This newsletter presents a small collection of geographical, historical, archaeological, cultural and/or artistic articles that have caught my attention. As a fantasy writer, I am fascinated by the nooks and corners of our real world and constantly find inspiration for my own world building and storytelling — it’s my hope that these newsletters are an inspirational resource for other writers, too, or for anyone who wants to learn more about our world.
It sounds like something from a Dungeons & Dragons game: “A muddy pit has been wandering the California desert, wreaking havoc.” But this is real life, my friends, and so far no band of magic-wielding heroes has shown up to confront the menace and banish it back to the nether realm from which it emerged.
Today’s distractions all have one thing in common: they are mysteries that researchers haven’t been able to figure out. It’s no wonder our ancestors, who had far less ability (knowledge, resources, time) than we do to solve nature’s puzzles, attributed them to gods and spirits, fairies and demons. The world is a weird place, and we humans like explanations, even when it’s just pure speculation.
But really, who’s to say that magical explanations for the world’s mysterious phenomena aren’t the real explanations, anyway? Magic makes for much more entertaining stories, anyway. Absent any scientific information about the items below, what stories might you imagine to explain them? Share your ideas in the comments — or better yet, go write a story about it!
A Mud Demon on the Move
The Niland Geyser formed in Mundo, California in 1953 and is one of many similar “mud pots” in the area. The reason for its sudden migration is disputed among geologists, with no agreed-upon answer, but its rapid south-westerly journey has been cause for headache among city planners and developers.
The pool, nicknamed “The Slow One,” definitely started slow. It traveled about 20 feet in all of 2018, then sped up in 2020, moving a staggering 10 feet per month. It has continued moving perpendicular to fault lines, and thus far is the only confirmed mobile natural phenomena of its kind. Though not technically a geyser, it is generally referred to as such; but its composition is more akin to quicksand than a heated spring.
Read more: Meet the Roaming Mud Pit Moving Across California
The Long Sleep of Forgotten Gods
Surrounded by green mountain ranges, Yamanashi Prefecture is home to sites of ancient worship, most notably shrines dedicated to Mount Fuji. There is also a folk belief unique to Yamanashi, which many Japanese folklorists consider an enigma: Maruishi-gami, or “spherical stone gods.”
Names and natures do agree, as the Maruishi-gami is just what it’s called—a spherical stone. But are they natural or artificial? Hard to tell, it seems. How does one worship them? Depends on whom you ask. They appear to be a sort of dōso-jin, the roadside deity that offers protection to a traveler, but that’s not always the case.
Read more: Stone God of Nanoka-Ichiba
Fairy Herds of Glacier Mice
The movement of the moss balls was peculiar. The researchers had expected that the balls would travel around randomly by rolling off their ice pedestals. The reality was different. The balls moved about an average of an inch a day in a kind of choreographed formation — like a flock of birds or a herd of wildebeests.
"When we visited them all, they were all just sort of moving relatively slowly and initially toward the south," says Bartholomaus. "Then they all started to speed up and kind of start to deviate toward the west. And then they slowed down again and progressed even farther to the west."
The researchers considered several possible explanations. The first, and most obvious one, is that they just rolled downhill. But measurements showed that the moss balls weren't going down a slope.
"We next thought maybe the wind is sort of blowing them in consistent directions," says Bartholomaus, "and so we measured the dominant direction of the wind."
That didn't explain it either, nor did the pattern of the sunlight.
"We still don't know," he says. "I'm still kind of baffled."
"It's always kind of exciting, though, when things don't comply with your hypothesis, with the way you think things work," says Gilbert.
Read more: Herd Of Fuzzy Green 'Glacier Mice' Baffles Scientists
These places are all so intriguing and inspiring to the imagination! Thanks for sharing!