J.F. Penn

13 Of The Most Mysterious Places In India

July 28, 2017 By J.F. Penn

India is the birthplace of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism, as well as having a deep cultural history with Christianity, Judaism and Islam. It is a country of ancient faith, with a rich mythology that mingles with marvellous architecture and incredible food!

I've been to India twice now – on a cultural tour of the ‘golden triangle' in the north, from Delhi to Varanasi and back through Agra; and then cycling through the south west through Karnataka and Kerala. Both times I have longed to return and it's one of those countries I feel at home in.

The burning ghats of Varanasi feature in the opening scene of Stone of Fire, but I returned to India for Destroyer of Worlds, a story that centers around the Brahmastra, a Hindu relic with the power of a nuclear weapon. The thriller was a finalist for the 2017 International Thriller Writers Awards for Best Ebook Original, so clearly the story resonates.

With so many religions rubbing shoulders, India is both a mystical and an unusual place to visit, so I’ve compiled a list of 13 of the most mysterious places in India.

1. Tower of Silence, Mumbai

The tower of silence stands as a complete contrast to the familiar Western cemetery. Favoured by the Zoroastrians, use of towers to dispose of the dead appears in records as early as the 9th century. In Zoroastrian doctrine, both earth and fire are sacred but the body is unclean. The sun and carrion birds such as vultures remove the need for traditional burial or cremation. Yes, they eat the flesh of the dead …

Three concentric rings make up the roof of the tower. Men occupy the outer ring, with women in the middle, and children at the centre. The bones are left until they're sun-bleached when they're moved to a pit in the middle of the tower. Lime helps them to disintegrate.

The 300-year-old tower in Mumbai stands on Malabar Hill, within a 54-acre forest. Locals noticed a drop in the vulture population in 2015, delaying the natural process of exposure. Unless conservation efforts can boost the number of carrion birds, the process remains under threat. Reading about the plight of the vultures prompted the use of the tower in Destroyer of Worlds.

2. Funeral Pyres, Varanasi

sunrise varanasi — J.F.Penn, Sunrise, Varanasi, India, Dec 2006

The immense cremation ghat formed the backdrop for the opening scenes of Stone of Fire. The pyres, which burn 24/7, force visitors into close contact with the dead. This is not the clean, clinical cremation we’re used to in the West. Seeing the burning ghats for myself gave me the idea for the opening scene and I used them again in Destroyer. Varanasi is crazy busy and overflowing with pilgrims, but it's a place I want to return to. It feels like Jerusalem in its combination of spirituality and mass tourism, and it resonates with energy.

The popularity of the pyres derives from the Hindu belief that laying ashes in the Ganges at Varanasi allows the soul to escape the reincarnation cycle and reach heaven. Since Varanasi is one of the world’s oldest cities, it is the most sacred site along the Ganges.

Despite the introduction of gas and electric-powered crematoria, many still opt for traditional cremation on the ghat. Around 50-60 million trees fuel the ghats every year.

As a result, the funeral pyres are expensive for those wishing to be cremated there. Access to heaven doesn’t come cheap.

3. Bhangarh Fort, Bhangarh

This sprawling complex is less of a fort and more of a city. Boasting vast gates, palaces, and temples, it looks like a picturesque, fairy tale spot. Or is it?

Local legends claim supernatural unrest in the area. The Archaeological Survey of India even posted a sign prohibiting entry after sunset. The city remains accessible during daylight hours.

One story claims a wizard attempted to cast a spell on a woman, who crushed him with a boulder. As he lay dying, he cursed the city with complete destruction. Attackers soon sacked the fort, massacring the inhabitants.

That’s one legend among many. While we may scoff at such tales in the 21st century, the fact remains that the locals abandoned the city and established Bhangarh nearby.

You wonder what may lie among the quiet ruins, festering after dark…

4. South Park Street Cemetery, Kolkata

It wouldn’t be my blog without at least one cemetery. In the 19th century, this eight-acre necropolis was perhaps the largest Christian cemetery outside Europe or America. Almost 1900 graves jostle for space inside the brick walls.

Like a Kolkata version of Highgate (although older than the famous London graveyard), you'll find a range of monument designs. Obelisks and urns rub shoulders with Saracen graves and even cairns.

Who knows what you might find among the prehistoric ferns and moss that quietly reclaim the cemetery?

5. Kalighat Temple, Kolkata

The current Kalighat temple dates to the early 19th century, which explains its Victorian aesthetic. It's home to a unique image of Kali made from black stone with a long tongue made of gold. Some believe the name ‘Calcutta' comes from ‘Kalighat'.

The temple is also one of the Shakti Peeths of India. A princess married Lord Shiva and killed herself after her father disrespected her husband. Lord Shiva began the dance of destruction, and Lord Vishnu dismembered Sati's corpse to stop him. The Shakti Peeths are the sites where Sati's parts fell to earth. According to the story, Sati's right toe fell where the Kalighat now stands.

Attendants behead goats daily in Kali's honour. Since the temple is one of Kolkata's most holy spots, it gets very busy. They even offer queue-jumping services to reach the main shrine. I haven't visited but it's the setting for one of the pivotal scenes in Destroyer of Worlds.

6. Kumbh Mela pilgrimage

The Kumbh Mela is a Hindu pilgrimage rather than a place to visit. Four different festivals carry the name, and they occur at four different locations on rotation. The Mela always takes place on the banks of a sacred river. Organisers calculate the dates using the zodiac positions of Jupiter, the sun, and the moon. Millions of Hindus gather to bathe in the river to cleanse themselves of sin, led into the water at the most auspicious time by the sadhus, the holy men.

No one knows how old the festivals are, but medieval Hindu tales explain that Lord Vishnu left drops of Amrita, the Hindu drink of immortality, at the four sites of the modern-day Kumbh Mela.

While the pilgrimage is largely peaceful, stampedes have led to a loss of life, even as recently as 2013 in Allahabad. In Destroyer of Worlds, the Kumbh Mela is the site for an apocalyptic display of ancient power.

7. Jal Mahal, Jaipur

The ‘Water Palace’ looks like one of the most mysterious places in India, but the local Raja built it as a hunting lodge. A drought in the 16th century prompted locals to build a dam. The resulting lake flooded the lower floors of the lodge, creating the stunning spectacle seen today.

The roof still supports plant life, and some years ago visitors reached the lodge by gondola. Tourists can’t visit the building at the moment though tentative plans want to turn it into a restaurant. If you’d like to see the Jal Mahal at its finest, wait until evening. Illumination within the building gives the appearance of a secret meeting across the water.

8. Taj Mahal, Agra

Despite its name, ‘Crown of the Palace’, the Taj Mahal is a mausoleum. Commissioned in 1632, the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan wanted the building as a tomb for his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal.

Designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983, the tomb acts as the central focus of the site. Its design is Persian and a mosque and gardens occupy the rest of the site.

Inside the mausoleum, the sarcophagi in the main chamber are ‘decoys’. The actual graves lie on a lower level in a plain crypt to suit the Muslim traditions against elaborate graves. The faces of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal turn right towards Mecca.

According to the legend, even the lower graves are empty. Doors in the basement level have been blocked, leading to the myth that the real graves lie far underground so they're not disturbed until Judgment Day.

Another long-running myth claims Shah Jahan intended to build a black marble mausoleum across the river from the Taj Mahal, a testament to his love of symmetry. Experts discovered blackened marble ruins on the site, lending credibility to the myth. But an excavation in the 1990s proved the marble stones were originally white, overturning the myth.

Other tales abound, including contracts for construction workers, forbidding them to work on similar designs elsewhere. It may be a popular tourist destination but it’s also one of the more mysterious places in India if you look beyond the souvenirs. In Destroyer of Worlds, there's an even more ancient temple underneath …

9. Mahabat Maqbara, Junagadh

While not as famous as the Taj Mahal, this impressive mausoleum is worth a visit. The building mixes Indian, Islamic, Gothic, and European architecture to create one of the more fantastical places in India.

Built between 1878 and 1892, the mix of styles reflects the changing rule of the area. Junagadh was founded in 1748 and became a British Protectorate in 1807. Despite British rule, the region was part of a princely state until 1947. The area joined Pakistan when the British left India but rejoined India three months later.

The Mahabat Maqbara is a silent monument to the political turmoil that accompanied its construction. Its mixture of influences reflects the changing times. Access to the grounds is free, but you can only see the outside of the mausoleum.

10. Ellora Caves, Maharashtra

The Ellora Caves stand testament to both the mingling of faith and the high level of workmanship in medieval India. Craftsmen carved 34 temples, dedicated to Buddhism, Jainism and Brahmanism, out of the mountainside itself. Many believe it was the faiths working together that allowed builders to excavate solid rock using the rudimentary tools of the 5th century.

Like the mingling of Egyptian religion and Greek beliefs at Thonis-Heracleion and Canopus in Egypt, the Ellora Caves are a monument to religious tolerance and the peaceful sharing of spiritual space. Could a piece of an ancient weapon hide in one of the most mysterious places in India?

11. San Thome Basilica, Chennai

In Stone of Fire, the stone of the title refers to the Pentecostal stones spread around the world by Christ’s disciples.

According to Catholic traditions, St. Thomas reached India in 52 CE, where he preached for a further twenty years. He preached in Chennai until he was martyred nearby.

No evidence exists to confirm this legend, and accounts of Thomas’s time in India weren’t written until centuries later. That said, South Indian Christians still hold the story dear.

The San Thome Basilica stands on the site where Thomas was buried. Followers scattered his remains across the Near East and Europe, some parts even reaching Italy. But a chapel in the basement apparently contains a bone from his hand. The basilica is also one of only three churches in the world built on an apostle’s tomb.

12. Baba Kinaram Ashram, Varanasi

Founded by Baba Kinaram, this ashram is the main headquarters of the Aghori sect. These ascetics are devotees of Shiva, and they deviate from traditional Hindu beliefs since they see opposites as identical. As a result, they see no distinction between purity and pollution.

Some of them live in or near cremation grounds. They smear themselves with human ashes and use skulls as begging bowls. According to some, they also eat human flesh and meditate among corpses. An Aghori sadhu features as one of the important characters in Destroyer of Worlds.

While that sounds extreme, sites of cremation are the final resting place of the body, giving them associations with peace. All cremation grounds are considered holy so they live across the country. But if you're in Varanasi, visit their ashram, truly one of the mysterious places in India. You'll spot it by the skulls either side of the entrance.

13. Great Wall of India

We’ve all heard of the Great Wall of China – but the Great Wall of India? Built 500 years ago, it guards the ancient fort of Kumbhalgarh. The fort is home to over 300 ancient temples.

The wall runs over 36km, and it’s the second longest continuous wall in the world. It resembles its Chinese cousin in both its scope and the terrain it crosses. In places, the wall reaches 15m thick. Despite its use as a defensive measure, decorative work makes the wall a beautiful destination for more adventurous tourists.

But take note. The wall boasts many traps and defence mechanisms. Many of them have been deactivated, but others may potentially lie in wait for the unwary traveller. Given the remote nature of the ruins, who knows what else hides in the mountains?

Any, or all, of these places are stunning and inspirational in equal measure. I look forward to going back to India to explore more!

