Many places can claim to be haunted, but on every list you find a certain few that keep popping up. The Myrtles Plantation in St. Francisville, LA USA is one of these places, and is considered one of the most haunted locations in the United States. Built in 1794, the property is said to be the site of up to 10 different murders, and home of 12 resident ghosts. Visitors claim to hear footsteps going up and down the halls, see ghostly children running around the property, and even talk with the ghosts of slaves who ask about chores. Want to visit? Go ahead and book a room because it’s currently a thriving bed and breakfast.

Our second stop isn’t actually a specific location, but an entire country. With the rise of paranormal television shows and magazines, Singapore is quickly becoming known as a hotbed of activity for wannabe ghost hunters. Throughout the city there are numerous ghostly stories to be told. One location is said to be haunted by an entire family that committed suicide together. Another home in Changi Beach apparently is haunted by a ghost that likes to slap house guests across the face! It gets worse though… at the Bedok Tenant House, supposedly a ghost actually killed a woman. The victim went on to become a screaming ghost herself! Maybe that’s all just a bit to scary and you should just stay in the city. Well be careful when travelling on the subway, apparently there are headless ghosts that run through stations terrorising passengers!

Stop number three takes us to England and the infamous Tower of London. GSS visited the tower back in 2005, and the street view update has now given us the ground level perspective. The tower was built way back in the year 1078, so you know there are some creepy stories to be told. Guests claim to see numerous shadows replaying the violent murder of the Countess of Salisbury. She tried to run from her scheduled execution back in 1541, but was chased and then axed to death by her executioner. Others claim to see more legendary ghosts like the beheaded Ann Boleyn. She’s often seen by guests carrying her head in her hands around the property.

Back in the United States, the retired Queen Mary is often called the most haunted ship in the world. Now permanently docked in Long Beach as a hotel, this once luxury ocean liner has been the set for numerous movies and ghost hunting television programs from both the US and the UK. Visitors report being touched by invisible fingers in their room, hear banging and movements from throughout the ship, and even claim to hear a soldier calling for help from the engine room. Strangely enough, it just so happens that a soldier was crushed to death in there back in 1966.

Our last stop takes us to Scotland and to perhaps, the most haunted structure in the world. The site of the Edinburgh Castle has been occupied by man since the late Bronze Age, and the current castle has been dated back to 12th century. The structure sits atop a volcanic rock 80 meters high, with the steep cliff faces surrounding it visible from the street view car. Visitor’s stories range from tales of wandering war prisoners, headless drummers, and ghostly dogs. Some even claim to hear the tunes of a long-dead piper player coming from the castle’s ancient tunnels. Story goes that the piper discovered the tunnels a few hundred years ago, and was playing his tune so that people on the surface could hear him and map his progress. Well at one point the tunes stopped, and the piper was never found. Over two thousand years of history certainly mean the next time you visit the castle and its dungeons, you’re surely not to be alone.

Be sure to check Google for some more great ghost stories at each of these locations. Wikipedia offers great historical information on the Tower of London and Edinburgh Castle. If you’re brave enough, spend the night by booking a room at either the Queen Mary or Myrtle’s Plantation.

Special thanks goes out to Greg, Sergio, Will, Mike, Gareth, Jeff, Kate, Dave, Michele, Ron, Max, James, Ned, Robert, Terry, Boris, Benjamin, Matt, Paul, 7up7, Steve, and Larry for the suggestions and links!

Locations: California, England, Louisiana, Scotland, Singapore / Categories: Buildings, Other Vehicles, Structures, Towers, Weirdness

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K2 model telephone boxes behind Enzo Plazzotta’s bronze, “Young Dancer”, on Broad Street, Covent Garden, London

The first recognisably “modern” red phone box was designed for a competition that the General Post Office held in 1924 to find a kiosk deemed acceptable to those London Boroughs that had refused to allow the erection of the previous K1 kiosks.

The winning entry, the K2, was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott¹ and from 1926 was erected all over London. Scott had suggested they be built from steel and painted silver, but the Post Office decided to make the K2 in cast iron, and to paint it red.

K2 at Carfax Tower, Oxford

In 1929 the K3 was introduced, and although it was again designed by Gilbert Scott, this time they were painted cream. Like the K2 they were too expensive for widespread deployment, meaning that very few survive today, and as far as I can tell, there are none on street view. Instead here’s a picture of the only surviving K3 in Scotland.

The K4 model was designed by the Post Office, which isn’t surprising when you learn it had a post box and a stamp machine stuck on the back. Apparently phone users complained about the noise from the stamp machines so only 50 were ever made, and today only six of those survive. One of the surviving six is this one in Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear, which despite being hidden under a tree, I managed to spot using Bing Maps.

