#but i think the book is closer to the 1850s while the cases were in the 1880s so i'd be just in the clear 0-0

[cherry-bomb-ships]

Just had a slightly terrifying realization about my ship with Scrooge, where the ship of course takes place in late 1800's London to match with the time period the book was written.

You know what else happened in London in the late 1800s?

Jack the Ripper 0-0

[metanoiyed-archive]

The Ahistorical “Burning Times”, Or: Why White People Shouldn’t Be Trusted To Record History

*cracking knuckles* If you saw this post about this post, you know what this is about. If not, read them and come back. Without further ado: The Ahistorical “Burning Times”, Or: Why White People Shouldn’t Be Trusted To Record History.

“The important backdrop for this group is the time period that modern witches and pagans refer to as The Burning Times.”

So the first thing you’ll notice about posts or books that mentioned the ‘burning times’ is that they use very purposeful wording and diction. Notice how the OP says ‘that modern witches and pagans refer to as’ and not, “what historians refer to as”? That’s because historian’s don’t refer to it as the burning times, they refer to it as the ‘Witch Craze’ or ‘Witch Hysteria’, where many people in medieval Europe and America [14th-17th century, but 16th and 17th were the most popular years] were often falsely accused of witchcraft and hung - not burned - for the crime. During the Salem Witch Trials, especially, people like to say ‘we are the granddaughters of witches you couldn’t burn’ -- but no witches were even burned at the stake in Salem (1). Accusing someone of witchcraft was very, very often a political tool used by the Roman Catholic Church or others who operated under it to execute whomever they wished, but we’ll get to that in a second.

“Europe and America were thrust into a moral panic and hysteria over alleged satanic witches. Most of those accused were midwives, healers, poor women, women suffering from mental health issues, and women who were practicing preChristian traditions.” So... Yes to: hysteria, healers and women suffering from mental health issues and practicing pre-Christian traditions. No to pretty much everything else. Men who were healers or suffering mental health issues were also accused, but that’s because anyone could call witchcraft like a boy crying wolf and it was believed. In my ‘A Deed Without A Name’ notes, I go over how in some cases it appears that a certain aspect of people who are in some way different can indicate they’re touched, but often in the past I’m inclined to think in most cases it was simply used to execute people. Also, they killed people practicing pre-Christian traditions because they were racist Europeans and colonialists, and most of the time those pre-Christian traditions were by POC. 14th Century-17th Century is by no means pre-Christian, by that point a lot of folk belief in Europe had been touched by Christian belief, not so much that it entirely changed it, but enough. ‘Alleged’ Satanic witches? Are we just purposefully looking away from Isobel Gowdie’s confession before she was executed? Confessions of people [of those who confessed and were actually witches] who made deals with the Devil/Man in Black/Witchfather in some form are overwhelmingly common. (2).

“Many witches fear a return to the Burning Times, when any old woman was burned at the stake for merely existing below the poverty level.” I really have nothing groundbreaking to say about this one, just that I hate the OP for making me look at it and I hope they stub their toe. ‘fear a return to the burning times’ my ass.

“The total number of those murdered under the guise of witch accusations varies widely by source. Many historians have argued that the number is anywhere between 40,000 and 60,000. Other sources, however, have claimed the number is closer to 100,000 with potentially hundreds of thousands more unaccounted for. It has even been suggested that there were 392,000 in Great Britain alone. The highest number, and number that has become part of popular legend, is approximately 9 million (with the fullness of the Crusades and Spanish Inquisition included). It will never be certain how many women, men, and children were killed, and truthfully the numbers game is irrelevant in the face of trauma. Any genocide, no matter how big or small, is a moral stain on our history.”

Other sources? What sources. You don’t name any of yours, I noticed. ‘Any genocide ... a moral stain on our history’ yet I am sure you turn a blind eye to the plight of those right in front of you, while my people suffer a real continued genocide, you make a fantasy crime. Statista did a chart on how many people were tried and executed between 1300 and 1850, and the number is even lower than you think. (3). 