Action Adventure, Demons, And Traveling For Research. Meet the Thriller Author with J.F. Penn

July 6, 2017 By J.F. Penn

I was recently interviewed on Meet The Thriller Author with Alan Petersen about the ideas behind my thrillers and my writing process.

Click here to listen to the show, or subscribe on iTunes.

Transcript of interview with J.F. Penn

Alan: Hey everybody, this is Alan Petersen with Meet the Thriller Author. And in this episode of the podcast we're gonna be meeting with J.F. Penn who is a a New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Thriller Author. So we're really excited to have her on the podcast. How are you doing today, Joanna?

Joanna: I'm great. Thanks for having me on the show, Alan.

Alan: First, I want to thank you so much for agreeing to be on it, I really appreciate it. I'm excited to talk to you.

Can you tell us a little bit about your background for our listeners, please?

Joanna: First of all, I'm English, as you can probably tell from my accent, and I live in Bath, which is in the south-west of England. And it has 2,000-year-old Roman baths in the center of town, so very interesting place.

I have a degree in theology from Oxford, and that sort of religious aspect does come through in my books. I love walking, reading, and traveling, and I travel a lot. And that obviously comes through into my thrillers. I'm a cat person, and I like nice gin and tonic. So there you go, there's a few things.

Alan: Good stuff, yeah. Cats and gin and tonic, can't go wrong with that.

Joanna: Very relaxing.

Alan: Yeah it's very relaxing, yeah. I can just see the cat on your lap as you're having a gin and tonic.

Joanna: Exactly. I should say also, I am a full-time writer now, but I spent 13 years implementing accounts payable into large corporates. So I was a cubicle slave, in the corporate world, if people are wondering what I did before. I was a bit more creative with my life.

Alan: That's an interesting coincidence. I used to be IT support for the Accounts Payable department for a big corporation.

Joanna: There you go.

Alan: Wow, small world. So I know how exciting that was.

Joanna: I was probably phoning you all the time!

Alan: Yeah, exactly. So, can you tell us a little bit about your books? You have several series out.

The ARKANE thrillers are probably your best-known thrillers. Can you tell us a little bit about those books?

Joanna: Yeah sure. The ARKANE series has nine books now, and I say they're Dan Brown meets Lara Croft. The religious thriller with an edge of the supernatural and adventure around the world, stopping global conspiracies and always lots of thrilling stuff. But also a good dose of history, and interesting religious stuff, and myth, and I love all that. So that's cool.

And then I have the London Psychic Crime thrillers, which I describe as Stephen King meets Tess Gerritsen. They have a British detective but a supernatural edge and she works with a psychic researcher at the British Museum. So that's set in London, obviously, because London's in the title. But ARKANE is set all around the world.

And then I have a couple of standalone's. Risen Gods is set in New Zealand, with the ancient gods rising as the earthquakes shake the land and very much based in living in New Zealand and what actually happens there. So those are my main series and I'm working on something else now, but you know how it goes. You start writing and you get more and more ideas.

Alan: Oh yeah, probably can't keep them from coming in sometimes.

What's your latest book that you have out now?

Joanna: My most recent book was actually co-written with three other authors. We got on the train in Chicago and took the Amtrak down to New Orleans, and the four of us wrote a book called, American Demon Hunters: Sacrifice.

Alan: Oh wow.

Joanna: It's totally fun. It's a dark fantasy thriller and it's set on the train. The book opens when the characters get on the train and the book ends when the train arrives in New Orleans. A lot of bad things happen along the way, and the four characters meet and have to stop the demons destroying America.

That's the latest book, but I didn't entirely write that one. Obviously, that was co-written.

My latest ARKANE book is End of Days which is based around the various snake mythologies in history and religion.

The serpent in the Pit of Revelation and the serpent in Eden and the demon Lilith, and when an ancient sarcophagus is found in the deepest part of the ocean, there's a hunt for the seven seals of revelation that can open it. And Morgan and Jake from the ARKANE Agency must stop the apocalypse before the blood moon rises over Jerusalem. Very exciting stuff. All my stories are a little bit dark fantasy, end of the world type stuff, but good triumphs. That's my important thing.

Alan: Yeah, that sounds like a lot of fun.

You had mentioned that you studied theology, so that must really come in handy then when you're writing your thrillers.

Joanna: Yeah, it is really interesting because I am fascinated by the supernatural. When people say, “Oh what are the themes of your book?” and I think at the end of the day it comes down to the question of good versus evil, which I see Stephen King tackling.

mansfield college oxford — Mansfield College, University of Oxford, where I read Theology 1994 – 1997

The fact that there's good versus evil in the world. Bad things happen but hopefully, good people stop them, and there is something more than the things that we see.

It's not like I've fought demons on a train or, stopped the snake of Revelation destroying the world, but it's so fascinating when we take mythology and religious sort of text. And what I tend to do is, in the ARKANE books, the beginning of most of my books there's a quote from the Bible or from some kind of scripture, and then I take that and turn that into a story.

The books are 95% based on truth and real places, like in End of Days there's a cistern under the western wall between the Dome of the Rock, the Muslim side and the western wall, the Jewish side. And if you put something down there, there's gonna be trouble.

So, you know, things like that. I actually went down and visited the cistern and thought that this would be a very cool location for something in my thrillers. The theological aspect comes through but they're not Christian books. I want to state that. I'm not actually a Christian, but I'm very respectful of all religions. In fact, my Destroyer of Worlds, which is set in India, is based in Hindu religion. I'm so fascinated by something more than the physical world, I guess.

Alan: What's the background of your main characters? Are they soldiers or cops or theologians?

Joanna: Morgan Sierra, who is my main character of the ARKANE series, she's actually an Oxford University psychologist, but she's ex-Israeli Defense Force, so ex-military.

But her mother was Christian and her father was Jewish. So I bring in that religious aspect. Yes, she has some special skills from the military. She has Krav Maga and things like that. And she works alongside Jake Timber, who is also ex-military.

Like many thrillers, you have to have some kind of special skills that your characters have, or they can't fight. I'm definitely heavier on the myth and the places and the setting and the character than I am on guns and fighting. There are some guns and fighting but don't expect Clive Cussler or Dirk Pitt thrillers.

In the London Psychic Crime Thrillers, Jamie Brooke is a policewoman. So, again, some special skills there. But you know, I love researching this stuff, and I did try and go to a Krav Maga class, but I got kicked a lot and came home and cried and went, “You know what, I think I'll stay in the books.”

Alan: I was just gonna say, wow, that's pretty hardcore doing those courses. Preparing for the interview, I was looking at your website, and you had an article of when you were visiting Israel, and I remember seeing also a video where you were in a firing range testing different weapons.

You put a lot of research into this. You took that class and then you got kicked all over the place.

Joanna: Well, I think part of this is, 10 years ago I looked at my life when I was in Accounts Payable, and I was so miserable. I had a great job and everything, according to society, but I was really miserable. I thought, “What do I want to really do with my life?” and I really love reading, and I like writing, and I like being on my own a lot.

But I also love to travel and learn new things. So being a writer is a fantastic job and living and life for me because I basically go around doing things and then writing books that are set in those places or bringing those things into my stories. It is really cool.

That shooting range was in Budapest. I've got a book called One Day in Budapest which is based around the rise of the right-wing in Hungary, which is true, it's kind of awful. And we visited the mass grave. And my husband's family are Jewish so we went there and saw the grave of his ancestors and things. So it was really pretty amazing. And then we went down to the Soviet Bunker and shot a load of guns.

[You can watch a video about the Budapest research here.]

Now, obviously I'm British, we don't have guns generally, in our society. I mean, obviously in the criminal end, but not really in the law enforcement even. So guns are just not normal around Britain. So you have to go to Budapest to shoot some, but I figured I should.

Alan: What was that experience like?

Joanna: I enjoyed it for many reasons. I enjoyed it because I think it's good to understand how these things work and to have a healthy respect. Obviously, guns are a difficult topic, but I think handling guns with respect.

And as a thriller writer, I think it's very hard to avoid guns. I mean, it's something that is pretty fundamental in a thriller, to have some kind of fighting some point and it would be disingenuous not to have any weapons. Although often Morgan does fight with her hands, and Krav Maga is much more of a martial art.

But, yeah, I think it was really interesting. I haven't shot a gun since, to be honest, but it was fascinating from that point of view and good for research purposes. And a lot of Americans do this more regularly.

Alan: Probably a little more than in England.

Joanna: Exactly.

Alan: Or most parts of the world.

When you decided to start writing or try to write in fiction, did you choose thrillers and action? Was that a genre that you enjoyed as a reader before you tried to write a book in it?

Joanna: Yes. And I think that's so important. I don't know how you could write a book in a genre you don't love because if you want to do this for a living you have to write a lot of books and so you have to really enjoy it.

When I used to work that day job, and you'll know this, I would be there at my desk and then I would be just hanging out for a break, and when I went on lunch break I would be reading, and I would always be reading thrillers. And for me, it was escapism from my day job, my miserable day job. And then I'd spend my lunch hour in a thriller somewhere else in the world.

And so when I write now, obviously from a selfish reason I write for me because I look at all the cool places I get to travel to, but then I also am writing that book for the person who was trapped in that job and any readers who want to escape their life just for a few hours.

What we offer with our stories is a chance to escape and experience the world without leaving the armchair.

And also, I like to think I bring more than just the stories, so like I said, the question of good versus evil or whether there really is a supernatural. Because I always try and keep, obviously apart from demon hunters on the train, but my ARKANE series is very much…you could see this as scientific, you could see this as supernatural.

So I try to stay on that knife edge of is this real or is this something else, which is what I'm really interested in. I definitely write from my own love of thrillers and I read a lot of thrillers still but I also write for those people who need to escape.

Alan: And were you always writing when you were younger? Or did it just start when you decided to write these books?

Joanna: I always wrote journals, the angsty journals you wrote when you're a teenager. And I would write pen friend letters and, of course, I did English exams, A-levels they're called over here. I always read, but I never thought that I could be a writer, really, until the world changed with the advent of the Kindle, 10 years ago now, amazingly.

Alan: Incredible.

Joanna: I know, as we talk now, so 2007, 2008 as the ebook revolution started, I really saw that that could revolutionize what being a writer could be and it made it possible to make a living as a writer, and that's kind of when I made that decision. And also, I guess the other thing, I should be grateful for Dan Brown, because before Dan Brown my favorite book was really Umberto Eco's, “The Name of the Rose”. And actually that book is, I read it again recently, and it's really hard. It's a hard book to read.

bloodlinerollins — I love James Rollins' books!

The film is awesome but the book is not that fun to read. And then Dan Brown took that kind of religious thriller genre and revolutionized it in The Da Vinci Code, and then, of course, Steve Barry, James Rollins, and a whole load more authors sprung up in his wake. And I see myself as part of that group who sort of… If you can write a story about things that you're really interested in and that you're curious about, then there will be readers who are curious about the same stuff you are.

Alan: That's a good point, yeah, it's not like you're alone.

If you're interested in it somebody else is gonna be interested in it too. Never thought about it that way.

Joanna: And what's lovely about the international markets now and being on Kindle and Kobo and iBooks and all these places, is that even if, in your country, there aren't people who like that stuff, there are probably people in the world who like that stuff. You can actually reach readers all over the world, which is super exciting. And as a reader, you can read books by authors from all around the world which is also cool.

