# Which real world locales would you use in sci-fi/fantasy? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 16, 2014, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-real-world-locales-would-you-use-in-sci-fi-fantasy/681501 "2014-02-16T23:27:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-real-world-locales-would-you-use-in-sci-fi-fantasy/681501/1 "2014-02-16T23:27:07Z")
Which real place names conjure up sci-fi vistas or fantasy settings for you? My two favourites are: [Uranium City](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranium_City,_Saskatchewan), Saskatchewan, Canada. [Blackskull](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackskull), Co Down, Ireland. Neither of these towns seem to be especially significant but their names bring to mind a futuristic dystopia and an evil wizard’s lair respectively. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-real-world-locales-would-you-use-in-sci-fi-fantasy/681501/2 "2014-02-16T23:51:53Z")
You might find the recent GQ thread [“Fantasy-land style place names in real life”](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=714699) of interest. It offers page after page of Doom Lakes and Devil’s Whatsits in the real world. I find [The Devil’s Backbone](http://www.natcheztracetravel.com/natchez-trace-tennessee/columbia-centerville-tn/658-devils-backbone.html) pretty evocative. ---
**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 16, 2014, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-real-world-locales-would-you-use-in-sci-fi-fantasy/681501/3 "2014-02-16T23:52:21Z")
One of these days, I’ll figure out a way to use [Mount Thor](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Thor) in a story… ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-real-world-locales-would-you-use-in-sci-fi-fantasy/681501/4 "2014-02-16T23:55:30Z")
Well…I’m writing a story right now that involves a side-trip to the Great Pyramid… I was driving to Flagstaff, Arizona, and passed “Devil Dog Road.” That’s just such a wide-open invitation to a fantasy story! Ever walked through a burned-out oak forest? The ruins of ancient trees, blackened and charred, the silence, the ashen reek. Maybe, if you’re there a few weeks later, the first little sprigs of green coming up, as life tentatively re-establishes itself? The experience is very “fantasy/fantastic” in tone. Sea caves also always do it for me. A world that has sea caves cannot be wholly without magic! ---
**Author:** ![nevadaexile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nevadaexile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevadaexile)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-real-world-locales-would-you-use-in-sci-fi-fantasy/681501/5 "2014-02-16T23:57:16Z")
Most of rural New Zealand would work out well. Picher, Oklahoma Hanford, Washington Wittenoom, Australia Reference: Picher - [Pollution brings end to Oklahoma mining town](http://www.nbcnews.com/id/24555711/) Hanford - [Hanford Site - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanford_Site) Wittenoom - [Wittenoom, Western Australia - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wittenoom,_Western_Australia) ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2014, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-real-world-locales-would-you-use-in-sci-fi-fantasy/681501/6 "2014-02-17T00:17:08Z")
> [@Balance](#): > > You might find the recent GQ thread [“Fantasy-land style place names in real life”](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=714699) of interest. It offers page after page of Doom Lakes and Devil’s Whatsits in the real world. > > I find [The Devil’s Backbone](http://www.natcheztracetravel.com/natchez-trace-tennessee/columbia-centerville-tn/658-devils-backbone.html) pretty evocative. Thanks for that, not sure how I missed it! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2014, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-real-world-locales-would-you-use-in-sci-fi-fantasy/681501/7 "2014-02-17T02:31:13Z")
I’m going to take a different tack with the OP, and suggest _filming locations_ I’d use in scifi/fantasy on film, or locales I’d base a print location on. First up, the [Giant’s](http://secufamilyhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Giants-Causeway.jpg) [Causeway](http://hdfons.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Giants-Causeway-Ireland-wallpaper.jpg), Ireland. ---
**Author:** ![JWT\_Kottekoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@JWT\_Kottekoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JWT_Kottekoe)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2014, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-real-world-locales-would-you-use-in-sci-fi-fantasy/681501/8 "2014-02-17T02:58:49Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > I’m going to take a different tack with the OP, and suggest _filming locations_ I’d use in scifi/fantasy on film, or locales I’d base a print location on. > > First up, the [Giant’s](http://secufamilyhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Giants-Causeway.jpg) [Causeway](http://hdfons.