The K5 was a plywood kiosk for temporary use, so it was for the K6 model that the Post Office returned to Sir Giles Gilbert Scott for his skills. Designed in 1935 to commemorate the silver jubilee of King George V, the K6 was the first red kiosk to be used extensively outside of London, and thousands were deployed in virtually every town and city. By the time production ceased on the K6, there were nearly 70,000 across the UK.

K6, Regent Road, Edinburgh. Grade II listed.

K6 (with traffic cone), Jowett Walk, Oxford. Grade II listed.

The K7 model by Neville Conder never went to production, so it was up to Bruce Martin to carry on the fine tradition that Scott had begun, and in 1968 the true successor to the K6 was finally launched. Used mostly for new locations, the K8 was a slightly different shade of red, had a flatter roof, and only one big window on each side.

According to The Twentieth Century Society, today only twelve of the original K8s remain in working order², two of which are installed on the east side of the Erskine Bridge, just west of Glasgow.

Coinciding with the privatisation in 1984 of the Post Office’s telephone successor, British Telecom, a more utilitarian design of telephone box began to be introduced.

The classic K6 was widely replaced with the frankly hideous KX100, and basically we’ve all been complaining about it ever since. In the late 90s, BT made an attempt to win the public over to the KX range by introducing the KXPlus which is basically a KX100 with a red bar round the sides and a domed red roof. It didn’t work.

With the introduction of the KX100, around 2,000 existing boxes were given listed status, several thousand others were left in rural locations, but many more were sold off privately.

Lots of K6s have recently been restored and reinstalled in key tourism spots, but even more have been put to other uses; ranging from shower cubicles in private homes, through to this massive sculpture in Kingston upon Thames made of 12 tumbling boxes, entitled Out of Order.

There are several companies who specialise in selling and restoring old phone boxes, including Unicorn Kiosks, who are responsible for this 12-foot-tall custom kiosk in Maida Vale, London.

So if you’re one of the many fans of the classic red phone box, you’ve now got no excuse not to come up with a creative way to save a piece of Britain’s heritage, you’d just have to do is decide what to do with it!

Of course there are many more phone boxes around the world… have you got one near you?

For helping me research this post, many thanks go to Robert Ore of redphonebox.info, headington.org.uk, and www.cvphm.org.

Locations: England, Scotland / Categories: Monuments, Street Views

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Because seven out of the top ten are all within the continental U.S., today we’re looking at the Top 5 Golf Courses scraped from their list, whilst allowing only one entry per country.

#5 Hirono Golf Club, Kobe, Japan

Situated between rolling hills overlooking the city of Kobe, Japan, the Hirono Golf Club is the location of a very exclusive 18 holes. Its claim to fame isn’t the number of major world competitions it’s held², instead it’s simply how hard it is to get in. Apparently this is the course that all other Asian courses are measured against, but I’m not sure how anyone would know; given that getting a tee time at Hirono is nigh on impossible.

Coming in at #37 on the Golf.com’s list, the C.H. Alison-built course is the only entry in our worldwide Top 5 that comes from a non-English speaking country.

#4 Royal Melbourne (West), Melbourne, Australia

Just south of the main urbanised area of Melbourne is the West course of the Royal Melbourne Golf Club which is known for its “intricate bunkering, tough but fair challenge, variety of shotmaking, and exceptionally fast and true greens”. Designed by world renowned course architect, Dr. Alister MacKenzie it’s ranked 6th on Golf.com’s list, but comes it at number 4 on our improved version!

#3 Royal County Down Golf Club, Newcastle, Northern Ireland

Our third course was designed by Old Tom Morris for just 4 guineas. Considered the best in Ireland, the Royal County Down opened in 1889 and today is considered the tenth most exclusive club in the world.

The imagery isn’t the brightest, but does capture the climatic conditions of Northern Ireland perfectly. However, according to the club website, the Royal County Down is one of the most photographed links courses in the world, and with rolling greens peering out over the Irish Sea, it’s easy to see why.

#2 St. Andrews (Old Course), St. Andrews, Scotland

This is of course where the game of golf began. Officially recognised as being designed by “nature”, the 14th century-built Old Course at St. Andrews is the blessed hope of all that play the game. It is the oldest course in the world and probably #1 on the “must play” bucket-list for most golfers. For our list, it comes in at #2 (#3 on Golf.com’s list).

The Open Championship,³ the oldest professional golfing competition, has been held at the Old Course at St. Andrews every five years since 1873. Unfortunately, the last time a Scot won was in 1910.