Alan: That is really cool. I've read books from British authors, but I really didn't know anything about the British police or anything like that until I started reading Indie books about British cops. Before that, nobody was really writing those. So it's really cool to see that happening in the last five, six, ten years.

What is your writing process? Do you like outline everything before you start writing or do you go by the seat of your pants?

Joanna: I tend to get an idea and then think about it for quite a long time. At the moment, I'm thinking about a new series I'm going to write which is based on maps and cartography and some really interesting ideas around immigration and stuff like that, but within the realm of a sort of fantasy world. If people have read Laini Taylor, who wrote Daughter of Smoke and Bone, and she's amazing. I want to write something that flips between two different worlds.

So I'm thinking about this, and I have the idea, and I've started to think about some of the characters, but I'm more of a pantser when it comes to writing. And a lot changes when I actually start writing. So I'm a bit of both, but certainly nowhere near someone like Jeffery Deaver, who writes a 200-page outline for a 400-page book.

Alan: Yeah, that's crazy.

Joanna: You know what I mean. And someone like James Patterson, I think, does outline a lot and works with co-authors. But then someone like Stephen King or Lee Child write just from the seat of their pants and I'd say I'm nearer the pantsers than the plotters but I have a dash of plotting.

Alan: I know this is kind of a hard question because it can vary so much.

When you're in the zone and you're writing a book, what's your writing day like?

Joanna: When I am ready to write that book…so I'm writing a non-fiction at the moment, but with fiction, as soon as I say, “Right, I'm starting the book on this day,” it's usually a Monday, because that's a good day to start.

I go to a cafe. So I have, and I totally recommend this if people want to write, I wear noise cancelling headphones and I go to somewhere away from my desk because at my desk I do things like this, and my admin, and things like that.

So I go to a cafe, I block out time in my diary, and I'm a morning person, so I write in the morning. I'll do a two-hour block at one cafe…and you really only need to buy one black coffee an hour to sit in a cafe. So I do my two coffees in one cafe and then, depending on how it's going, I'll have a walk, and then walk to another cafe and do a second session.

By lunchtime, I'm pretty much dead. So probably four hours of actual writing and I try and get that first draft done as fast as possible. So, you know, try and get it done within a month basically. So a month to six weeks to do the first draft.

And then, obviously, there's the editing phase, which can take awhile as well. But really that first draft is the only time when I will go to the cafe every single day and write. And then, obviously, then it's the editing and other things. And I do that at the cafe as well, but I listen to rain and thunderstorms through my noise-canceling headphones and that's what keeps me in the zone and it definitely helps.

Alan: That's interesting.

I've had a hard time with music because I get distracted, but that's interesting to try out nature sounds.

Joanna: Yeah, it's enough of a noise and also with the noise-cancelling, you basically shut out all the external noise and it just really helps you concentrate and get into that first draft writing phrase which can be, obviously, hard.

Alan: And what do you use? Are you a Scrivener user or do you just use Word?

Joanna: Absolutely Scrivener. I wrote my first novel, Stone of Fire in Word and I would never, ever go back. I love Scrivener. I don't know many writers who don't use Scrivener, at this point, because it's so useful. And I don't write in order as well which is why Scrivener makes it even better because I can write different scenes and then move them around later. So yeah, I totally love Scrivener.

Alan: Yeah, it's a great product. I'm the same way too, I love to be able to drag the folders around.

I really like your covers, and I remember noticing that a lot of authors like yourself and Russell Blake, you change your covers every now and then. Is that just because you noticed changes in the market and you decide, “Oh, I'm gonna change it.”

I was curious about that when I see an author's changing covers.

Joanna: First of all, changing covers is completely normal. All traditional publishers will change covers on older books. If you look at something like “To Kill A Mockingbird” there will have been myriad covers on a book like that because they re-release it every now and then with a new cover.

But in terms of my covers, some of it has been re-branding. I think when you first start to write you don't really know what you're writing.

For example, Stone of Fire the original title was “Pentecost” and I wrote Pentecost, Prophecy and Exodus, which to me, because I'm a theologian, the words had a lot of meaning. But people thought they were Christian novels, but they're not Christian novels, they're just based around Christian myth and history. And so I re-branded as Stone of Fire, Crypt of Bone, Ark of Blood, and that's, you know, End of Days, and these are my ARKANE titles now.

So I did different covers when I re-branded…sort of re-branding to more of mainstream thriller look and feel which, you know, the couple running away from certain things. There are genre conventions.

And then my London Psychic series is a lot darker, so the covers are dark. But again I tried, like, three different covers on that first one, “Desecration”, because I hadn't really worked out where that book fit in the market. And this is one of the pros and cons of being an indie author, is that you might not really know exactly where your book fits. But one of the amazing things is, of course, all you need to do is upload a new cover and move it.

“Risen Gods” is another good example. I put a cover on that and we thought it was a horror novel. It does have demons in but it's not horror, there's no gore, well, there's a bit of gore but not very much.

So we've changed it to sort of a dark fantasy, urban fantasy, with a male character on the front with a sort of the look of volcanoes and magic around it. And it's almost not even magic, it's that kind of mythology of the Mauri people. So, changing that cover actually has made a huge difference and more people have picked up that book when it has a different cover.

I think it's very important to write your book from your heart. I mean, some people do write to market, but I write from my heart. Which means I might not know exactly where it fits, but over time we find our market.

Alan: Yeah. Well, your covers are beautiful. I'm looking at them right now. They look great.

Joanna: Thank you.

Alan: I saw on your website Destroyer of Worlds has been nominated, it's a finalist for the ITW award for Best E-Book Original, that's so exciting.

Can you tell us a little bit about that and that award?

Joanna: The ITW is the International Thriller Writers and it has some really big names in, so people like Stephen King and Lee Child, and Clive Cussler. I do love Clive Cussler, and I met him the other year and I was just so thrilled. Authors of any age can submit their work or the publishers will submit work to these awards every year.

They are judged, not on sales but on the quality of writing, so they're judged by other thriller authors. And so, yes, I'm a finalist in the final five for “Destroyer of Worlds” which is set in India and is a fun romp through India and Hindu myth.

That will be announced in July. And even if I don't win, which I hope I will obviously, but if I don't win it's still validation from my peers that my writing fits into that thriller genre. And I think, for a lot of writers, having other writers judge their work it's very scary but it can also be the most rewarding thing.

Alan: Yeah, especially making it as a finalist. All the big name thriller writers are a part of ITW.

Joanna: Well, hopefully, I'll win 🙂 Fingers crossed.

Alan: Yeah, exactly. Fingers crossed. It's an honor to be a finalist though.

Joanna: Yes, exactly. That's what I think.

What are you working on now? What's your current work-in-progress?

Joanna: Well, two things mainly. One is this new series around maps and cartography but I think when you're thinking about a new series, you do have to think about more than one book. I'm waiting until I have the full sort of ideas in my head before I write it down. I know the first scene. So I keep.. I'm like, aha, gotta write that scene down, but I'm almost waiting until I can't wait any longer on that.

Because we traveled on the train from Chicago to New Orleans, and then we spent a week in New Orleans writing, but that demon hunters book is set on the train, so I have all this stuff around New Orleans that I want to write. I'm actually going to start a spin-off series which will be, United States of ARKANE. The first book is going to be set in New Orleans and probably Haiti and will be around Voodoo.

Because I learned a lot about Voodoo and, you know, what they call Voodoo versus Hoodoo, and Hoodoo is all the occult stuff and Voodoo is the actual religion. So it's really fascinating.

I want to write another ARKANE book set in America. I have one already, One Day in New York, but this will be the start of a new spin-off and then the maps book. I'm hoping to have lots of that out this year, and also short stories and… you know how it goes, there's always more to write.

Alan: Oh yes, absolutely.

Do you have a set goal that you try to publish every year?

Joanna: Well, not so much. I mean, last year I only published one novel, “Destroyer of Worlds”. This year I put out “End of Days” in January and then “American Demon Hunter: Sacrifice” and I'll definitely have one… maybe even two more by the end of the year.

I feel like this is a good year for me in terms of writing. So, no, I don't have a set number per year. Because I'm quite a pantser, I don't necessarily say, “Right, I have to have everything done at this time,” and that type of thing. Because I write non-fiction as well.

Alan: Okay. All right. Well, Joanna, I'm not gonna take up too much more of your time, it's been so awesome talking to you.

Before I let you go, is there anything that you would like to tell our listeners?

Joanna: Yeah, sure. So if you would like to try one of my books “Stone of Fire” is a free ebook on all platforms. So you can always check out “Stone of Fire” by J.F. Penn. And also you can get a free book on my website jfpenn.com/free and that's “Day of the Vikings” which opens in the British Museum and is sort of a combination of both of my series, it has characters from both of my series. So that's a pretty fun valet if you like Vikings set in the modern era. Lots of fun.

Alan: All right. Awesome. Well, thank you very much for being on the podcast. It was nice talking to you.

Joanna: Thanks so much, Alan.

Alan: Thanks, bye. Okay…

13 Strange But Awesome Places To See In New Orleans

June 27, 2017 By J.F. Penn

So far, my ARKANE books have largely focused on the ancient world and Europe. But ever since Jake went to America for One Day in New York I’ve wanted to explore the legends and occult traditions of the New World.

What better place to start than The Big Easy, New Orleans?

Especially as I visited the city in early 2017 as part of the research for American Demon Hunters: Sacrifice. You can see some of my pictures in this article and the whole album here on Flickr.

Founded in 1718 by the French, New Orleans passed to Spanish control in 1763. It finally joined the United States in 1803. This change of hands, along with its history of slavery and connection to the local Chitimacha tribes, makes New Orleans a unique place to visit.

It’s suffered many disasters over the decades, including devastating epidemics and hurricanes. More recently, Hurricane Katrina took 1,836 lives in 2005. Thankfully, the city recovered and is open to visitors.

st louis cemetery — Graves in St Louis cemetery, New Orleans

Here are thirteen strange places to see in New Orleans if you’re lucky enough to find yourself in this very unusual city.

1. The Tomb of Marie Laveau

Vodou is never far from the surface in New Orleans. While we're used to spelling it as Voodoo in the West, it’s originally Vodou. Otherwise, you're confusing a legitimate religion from Haiti with the West African folk magic practice of hoodoo.

Either way, one of its most famous priestesses, Marie Laveau, continues to draw the crowds.

Born around 1801, the half Creole hairdresser became famous as a purveyor of charms and gris-gris bags, fortunes and advice. According to legend, she even saved condemned men. But rumours also imply she ran a popular brothel – which could explain her fame.

She died in 1881 and allegedly rests in St. Louis Cemetery No.1, one of the top places to see in New Orleans. Her burial place is named in her obituary though some scholars say she lies elsewhere. Visitors used to scribble an X on her mausoleum in the hope she'd grant their wish. But after a restoration in 2014, the authorities now fine visitors for writing on the grave.

St. Louis Cemetery No.1 opened in 1789 and is the oldest cemetery in New Orleans. It has over 600 tombs and preservation work began in 1975.

