# Fantasy-land style place names in real life. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 1, 2014, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306 "2014-02-01T21:42:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![aesop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f8ce5/32.png) [@aesop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aesop)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306/101 "2014-02-08T18:16:15Z")
> [@Teuton](#): > > It’s a fairly common fantasy trope for place names to be a bit more… colourful than we tend to see in real life, mostly because no-one wants to live in “The Blasted Lands”, I suspect. > My question is, though, are there any examples of real-life place names - in any language - that essentially mean something negative? The Dread Lands, Evil-Man Swamp, that sort of thing. [Doom Bar](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doom_Bar), a sandbar in Cornwall, was created by the dying curse of a mermaid. It doesn’t get much more negative-fantasyland than that! ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306/102 "2014-02-08T18:52:32Z")
I’m surprised we’ve overlooked [Tombstone,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tombstone,_Arizona) Arizona for so long. [Spirit Lake,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_Lake_(Washington)) Washington, near Mt. Saint Helen’s. There are other Spirit Lakes in Idaho and Iowa. The [Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_of_Ten_Thousand_Smokes) Alaska. [Mount Cerberus,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Cerberus) Antarctica, named for the three-headed dog who guarded the entrance to Hades. There’s another Mt. Cerberus in Alaska. [Mount Satan,](http://peakery.com/mount-satan/) British Columbia. ---
**Author:** ![Teuton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teuton/32/3864_2.png) [@Teuton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teuton)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306/103 "2014-02-08T20:29:46Z")
> [@aesop](#): > > [Doom Bar](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doom_Bar), a sandbar in Cornwall, was created by the dying curse of a mermaid. You know, I’ve drunk many bottles of Doom Bar cornish ale, and never once considered what it was named after. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306/104 "2014-02-08T20:56:57Z")
The [Teufelsberg](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teufelsberg) (Devil’s Mountain), in Berlin. It’s actually a recent name, for an artificial hill made from the rubble of the city after World War II. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306/105 "2014-02-09T23:38:12Z")
> [@meenie7](#): > > [Mount Asphyxia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Asphyxia) in the South Sandwich Islands near Antarctica; it’s named that because volcanic fumes mixed with the smell of penguin poop really can overwhelm visitors! :eek: [Lake Vostok](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_vostok) is a subglacial lake that sounds Russian, even though it’s nowhere near Russia. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306/106 "2014-02-10T03:09:13Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > [Lake Vostok](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_vostok) is a subglacial lake that sounds Russian, even though it’s nowhere near Russia. 🆒 Although Russia claims it and has a station there. But it is weird: it’s technically a lake, but the surface is 4000 meters below the ice! Even if you didn’t mind the cold, it’d be hard to swim in there. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306/107 "2014-02-10T03:42:08Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > [Lake Vostok](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_vostok) is a subglacial lake that sounds Russian, even though it’s nowhere near Russia. 🆒 The name’s not fantasylandish, but the nearby [Pole of Cold](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pole_of_Cold) is. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306/108 "2014-02-10T04:35:12Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > The name’s not fantasylandish, but the nearby [Pole of Cold](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pole_of_Cold) is. Sounds like a D&D spell/dragon breath effect. They have “cone of cold” and maybe/theoretically “line of cold.” ---
**Author:** ![j\_sum1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8baadc/32.png) [@j\_sum1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j_sum1)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306/109 "2014-02-10T05:37:29Z")
Whoa what a thread. How have I only just come across it. I need to add just about every place name in Stewart Island New Zealand. There is Ruggedy Range Gog and Magog and heaps more. I don’t have a map immediately at hand, but visiting the island I felt that I was looking at a pirate map. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306/110 "2014-02-10T06:38:55Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > The [Teufelsberg](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teufelsberg) (Devil’s Mountain), in Berlin. It’s actually a recent name, for an artificial hill made from the rubble of the city after World War II. Man, that’s a freaky one! First, Nazis: it was built of the rubble of destroyed Berlin as people cleared and rebuilt West Berlin. Okay, not so unusual for war-torn Europe… But it was piled on top of the never-completed Nazi military university, which the Allies _were unable to destroy_. And then, the NSA built a spy station on top of it. Which was abandoned and is now itself in ruins. And did I mention that is 80 metres high? Thirty or forty storeys? Prime story fodder right there. We should get a couple of SCPs out of it at least… ---