“The Burning Times were a systematic rooting out of female power and autonomy, and non-christian practices. The midwives and healers posed a threat to the structures and systems of politics and medicine... both groups challenging the patriarchy.” This sounds... so fishy. Doesn’t this sound like a weird radical-feminist argument? I’m not implying anything about OP, but the way this whole paragraph reads while trying to include ‘men, women and children’ and then focusing on how this was a whole attack on the women against the patriarchy just... grosses me out, a lot. Because it was never about that, has never been about that, and will never be about that. I also just don’t trust people who refer to women as ‘females’ but that’s just me.

“Most of the following women were (wrongfully) believed to have had sexual intercourse with Satan, signing their names into his black book with their blood.” Again, are we just ignoring Isobel Gowdie’s straight up confession? Or any of the other confessions from Scotland, England, and surrounding areas? This stupid purity culture of wanting to be seen as better to outsiders is so annoying. “I’m not like that trope of witches you’ve seen, we don’t actually have sex with the Devil or sign his black book with blood!” Just because some of us aren’t worried to get our hands dirty and you are doesn’t mean that other witches don’t do that. “wrongfully” where the fuck are you getting your information? Many confessions that they did get included detailed accounts of joining the Man in Black for sabbats, having sex with him, and signing his black book. Not everyone continues the practice today, but some definitely do, they definitely did, and it definitely wasn’t “wrongfully believed”. They were powerful women in their own right. If anything OP, by trying to separate themselves from the legacy of these women, has disgraced them in that way. It takes courage and strength to work with infernal forces from the otherside like that, and here this asshole is just shittin’ on their name pretending they never risked their lives doing it. A source on this from Isobel Gowdie, “As I was going betuix the townes of Drumdewin and the Headis, I met with the Devil, and ther covenanted, in a maner, with him.” and from ‘A Deed Without A Name’ by Lee Morgan, “As we can see when we look over the testimonies of witches from earlier times not everyone is initially approached by an animal spirit. Isobel Gowdie seems to have initially been approached by ‘the Devil’, Bessie Dunlop by a faerie man who claims to have once lived as a human man, others were taken by faeries or by the spirit of another living human practitioner.” (4)

And obviously there are various other sources, these are not the only ones. I’m just too tired to go through my library, cite them all, attach them all - y’all gotta do your own work for once. Read actual history, please. Learn discernment. I don’t even have the energy to go through the list of people the OP put as ‘in memoriam’ because I have no idea if those are historical reasons, either, but honestly I don’t even wanna know. Anyway, it’s bullshit and ahistorical, thanks for coming to my tedtalk. If you push this narrative you owe Black, Native, Jewish people and anyone else otherwise affected by the witch-craze repatriations immediately, I don’t make the rules except I do and those are the rules.

Citations:

Andrews, Evan. “Were Witches Burned at the Stake during the Salem Witch Trials?” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 13 Aug. 2014, www.history.com/news/were-witches-burned-at-the-stake-during-the-salem-witch-trials.

Wilby, E. (2013). The visions of Isobel Gowdie: Magic, witchcraft and dark shamanism in seventeenth-century Scotland. Brighton: Sussex Academic Press.

McCarthy, Niall, and Felix Richter. “Infographic: The Death Toll Of Europe's Witch Trials.” Statista Infographics, 29 Oct. 2019, www.statista.com/chart/19801/people-tried-and-executed-in-witch-trials-in-europe/

Morgan, Lee. A Deed without a Name: Unearthing the Legacy of Traditional Witchcraft. Moon Books, 2013. 

[bqstqnbruin]

Distractions

Oof I’m glad we still have some rat king fever going on here.

But anyway, it’s now after midnight on Friday, which means my college graduation is tomorrow and I still don’t have all of my cords and medals and stuff which is sad but I’ll get them eventually, right?

This was requested, so I hope you like it! Here is the original request!

___________________

“I don’t get why you want to come to the rink and study all the time?” you hear Sam say through the phone. 

