Unavailable
Unavailable
Unavailable
Audiobook3 hours
Atlas of Cursed Places: A Travel Guide to Dangerous and Frightful Destinations
Written by Olivier Le Carrer
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
Oliver Le Carrer brings us a fascinating history and armchair journey to the world's most dangerous and frightful places, complete with vintage maps and period illustrations in a handsome volume.
This alluring read includes 40 locations that are rife with disaster, chaos, paranormal activity, and death. The locations gathered here include the dangerous Strait of Messina, home of the mythical sea monsters Scylla and Charybdis; the coal town of Jharia, where the ground burns constantly with fire; Kasanka National Park in Zambia, where 8 million migrating bats darken the skies; the Nevada Triangle in the Sierra Nevada mountains, where hundreds of aircraft have disappeared; and Aokigahara Forest near Mount Fuji in Japan, the world's second most popular suicide location following the Golden Gate Bridge.
This alluring read includes 40 locations that are rife with disaster, chaos, paranormal activity, and death. The locations gathered here include the dangerous Strait of Messina, home of the mythical sea monsters Scylla and Charybdis; the coal town of Jharia, where the ground burns constantly with fire; Kasanka National Park in Zambia, where 8 million migrating bats darken the skies; the Nevada Triangle in the Sierra Nevada mountains, where hundreds of aircraft have disappeared; and Aokigahara Forest near Mount Fuji in Japan, the world's second most popular suicide location following the Golden Gate Bridge.
Unavailable
Related to Atlas of Cursed Places
Related audiobooks
Hame: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Lonely Planet: Nicaragua: Episode 1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIreland's Forgotten Past: A History of the Overlooked and Disremembered Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What's Great about North Carolina? Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Vikings: A New History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hunt for the Shadow Wolf: The lost history of wolves in Britain and the myths and stories that surround them Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Good Rain: Across Time and Terrain in the Pacific Northwest Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Underland: A Deep Time Journey Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Encounters with the Archdruid Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsScotland: A History from Earliest Times Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bone Rattle Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Extinction: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Tiger Warrior Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lonely Planet: Peak Practice: Episode 7 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUpon a Burning Throne Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ivory's Ghosts: The White Gold of History and the Fate of Elephants Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5100 Places to See After You Die: A Travel Guide to the Afterlife Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Neptune's Children Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFlying to Extremes Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sky Raider [Dramatized Adaptation] Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Judas Strike [Dramatized Adaptation] Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Knight Kyle and the Magic Silver Lance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bone Hacker Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Impossible Owls: Essays Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mountains of the Mind: Adventures in Reaching the Summit Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Full Spectrum: How the Science of Color Made Us Modern Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Land of Men: Wind, Sand and Stars Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Travels in Alaska Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5They Were Here Before Us: Stories from Our First Million Years Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Travel For You
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5One Last Stop Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Court of Thorns and Roses Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Outlander Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Raw Dog: The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Spotting Danger Before It Spots You: Build Situational Awareness To Stay Safe Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5World Travel: An Irreverent Guide Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Look for Me There: Grieving My Father, Finding Myself Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row (Oprah's Book Club Summer 2018 Selection) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Once Upon a River: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Your Table Is Ready: Tales of a New York City Maître D' Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In the Weeds Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summer on the Bluffs: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Grandma Gatewood's Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5South Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Primate's Memoir: A Neuroscientist's Unconventional Life Among the Baboons Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Eat, Pray, #FML Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Arthur: The Dog Who Crossed the Jungle to Find a Home Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Black Enough Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5America the Beautiful?: One Woman in a Borrowed Prius on the Road Most Travelled Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fox & I: An Uncommon Friendship Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Travels With Maurice: An Outrageous Adventure In Europe, 1968 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bonjour Effect: The Secret Codes of French Conversation Revealed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5National Park Mysteries & Disappearances: The Great Smoky Mountains National Park Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Atlas of Cursed Places
Rating: 3.3714287142857144 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
35 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This one atlas some might hesitate to use as a travel book!
The locations mentioned are various, both mythical and actual.
There are monsters, burning ground, bats and disappearing aeroplanes!
A great read.
This digital book was given to me by the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest unbiased review. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Atlas of Cursed Places: A Travel Guide to Dangerous and Frightful Destinations by Olivier Le Carrer is a compelling, engaging volume that shares the history and insight into 40 different cursed locations across the world.
Le Carrer points out in the introduction that not all places are cursed in the same way. Obviously, the first meaning is close to the original meaning of the word and based on the mystical, paranormal, or supernatural. The second group of cursed places is based on natural reasons that make the area blighted and present a danger. The third category consists of places that have been rendered inhabitable by human activity. All of the 40 cursed places discussed are organized into 8 different regions. This attractive and entertaining atlas includes vintage maps and illustrations.
Much to my surprise and chagrin, one of the cursed places is relatively near where I currently live and is reputed to be the gateway to hell.
