Sathankulam in Southern India, which translates into Satan’s Lake
There are many such names in Japan, for instance:
Hitokiriyama: Killer’s Mountain
Shibitozawa and Menhagizawa: Dead Man’s Marsh and Flayed Face Marsh. Both named after a local legend about a traveling monk who was tortured and killed. His body and face (!) were said to have been dumped in those places.
Jigokudani: Hell’s Valley
Chinagarezaka: Running Blood Hill. Used to be used for executions. A mass grave was found when a residential tower was built there.
Chisuigawa: Blood-Sucking River. Is said to have turned red when a devil was shot in the eye by an arrow and fell in it.
Juusanbotoge: Thirteen-Tomb Pass. Locals built tombs there for thirteen soldiers who were killed during a Warring State-era skirmish.
Onigajo: Devil’s Castle. Looks like one.
Seems to me that Intercourse would be GREAT place to live!
Writing any applicable starts for location names in Finnish into Google Earth seems to always produce a few examples - there’s the equivalents of “Devil’s Grove”, “Death Marsh” (two of these), “Hell”, “Murder Island” and so on. And then there’s “Blackpond” which while not very high on the sheer evilness scale happens to be the most common name for a lake hereabouts.
Don’t get this one, I’m afraid.
Another example might be Fucking, Austria, even though the word does not have that meaning in German.
“Craven” means contemptibly faint-hearted or cowardly. It would be the equivalent of “Lower Coward’s Place.”
A surprising number of these seem to be in the US, and therefore will have been named relatively recently, rather than years ago.
And remember I’m after negative connotations - Intercourse, PA and Fucking, Austria don’t really count.
Unless you’re reading different fantasy books to me.
It’s a US board, so those are the examples people will be most familiar with. And although it may be “relatively recently” from a European perspective, most of the examples given are more than 150-200 years old.
A few from Scotland:
The Devil’s Staircase - Glen Coe.
Gulf of Corryvreckan - the name comes from the Gaelic for “cauldron of the speckled seas” and is the location of the third largest whirlpool in the world.
Sgùrr na Ciste Duibhe - Gaelic for “Peak of the Black Coffin.”
Ben Wyvis - from the Gaelic Beinn Uais - “Hill of Terror.” I grew up at the foot of this mountain and have climbed it a few times; it’s not nearly as scary as the name suggests.
Wreck Reefs, Australia
Which reminded me of Skunks Misery Road (there are several, the one on Long Island is the one I know) and an area of an LI town once nicknamed Skunks Misery.
Dimmuborgir, Icelandic, “dark cities.” I figure that if a Black Metal band takes their name from you, you’re brutal enough. You don’t see many places named Happy Kitten Fields.
You’d think so, but I think it’s Amish country.
Devils Tower, Wyoming (I’m surprised we overlooked this one for so long.)
Devils Postpile, California
Cape Disappointment, Washington
Wreck Reefs, Australia
Furnace Creek(Death Valley)
Blackpool, the seaside resort in England. It gets bonus points for being in an area once known as Hundred of Amounderness. And it certainly fits with some people’s idea of Hell.
One time my role playing group suggested that the PCs could do with a holiday and we were duly sent to the Black Pool of Amounderness. It wasn’t quite what we’d intended.
Also Skunk Hollow, New Jersey.
There’s also a Skunk Hollow Road in Panama on a former military base.
I thought Lower Cravens was a play on words for Basser Cravings?
Doubtful Sound, New Zealand
Paul Bunyan’s Potty, Utah
Mount Disappointment is a personal favourite. It’s a nice place, and not at all disappointing unless you expected to see the coast from it.
ETA: In the same area:
Mount Terrible
Mount Buggery
Australia FTW!