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Giants-Causeway-Ireland-wallpaper.jpg), Ireland. For a similar geological formation in the US, you could film at the [Devil’s Postpile](https://www.google.com/search?q=canada+road&espv=210&es_sm=122&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=u3UBU6O4LMTboASzpYG4DQ&ved=0CAoQ_AUoAg&biw=916&bih=904#q=devil's+postpile&tbm=isch&imgdii=_) or [Sheepeater Cliff](https://www.google.com/search?q=canada+road&espv=210&es_sm=122&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=u3UBU6O4LMTboASzpYG4DQ&ved=0CAoQ_AUoAg&biw=916&bih=904#q=sheepeater+cliff&tbm=isch&facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=fmEihjpAURY2sM%253A%3BQ5b9rb5yZeZkrM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fupload.wikimedia.org%252Fwikipedia%252Fcommons%252F1%252F18%252FSheepeater_Cliff%252C_Yellowstone%252C_June_21%252C_2010.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fen.wikipedia.org%252Fwiki%252FSheepeater_Cliff%3B3264%3B2448) ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2014, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-real-world-locales-would-you-use-in-sci-fi-fantasy/681501/9 "2014-02-17T10:53:16Z")
What’s the name of that town in Australia where most homes and businesses are mostly underground? I think it _ **was** _ used in a couple movies, but for the life of me I can’t recall it’s name. They do opal mining. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2014, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-real-world-locales-would-you-use-in-sci-fi-fantasy/681501/10 "2014-02-17T12:26:52Z")
i gotcha all beat! we have a mysterious earthen-works “fort”, built by a lost civilization, that the local Indians avoided, believing it was cursed, & which may have been constructed to keep Evil Spirits **in** , rather than mortals **out.** Genties & Ladelmen, I present to you _ **The Old Stone Fort.** _ > **[Old Stone Fort (Tennessee)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Stone_Fort_%28Tennessee%29)** > > The Old Stone Fort is a prehistoric Native American structure located in Coffee County, Tennessee, in the Southeastern United States. The structure was most likely built between 80 and 550 AD during the Middle Woodland period. It is the most complex hilltop enclosure found in the South and was likely used for ceremonial purposes rather than defense. > The structure is now part of Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park, one of two archaeological parks in Tennessee (the other being at Pinson Mou... > **[Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park](https://tnstateparks.com/parks/old-stone-fort)** > > Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park attracts history enthusiasts from all over and is home to an abundance of activities for guests to enjoy. [IMAGES](http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=old+stone+fort+tennessee&qpvt=old+stone+fort+tennessee&FORM=IGRE) . ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2014, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-real-world-locales-would-you-use-in-sci-fi-fantasy/681501/11 "2014-02-17T12:41:51Z")
> [@nevadaexile](#): > > Most of rural New Zealand would work out well… Peter Jackson seems to think so! It looks quite lovely in all his Tolkien movies–with a touch of “difference” for this American, at least… ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2014, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-real-world-locales-would-you-use-in-sci-fi-fantasy/681501/12 "2014-02-17T15:58:09Z")
It wasn’t until after I watched, ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’, as an adult that I realised Devil’s Tower, Wyoming was a real place. I completely thought it had been made up just for the movie. I’m currently watching the first two series of Game of Thrones and its a bit odd to see local areas used as locations, I nearly spit my coke out when I realised that the Dothraki homeland was a heavily CGI’d version my own homeland, Glenariffe: [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Glenariff.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Glenariff.jpg) Although I have to say I don’t think it has as many horses. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2014, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-real-world-locales-would-you-use-in-sci-fi-fantasy/681501/13 "2014-02-17T18:00:57Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > What’s the name of that town in Australia where most homes and businesses are mostly underground? I think it _ **was** _ used in a couple movies, but for the life of me I can’t recall it’s name. They do opal mining. Ah, I googled and found it! Coober Pedy, the name is supposed to mean, in the aboriginal language, “white man’s hole” There is a list of movies that have been filmed nearby, including, _Priscilla, Queen of the Desert._ > **[Coober Pedy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coober_Pedy)** > > Coober Pedy (/ˈkuːbər ˈpiːdi/) is a town in northern South Australia, 846 km (526 mi) north of Adelaide on the Stuart Highway. The town is sometimes referred to as the "opal capital of the world" because of the quantity of precious opals that are mined there. A blower truck is raised above the town sign, representing the importance of opal mining to the town's history. Coober Pedy is also renowned for its below-ground dwellings, called "dugouts", which are built in this fashion due to the sco... ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2014, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-real-world-locales-would-you-use-in-sci-fi-fantasy/681501/14 "2014-02-17T18:27:24Z")
