# “Fictional” places, people, and things that surprisingly are real.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-places-people-and-things-that-surprisingly-are-real/221183
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [December 27, 2003, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-places-people-and-things-that-surprisingly-are-real/221183 "2003-12-27T00:07:16Z")
**Posts on this page:** 18
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2003, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-places-people-and-things-that-surprisingly-are-real/221183/41 "2003-12-28T19:52:45Z")
The ‘Pooh sticks bridge’ from the Winnie-the-Pooh stories is a real location near [Hartfield, East Sussex](http://www.gillslap.freeserve.co.uk/poohsticks.html). The Hundred Acre Wood is better known as [Ashdown Forest](http://www.gillslap.freeserve.co.uk/ashdown.html).
There’s also the real [Watership Down](http://www.mayfieldiow.freewire.co.uk/watershp/), near Newbury and the border of Berkshire and Hampshire.
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### Author:  [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2003, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-places-people-and-things-that-surprisingly-are-real/221183/42 "2003-12-28T20:04:25Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Chefguy \*
> \*\*That would have been some ride. Most don’t make it who try, although it’s probably safer than Air Mali, which flies old Russian-built planes that tend to fall out of the sky. Roads are pretty much non-existent once you get past Mopti, and the trails disappear in the sand. We had to have a guide just to get to the Bandiagara Cliffs.
>
> It would have been a Toyota or a Land Rover, by the way. I think I had the only Jeep in the country when I was there.\*\*
Yeah, it was a Land Rover, come to think. Sorry about the misplaced product placement. 😉 And they did have a guide for the whole route.
And I wouldn’t quibble too much about lack of geographical knowledge, when 20% of Americans can’t even find the U.S.A. on a map…I’ve been a geography fan since childhood, and I’ve seen _Jeopardy!_ contestants stumped by questions that I thought were common knowledge!
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### Author:  [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2003, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-places-people-and-things-that-surprisingly-are-real/221183/43 "2003-12-28T20:26:32Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Chefguy \*
> \*\*I’m surprised by the lack of geographical knowledge by posters so far. I guess it’s lack of travel experience or something. \*\*
Actually **Chefguy** , almost all the posters so far, knew about those locations. It just happens that there was a period in the past when they were ignorant, but we got better… 😉
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### Author:  [@Dangerous\_Nan\_McGrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerous_Nan_McGrew)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2003, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-places-people-and-things-that-surprisingly-are-real/221183/44 "2003-12-28T22:07:41Z")
A recent episode of South Park centered on Cartman and his desire to go to a restaurant called “Casa Bonita”. I figured it was something they made up for the episode until I googled it. Holy Crap!! There _is_ a [restaurant](http://www.casabonitadenver.com/) with cliff divers and caves! I wanna go!!
Oh, and I also didn’t know Sherwood Forest was a real place until I was about 10. D’oh.
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### Author:  [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2003, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-places-people-and-things-that-surprisingly-are-real/221183/45 "2003-12-29T00:39:46Z")
In the film _My Dinner with Andre_, Andre talks quite a bit about his very bizarre experiences in a mystical community in Scotland called Findhorn. I had no idea that it is a real community until I found a recording that had been made there and later saw a book about it. Certainly a most unusual place.
[http://www.findhorn.org/getting\_here/index\_new.php](http://www.findhorn.org/getting_here/index_new.php)
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2003, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-places-people-and-things-that-surprisingly-are-real/221183/46 "2003-12-29T00:53:57Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by GIGObuster \*
> \*\*Actually **Chefguy** , almost all the posters so far, knew about those locations. It just happens that there was a period in the past when they were ignorant, but we got better… 😉 \*\*
Yeah, me too. Didn’t mean to sound arrogant.
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### Author:  [@First\_Amongst\_Daves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/First_Amongst_Daves)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2003, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-places-people-and-things-that-surprisingly-are-real/221183/47 "2003-12-29T02:32:32Z")
Springfield (Illinois) and South Park.
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### Author:  [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2003, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-places-people-and-things-that-surprisingly-are-real/221183/48 "2003-12-29T03:46:49Z")
Yes, obviously I know there’s a Timbuktu _now_, and where it is, and something of its history, otherwise I wouldn’t have mentioned it. But my mother used to say that high winds “blew [whatever] to Timbuktu” or that we had to go “all the way to Timbuktu” to find something. So imagine my shock to learn about the riches of Timbuktu and the African empires.
Although I can’t say I’ve quite been.
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### Author:  [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2003, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-places-people-and-things-that-surprisingly-are-real/221183/49 "2003-12-29T14:33:57Z")
There really is a town named Bugtussell
There isn’t a Castle Rock in Maine, but there is one in Arizona.
And just in case you wanted to know:
There’s a subdivison in Annapolis Maryland named “The Village”
There’s a road not to far from where I live named “Green Acres Road”
There used to be an estate in Annapolis named “Bag End”
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### Author:  [@Intaglio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intaglio)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2003, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-places-people-and-things-that-surprisingly-are-real/221183/50 "2003-12-29T14:39:25Z")
Springfield is the Capital of Illinois.