If you'd like to visit St. Louis Cemetery No.1, then you can only gain access with a tour guide, unless you have family buried there.

2. Marie Laveau's House of Voodoo

Vodou Priestess Marie Laveau gave birth to a daughter in 1827, also named Marie. A museum and shop now stand on the site of the house where Marie Laveau II lived.

voodoo altar, new orleans — Voodoo altar

You can see a Vodou altar and associated items while the owners hold spiritual readings in a back room. You can even buy various Vodou items and books.

But perhaps Marie Laveau II isn't happy with the commercialisation of her home. Many believe her ghost still haunts the property. Visitors report cold fingers kneading their shoulders. Others have seen her in the back room during readings.

3. New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum

Marie Laveau's shop isn't the only museum dedicated to Vodou. A local artist named Charles Massicot Gandolfo founded his own small museum in 1972. It focuses on New Orleans Vodou and is a fascinating place.

Vodou priest John T offers psychic readings and fortune telling, which start at $40. You can also book onto a walking tour of St. Louis Cemetery No.1.

The gift shop sells many products, including chicken feet and snake skins, as well as the famous Voodoo Love potion and the New Orleans Voodoo Coffin Kits.

If you're not that brave, then you can buy books and candles instead.

jfpenn nuawlins nate new orleans voodoo — J.F.Penn with Nu'Awlins Nate, New Orleans voodoo tour guide

You can find the Historic Voodoo Museum at 724 Dumaine Street. I did a great walking tour which included the museum with Nu'Awlins Nate, a regular tour guide of the city.

4. Boutique du Vampyre

New Orleans is full of vampires, at least it has been since Anne Rice set some of her Vampire Lestat books in the city.

There is a very cool shop full of vampire gifts and if you get chatting to the (pale) staff, you might get invited to one of the private clubs where entry is only allowed if you are invited by or accompanied by a vampire.

You can check out the shop at 709 St Ann St, or visit their online shop here.

5. New Orleans Pharmacy Museum

Not everything in New Orleans is devoted to the supernatural. The Pharmacy Museum in the French Quarter is an important monument to the development of scientific medicine.

You can see pharmaceutical ingredients in apothecary jars, original wheelchairs, medical instruments and tools, and even old eyeglasses. It’s one of the more unusual places to see in New Orleans.

A recreated pharmacist's lab lies at the back of the shop, while exhibits explain the original role of the ‘soda fountain' in Victorian medicine.

Though it wouldn't be New Orleans without at least a handful of Vodou potions.

6. Séance Room at Muriel's Jackson Square

Head to 801 Chartres Street if you'd like to combine Creole cuisine with paranormal activity.

Muriel's Jackson Square was a holding facility for slaves before it became a family home after the Great New Orleans Fire of 1788. Its owner committed suicide in 1814 on the second floor after losing the house in a poker game.

Once the building became a restaurant, the second floor became a séance room after guests reported a lot of paranormal activity. Despite stories of disembodied voices and breaking glasses, the owners claim the spirits are harmless. They even lay a table for the previous owner every night.

Of course, if you're in the area, you need to get a muffuletta from the Central Grocery, followed by beignets and cafe au lait from Café du Monde. Sugar rush!

7. LaLaurie Mansion

While many houses in New Orleans claim to be haunted, not all of them boast the pedigree of the LaLaurie mansion. Standing in the French Quarter, the cruel Madame LaLaurie allegedly tortured slaves in the house.

Fans of American Horror Story will recognise the house and Madame LaLaurie from the Coven series. Kathy Bates played the Madame.

Actor Nicolas Cage even bought the house and lost it to foreclosure in 2009. Few were surprised since legends of curses surround the house. The imposing mansion is one of the must-see places to see in New Orleans.

You can hear more of the ghost stories by doing an evening Ghosts, Legends and Lore walking tour with Strange True Tours.

8. Metairie Cemetery and Lafayette Cemetery

If you like visiting graveyards (as I do) then Metairie Cemetery is another recommended visit. It's notable for having been built on the site of a race track. The cemetery even follows the original contours.

Like the other city graveyards, it boasts fantastic monuments to house the above-ground burials. Some believe the trend to bury above ground comes from problems with the city's water.

But it was a popular burial style in the Mediterranean due to the rocky soil in southern Europe. French and Spanish colonists introduced the tradition. Paupers were buried in any available ground, so tombs act as a sign of status in the community.

Or you can travel to the Garden District to find the Lafayette Cemetery. Established in 1833, you can find it at 1400 Washington Avenue. It’s one of the definitive places to see in New Orleans.

The cemetery holds over 7000 inhabitants and will be familiar if you've read any of Anne Rice's vampire novels. She even staged her own funeral here in 1995, complete with horse-drawn hearse and brass band, to publicise the release of Memnoch the Devil, book 5 in her Vampire Chronicles.

You'll find plenty of monuments honouring Civil War dead and those lost to regular epidemics of yellow fever.

9. The Museum of Death

With perhaps the most striking name in the history of museums, this weird museum lies in the French Quarter and is one of the more disturbing places to see in New Orleans.

You need a strong stomach because they include plenty of photos from morgues and crime scenes, body bags, antique mortician equipment, coffins, and car accident photography.

It offers a self-guided tour that lasts for around an hour. But if you're of a stronger constitution, you can stay at the Museum of Death as long as you can stand it. I wouldn't recommend taking your Mom!

10. St. Augustine Catholic Church

Found at 1210 Governor Nicholls Street, the church itself isn't the destination. The rusting cross made of thick chains outside is what you need to see. This is the Tomb of the Unknown Slave, installed in 2004. It honours the nameless slaves who died and rarely received proper burials.

chain cross — Cross made from slave shackles, New Orleans

Officially, no one is buried under it, but a bronze plaque nearby explains that slave labour built a lot of the parish. A number of unmarked graves likely lie beneath it.

It's an important memorial in the city and it’s worth seeing it to pay your respects.

11. Backstreet Cultural Museum

Many associate New Orleans with a range of African American celebrations, including jazz funerals and Mardi Gras.

If you want to know more about them, then pop along to the Backstreet Cultural Museum (though it's closed on Mondays and Sundays).

It holds permanent exhibits related to the community-based processional traditions. But it also holds an archive of filmed records of over 500 events. It hosts public music and dance performances and chronicles the jazz funerals held every year.

shotgun houses — ‘Shotgun' houses in New Orleans

You can also visit the House of Dance & Feathers on Tupelo Street to learn more about the Mardi Gras Indian costumes.

12. Escape My Room

If you believe the stories, the DeLaporte mansion stood on the site now occupied by the hospital complex near the New Orleans Superdrome. After the last owner, Odette DeLaporte, became a recluse, the house fell to rack and ruin. In 2005, urban explorers broke in, later describing the house and its fabulous contents.

But when the neighbours returned in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, they realised the house was completely empty. Where did everything go?

If you believe the website, Escape My Room recreated two of the mansion’s rooms using the items from the house in the remains of a former perfume factory. Players wait in the cabinet of curiosities styled waiting room, furnished with antiques and weird taxidermy. It's typical of the legends and eeriness that hang around New Orleans.

Players get to choose the Jazz Parlor or the Mardi Gras Study. You get one hour to solve a mystery using the clues in the room. There are 8 of you in a group, so it's advisable to work together.

If you solve it without help, you learn something new about the occult in New Orleans that you couldn't have found elsewhere. Only 1 in 3 players solve the riddles unaided. If you're one of the 2 in 3 who can't, a guide will reveal everything you've missed.

If you want to play, you can find it at 601-699 Constance St. Just make sure you book in advance – it's fiendishly popular.

13. House of the Rising Sun

The infamous brothel that inspired the song by the same name isn't open to the public, but I was lucky enough to be taken round by some locals.

These are just some of the awesome places to see in New Orleans.

Because of the diverse range of faiths, lifestyles, and beliefs of the people of New Orleans, you should always be respectful. The whole city is a community, so take an open mind with you.

Who knows which stories you may tell when you leave?

I'm going to be writing an ARKANE novel set in the city, but in the meantime, check out American Demon Hunters: Sacrifice, which I co-wrote with three other authors there after we took the train from Chicago down to New Orleans in March 2017.

A Walk Around The Historical And Occult Sites Of Oxford, England

June 7, 2017 By J.F. Penn

Oxford holds a special place in my heart. I read Theology at Mansfield College 1994 – 1997, so I spent formative years cycling around the streets, spending my student loan on books from Blackwells, rowing on the river, and studying in the Radcliffe Camera library.

I first dreamed of Oxford after reading Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure back in my teens, and the experience of living in the city of dreaming spires has certainly shaped my life … and my fiction!

Oxford is a key location in the ARKANE series. Home to Morgan Sierra, it provides a point of stability in her hectic life of international travel and defeating the bad guys! With its own ARKANE field office, Oxford also sees the start of Morgan’s life as an agent in Stone of Fire. You could say it's the intellectual balance for her supernatural adventures.

So Oxford has links with the occult through ARKANE, but what other weird tales lurk in the city of dreaming spires? Let’s take a walk around some of the historical and occult aspects of Oxford.

Oxford as the capital of England?

Oxford was briefly the capital of England during the English Civil War. The town supported the Parliamentarians, but the University supported the monarchy. King Charles I moved his court here in 1642 and he stayed at Christ Church College until 1646.

Local legends claim the tragic king still haunts the college, both with and without his head. Civil War ghosts also appear elsewhere in Oxford. A bedroom at Merton College was so haunted that no one could spend an entire night there. The library at the college is reportedly haunted by a former Royalist colonel, shot after surrendering to Parliamentarian forces in 1645.

There’s even a legend that Hitler intended to use Oxford as his capital if he invaded England so deliberately avoided bombing it. There’s no evidence to support the theory, but it certainly fits in with the occult leanings of the city. (Morgan comes up against the occult side of Nazi history in Gates of Hell.)

Divine power supported the founding of Oxford University

An interesting legend surrounds the founding of the university. A princess named Frideswide wanted to dedicate herself to the Church, but the king of Mercia wanted to marry her, so Frideswide fled to Oxford to escape him.

When the king entered the city in hot pursuit, a divine power struck him blind. His sight only returned when he begged forgiveness and released Frideswide from her betrothal. The king left empty-handed and Frideswide founded a nunnery. According to the legend, the first colleges were built for monastic scholars.

Despite the legend, women were only admitted in 1878. The university awarded degrees to women in 1920. The last all-male college opened to women in 1974.

oxford natural history — Interior of the Museum of Natural History, Oxford. Is the ARKANE base really underneath?

What would the old male founders of the colleges make of Morgan Sierra's Krav Maga skills?

Learning and knowledge

Oxford is most famous as a seat of learning. Evidence suggests the university has operated since 1096 AD and only the University of Bologna has been in operation for longer.

My Theology degree included some of the oldest subjects studied including the New Testament in ancient Greek, Israel before the Exile and Patristics, the study of the early church fathers. These papers shaped a number of my ARKANE books, and I spent much of my study time in the Radcliffe Camera, part of the Bodleian Library.

It is second only to British Library in terms of its holdings and the Bodleian stocks over 11 million items across several sites. It even extends into underground stacks, which I visited once, and became the inspiration for the underground ARKANE headquarters. A tunnel connects the Weston Library, the Old Bodleian and the Radcliffe Camera.