The contents include:
At The Heart of Old Europe
Chateau De Montsegur - Satan's Synagogue
Rocca-Sparviera - The Phantom Village
Nuremberg - The Sinister Reverberation of Marching Boots
Between the Mediterranean World and Southern Africa
The Tophet of Carthage - Children Burned for the Gods
Oumaradi - Shipwrecked by Sands
Poveglia - The Island of Death
Charybdis and Scylla - A High-Risk Cruise
Kasanka National Park - The Invasion of the Bats
Valley of the Kings - The Curse of Aten
Gaza - A Territory Adrift
Beirut - Destruction and Construction
Moriah and Golgotha - Spiritual Nightmares
Kibera - An Uncharted Cesspool
From the Barents Sea to the Indian Ocean
Zapadnaya Litsa - The Antechamber of Hell
Gulf of Aden - Hunting Ground of Pirates
Gur-Emir - The Malevolent Mausoleum
Thilafushi - The Toxic Lagoon
Around the Bay of Bengal
Jharia - Underground Inferno
Jatinga - A Plague of Birds
Sunda Strait - The Monster of Krakatoa
Between the Orient and Oceania
Houtman Abrolhos - Massacre of the Shipwrecked
Aokigahara - The Suicide Forest
Cape York - In the Land of the Killer Crocodiles
Takuu - An Atoll Living on Borrowed Time
Nauru - Blighted by Phosphate
America From Coast to Coast
Mavericks: The Big Wave - A Cold-Blooded Monster
Nevada Triangle - A Danger in the Sky
Stull, Kansas - The Forbidden Cemetery
Tonina - The Mystery of the Mayas
Adams, Tennessee - The Bell Witch Lives On
Pine Barrens - The Devil's Offspring
Amityville - the Devil's Lair
Among the Islands of the New World
Cite Soleil - All the Misfortune on Earth
Cape Horn - Sailor's Nightmare
Bermuda Triangle - Empire of Enigmas
Sable Island - A Ship Trap in the Atlantic
Beneath the Atlantic Breeze
Cumbre Vieja - Birthplace of the Tsunami
Eilean Mor - Lighthouse Mystery
Yeun Ellez - The Marsh of the Damned
Tiffauges - Castle of a Killer
Disclosure: My digital edition was courtesy of Black Dog & Leventhal for review purposes - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I saw this book in the bookshop and it was the perfect storm of "buy me": Gorgeous cover, a title with Cursed in it, and content focused on the unusual. The cover is still gorgeous. Cursed didn't mean exactly what I thought it meant, though it was still very interesting. I flashed on the simplest definition: a hex conjured by really pissed off people. The author used the word in the broader context: places that seem eternally destined for strife, challenges or difficulties; an area prone to high death rates, but because of geography as opposed to the wrath of an individual or group. Still great stuff, just not quite as edgy. The writing is good, but the editing was disappointing; in a book that was obviously so carefully put together, these word-order errors were jarring. The author, La Carrer is unapologetically sarcastic at times, and not for humorous effect; I got my edginess, but not in the way I was expecting. There are small touches of humor here and there, and the entry for Point Cook, Australia is hilarious; he makes it sound like the mecca for animals who are only here to kill you. It's a quick, easy read and I learned a lot; I didn't feel like he chose run of the mill places on the map. Amityville and Gaza aren't going to be new to anyone but for me at least, most of these were almost or completely new. Kibera has almost completely squashed my desire to see the Maldives, but I'm now incredibly interested in seeing the Kasanka National Park (spoiler alert: it involves bats).
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I love the idea for this book: it's a travel guide to forty places you don't want to find yourself in, because for various reasons – geographic location or man-made catastrophes, literal ghosts or the phantoms of past events – they are "cursed". It will help you avoid that unscrupulous travel guide who tries to lead you astray, the introduction says. But … well, there are a couple of buts. One: But are there really very many people who would obliviously let themselves be led into Aokigahara Forest in Japan (also known as The Suicide Forest, also known as the place where Natalie Dormer is going to be haunted in The Forest) without knowing it's a bad, bad place? Or into Jharia, which from Google Images looks a whole scary awful lot like Mordor? And … But it's not really an atlas. There are maps – they are the primary illustrations in a heavily illustrated book – but they are mostly, if not entirely, antique maps. They're not the only illustrations … but the rest of them are rather randomly placed sinister clip art – skulls and skeletons and so on. Some of the latter take up half a page. There isn't a photograph in the book – and if there had been, if this had been lush with photos of these places ("Wow! Jharia looks just like Mordor!" "Holy cats, look at that cloud of bats in Kasanka National Park!"), and – as the huge majority of other reviews I've seen already have said – it would have been a wonderful book. (It would also have very likely cost more than $24.99.) But … The writing was often entertaining – but (sorry, can't help it) as another reviewer out there said, there was often very little on the places I was most fascinated by, the places that seemed to fit the cursedness of the title best, and a whole lot on places that neither interested me nor seemed to deserve to be called "cursed". It's intriguing that birds die in their thousands in Jatinga – I can see that fitting into the premise – but does Nuremberg really deserve to be called forever blighted because the Nazis made such use of it? Is Adams, Tennessee forever to be avoided because of the Bell Witch incidents in the 19th century? And so on. As so many others said first, this was a great idea, and a beautiful book as far as it goes. But …The usual disclaimer: I received this book via Netgalley for review.