The Old Course is held in the public trust by an act of Parliament, and every Sunday golfing is banned for the day to allow the course to rest, so it is instead enjoyed by locals for family picnics and leisurely strolls through the greens.

#1 Pine Valley Golf Club, Pine Valley, New Jersey

Finally we reach the Pine Valley Golf Club. Originally built upon 164 acres of marshland by George Arthur Crump, today the private course sprawls nearly 2 sq km in the thick pinelands of New Jersey.

According to Wikipedia, Crump, a hotelier who knew the area from his hunting expeditions, was subject to obsessive idiosyncrasies that ultimately contributed to designing the #1 course in the world.

Some of those peculiarities included:

1. Holes should not be laid parallel to each other.
2. Consecutive holes should not play in the same direction.
3. Players should only be able to see the hole they are playing on.

Don’t expect to play here anytime soon however – to get a tee time at Pine Valley you have to be personally invited and accompanied by one of the board members! Interestingly, Tiger’s been invited, though he’s never played.

Have you played Hirono, taken in the views at the Royal Down, or paid homage at the Old? What do you think about Golf.com’s assessment of the “best”? Have they got it spot on or are there others that deserve the honour? Let us know in the comments, and make sure to leave a link to your favourite course.

Locations: Australia, Japan, New Jersey, Northern Ireland, Scotland / Categories: Stadiums and Sport

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We’ll never know whether the Roman army felt it was too much like hard work to defeat the fearsome northern tribes, or were simply under-attired for the fearsome Scottish weather; either way, in AD 122 the Roman Emperor Hadrian ordered the construction of a wall to defend his territory from the lands to the north.

Hadrian’s Wall stretched for 80 Roman miles (73.5 modern-day miles, or 117km), from the Solway Firth (where the wall is still visible) to the River Tyne (where the wall has vanished, but the fort of Segedunum, which marked its eastern end, has been excavated).

Despite being almost 2,000 years old (and having been heavily plundered by the locals for building materials after the Romans left), a surprising amount of the wall can still be seen today. One of the best preserved stretches is near the village of Gilsland. Here you can also see the foundations of the Roman bridge across the River Irthing – although since it was built the course of the river has shifted westwards.

There are an astonishing number of Roman sites in this area, as a look at the Ordnance Survey map shows. Among them are Birdoswald fort; the nicely preserved milecastle 48¹ (right next to the spot where the railway line slices through the wall); and a couple of Roman camps. The shadows on the aerial photography really show up the traces of old structures and ditches, even where there is little else left on the ground.

The wall was not a single structure: at various stages in its history it was extended, and separate banks and ditches added. Among the later additions was the Vallum, consisting of three earth banks separated by ditches, running parallel to the wall a few hundred metres to the south. The surviving stretches also show up well in aerial imagery; if you scroll northwards from this point you can see the wall itself.

In many places, the builders used the natural topography to help create a formidable barrier. One spectacular stretch of wall follows a steep rocky ridge, Highshield Crags.

The low angle of the sun creates some dramatic shadows here – and if you zoom right in, you can see the shadow of a sycamore tree in the hollow between two ridges. This location, known as Sycamore Gap, will be familiar to fans of the film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves: it’s the spot where Kevin Costner rescued a small boy from the dastardly Guy of Gisbourne.²

Read more about Hadrian’s Wall at Wikipedia. The 84-mile-long Hadrian’s Wall Path National Trail follows the course of the wall, and its website has a great gallery of ground-level photos.

Locations: England, Scotland / Categories: Abandoned, Movie Locations, Shadows, Structures

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After long negotiations with Britain’s national mapping agency, we’re extremely pleased to announce that from today the website previously known as Google Sightseeing is to become ORDNANCE SURVEY SIGHTSEEING.

Ordnance Survey is one of the world’s largest producers of maps, and from now on we’ll only be linking to their highly detailed printed maps, and pointing out interesting features represented by a vast array of different icons.

We plan to feature footpaths, cycle paths, topographical sightings, water features and much, much more!

One of the most exciting features we’re bringing to you today means that each time you click through to our map, you’ll need to decide whether you need to see the OS Route, OS Road, OS Tour, OS Landranger, OS Explorer, OS Explorer Active or OS Landranger Active map! You’ll also be able to set the scale of the map at this point, but you won’t be able to change your mind again later.

Users of our map page API should be aware that as of today, latitude and longitudes will no longer work in the query string, and all lookups must instead be performed using an OS Grid reference. Additionally, all KML files will henceforth become GML format, and all previous files will cease to work.