The famous Ashmolean Museum first opened to the public in 1683, the first museum in the world to be accessible to the public. It's one of the best things to see in Oxford, and it hosts an enviable collection of art and archaeology from around the world. Its Egyptian collection is one of the largest outside Cairo. Visitors can even write to the Ashmolean a week in advance to request access to the original drawings of Raphael and Michelangelo.

The Ashmolean is a perfect hiding place for one of the Seals of Revelation needed to resurrect the Great Serpent at the End of Days.

Elsewhere in Oxford, the Pitt Rivers Museum holds an amazing collection of archaeological and ethnographic objects from around the world. Founded in 1884, the museum has over half a million items. In my books, it’s also the public face of the Oxford branch of the ARKANE Institute, which nestles below the museum.

Most museums arrange their objects by geography or culture, but the Pitt Rivers Museum creates displays using types of object. That way, visitors can see how a range of cultures across a range of time periods have approached textiles, weapons, and even musical instruments.

Who knows what fascinating relics might lie among their Japanese Noh masks and Tahitian mourner's costumes?

Underground Oxford

In Stone of Fire, Jake alludes to the sprawling underground network below Oxford.

As well as the tunnels beneath the Bodleian Library, there's also a Norman crypt beneath St. Peter-in-the-East, now the college library of St. Edmund (Teddy) Hall. According to rumours, the crypt hides the entrance to a tunnel network that was used until the 1960s.

There are also legends about an underground passage that led into the crypt. King Henry II apparently used the tunnel when he visited Oxford. He passed through the tunnel to avoid his Queen while seeing his mistress. Sadly, no evidence has been found … yet.

Another series of underground tunnels connected the homes in the Oxford Jewish quarter. They lurk behind a medieval doorway below Oxford Town Hall.

Wells and gardens

blackwells — Blackwells bookshop with student bikes outside, Oxford. Booklovers get lost in there …

Wells and spas provide handy clues to the pagan roots of old English towns, including Oxford. The wells mark the sites of springs, often worshipped by earlier inhabitants for their magical properties. The town of Bath, where I live now, is a famous example.

St Margaret's Well lies in Binsey, 1.5 miles north-west of Oxford. Dedicated to Frideswide, its legend claims her prayers brought forth a healing spring when the king of Mercia was struck blind. The well became a site of pilgrimage during medieval times. Cured cripples would leave their crutches to adorn the nearby church when they left.

Pilgrims visited for its power in curing eye complaints and infertility and Katherine of Aragon, first wife of Henry VIII, was even rumoured to pay the well a visit. Legend has it that Lewis Carroll based the treacle well in Alice in Wonderland on St Margaret's Well. It’s one of the more peaceful things to see in Oxford and some still believe in the curative properties of the water.

Oxford also boasts the oldest Botanic Garden in the world. Founded as a physic garden in 1621, the Botanic Garden was always intended as a learning resource. Nowadays the Garden works within plant conservation, as well as conducting research at Oxford University.

Oxford and strange fiction

Oxford is important to my ARKANE books, but it also has (more famous!) literary links, particularly with fantasy fiction. Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) taught at Christ Church College. He was friends with the Dean and immortalised his daughter in fiction as Alice in Wonderland.

Writer Kenneth Grahame attended St Edward's School in Oxford. He's buried in the city’s Holywell Cemetery. Perhaps his time in Oxford inspired the otherworldly atmosphere of The Wind in the Willows.

JRR Tolkien photo from the Eagle and Child, Oxford

The Great Hall at Christ Church inspired the dining hall of Hogwarts, while the staircase leading to the hall appears in the Harry Potter films. The locations around the college are some of the more popular things to see in Oxford.

Given that Oxford has the highest number of published writers per square mile, maybe there's something in the air that seeps into fiction.

Charles Williams must have thought so. He was part of the Inklings, a group of Oxford writers that also included J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. Williams wrote poetry about the Arthurian legends and supernatural novels about the spiritual realm breaking into daily reality.

He was also a member of The Fellowship of the Rosy Cross, a secret Rosicrucian fraternity. Arthur Edward Waite founded the group in 1915 and blended spiritual esotericism and Christianity. Unlike the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the FRC rejected magic. A lot of its members were Freemasons and they sought knowledge more than power.

The occult in Oxford

Charles Williams couldn’t have picked a better city if he wanted to explore the occult. There's something about the city that inspires the spirit. The word ‘occult’ means ‘knowledge of the hidden,’ so what better place than this seat of learning for occult traditions?

Students have dabbled in the occult across the centuries. Adam Squier, a Master of Balliol College in the 16th century, was almost expelled after he sold demons to help his clients win at gambling. The famous Tudor magician, John Dee, thought highly of another student, Thomas Heth.

In recent years, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn inspired the founding of the Oxford Golden Dawn Occult Society (OGDOS). It's a magical order that teaches a more modern form of magic than the older Golden Dawn system.

The OGDOS are working to re-establish a resource centre in Oxford. They want to provide a space for ritual gatherings. Its founder, Mogg Morgan, is the CEO of the Mandrake of Oxford publishing press, specialising in occult titles. Elsewhere in the city, the Inner Bookshop on Magdalen Road carries occult books.

Part of the northern end of All Souls College was re-designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor, 18th-century architect and Freemason. A series of architectural conspiracy theories surround his London churches and his work often includes obelisks, pyramids and other elements hinting at pagan influences at odds with ecclesiastical buildings.

While they can’t be attributed to Hawksmoor, many of the college buildings are also home to a host of gargoyles. Some are just faces and others are whole people. The comedy grotesques are some of the more unusual things to see in Oxford.

blackfriars — The door to Blackfriars, where I used to have Theology tutorials, and where Ben Costanza from the ARKANE series lives and teaches

Elsewhere in the city stands Sir Christopher Wren’s first major commission – the magnificent Sheldonian Theatre. Like his apprentice Hawksmoor, Wren was a Freemason. He used the traditions of the Kabbalah and sacred geometry from the Old Testament in his work. Perhaps the journey of Wren and Hawksmoor into the occult began in Oxford.

Morgan Sierra investigates the Freemasons' Grand Lodge of England in the hunt for the Ark of the Covenant in Ark of Blood.

You can plot your own plan of esoteric things to see in Oxford

Try following in Morgan’s footsteps and start with the museums. Explore some of the nooks and crannies of the colleges for a small fee. Seek out ancient springs or keep your eyes open for hidden entrances to secret tunnels.

Keep an open mind while you wander. Who knows where those winding alleyways may take you?

Begin your journey into Oxford’s ARKANE side with Stone of Fire, or binge the whole series in ebook, print or audiobook.

12 Of The World’s Weirdest Museums That You Really Should Visit

May 14, 2017 By J.F. Penn

If you think of museums, you might think of the majesty of the British Museum or the industrial heritage of the Railway Museum.

But you’d miss out on the darker, more unusual, or just plain bizarre side of life. Choosing to visit the weirdest museums instead can be a truly enlightening experience.

I’ve collected together 12 of the strangest museums around the world that are all worth a visit. You’ll encounter mummies, vampires, torturers, and maybe even Bigfoot.

Choose carefully, and visit with an open mind. Who knows what new ideas or fascinations will emerge for you?

1. Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, England

oxfordpittrivers — Inside the Oxford Museum of Natural History, the Pitts Rivers is at the back … and ARKANE is underneath!

The Pitt Rivers Museum is a place close to my heart as the public front of the ARKANE Institute in my thrillers. The collection is also perhaps one of the weirdest museums in the UK. General Pitt Rivers founded the museum in 1884, and there are now over half a million objects.

It's notable for its typological displays. Most museums display their objects based on cultures or geography. Not the Pitt Rivers. Here, curators group objects according to type. It makes the similarities between people and cultures, often across vast time periods or extensive physical distance, all the more obvious. So it’s important to anthropology and an interesting viewing experience for visitors. There are some particularly gruesome shrunken heads, as well as giant wooden birds of paradise, their spiraling feathers like huge tongues, and the agonized face of a Christian martyr statue, neck twisted towards his God, desperate for release, next to a case of ceremonial knives for stripping the flesh from sacrificial animals.

It's super weird. What better home for ARKANE?!

2. La Specola, Florence, Italy

This quiet, unassuming gallery lies within the Museum of Natural History in Florence. The rest of the museum houses taxidermy and other exhibits relating to its subject. But La Specola is the part you need to see. It's home to the largest collection of anatomical wax figures, including over 1400 models.

Most of them date to the 18th century and students still pop in to study their realistic forms. The famous Anatomical Venus is a must-see, a full-size version of the tiny memento mori that is the key to solving a murder in my London Psychic thriller, Desecration.

As La Specola is on the south side of the River Arno, it’s also a lot more peaceful than other attractions like the Uffizi or Duomo. So if you want to escape the hustle and bustle of Florence, and see something unusual, then this is a brilliant destination.

3. Museum of Vampires and Legendary Creatures, Paris, France

It’s no surprise you’d find this museum just 2.4km from the awe-inspiring Pere Lachaise cemetery. Jacques Sirgent, a scholar of the macabre, founded the museum as a place to collect his research into vampirism and esoterism.

This strange museum shares the strange, cryptic history of Paris. It also contains vampire killing kits, antique books, toys and collectables relating to Hammer Films and Dracula, and other pop culture items. Adding to the air of mystery, you need to reserve your place on their guided tours.

Some of the weirdest museums often double as libraries, and the Museum of Vampires is no different. You can buy an annual membership for €60, which entitles you to unlimited access to the books and magazines held by the museum.

4. International Cryptozoology Museum, Portland, Maine, USA

Stephen King country is the ideal location for this strange museum. Covering Big Foot, the Jersey Devil and other folkloric creatures, the museum holds a range of memorabilia, souvenirs, toys, and research materials on all things cryptozoology.

The museum has moved location several times, with its premises growing to accommodate its ever-expanding collection.

The website describes it as the world’s only cryptozoology museum, and it’s also noted as a formal collection. It’s open every day except Tuesdays, so if you want to see the Feejee Mermaid, or learn more about the coelacanth, then it’s worth a visit.

5. Funeral Museum, Vienna, Austria

This macabre attraction is one of the weirdest museums in Vienna. Funerals were historically a major event in this European capital, and tourists still line up to visit the Imperial crypt. The Funeral Museum capitalises on the trend towards all things funerary, displaying hearses, mourning attire, and items designed to help those who found themselves buried alive.

One of the stand-out exhibits is a re-usable coffin, designed by Emperor Josef II in 1784. The bottom of the coffin is a trap door, allowing the corpse to drop into the grave without burying the coffin itself. It's the ultimate in recycling, yet the Viennese were unimpressed.

You can also find out more about the Viennese Cult of the Dead at this strange museum.

6. Museo de Las Momias (Mummy Museum), Guanajuato, Mexico

In the mid-19th century, the people of the small mining town of Guanajuato interred hundreds of bodies interred in the Santa Paula Pantheon’s crypts in. Authorities later exhumed the bodies if their families couldn't pay the town's mandatory burial tax.

