive “witch marks” graffiti. At time of writing, it wasn’t available for users to navigate their own tours, but there’s a pre-recorded fly-through at https://tinyurl.com/y2oy2mfm.
The champion of all architectural mysteries has to be Rosslyn Chapel ( FT167:50) and with the help of a 360° tour at www.rodedwards.com/interactivefiles/Rosslyn_Chapel you can contemplate the mysteries of the Holy Grail or work on a new Hollywood blockbuster.
All these sites need lots of care and maintenance to keep them in good condition for future forteans to enjoy, so when conditions permit, please think about helping them out with a real-world donation.
CABINETS OF CURIOSITY
I can’t complete this feature without mentioning a few museum collections, some big and some small, which never fail to surprise and delight me.
Oxford’s Pitt Rivers Museum of Ethnology is a treasure trove which can be virtually explored in great detail at https://tinyurl. com/v7ofx89. The collection of shrunken heads is always worth a look, but my personal highlight is the glass bottle which must never be opened because it contains the trapped spirit of a witch. Yes, really.
And speaking of witches, Boscastle’s Museum of Witchcraft and Magic ( FT348:34-39) is worth a virtual visit. Although it doesn’t have 360° tours or walk-throughs, it has very good photo galleries from current and former exhibitions, as well as a thoroughly catalogued collection which can be searched online ( https:// museumofwitchcraftandmagic. co.uk/).
The medical and anatomical collections of Philadelphia’s Mutter Museum, ( http://memento. muttermuseum.org) London’s Hunterian Museum ( http:// surgicat.rcseng.ac.uk/) and the Surgeon’s Hall museums at Edinburgh University ( https:// museum.rcsed.ac.uk) offer a thought-provoking if slightly grisly way to explore what it means to be human. Philadelphia has the most user-friendly online offer, but the others are well worth digging into.
London’s Natural History Museum ( www.nhm.ac.uk/ourscience/our-work/digital-collections. html) and the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC ( https://naturalhistory.si.edu/ visit/virtual-tour) offer very good virtual tours to discover the curiosities of the animal, vegetable and mineral kingdoms.
And, of course, the British Museum, home of bog bodies, scrying stones, Mayan Calendars and Egyptian spells, is a mustvisit for every fortean. Its virtual tours can be found at https:// tinyurl.com/yb4s8orn.
Happy virtual travels!
2 LISA GLEDHILL is a film maker and writer with a long-standing interest in forteana. She is a regular contributor to FT.