Of course, using all this OS map data isn’t free, so we’ll be expecting all of our readers to chip in some cash to pay for the maps.

We’d like to thank you all for your support over the last four years, and sincerely hope you’ll continue with us on the latest leg of our journey towards inevitable Geographic Nirvana.

Update: Due to overwhelming popularity of the new site we’ve already burned through all our venture capital and “Ordnance Survey Sightseeing Inc.” are now bankrupt. The administrators are planning to revert the site to “Google Sightseeing” on April 2nd, 2009.

Locations: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales / Categories: Site News

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When we first posted our notorious Topless Sunbather here on Google Sightseeing back in September 2006, half the world seemed to be appalled that a person’s privacy should be invaded in such a way and then posted on the Internet, and the other half wanted higher resolution images.

Evaluating the situation again nearly 3 years later, it seems that only half the people got what they wanted.

When Google launched their controversial Street View service in the US, we saw all sort of things that the press were appalled at; including our own post of the Google Street Fight that went on to become one of the best known Street View sightings. Perhaps because of the way US culture operates, we saw violence in the streets – but sexually explicit images never appeared within the US Street View images to any great extent.

On our Google Sightseeing Twitter page we’ve been posting Street View sights for nearly a year now, and we’ve seen the occasional poster or painting showing partially clothed women, but the inevitable Topless Street View Sunbather never materialised… that is until last week’s launch of Street View in the UK and the Netherlands, which also brought updates to several European countries that already had partial coverage.

Google anticipated some of this of course; they chose to skirt around the edges of Amsterdam’s Red Light District rather than have to remove all of the images later. Of course they couldn’t avoid them all, and they did inadvertently capture several images of prostitutes sitting in their windows. In Groningen one woman was even seen showing off an extensive range of sex toys. Although these images have all now been removed, none of them showed any nudity to speak of.

In contrast to the Dutch prostitution system, in Italy the prostitutes can often be seen on Google Street View sitting in their folding chairs while awaiting some passing trade. What doesn’t seem to be so common however, is for them to be sitting with their breasts entirely exposed.

So there we have it. Unlike with pixellated aerial photos, there’s no doubting what we can see here – this image clearly shows a woman’s naked breasts on Google’s Street View service, and at time of writing it remains visible within the Google Maps imagery¹. In fact there are a number of women with their breasts exposed in the Italian images.

Here in Europe it’s perfectly acceptable for a woman to wear nothing but a thong when she visits the beach, so it’s hardly surprising that the Street View car captured the following images when driving through Lazio (again, these images are both still available on Google at time of writing).

Google Street View has been getting a lot of grief from the UK’s papers in the last few days, most of which has been blatant scaremongering. There’s really nothing wrong with there being a picture of your house on the internet – it presents no increased risk to your security or privacy. Just like Google’s satellite images, the community-positive local and global benefits² of Street View will outweigh the unfounded, hypothetical fears concocted by newspapers with column inches to fill.

Seeing inappropriate images is another matter. In truth nobody expects to find breasts on their mapping service, despite the differing attitudes of people of different nationalities. While there are a small number of images that inadvertently appeared on Street View which should be removed³ – if it turns out that these woman don’t have a problem with letting the world see their breasts, then should Google remove their image at the request of somebody else?

On a related note, I wonder if this image of a semi-naked Glaswegian enjoying the summer sun will be removed?

Locations: California, Italy, Netherlands, Scotland / Categories: Rudeness, Street Views

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• England: Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Cambridge, Coventry, Derby, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Norwich, Nottingham, Oxford, Scunthorpe, Sheffield, Southampton, York
• Northern Ireland: Belfast
• Scotland: Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow
• Wales: Cardiff, Swansea.

The BBC claims that 22,369 miles of roads have been imaged in the UK alone, which has taken a year to complete. Interestingly Google appear to have already begun the next stage of the process, as camera cars have been spotted in the last few days in more rural locations, as well as countries that still have no coverage at all.

However The Guardian claims that the biggest challenge in the project was was actually the British weather last summer – as the cars’ cameras are rendered useless by rain and snow.¹

We’ve been posting loads of things onto our Twitter feed already, but here’s a roundup of some of the best ones seen… so far!

Here’s the best available view of Anthony Gormley’s awesome Angel of the North in Tyneside:

Qantas managed to get themselves some bonus coverage for their sky advertising stunt in Liverpool:

Twitter users all over the country have been finding themselves:

Here’s a couple of Londoners who might not want to be seen in public after this. The one wearing antlers is apparently comforting the other guy, who appears to be puking into a pint glass… Classy.