During these exhumations, town officials discovered that the climate of the region had naturally mummified the bodies. The first body was exhumed in 1865, making the mummified French doctor the oldest of the collection. Visitors originally saw the mummies in situ in the catacombs, something of a clandestine experience as viewing the corpses was not permitted.

Around 100 bodies, including those of infants and children, later moved to the Museo de Las Momias, or Mummy Museum. The poignant museum is a touching testament to the body after death.

7. Torture Museum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Europe may seem like a space of civilisation and progress now, but its dark history is never far below the surface. It sometimes seems ready to erupt again, an idea I explored in One Day in Budapest.

Amsterdam is now seen as a liberal city of life and culture, but their Torture Museum displays over 40 torture devices actually used during interrogations. Witches, political prisoners and criminals all fell foul of these decapitation swords and the infamous inquisition chair.

But the museum’s curators recognise that almost 100 countries still practise modern torture. The museum runs educational events for students and supports the UN Convention Against Torture.

8. Museum of Death, New Orleans, USA

With a name like that, the Museum of Death has a lot to live up to. Definitely one of the weirdest museums in the capital of the strange, the Museum of Death is not a subtle place.

The Museum of Death originates from a San Diego art gallery after its founders JD Healy and Cathee Shultz decided that people had become too distanced from death.

On display, you'll find body bags, coffins, old mortician equipment, photographs from crime scenes and morgues, images of the Manson Family, and much more. The self-guided tour lasts 45 minutes, although visitors are welcome to stay for as long as they can stand it.

If you have a strong stomach, then the Museum of Death is the place for you. I visited the museum with my co-authors during the writing of American Demon Hunters: Sacrifice.

9. Žmuidzinavičius Museum, Kaunas, Lithuania

Founded in 1966, the Žmuidzinavičius, or Devil’s Museum, collects and displays carvings of devils from around the globe. When it opened, it contained just 260 sculptures. Visitors left their own devils, and by 2009, the collection held 3000 objects.

The exhibits range from wood to stone and ceramic although some of the items are also masks. They also contain pebbles whose markings resemble the devil.

Some of the simple statues express both folk myths and political ideologies. A famous sculpture shows Hitler and Stalin dancing as devils across human bones. Maybe you have a devil stone you can leave behind if you visit.

10. Mary King’s Close, Edinburgh, UK

Edinburgh is a curious city, divided between the gleaming Georgian New Town and the twisting cobbled closes of the Old Town. Between the South Bridge Vaults and Greyfriar’s Kirkyard, it’s a mecca for anyone who likes a taste of the macabre or the unusual.

Yet one of the weirdest museums in Britain lies below a government building on the Royal Mile. Mary King’s Close is a monument to the old narrow streets that lie on either side of this historic strip between Edinburgh Castle and Holyrood Palace. There are rumors that those infected with the plague were walled up here alive.

Take a guided tour below ground and see the tiny rooms and stifling chambers that inhabitants once called home. There’s even a legend of a little girl ghost named Annie, and tourists often leave stuffed toys and dolls for her to play with.

If you’re lucky, she might tug your coat to say hello.

11. Museum of Holy Souls in Purgatory, Rome, Italy

In the Catholic faith, souls pass through Purgatory on their way to heaven. You pay for your sins in Purgatory. The soul made its way through Purgatory faster if more of the living said prayers to speed them along. In earlier centuries, people handed out ‘soul cakes’ to the poor at Halloween, in exchange for the poor saying prayers for their relatives.

But this truly strange museum displays objects apparently marked by burning hands belonging to the souls of Purgatory. According to legend, a fire in the original church inspired a French missionary to build the museum. He discovered the scorched image of a face which he assumed was a trapped soul.
You can find the museum at the back of the Sacro Cuore del Suffragio church.

12. Museum of Witchcraft and Magic, Boscastle, UK

Cornwall might be more famous nowadays as Poldark country. But this bizarre museum houses the world's largest collection of items relating to witchcraft and magic. The museum previously existed in Stratford-upon-Avon, and on the Isle of Man, where Gerald Gardner, the founder of modern Wicca, acted as the witch in residence. The museum moved to Boscastle in 1960.

A prehistoric maze is carved into the rock face three miles from its location, linking the museum with the magic of ancient times.

The museum holds over 3000 objects and 7000 books and stages temporary exhibitions along with public events. While some of the displays may seem unusual, remember that Wicca is a legitimate spiritual path, so be respectful.

Any, or all, of these museums offer unique learning opportunities. They also capture the sides of human life that extend beyond the classical ideas preserved by traditional ideas. They’re also a lot of fun!

9 Secret Libraries Around The World And How To Find Them

May 8, 2017 By J.F. Penn

For book lovers around the world, secret libraries hold the promise of mysteries and hidden knowledge. So where can you actually find them?

The destruction of the ancient library of Alexandria still prompts a sob from book lovers today. Losing so much knowledge and wisdom certainly pains scholars. But books aren’t just important to academics.

We’ve all curled up in our favourite chair, a mug of hot tea or coffee to hand, happy to while away the hours with adventurers that become friends across the course of a book.

But there’s something magical about the quiet reverence of libraries, the hush broken only by rustling pages, or the scratching of pens. My books feature plenty of hidden archives and secret libraries, holding many riddles among their shelves. And while Martin Klein works to digitise the ARKANE archive in my thrillers, there’s still something special about libraries, especially secret ones.

So here are 9 secret libraries–and how to find them!

1) Bodleian Library, Oxford, UK

The Bodleian isn’t so much a secret library as a forgotten one. The Bodleian is older than the British Library and dates back to the days of Elizabethan magician John Dee, opening in 1602.

These days, it’s not just one library – it’s a collection of several, covering history, medicine, the law, and music, among other subjects. You can visit and tour some of the public rooms, but mostly, you need to apply for access.

Non-students can apply for a Reader card if you have a research need that the library can meet. Find out how to get access here. Just don’t expect to get in if you only want somewhere quiet to work.

When I was a student at Oxford, I used to work in the Radcliffe Camera, the domed theology library. It features in Stone of Fire, and also more recently in End of Days, as the research library for Father Ben Costanza. The Bodleian is also the starting place for Deborah Harkness' All Souls Trilogy, which I really enjoyed reading.

2) John Hay Library, Rhode Island, USA

vesalius — An illustration from the Vesalius book

Books bound in human skin are rare. But the John Hay Library holds three of them. One is De humani corporis fabrica (On the Structure of the Human Body) by Andreas Vesalius, one of the most famous textbooks on anatomy. The book was one of the inspirations for Desecration and also features in American Demon Hunters: Sacrifice.

The John Hay Library also has two copies of Hans Holbein the Younger's Dance of Death, rebound in human skin in 1898.

If that's not occult enough for your tastes, then they also hold papers by H. P. Lovecraft, papyri from ancient Egyptian, clay tablets from Babylon, and Napoleon's death mask. What other ritualistic books might hide on their shelves?

3) Book and Bed Tokyo, Japan

If you've ever dreamed of falling asleep in a fort made of books, then this bookshop-themed hotel might help you fulfil that. Guests book sleeping compartments surrounded by bookshelves boasting 1,700 titles in both English and Japanese.

It's less of a library and more of a book-friendly hostel. But guests can stay up reading as late as they like. Their website explains that the Book and Bed is not designed to provide a good night's sleep – so don’t expect comfy beds and fluffy pillows.

Instead, Book and Bed lets guests browse at their leisure, and doze off in their snug compartment among the bookshelves.

4) Little Free Library, worldwide

penn london library — I read a lot of ebooks, but I still enjoy the stacks of a library!

These secret libraries have more than one branch. Run as a non-profit organisation, Little Free Library works using principles of community and creativity. Volunteers, known as stewards, build their own Little Free Library they host in their own community.

The concept is simple. Readers may take books to read or leave books behind for others. People can donate books by leaving them in their nearest Little Free Library. It's a great way for people to share their favourite books with their local community.

Stewards can get access to free and discounted books through the partners of the main organisation. Their goal is to increase access to books for all readers but mainly those in their local area. In November 2016, there were over 50,000 registered Little Free Library exchanges around the world.

If you want to search for Little Free Libraries near you, visit their map! Or if you love the idea of starting one, click here to find out how.

5) Szabo Ervin Library, Hungary

Budapest is a fascinating city to visit, and it certainly captured my imagination when I wrote One Day in Budapest. But as well as holding the Holy Right Hand, the city is also home to the Szabo Ervin Library, king of the secret libraries.

You won't find it in many guidebooks, which is a shame because it's worth seeing. It was originally a palace built in the 19th century, and the library hides within the modern library surrounding it.

The rooms of the beautiful Wenckheim Palace became reading rooms for the new Central Library in 1931. The old Smoking Room is a must-see space, with its gallery and spiral staircase.

6) Book Club of California, San Francisco

A poet, a book collector, a bookstore owner and a printer founded this safe house of print in 1912. The Club originally only promoted writing from California, but it now covers the West as a whole.

The Club has published over 200 books, and like all the best secret libraries, their clubhouse also holds its own collections of rare books.

Best of all, it's open to the public during the day. So if you’re a person who still distrusts the Kindle, you’ll be right at home at the Book Club.

7) The Literary and Philosophical Society, Newcastle, UK

The largest independent library outside of London is affectionately known as the Lit and Phil. A stone’s throw from Newcastle upon Tyne’s Central Station, this gorgeous Georgian-styled building first opened in 1825. It now holds over 160,000 titles and its mission remains the same – to educate the people of the city.

Academics discovered a mistranslation of an Egyptian mummy’s name thanks to forgotten documents hidden on the Lit and Phil’s shelves. You can see Bakt-en-Hor in all her glory at the nearby Great Museum North.

It also provides meeting spaces and hosts regular talks and performances to help raise funds for the library. Members can even borrow books by post!

8) The Bookbike of Pima County, USA

This is one library that should not be a secret. The Pima County Public Library in Tucson, Arizona provides the Bookbike of Pima County. Volunteers hand out free books and library cards and provide information about local library and literacy programs. There are three Bookbikes, all run by volunteers. They gave away 11,276 books in 2012!

The Bookbikes make monthly visits to a range of locations, including a farmers' market, a soup kitchen, low-income housing, an LGBT centre for teenagers, and a women's shelter. The volunteers behind the Bookbike want to reach potential readers who find it difficult to access libraries. If the readers can't go to the libraries, they'll just bring the library to them. Simple!

You can find them on Facebook if you’d like to know where they’ll be next.

9) Vatican Secret Archives, Vatican City, Italy

No list of secret libraries would be complete without an entry on the Vatican. Brought to the public’s attention by Dan Brown’s thriller Angels and Demons, the archives opened to selected groups in 2010. Previously, only approved academics could gain access.

You can find the archives in a wing of the Vatican behind St Peter's Basilica. There are more than 52 miles of shelving below ground, and the oldest document dates to the 8th century.

The archives also hold letters about King Henry VIII's annulment from Catherine of Aragon, trial records for the Knights Templar in the early 14th century, and correspondence between the Vatican and figures like Michelangelo and even Hitler. The archives also feature in my ARKANE thriller, Destroyer of Worlds.

The Vatican like to claim the archives are private, rather than secret. But there is still a section inaccessible to academics. What hidden treasures might lie within?

This list just scratches the surface of the world of secret libraries. So next time you visit a new city, see if you can find a hidden treasure trove tucked away.