“Because I know that guys won’t harass me there like they do at the coffee shop on campus. And if they do while I’m at the rink, you can just hit them or something.”

“Y/N, c’mon.”

“Sammy, please,” you call him the name you know he hates. It might not be the best strategy to use it, but it always gets you what you want. “I pay you for gas to come pick me up, don’t I?”

“Yes.” 

“And I make you dinner once a week if you let me study there already.”

“Yes,” he groans. 

“So, then, come pick me up and I’m studying at the rink.”

“Fine.” He hangs up to hopefully come pick you up and drive you to the rink as you get your books and computer together in your bag. Your exam was coming up in your Reformation and Revolution of Europe,1500 - 1850 class, and you needed to do some hardcore studying and prepping of essays before you got so behind you weren’t able to catch up. 

Sam was happy when you had decided to go to University of Calgary for school, because it meant you would be right near him, he would know you’re safe, and most importantly for him, he would be able to keep an eye on you to make sure you were safe. What he didn’t seem to like was that you had a hard time studying unless you were at the rink, a habit and mindset that developed growing up. Your parents would take you to Sam’s practices and you stay the entire time, your mom or dad being the parent volunteer that would be the extra set of eyes in case a child needed help off the ice. You had to get your homework done somehow, especially in high school. What choice did you have?

You find your keys and run out the door of your apartment right as Sam pulls up to your apartment. “I hate two things: one, that you know my schedule so well because I get stuck doing crap like this, and two, that you’ve gotten so good at nailing down my schedule you know exactly how long it will take me to pull up in front of your door.”

“What can I say. History is all about the timeline.”

“I hated everything about what you just said.”

“Yeah, me, too. Just drive.” 

“So what are you studying for this time?” he asks.

“Ref and Rev. My exam is next week.”

“I don’t understand why you like history so much. Like, who likes history?”

“Plenty of people. It’s a good major for law school. Who likes hockey?”

“Enough people that I make more money in one year than you’ll probably see in your entire life.”

“Oh, shut up!” 

“Hey, ya know, some of the guys might be happy that you’re coming to practice today. One of the guys even said that after you came, he played the best game of his life,” Sam says, pulling up to the practice facility.

“Yeah, sure. Which one?”

“Remember Matthew?” 

You definitely did. The curly-haired, blue-eyed, lispy rat boy that was your brother’s teammate was one of the players, from your understanding, that you were supposed to either love or hate with no in between. “He’s that rat-type boy, right?”

“Maybe don’t say that too loud, Y/N/N. Most people don’t really enjoy being called ratty, even if Matthew really is a rat.”

“Fair enough,” you shrug, parting ways with him to go find a seat for yourself to study in for the day. 

The first thing you had to do was actually figure out which unit in the class the exam was actually on. You loved that your professor was so passionate about history; every day she was genuinely excited to teach the class, even if it was an 8 am, but wow was she disorganized and all over the place. The first essay you had to outline was asking whether or not the reformation did what it meant to. The vaguest possible question: did something succeed? was probably what you hated most about being a history major. You could say one wrong thing, and the entire answer goes to shit faster than you can come up with something that actually makes sense. 

All you had to do was outline the essay now and memorize it next week. Then outline the other essay, and basically fill out the four page study guide that you now realize you have. “You’ve got to be joking,” you say to yourself as the boys start coming out onto the ice. 

“Y/N, why are you all the way up there?” you hear Sam call out.

“Where else would I go?” you yell back, the guys turning to look at you, your feet up on the seat in front of you, a book and your laptop open in your lap.

“On the bench? Come here before we have to come move you.” 

You lean your head back, groaning, a smile on your face anyway. You know what he’s doing. Sam wants you close so that Matthew can go talk to you. You shove your stuff in your bag, getting up to make your way down to the bench as Sam starts cheering like an idiot. “You’re annoying, you know that?” you tell him, sitting down and trying to do your best to get comfortable with your computer and books.