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### Author:  [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2003, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-places-people-and-things-that-surprisingly-are-real/221183/51 "2003-12-29T15:16:38Z")
No, **Dangerous Nan** , ya don’t. Trust me. _Casa Bonita_’s food isn’t worth eating. And the “entertainment” isn’t worth watching. But there are lots of sopapillas…
Ick, man. Don’t do it.
Snicks
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### Author:  [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2003, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-places-people-and-things-that-surprisingly-are-real/221183/52 "2003-12-29T16:07:23Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by furryman \*
> \*\*There really is a town named Bugtussell \*\*
Sort of. If you’re talking about the place in Tennessee, I think the actual name is Bug Scuffle.
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### Author:  [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2003, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-places-people-and-things-that-surprisingly-are-real/221183/53 "2003-12-29T16:37:39Z")
Then there are the instances of “life imitating art” in a way that Oscar Wilde would approve of.
In 1988, the Beach Boys wanted to record a “tropical paradise” song and needed a three syllable name for the place. They sited it on the Florida Keys, which did not have a suitable place name, and borrowed the name of the county seat of Howard County, Indiana (pop. ~50,000), perhaps because it was originally the name of the chief of the Miami Indians.
One of the Upper Keys – I’m not sure whether it was Islamorada or Upper Matecombe – picked up on it and adopted the name “Kokomo” from the song as an alternate name for the community, with resort motels and restaurants naming themselves after the song.
So, while “In the Florida Keys, there’s a place called Kokomo,” was fictional when the song was written, it now does actually exist.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2003, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-places-people-and-things-that-surprisingly-are-real/221183/54 "2003-12-29T18:37:25Z")
In that vein, the radio station WPLJ in New York city was named after a Frank Zappa song. The station changed its call letters to WPLJ a couple of years after the song came out.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2003, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-places-people-and-things-that-surprisingly-are-real/221183/55 "2003-12-29T19:45:03Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Polycarp \*
> \*\*Then there are the instances of “life imitating art” in a way that Oscar Wilde would approve of.
>
> In 1988, the Beach Boys wanted to record a “tropical paradise” song and needed a three syllable name for the place. They sited it on the Florida Keys, which did not have a suitable place name, and borrowed the name of the county seat of Howard County, Indiana (pop. ~50,000), perhaps because it was originally the name of the chief of the Miami Indians.
>
> One of the Upper Keys – I’m not sure whether it was Islamorada or Upper Matecombe – picked up on it and adopted the name “Kokomo” from the song as an alternate name for the community, with resort motels and restaurants naming themselves after the song.
>
> So, while “In the Florida Keys, there’s a place called Kokomo,” was fictional when the song was written, it now does actually exist. \*\*
They may have also been influenced by Chuck Berry: “…no particular place to go, so we parked way out on the Kokomo…”, from the song “No Particular Place To Go”.
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### Author:  [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2003, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-places-people-and-things-that-surprisingly-are-real/221183/56 "2003-12-29T22:32:09Z")
I just remembered something from the classic _The 3 Musketeers_:
I knew it was historical fiction, I was still amazed to find so many of the characters were based on real persons:
[http://www.clfc.org/articles/musketeers.htm](http://www.clfc.org/articles/musketeers.htm)
> [@](#):
>
> Henri D’Aramitz (Aramis) was a squire and a lay priest, the nephew of M. de Tresvilles, the captain of the Musketeers. Armand de Sillegue, Lord of Athos, (Athos) was killed in a duel before D’Artagnan ever joined the Musketeers. Isaac de Portau (Porthos) arrived in Paris only a year before D’Artagnan and was initially turned down by the Musketeers, but was later accepted (1643) after he had proved himself within regiment. Cardinal Richelieu was the de facto ruler of France from 1624 on. Richelieu’s older brother had been killed in a duel, and he worked steadily to try to enforce laws forbidding dueling for many years. Milady, Duchesse de Winter was actually the Countess of Carlisle, who was, in fact, an agent of Cardinal Richelieu. (She stole two diamond studs from the Duke of Buckingham!)
That is from a fencing site, but it matches other historical sites I have seen.
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### Author:  [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)
#### Post date: [December 31, 2003, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-places-people-and-things-that-surprisingly-are-real/221183/57 "2003-12-31T00:28:18Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by RealityChuck \*
> \*\*In that vein, the radio station WPLJ in New York city was named after a Frank Zappa song. The station changed its call letters to WPLJ a couple of years after the song came out. \*\*
Similarly, an Ohio radio station called 97X, which used a number of slogans over the years, has constantly used the slogan “The Future of Rock 'N Roll” ever since it appeared with their call letters in the film _Rain Man_.
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### Author:  [@Cat\_scratch\_fever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_scratch_fever)
#### Post date: [December 31, 2003, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-places-people-and-things-that-surprisingly-are-real/221183/58 "2003-12-31T01:03:05Z")
In “American Psycho” there’s all kinds of talk about a restaurant in NYC called Dorcea. ex: " I got an 8pm res. at Dorcia"
There’s is a club in NYC called Dorcia but I am told that it opened after the movie. Maybe some NYC dopers can confirm?
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