Also in London, many famous pieces of art have been captured, alongside this rather poignant piece by UK super-graffiti-artist Banksy:

In Cardiff a couple has had their happy day recorded for the world to see, and a van man on his lunch makes his feeling known:

In Bristol the car has captured a nasty looking bike crash in progress:

Also, Google have announced that hidden somewhere in the UK imagery is the stripy-jumpered Wally – of Where’s Wally? fame! I imagine there will be vast competition to be the person that finds him!

Our very own Rob Witherow submitted this in an attempt to take the crown of Ultimate Google Street View Sightseer, but somehow we think the real Wally will be slightly more… 3-dimensional!

Street View launched in the US in May 2007 and is already available in Japan, Australia, New Zealand, France, Spain and Italy. The Netherlands version of the service also launched yesterday, bringing the total number of countries covered to nine, and where some images have already started being removed! Presumably as the guys at Google use sites like this one as filters to spot any dodgy imagery…

Thanks to Stuey, Rob Maddison and the whole of Twitter!

Locations: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales / Categories: Street Views

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Street View has arrived here in the UK at long last, and Google have given us imagery in many parts of Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Additionally, Street View is now available in the Netherlands for the first time, and while they were at it, Google has added several new cities in France and Spain!

Coverage is extensive, and covers all of the UK’s major cities. Both of the GSS HQs in Edinburgh and Oxford have coverage, and London has an absolutely staggering number of blue lined streets!

In Edinburgh the images appear to have been taken mainly during the Edinburgh Festival, which explains why there’s lots of odd looking people around.¹ You can see the seating for the Edinburgh Military Tattoo in place on the Castle Esplanade.

Here’s London’s seat of power, Downing Street, showing off their awesome security measures, which has been captured alongside all of the other standard tourist sights like the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben.

In Belfast, it seems that the famous Northern Irish political murals aren’t safe from Google’s face-blurring software!

The Netherlands has also received a large helping of Street View today with coverage of Amsterdam and Rotterdam. Here’s the “Coffee Shop Extase” and Sex Museum:

Other reports are coming in of new Street View imagery in France (including Calais and Le Havre), Spain (including expanded coverage or Barcelona), Northern Italy, and expanded coverage in numerous US states.

Make sure to follow us on Twitter for the latest news, and new Street Views throughout the day.

Google Maps Mania has a good selection of London sights to see, but what else have you found?

Locations: England, France, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Spain, Wales / Categories: Site News, Street Views

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Scotland, China, Africa, South Korea, Mongolia, Iceland, Sweden, France, Norway, Turkey, Brazil, Bangladesh, Italy, Uruguay, Qatar, Canada, England, Argentina, Maldives, Greenland, Mexico, and the US states of Wisconsin and South Dakota.

Not too far from the GSS Scottish HQ, the new imagery has revealed this set of giant footprints, one of which appears to have become a rather effective van trap.

Update: Twitter user Mantolwen, who sent us this link, actually went along there today and took some photos of the footprints, as they’re still clearly visible. Thanks Mantolwen!

Elsewhere in Scotland we can see the some superb images of the previously featured Falkirk Wheel, which is appearing on Google Earth for the first time, and I also found my own car!¹

Not all of the images are of improved quality however – presumably because more up-to-date images are the thing desired by your regular Google Earther.

However, GEarth Blog also reports that there has been a whole slew of new historical imagery added in this update, covering even more of the globe than the new updated images.²

So what new sights can you find near you?

Thanks to Frank at the Google Earth Blog and @Mantolwen on Twitter for the giant feet!

Locations: Scotland / Categories: Large Type, Site News

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So with no further ado, in reverse order, the winners are…

10. Titty Ho, Northamptonshire

9. Back Passage, City of London

8. Fine Bush Lane, West London

7. Crapstone, Devon

6. Sluts Hole Lane, Norfolk

5. Penistone, Yorkshire

4. Dick Place, Edinburgh²

3. Pennycomequick Hill, Plymouth

2. Minge Lane, Worcestershire

1. Butt Hole Road, Yorkshire

Of course the UK being the kind of place it is, there’s absolutely trillions more of these to be found. Some that didn’t make this list include:

• Cocks, Cornwall
• Thong, Kent
• Crotch Crescent, Oxfordshire
• Wetwang, East Yorkshire
• Twatt, Shetland
• Slag Lane, Wiltshire
• Hardon road, Wolverhampton
• Fanny Hands Lane, Lincolnshire

If you enjoyed this post, be sure to check out one of our most popular posts of 2007, which was about Fucking, Austria.

Thanks to The NY Times, via Nev.

Locations: England, Scotland / Categories: Rudeness

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