“I would be a horrible older brother if I weren’t,” he says, skating away. You roll your eyes at him, getting back to the essay you were starting to outline. You finally get in the zone with the paper, hoping that you had a solid thesis and a good direction to go with for the paper. 

“So?” someone says, snapping you out of your zone, causing you to jump.

“Jesus Christ!” you squeal, nearly dropping your laptop, your book falling off your lap and onto the bench.

“Wow, jumpy much?” Matthew says, leaning over the wall to try to see what is on your computer. 

“I was clearly not expecting you to sneak up on me when I am obviously doing work.” 

“Why do you come here to study? How is all of this not distracting?”

You look up at him. The curls sticking out from his helmet, the slight lisp in his voice, the beads of sweat dripping down the side of his face. You just want him to leave right now. You just want to study. That’s the only reason you came. “What’s distracting about being here?” 

A smirk grows on his face, a devilish look in his eyes, “Oh, I think you know what would be distracting.”

“You’re right. There is a pest problem,” you return his smirk, looking back down at your laptop. You started typing, even though it was complete nonsense just so he would go away.

“See ya later, Y/N,” he says, skating off, the grin still on his face.

Every time you looked up for the rest of practice, his eyes were already on you, looking away just in time to make you think you had been imagining it. 

By the end of practice, all you wanted to do was get home and finish the section of the study guide you had started. You were waiting for Sam by his car, on your phone scrolling through Insta when you hear two voices approaching you, both of them way too familiar for your liking. You look up to see Sam and Matthew, freshly showered, Matthew looking directly at you as they came towards you.

“So, Y/N/N, Matthew actually lives closer to you than I do, so he said he would take you home,” Sam says, unlocking his car.

“I was going to get us dinner tonight though, remember?”

“Uh, get it with Matthew. I’ll eat with you another time, I just want to go home right now.” 

“Yeah, I’m down for dinner with you,” Matthew says, taking your arm and starting to drag you to his car.

Before you can protest, Sam shuts his door, you not even realizing he got in and started the engine. “Watch it Chuky, she’s still my sister. Love ya, Y/N,” before driving off, leaving you no choice but to follow Matthew to his car.

“So what were you thinking for dinner?”

“Enough food just for me,” you tell him. Yours and Sams number one rule was no dating friends or teammates. Sam was not allowed to date any of the girls on the track team with you when you two were in high school, you were not allowed to date any hockey player that had the same logo on their chest as Sam ever. Matthew was definitely no exception. But then why would Sam have even mentioned that Matthew was the one who liked you coming? And what did he mean by ‘she’s still me sister?’ “Sorry,” you tell him, shaking your head, “I’m just stressed over the exam I was studying for.”

“What class?”

“Reformation and Revolution of Europe, 1500 to 1850,” you tell him the title of the class that was slowly becoming your least favorite.

“Why would you do that to yourself?”

“I’m a history major. It fulfills like eight requirements that I need for graduation so I figured, why not? Plus, Martin Luther is kinda interesting once you get past the whole, ‘he’s the Donald Trump of his era.’”

You keep talking the rest of the way, realizing that Matthew didn’t actually know where you lived. “Where are you taking me?” you ask him, surprisingly not scared about his answer. 

“Oh, shit. I was driving back to my place outta habit.”

“I’m fine with that if you are,” you hear yourself say, not even realizing it was actually something you wanted, or at least, wouldn’t mind.

“Yeah, sure.” The smirk from before returns to his face. “You know, you staring at me while I’m driving actually is a distraction. Kinda like you sitting there on the bench looking so,” he stops, like he’s trying to find the right word, “nerdy.”

You can’t help but roll your eyes, “Should I be taking that as a compliment?”

“If you want.”

“Now I understand why Sam likes Noah more,” you tease, knowing it gets under his skin. Is this flirting with him? Should you be flirting with him to begin with?

“Oof, you know how to hurt a man, Bennett, just like your brother on the ice.”

“Why did you come up and talk to me during practice?” you ask, changing the subject.