Like The Da Vinci Code? Try These 9 Weird Conspiracy Theories About Art

April 4, 2017 By J.F. Penn

Conspiracy theories are not exactly new. Humans just love coming up with strange – or suspicious – explanations for unusual behaviour. But The Da Vinci Code definitely popularised the idea that codes and secrets could be hidden in works of art.

And where better to hide a secret than in plain sight? Only the initiated can understand it and decode the message.

Even if you’re not sure that the figure in Da Vinci’s The Last Supper is Mary Magdalene, here are some other artistic conspiracy theories that you might find more plausible!

Michelangelo immortalised Mary Magdalene in marble, not the Virgin Mary

Michelangelo's Pieta depicts the crucified body of Jesus lying in the arms of the Virgin Mary. It's one of the most famous sculptures in the history of art.

But commentators aren't exactly buying it. After all, Jesus was 33 when he died – but Mary doesn't look much older. That’s not exactly surprising. After all, the Virgin Mary is nearly always represented in an idealised way.

Or is there more to it?

Art historian Cinzia Chiari put forward a different theory in the Biblical Conspiracies series. For her, the statue is indeed of Mary. Only not the Virgin Mary. No, the Mary in the sculpture could be Mary Magdalene.

Is Michelangelo saying that Mary Magdalene was Jesus' lover?

Possibly. Or maybe he's just returning Mary Magdalene to her place in history. After all, she was present at the crucifixion. According to the gospel of John, Mary was also the first to discover Jesus had left his tomb. The Pieta might mark Michelangelo’s attempt to depict her sadness at his death.

But the discovery of a terracotta model in 2010 shows that Cupid was originally supposed to be in the scene too. It can’t be confirmed that the model was made by Michelangelo, but experts are convinced that only he would be brazen enough to put a Greek god in a sculpture intended for the Vatican.

But as Cupid was the god of romantic love, it makes more sense that he'd appear in a scene between Jesus and Mary Magdalene.

Michelangelo also thumbed his nose at the church – in the Sistine Chapel

One of Michelangelo's greatest works is his Sistine Chapel painting. It tells the story of the Book of Genesis.

But its success rests on a slightly morbid part of Michelangelo's past. At the age of 17, he started dissecting corpses to better understand human anatomy. It's unclear if he was given them, or he dug them up. The latter would make him a more famous bodysnatcher than Burke and Hare.

But Michelangelo wasn't looking to sell the bodies. He just wanted to make anatomical sketches. And some of these are hidden within his Sistine Chapel paintings.

In 1990, physician Frank Meshberger spotted an anatomical illustration of the human brain in cross section. Michelangelo hid it inside the God Creating Adam central panel.

But in 2010, Ian Suk and Rafael Tamargo also found precise illustrations of the spinal cord and brain stem within The Separation of Light from Darkness. The brain stem even forms God's throat!

Experts are unsure if the hidden illustrations were intentional, but artistic conspiracy theories exist about their possible meaning. Michelangelo grew disenchanted with the Church – believing instead in the possibility of direct communication with God.

And with the Church's denunciation of science, was Michelangelo making fun of their stance? Or is it just another of art’s strange conspiracy theories?

British artist Walter Sickert was Jack the Ripper – and he painted scenes of his murders

The identity of Jack the Ripper is probably one of the most hotly contested debates of the last 128 years. It seems that everyone from Prince Albert to Richard Mansfield was accused of being one of history’s most notorious serial killers.

But in 2001, novelist Patricia Cornwell added a new name to the list in her book, Ripper: The Secret Life of Walter Sickert. Cornwell even spent £2m buying 32 of the British artist's paintings, as well as some of his letters, in her efforts to prove his guilt.

Most famous for painting both nudes and nightlife scenes, Sickert captured the dancers and lower orders of London. Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec did much the same in Paris.

And it’s these paintings that provide the ‘evidence', particularly a series of grim paintings created in 1908. Known as The Camden Town Murder, they were inspired by the murder of a prostitute in the Camden area.

Cornwell claims the paintings are too similar to the autopsy photos of the Ripper's victims to be a coincidence. She even had one of them torn up, looking for evidence.

DNA samples were taken from both the letters allegedly written by the Ripper and those written by Sickert. There were no matches, though Cornwell was triumphant when two of the letters had the same unusual watermark.

Given Sickert's father was a stationer, it's fair to assume he supplied a lot of people with paper.

Cornwell herself admits it’s nigh-on impossible to know for certain who Jack the Ripper was. She maintains it was Walter Sickert…but the rest of the art world disagrees.

The Mona Lisa contains a hidden code in her eyes

You can't discuss conspiracy theories about art and not mention the Mona Lisa. She's been the subject of intense scrutiny for many years. The common belief is that the woman is Lisa Gherardini, the wife of a Florence merchant. Others believe she was his mother.

But is the figure actually a man – or even Da Vinci himself? And where exactly is the painting set?

Stranger still, Italy’s National Committee for Cultural Heritage claimed that a secret message was embedded in the painting. According to them, Da Vinci put tiny numbers and letters into the eyes.

Now, such letters can only be seen by magnifying high-resolution images of the painting. They're invisible to the naked eye. Apparently ‘LV’ appears in the right eye, while the figures in the left eye are harder to understand.

But experts agree that the letters are difficult to read clearly. So did Da Vinci foresee the development of magnification technology? Or are people just seeing what they want to see?

Conspiracy theorists note that da Vinci took the painting everywhere with him in his later life. Was he protecting a secret message? Or just protective of his final image of his mother?

The Last Supper hides a musical secret

Da Vinci’s The Last Supper was critical to the plot of The Da Vinci Code. And like the Mona Lisa, the painting apparently hides secrets beyond the identity of the figures. In this case, a musical score.

This secret doesn't hinge on the figures – but the bread rolls on the table.

In 2007, computer technician Giovanni Maria Pala noticed the placement of the rolls looked like musical notes. He drew a musical staff across the painting to find out what the notes were.

Played left to right, the music makes little sense. But Da Vinci always wrote right to left. Following that logic, the loaves (and the hands of the Apostles) become a 40-second musical score.

Alessandro Vezzosi, director of the Da Vinci museum in Tuscany, admitted that Da Vinci was also a musician. The spaces in the painting provide the proof that the rolls and hands were intended to act as musical notes. Even detractors note the music is too perfect to be a simple coincidence.

Rembrandt and Vermeer traced their masterpieces

Tracing images is a tool beloved of artists and designers when they want to save time. Adobe Illustrator even includes an Image Trace option if you want to turn a scanned image into a vector graphic. But could two of history’s most realistic painters have traced their famous works?

The term ‘camera obscura’ appeared in 1604. It describes a device that projects real life images onto nearby surfaces. We'd recognise it today as an early type of camera.

But David Hockney thinks that 17th-century artists like Rembrandt and Vermeer used similar devices to create the basis of their lifelike paintings.

Hockney came up with his theory after comparing the projection-trace drawings of Andy Warhol with 19th-century drawings by Jean-Dominique Ingres. The parallels got him thinking – could other artists have traced their masterpieces from real life?

The art establishment deplored Hockney’s conclusion, but researcher Tim Jenison teamed up with Penn and Teller to see if it could be done. They built a set to match Vermeer's The Music Lesson and set up a camera obscura.

No one can say one way or the other if Vermeer and Rembrandt were even aware of the camera obscura at the time. But the results seem to speak for themselves…

Francisco Goya didn’t paint his infamous Black paintings

If you’re looking for the best representations of nightmares on canvas, then Francisco Goya is a good place to start. Or is he?

The Spanish artist Goya was originally known for traditional portraits or war scenes.

But he suffered a serious illness in 1819. After his recovery, he decorated the walls in two rooms with dark, nightmarish visions. The paintings would become the Black Paintings, now in the Museo del Prado.

Saturn Devouring His Son is perhaps his most famous gruesome image.

In the traditional story, Goya signed the house over to his grandson, Mariano, in 1823. The following year he moved to France. Mariano apparently only discovered the paintings after Goya died.

Art historian Juan Jose Junquera doesn't buy that explanation. After all, Goya still received visitors while he was in the house. But no one ever reported seeing the paintings – and you can't exactly miss them.

Only one inventory of the house ever mentions the paintings. Published in 1928, the authors claim it was written in the 1820s. But Junquera believes it’s a fake, because it uses contemporary descriptions of objects rather than early 19th century words.

Even more strange, the original bill of sale of the house describes a one-storey dwelling. The upper storey was added in 1830. The Black Paintings were found on both the house's upper and ground floors…but the upper level was added two years after Goya's death.

Instead, Goya expert Juliet Wilson-Bareau pointed to Goya's son, Javier, as the real creator of the paintings.

Javier could paint, and he knew his father’s techniques well. But he'd never made money as an artist. What better opportunity than the death of his mentally unstable father to finally sell his work?

A painting of Elizabethan magician John Dee had skulls removed

John Dee, the Tudor scientist and occultist, appears in an intriguing Victorian painting by Henry Gillard Glindoni. In it, Dee performs an experiment for Elizabeth I and her court.

But that's not the weird part. X-rays have revealed that a ring of human skulls originally encircled Dee. The ghoulish secret was painted over.

Most experts think the changes were to make the painting more palatable to buyers. But the conspiracy theories say otherwise. While Dee is now known as more of a scientist, in his lifetime he was something of a conjurer.

What we call science now was closer to ‘natural philosophy’ in Dee’s day – and considered more like magic.

Exhibition curator Katie Birkwood believes the editing trick was to help cement a more serious and stately reputation for Dee. But last year, the Royal College of Physicians ran at an exhibition about John Dee's lost library. And it included his crystal ball and an obsidian mirror.

Perhaps Dee was more of a magician after all…

Vincent Van Gogh may have created his own homage to The Last Supper.

The Cafe Terrace at Night (1888) shows an evening scene of diners at a cafe. They're enjoying the night air while a waiter moves between them.

But Jared Baxter thinks it is Vincent Van Gogh’s homage to The Last Supper. The waiter seems to have long hair, and his white uniform resembles Jesus’ white tunic. Crucially, twelve diners sit at the tables around him. There's also a shadowy figure exiting stage left. Taken together, Baxter thinks the composition echoes Da Vinci's.

It sounds like another of the far-fetched conspiracy theories. That’s until you discover that at the time he painted it, Van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo about the work, explaining that he had a “tremendous need for, shall I say the word—for religion.”

There's even a large cross in the painting, in the window behind the waiter/Jesus.

Perhaps the troubled artist wanted to explore the security of religion. Or maybe he just wanted to reference the work of a master painter. You can decide for yourself!

Do you know any other artistic conspiracy theories?

All of these conspiracy theories rest on hidden meanings or codes. Perhaps we’ve all been fooled into thinking they’re more than just awe-inspiring works of art.

Or maybe the conspiracy theories are true. But next time you’re passing an art gallery, try taking a look at their permanent collection. Who knows what you’ll find hidden in the oil or marble?

25 Quirky And Unusual Things To See In London

March 7, 2017 By J.F. Penn

I love London. I lived there back in the 1990s and again 2011 – 2015, and I still go back every few months. The city is rich with layers of history and it has been my muse for a number of novels.

