The Horror Over Dorset

[dce]

I'm working on a 1920s Call of Cthulhu scenario that needs a coastal location somewhere along the South of England -- I was thinking of using the area of Dorset around Weymouth, Portland & Osmington (maybe also around to the Durdle Door).

Any of you many and knowledgeable UK folks out there have any first-hand knowledge of the horrors of this part of England that I should try to include? ... (and here I'm not specifically asking for stories about that time you were forced to go on a school excursion to the Osmington White Horse and had to sit next to the kid with chickenpox ).


Dean (from Adelaide)

[MarkRyan]

I live about 20 miles from Weymouth and the surrounds and it would be a good place to set a 1920s adventure. The important thing to remember is that Dorset was really rural with no holiday trade (beyond day trips by rail to Bournemouth) in this period so remained fairly isolated. It's history features Mesolithic evidence, the indigenous iron age Celts (there are lots of hill forts from this period in Dorset), Romans, Viking invasions, the Normans and so on. Dorset today is still one of the few UK counties without a city, motorway or cathedral. Once you get of out south east Dorset (around the towns of Poole and Bournemouth) it is still sleepy and picturesque with plenty of folks retaining their 'Dorset Wurzel' accent.

Here's a couple of other info sources that may be worth a look:

"http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/england/dorset.html"

Book - Mysterious Places of Dorset: ISBN:978-0955206153

If you have any specific questions, let me know and I'll see if I can help out.

Cheers

corpse-eater

[Cthimothy]

Following on from Corpse-Eater said, I grew up around Witchampton, which is a few miles inland from the Dorset coast, and there are plenty of esoteric places to be found in it's environs, perhaps more so than around the coast line (depite it being named the Jurassic Coast for the tourists). But, it was a primary coast for smuggling, possibly the most famous of which was Gulliver, who mainly operated around Lilliput, near Poole (yes, and nothing to do with Swift's protagonist), so there are plenty of old smuggling routes in the area, and rumours of ones that lead to churches, pubs and large houses via tunnels.

Venture slightly inland, and you'll be falling over old gallows and haunted churches. Knowlton church is enclosed by a henge, which when I was growing up was regularly daubed in occult symbols. The Philosophers Tower, Clavell Tower, Horton Tower (which was used for the cock fighting scene in the film adaptaion of Far from the Madding Crowd), Drax Tower (the Victorians did like their follies).

There's plenty of Iron Age forts, probably the best known being Maiden Castle, near Dorchester and Badbury Rings near Wimborne, which is also where the Dorset Cursus is.

WHat else, oh a couple of occult-influenced bands you might have heard are from the same area; Electric Wizard and Ramesses - they might give you a bit of a taste of the area.

Again, if you need any information just ask.

[WinstonP]

Witchampton?! Nice!

[Isis]

There's a pirate's graveyard on Portland, and a mass of underground tunnels from the quarrying.
The Verne prison (which I think is closed now), was an underground prison built into the top of the island. The whole area used to creep me out when I was growing up there.

[Weaver]

I've never been to Dorset but a quick look on Wikipedia yielded this rather interesting bit of information:

Rabbits have long been associated with bad luck on Portland; use of the name is still taboo—the creatures are often referred to as "Underground Mutton", "Long-Eared Furry Things" or just "bunnies". The origin of this superstition is obscure (there is no record of it before the 1920s) but it is believed to derive from quarry workers; they would see rabbits emerging from their burrows immediately before a rock fall and blame them for increasing the risk of dangerous, sometimes deadly, landslides. If a rabbit was seen in a quarry, the workers would pack up and go home for the day, until the safety of the area had been assured. Local fishermen too would refuse to go to sea if the word was mentioned.

Probably of limited use as far as the game goes but it might be good for injecting a bit of randomness and/or humour into the proceedings.

[dce]

Thanks muchly for all this great info ... you guys have definitely convinced me to go with Weymouth and its surrounds as the setting for this scenario. I like the fact that (in the 1920s at least) it still has an isolated rural feel to it. The bunny thing is just plain weird, though.

I'm sure I will have some specific questions later on (and I might PM a couple of you guys as I go, maybe even asking whether one of you folks with first-hand local knowledge would be willing to proof-read the scenario once it's written).


Dean (from Adelaide)

[Cthimothy]

There's some photographs of Weymouth in the 20s here http://www.visitweymouth.co.uk/index.php?resource=372

[magicwookie]

You could look up Corfe Castle which is a little way from your proposed location but may be of interest.

[synthboy]

Coming a bit late to the party but I can vouch for the bunny superstition. My family on the dad's side were all Portland quarrymen going back for generations and even now my Dad doesn't like hearing the R word used. His friend even had to go into school and apologise to the teacher because his daughter would refuse to read it aloud from a book in class. As Isis says the whole island is riddled with tunnels including a bunch of Victorian ammunition bunkers near to the Verne prison which my Dad always referred to as "The Ghost Tunnels", mainly, I suspect, to freak us out.

Over on the mainland, Weymouth is (in)famous for being the site where the Black Death first came ashore and also for it's royal patronage as a spa town. George III used to come down and take dips in the sea for ir's restorative powers. Make what you will of both of those little nuggets and feel free to PM me if you want any help with the scenario.

[dce]

Thanks again to all who have provided some excellent ideas for capturing the flavour of this part of England (and some of its potential for horror). It'd be great if one day this part of the country got some proper attention in a Cthulhu sourcebook (Cub7 people, yes, I am looking in your direction right now ). For interest: after further reading, I'm probably going to make less use of Weymouth as the main location and instead venture out towards the Isle of Purbeck to find a nice sleepy and isolated seaside village which is a better fit for the "size" of the location I need. Anybody ever been to Lulworth? Know anything about the nearby gunnery range (set up in 1918 to train soldiers to drive tanks for the Great War; still there today)?

I still find the bunny thing to be one of those so-strange-it-must-be-true things. Ironically, I was only yesterday scrolling through the Malleus Monstrorum trying to find a suitable adversary for this Dorset scenario. Coming to the entries for Ramsay Campbell's "Green God" and his followers I laughed to myself "Mutant rabbit people? How could your *ever* use them in a Call of Cthulhu scenario?" Clearly I was wrong (although I'm not planning on using them).

BTW: for everyone who has provided such excellent local information about Dorset ... I would like to include your names in trhe credits for this scenario: PM me your real name (or at least the name you'd like to be credited as) and when I do the layout, I'll drop it into the credits block. I figure it's the least I can do for so many useful pointers!


Dean (from Adelaide)

[nclarke]

I spent several holidays at Lulworth Cove in the late 50's with my paternal grandparents. The range was off-limits at certain times due to live firing (and still maybe). I fondly remember days on the beach at Durdle Dor. Alas I cannot remember anything more useful for the scenario. The area does meet your need for a 'sleepy and isolated village' though. As for the 20's or 30's I'm not sure if the military operations around the range may have made it less sleepy but I believe that there would have been little interaction between the army and locals except for MP's posting road closed signs and hoisting the flags to warn of 'live fire' exercises.

Nigel

[magicwookie]

Studland is in the Purbecks and it's beach has been used by naturists for over 100 years.
I'm not sure how useful that is.....

[HJ]

There's a nice Roman temple up on the ridge overlooking Weymouth and the Swanery at Abbotsbury is awesome (they've also got a bouncing bomb there, although that is obviously too late for you).

[Pookie]

I certainly visited Lulworth Cove as a child many times. It is particularly isolated from what I recall, and there are certain beaches along that stretch that involve a walk to get to.

Away from the coast, Dorset has Iron Age, Roman, and Saxon-early Medieval archaeological sites aplenty.