“How could I not?”

“No one else did, not even Sam,” you point out.

“I guess I just wanted to talk a cute girl today.”

“Matthew Tkachuk, are you supposed to be hitting on one of your teammate’s sisters?” 

He pulls his car into a parking space, not even realizing you were in the garage of what you assumed to his apartment building. You hadn’t even been paying attention the entire drive where you were going, other than the fact that you weren’t going home. He turns off the car, turning to face you. “Your brother said it was ok.”

You can’t help but burst out laughing. “What, you asked Sam’s permission to flirt with me?” 

“Maybe not just flirt?” 

He starts to lean in for a kiss, your heart pounding. “Wait a minute. You’ve gotta at least buy me dinner first,” you tell him, your hand on his chest, feeling his heart pound just like yours is. The look in his eyes, the longing, shock. You get out his car before he can say anything.

“You’re just doing this as a distraction, aren’t you?”

“We all love distractions, don’t we?” you say, as he takes your hand in his, leading you to his apartment.

“So, what do we want to eat?”

[floraexplorer]

The Best Italian Eco Adventures in Valle di Cembra, Trentino

Have you ever heard of Valle di Cembra in northern Italy?

If you say no, I wouldn’t be surprised.

Valle di Cembra is a beautiful valley in the Italian province of Trentino which has plenty to offer a typical tourist – but it’s not particularly well known. It’s because places like Trentino find it a bit difficult to compete for attention when there’s such a huge focus on Italy’s ‘must-see’ destinations.

For the last few years, over-tourism has hit Italy hard. There are the massive influxes of art-and-architecture-hungry visitors to Florence, Rome, and Venice; the photo-obsessed selfie-stick-wavers in Pisa and Cinque Terre; even the shoulder-to-shoulder sunbathers in Positano, Sardinia and Lake Garda.

Local governments are trying desperately to cope with the crowds, as there’s a very real risk that these destinations will be irreparably damaged: a combination of rising house prices, waste disposal issues, harm to local wildlife, heightened local tensions, and in the case of Venice, there’s a literal danger of it sinking out of sight.

But the bizarre irony is that tourism begets tourism. Outside of the top three Italian cities, most other ‘must-visit’ locations in Italy are so popular purely because they’ve already been publicised as ‘the place to be’. So what’s to say that a new part of Italy can’t be discovered by international tourism?

Enter, Trentino – the Italian province you never knew you had to visit!

If there’s one thing which unites all travel bloggers, it’s that we love a ‘hidden gem’ of a destination (although we try to avoid that cliched term!). So when Traverse announced their annual blogging conference would be held in Trentino’s capital city of Trento, I didn’t hesitate to book my ticket.

After a week spent with my blogging friends at the conference, we split into a dozen different groups and headed out into various parts of Trentino province. The reason? To explore all the unknown parts of Trentino and inspire future tourists to travel in this part of Italy.

For two days, our little group drove up and down the winding switchback roads which rise up from the Cembra valley floor. The higher we went, the lower the temperature dropped – but the more stunning the scenery grew.

The land on either side of Valle di Cembra is steep and mountainous, and the land rolls so much that most machinery has to be used by hand. As Valle di Cembra is a region particularly famed for its vineyards, it’s easy to imagine that the farmers who live and work here might find the necessity of manual labour to be frustrating – but it’s actually the opposite.

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Discovering the surreal Segonzano Pyramids

Our first stop in Valle di Cembra was at one of Trentino’s most popular sites: the Segonzano Pyramids. These natural towers of earth are situated in a forest halfway up the Cembra valley close to Segonzano village and are a geological phenomenon, created by the erosion of loose earth and pebbles over hundreds of years.

Some of the pyramids reach a height of 40 metres, and all have flat stones on top – which explains the local name of ‘omeni’ (literally, ‘homunculi’ or ‘Little Men’, because of their resemblance to a particular male part!).