[The Hopewell Rocks](http://www.zdziarski.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Hopewell-Rocks-Bay-of-Fundy-4.jpg), especially as the tide comes in – they’re on the Bay of Fundy, so you can actually see the tide rise and fall. ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-real-world-locales-would-you-use-in-sci-fi-fantasy/681501/15 "2014-02-18T02:38:01Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > My two favourites are: > [Uranium City](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranium_City,_Saskatchewan), Saskatchewan, Canada. Well, it could certainly be one of those sci-fi post-apocalyptic wastelands… ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-real-world-locales-would-you-use-in-sci-fi-fantasy/681501/16 "2014-02-18T04:42:02Z")
I’ve used Two Sisters Pass and described the actual location in a MUD (Dos Hermanas, Navarre). When the first LotR movie came out, a sunday mag ran a piece showing movie locations side-by-side with Spanish ones. There was no byline, but I have reasons to suspect the author was an old classmate of mine who works for that editorial house: 3 out of 8 pics were from Navarre. Several of those could easily have used locales in neighboring provinces. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-real-world-locales-would-you-use-in-sci-fi-fantasy/681501/17 "2014-02-18T13:23:00Z")
Arches National Park in Utah. They used several shots from there in the opening scenes of **Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade** , which made me react when I first saw it – I’d spent the two previous summers hiking through it, and knew _exactly_ where those shots were taken.\* I believe that several of the driving-through-the-sandstone-formation shots in _Thelma and Louise_ that are ostensibly in New Mexico were also shot at Arches. But there are other arches and formations I’d like to see, especially Delicate Arch, which is awesomely picturesque, features on commemorative Utah license [plates, and has already been used on at least two different SF/Fantasy book covers. > **[Delicate Arch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delicate_Arch)** > > Delicate Arch is a 52-foot-tall (16 m) freestanding natural arch located in Arches National Park, near Moab in Grand County, Utah, United States. The arch is the most widely recognized landmark in Arches National Park and is depicted on Utah license plates and a postage stamp commemorating Utah's centennial anniversary of admission to the Union in 1996. The Olympic torch relay for the 2002 Winter Olympics passed through the arch. > Because of its distinctive shape, the arch was known as "the Cha... \*For instance, the very first shot is Courthouse Towers. Although it looks like the middle of nowhere, that scene is shot from the paved road running through the park, and if there had been any traffic on the road it would have been seen in the background in one of the gaps between the sandstone cliffs. Also, they clearly removed the barriers down below meant to keep hikers off the cryptogamic soil, right where they show the trail burros going… ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-real-world-locales-would-you-use-in-sci-fi-fantasy/681501/18 "2014-02-18T14:46:10Z")
[Bryce National Park](https://www.google.com/search?q=bryce+national+park&client=firefox-a&hs=NA8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=np&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=ynADU93pMqi9yAH4mIG4Ag&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1168&bih=1145&dpr=0.9). The guy who discovered it: “A hell of a place to lose a cow.” [Meteora, Greece](http://www.keytours.gr/uploads/images/greece_meteora_rocks_11.jpg). How the hell did they build monasteries on the tops of those rocks? ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-real-world-locales-would-you-use-in-sci-fi-fantasy/681501/19 "2014-02-18T20:05:40Z")
[Sossusvlei.](https://www.google.com/search?q=sosus+vlei&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS501US501&espv=210&es_sm=93&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=8LsDU5zjLabl8gHBtYG4AQ&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=643#q=sossusvlei%20trees&revid=1844572028&tbm=isch) ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2014, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-real-world-locales-would-you-use-in-sci-fi-fantasy/681501/20 "2014-02-18T20:42:11Z")
> [@Darryl\_Lict](#): > > [Sossusvlei.](https://www.google.com/search?q=sosus+vlei&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS501US501&espv=210&es_sm=93&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=8LsDU5zjLabl8gHBtYG4AQ&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=643#q=sossusvlei%20trees&revid=1844572028&tbm=isch) Good one. How about [The Mayan ruins of Tikal](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tikal). It was used as a filming location for one of the Star Wars movies. It’s a pretty cool place. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-real-world-locales-would-you-use-in-sci-fi-fantasy/681501.md?page=2)