Tourists flock to the Tower or the V&A, but there are plenty of unusual things to see in London once you get off the beaten track. After all, a city doesn't exist for centuries without attracting the macabre, the eccentric, and the downright strange…

So if you like art, history, or just the darker side of life, here are 25 quirky attractions to visit if you're visiting the best city in the world!

(1) Hunterian Museum

This grisly museum hides inside the Royal College of Surgeons in Lincoln’s Inn Fields. It houses a range of medical specimens, anatomical anomalies and vicious instruments. Free to visit, it’s a quirky collection that’s not for the faint-hearted. It’s also the perfect place for a murder scene, as Detective Jamie Brooke discovers in Desecration, when the body of an heiress is found amongst the anatomical specimens.

(2) Sir John Soane Museum

This architectural wonderland lies across the park from the Hunterian, preserving past objects rather than body parts. Also free to visit, this townhouse is a treasure trove of finds including art, antiquities, and ancient sculptures. You can see architect Sir John Soane’s inspiration for the Bank of England and Dulwich Picture Gallery. Don’t miss the giant sarcophagus in the basement, which features in Ark of Blood, when Morgan Sierra hunts for clues to the whereabouts of the Ark of the Covenant. I've written more about John Soane here.

(3) Highgate Cemetery

Highgate was one of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries designed to ease the overcrowding in London's churchyards. Its West Cemetery boasts the famous Egyptian Avenue, the Circle of Lebanon, and eerie catacombs. Karl Marx rests across the lane in the East Cemetery. According to urban legends, Highgate played host to a vampire in the 1970s! You can see more of my photos of Highgate and other cemeteries here on Flickr.

(4) The Old Operating Theatre

Hidden in a forgotten Southwark garret above St Thomas Church, the Old Operating Theatre is all that remains of the old St Thomas’ Hospital. Hunched at the top of a narrow staircase, this is the women’s theatre. The surgical ward for female patients would have lain beyond the far wall. Hundreds of students would have watched the surgical procedures. You can now stand in their place and watch fascinating talks about the equipment by museum curators.

bottles from the old operating theatre london — Bottles from the Old Operating Theatre, London

I visited it as part of my research for the anatomical history featured in Desecration. It's an awesome, grisly place!

(5) Chelsea Physick Garden

The oldest botanic garden in London opened in 1673. The nearby river Thames contributes to a special micro-climate that enables the gardeners to grow rare and endangered species. The garden contains some 5000 medicinal plants – as well as some notorious toxic specimens like monkshood and deadly nightshade, used as poisons.

(6) The Freemason’s Hall

Grand Temple Mosaic Ark — Mosaic of the Ark of the Covenant at the Grand Lodge of England

The Freemasons' Hall is the headquarters for the United Grand Lodge of England. It's a Grade II listed building, and some of its halls are open to the public … although there are doors you're not allowed to enter. After all, this is a society with secrets.

You can join a free guided tour to see the Library, Museum and Grand Temple. The Hall is an unusual attraction and Morgan Sierra visits it in Ark of Blood, because it is rumored to contain part of the Ark of the Covenant. I went on a tour there and found the symbolism fascinating.

(7) British Museum

This might seem like an obvious tourist destination, but the British Museum has plenty of quirky exhibits. Wander through the Enlightenment Gallery’s cabinet of curiosities, where you can find molten lava thought to be from Sodom & Gomorra. Or meet Hoa Hakananai'a, the imposing moai from Easter Island. You can also see famous exhibits like the Rosetta Stone and ancient Egyptian mummies.

mummybritishmuseum — A mummified head in the Hall of Enlightenment at the British Museum

I'm fascinated by the British Museum and my frequent visits have meant that it appears in a number of books. Day of the Vikings is based on a Viking exhibition there, Crypt of Bone was inspired by a religious relic exhibition, and Blake Daniel from the London Psychic series works there, sensing the history of objects through the scars on his hands. It will definitely inspire more books in the future!

(8) Crypt Gallery

How often do you see art exhibitions in a crypt? Since 2002, St Pancras Church's crypt has hosted a range of exhibitions and installations by contemporary artists. The remains of 557 Londoners are still interred there, so you may wonder what they think of it all! Definitely one of the more unusual things to see in London.

(9) Jeremy Bentham’s Skeleton

Philosopher and reformer Jeremy Bentham inspired the founding of University College. He loved the institution so much that he asked to be preserved and displayed there after death. His body now sits in a cabinet in the South Cloisters of the main building. Occasionally he is taken into meetings. The minutes reveal that he's recorded as being present, but not voting.

crossbones graveyard, london — Ribbons on the gates of Crossbones graveyard, London

(10) Crossbones Cemetery

Crossbones Cemetery in Southwark was once a graveyard for the Bishop of Winchester’s prostitutes, known as geese, and their illegitimate children. The red iron gates are now a shrine for ‘the outcast dead' and people tie ribbons to the bars in remembrance. There are also rituals and performances there every Halloween. You can’t go inside the graveyard but there’s currently a petition to have the cemetery turned into a Garden of Remembrance. My novel, Deviance, was inspired by Crossbones and the opening scene is set at a memorial march there.

(11) Wellcome Collection

The Wellcome Collection is one of the most underrated attractions in London. Described as ‘the free destination for the incurably curious', it’s perfect for those interested in medicine and history. It’s also a natural home for an exhibition about the notorious Bedlam Hospital, which occupied 3 sites in London before its move to leafy Kent. Its Southwark location features in Delirium.

When I visit London now, you'll often find me in the reading room or the cafe at the Wellcome. Their bookstore is one of my favorite as it stocks death culture and anatomy books, which are my addiction!

(12) The Horniman Museum

Clock Tower at the Horniman Museum in Forest Hill, London. Commissioned in 1898, it opened in 1901 and was designed by Charles Harrison Townsend in the Arts and Crafts style. — Clock Tower at the Horniman Museum

The overstuffed walrus is definitely one of the more unusual things to see in London. Set in 16 acres of gorgeous gardens, this south London museum is worth a visit if you like your anthropology and natural history on the quirky side! With no touch screens in sight, the most interaction you’re likely to get comes from the collection of musical instruments.

(13) Amphitheatre under the Guildhall

It’s easy to forget that London was a Roman city. But the ancient civilisation left something behind. If you descend into the bowels of the Guildhall Art Gallery, you can see the remains of the Roman amphitheatre that would have dominated the area. The extent of the amphitheatre is picked out in a ring of black stone in the courtyard at street level.

(14) Temple Church

Templar Church in London where Da Vinci Code was filmed.

Made famous by Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, the Temple Church is one of the more unusual things to see in London. Built by the Knights Templar, it features a circular nave, designed to reflect Jerusalem’s circular Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The Temple also has strong ties with the Magna Carta. It still holds services and is open to the public.

(15) Pollock’s Toy Museum

It's amazing how creepy toys can be when they're collected into one place. Pollock's Toy Museum manages that spectacularly! Explore old dolls' houses, board games and puppets – and meet the world's oldest teddy. The building itself, a pair of unrestored Georgian townhouses, is the perfect setting for this quirky museum.

(16) The London Library

Established in 1841, the London Library is a bibliophile's paradise! Favoured by the likes of Tom Stoppard, Bram Stoker, and Tennyson, the eccentric classification system encourages random browsing. It has 15 miles of open-access shelves so you might be there for a while. A temporary reference pass is £15, and they run free guided tours on weekday evenings. I wrote a number of books in the London Library as a Member when I lived in town. Here's a little video of me working there.

(17) The Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art & Natural History

Travel to Hackney's Mare Street to find this quirky curiosity shop and art gallery. Home to the Last Tuesday Society, expect surreal exhibitions and the sorts of specimens you'd find in a cabinet of curiosities. The museum follows pre-Enlightenment ideals and uses no form of classification, so you can make your own sense of the items on display.

(18) Kensal Green Cemetery

The first of the Magnificent Seven, Kensal Green Cemetery is home to royalty, and luminaries such as Isambard Kingdom Brunel, John Tenniel, Wilkie Collins, and Blondin. The Friends of Kensal Green Cemetery offer a range of themed tours to visit the famous people that rest there. You can also venture into the catacombs beneath the Dissenter’s Chapel. I visited Kensal Green and it features in a scene in Delirium. You can see more of my pictures of graveyards here.

(19) Freud Museum

The companion to his Vienna museum, this London home captures Sigmund Freud's life after he left Austria in 1938. As well as the infamous couch brought here from his Vienna consulting room, you can also see his collections of almost 2000 Egyptian, Greek and Roman items. His study is preserved as Freud would have known it and is the main attraction of the museum. I visited the museum in 2012 as part of my research for Ark of Blood, and Freud's collection features an important clue for the story …

(20) The British Library

The British Library is home to some of the literary treasures of the world including notebooks by Leonardo da Vinci, the Codex Sinaiticus, one of the earliest copies of the Greek Bible, the Magna Carta, and modern treasures like handwritten lyrics by the Beatles. They also have the Lindisfarne Gospels, which feature in Day of the Vikings. A must-visit location for bibliophiles!

(21) Little Venice Canal boats and the floating book barge

If the tourist throng of London gets too much for you, head down to the canals. Walking along the waterways is one of my favorite things to do in London and you can pop up in all kinds of exciting places. You might even find Word on the Water, the London book barge, and you'll definitely want to stop in Little Venice for a drink and watch the canal life go by.

(22) Barts Pathology Museum

If you're an anatomy fan as I am, you'll love Barts Pathology museum. It's rarely open to the public as it's full of specimens that require preservation, but when it is open, it's definitely worth a visit. The viewing room has several tiers of shelving and a glass window that lets the light in. Beautiful architecture and macabre specimens! There are sometimes taxidermy classes, death culture fairs and I also attended a book discussion there for Smoke Gets In Your Eyes: And Other Lessons From the Crematorium by Caitlin Doughty.

(23) The Hardy Tree

Thomas Hardy's Jude The Obscure inspired me at an early age. His city of Christminster was modelled on Oxford and it made me want to go to University there. I ended up going to Mansfield College, University of Oxford 1994 – 1997 to study Theology and the city is in a number of my books.

But before he was a novelist, Thomas Hardy worked on the railways in London. He was assigned the job of organizing the reburial of remains that had to be moved for the new railway line into St Pancras station. He arranged the gravestones in an unusual pattern around a tree. I wonder what else is hidden under there …

(24) The Sculpture Gallery at the V&A

There are some amazing things in London's museums, but I particularly like the sculpture cast gallery at the V&A. It has casts of some of the great edifices and sculptures from around the world. I love the Michelangelo horned Moses from St Peter in Vincoli, Rome. The horns come from a mistranslation of the Hebrew word for ‘shining' and it's always amazing to see a Biblical figure with horns.

(25) Walk along South Bank from Borough Market to Waterloo

I live in Bath now, in the west of England, but when I go up to London and the sun is out, this is my favorite walk. Get off the Tube at London Bridge, head for Borough Market to pick up a snack and then walk along the edge of the Thames. You'll pass the replica of Shakespeare's Globe, the Tate Modern and you can watch the life on the water. This area of Southwark is the inspiration for Deviance, and definitely a must-do if you're in the city!

These are some of my recommendations for the more unusual side of London. Happy exploring!