Book review: Atlas of Cursed Places - where you don't want to be
Tome's subtitle, A Travel Guide to Dangerous and Frightful Destinations, sums up aptly this journey through time
From blood-soaked Nuremberg, Germany to ruddy Nevada, Atlas of Cursed Places boldly exposes some of the most unnerving destinations on the map.
"The honest traveller is surprised to observe that the red sand is ringed by snow-capped mountains and impenetrable forests populated by tetchy bears," writes journalist Olivier Le Carrer, in a chapter on the so-called Nevada Triangle. Le Carrer adds that any offer of an excursion by plane should be politely refused.
The reason: thanks to the turbulence generated by the rugged landscape, more than 2,000 aircraft have gone missing there over the past five decades - more than that of the fabled Bermuda Triangle.
Some sites with bland or benign reputations are lethal, Le Carrer shows. His white-knuckle ride across America and around the globe features 40 stops ranging from Golgotha, the site outside Jerusalem of Christ's crucifixion, to the Japanese suicide venue, Aokigahara Forest, and Australia's Cape York, where crocodiles noted for explosive attacks approach speeds of 30 km/h.