**Author:** ![Dickerman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8baadc/32.png) [@Dickerman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dickerman)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306/111 "2014-02-10T08:04:29Z")
Here’s a bunch from the mountains of Washington State: Dragontail Peak Forbidden Peak Fortress Mountain Storm King Mountain Enchantment Peak Dark Peak Hoodoo Peak Sinister Peak Big Snagtooth Mount Formidable Mount Fury Mount Terror Mount Torment Mount Despair Mad Eagle Peak Devils Peak Big Devil Peak Seance Peak Cutthroat Peak Devils Tongue Phantom Peak Tombstone Peak Damnation Gully ---
**Author:** ![Dervorin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306/112 "2014-02-10T09:50:46Z")
What about the [Rub’ al-Khali](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rub'_al_Khali), the “Empty Quarter” of the Middle East? It’s always seemed the most desolate, fantasy-like name of all. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306/113 "2014-02-10T15:14:18Z")
> [@Dickerman](#): > > Storm King Mountain There’s a [Storm King](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storm_King_Mountain_(New_York)) in New York too, on the Hudson opposite Breakneck Ridge. [Thunder Bay,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunder_Bay) Ontario. [Lightning Ridge](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightning_Ridge,_New_South_Wales), New South Wales. The [Hailstone River](http://southwestpaddler.com/docs/buffalo6.html), Arkansas. [Deluge Lake](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deluge_Lake_Trail), Colorado. [Tornado Alley,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornado_Alley) United States. > [@Dervorin](#): > > What about the [Rub’ al-Khali](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rub'_al_Khali), the “Empty Quarter” of the Middle East? Post #25. ---
**Author:** ![Dervorin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306/114 "2014-02-10T15:27:38Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Post #25. Ah, dammit, I missed that. I searched the page for “Rub” but didn’t search for “Empty”. Do I get half a point for linking it by its Arabic name rather than the English translation? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306/115 "2014-02-10T15:34:01Z")
> [@j\_sum1](#): > > Whoa what a thread. How have I only just come across it. > > I need to add just about every place name in Stewart Island New Zealand. There is > Ruggedy Range > Gog and Magog > and heaps more. I don’t have a map immediately at hand, but visiting the island I felt that I was looking at a pirate map. I worked on Stewart for a bit. You’re right: Halfmoon Bay Deceit Peaks Tin Range Port Pegasus Doughboy Bay Muttonbird Islands Big Moggy and Little Moggy Islands (a moggy being a housecat) South Red Heat Point Flour Cask Bay Port Adventure Adventure Hill Breaksea Islands Big Glory Bay Pearl Island Smith’s Lookout ---
**Author:** ![johnspartan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@johnspartan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnspartan)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2014, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306/116 "2014-02-12T15:33:08Z")
City of Industry, California always struck me as reminiscent of paint-by-numbers 80s style sci-fi (or perhaps some semi-self contained comic book city like a Metropolis or Gotham but for a second-tier hero) Twentynine Palms also seems kind of lazy fantasy writer to me… ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2014, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306/117 "2014-02-21T18:17:52Z")
The “Island In The Sky” district of [Canyonlands National Park.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canyonlands_National_Park) ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2014, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306/118 "2014-02-22T06:13:27Z")
[Bab al-Mandab](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bab_al-Mandab) (English: Gate of Grief) the strait connecting the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. [Deception Pass](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deception_Pass) strait in Puget Sound near Whidbey Island. ---
**Author:** ![jerez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c68b51/32.png) [@jerez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jerez)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2014, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306/119 "2014-02-22T12:27:59Z")
Booger Hollow. Skid Row. Holetown, in Barbados, doesn’t sound very nice. It’s fictional, but I’ll mention “Tasty Meadows” from the film “The Incredible Shrinking Woman.” I suppose a lot of people will not appreciate the negative aspect it conveys. There’s a mountain pass in southern Spain called “Despeñaperros.” There are a couple of theories as to the origin of the name, but it could be literally translated as “the place where people go to throw dogs off of a cliff” (the English-language version of the Wikipedia entry mistakenly translates it as “dogs plunging (over the cliff).” ---
**Author:** ![HyacinthBucket](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hyacinthbucket/32/3063_2.png) [@HyacinthBucket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HyacinthBucket)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2014, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306/120 "2014-02-23T03:33:12Z")
[Porte des Morts](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porte_des_Morts) or Death’s Door, a strait at the northern tip of Wisconsin’s Door County peninsula with a dark history ranging from Native American conflicts to shipwrecks. The county’s name also came from the strait. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-land-style-place-names-in-real-life/680306.md?page=7)