Although the Segonzano pyramids are the main attraction here, our lovely guide Paolo was keen for us to get a true sense of this serene spot in the valley. He instructed us to put our cameras away (a tough task for a group of bloggers!), leading us down wooden walkways and threading our way through the trees.

Paolo had a keen eye for detail, and every few moments we’d stop to see chestnuts, blackberries, acacia and elderflower blossoms.

When the birds began to sing from the treetops above us, he craned his neck backwards and turned his head to try and identify what he could hear: the sound of a cardinal, or perhaps a chaffinch.

And while he told us the history of the ‘piramidi di segonzano’, Paolo was stringing wild strawberries onto thin stems of grass; something his grandfather used to do.

Herding cows with a local dairy farmer at Agritur Le Mandre

The Le Mandre farm sits high above the valley in Bedollo village. It’s a business which has grown over three generations: Laura tells us that her grandfather used to keep cows up here for decades, which led to her father looking out at the panorama one day and thinking, “I want to build my own farm…” He didn’t have any money and people told him nobody would come to buy cheese from Bedollo – but he persisted.

Today, Laura operates a dairy and agriturismo, and thanks to the farm’s twenty five Alpine Grey cows, they produce and sell milk, a variety of cheeses, locally made ice cream and frozen yoghurt.

But the real star of the show at Le Mandre was Marco the farmer. He appeared out of nowhere as we were touring the farm, dressed in a cowboy hat and denim cut-off shorts and accompanied by an adorable dog named Nubia.

He asked us if we’d like to go and meet some of Le Mandre’s cows and help to herd them – and once he heard our resounding, “YES PLEASE!!” we headed off towards the fields.

The Alpine Greys were chilling in a field just outside the village, contentedly munching on the grass. When they saw us they edged closer, keen to see what food we had to offer – which, sadly, was none.

With little to no training in the art of cow herding, we followed Marco’s example as best we could (and perhaps somewhat exaggeratedly): waving our arms, making various clicking noises and generally trying to make the placid animals move back up the hill towards the farm and away from their incredibly picturesque grazing spot.

Back at the farm, Marco presented us with two heart-shaped cheese boards. As he talked us through the flavours of each sample, I looked around at the heart decorations everywhere: the lace curtains hanging from the windows, the table cloth decorations. Even the fences outside featured little wooden cut-outs of hearts, sheep and cows.

We asked Marco the farmer if he was responsible for the hearts. “Oh, no, it’s all my son,” he said, laughing as he shook his head.

Learning Durer’s artistic history at Castello di Segonzano

Lower down in the valley, we walked through the vineyards towards Segonzano Castle, a thirteenth century medieval fortress built on a cliff.

Today, the castle is mainly in ruins – there’s little more than a singular wall and the remnants of the castle’s prison left standing – but it’s still a fascinating insight into how the area used to look. And Castello di Segonzano is also famous in the art world, thanks to a celebrity visitor a few centuries ago.

Back in 1494, the German artist Albrecht Dürer was journeying from Innsbruck to Venice when the flooded Adige river forced him to divert onto a mountain path. When he arrived at the Cembra Valley he painted a dozen watercolours of the surrounding landscapes of Trentino Aldo Adige – and two of them feature Segonzano castle.

There’s no written record of Durer visiting the area, but thanks to this series of paintings, it’s possible to trace his journey through images alone.

In homage to Durer, we spent a happy few hours attempting to channel our own inner artist and painting watercolours within the crumbling castle walls.

Despite my lack of artistic skill it was a lovely way to spend an afternoon – until a violent wind kicked in and forced us to abandon the castle altogether.

Drinking local organic wine at Cantina dei Baroni

Still buffeted by the overpowering winds, we arrived at Cantina dei Baroni, a family-run vineyard and wine producer close to Segonzano castle.

We sat in a shaded courtyard at a table filled with platters of cured meats and cheeses while the owner (another Paolo!) told us how the Baroni winery’s history is firmly entwined with that of the area – and also with the artist Durer.

In 1936, Paolo’s grandfather was walking by the Avisio river and decided to take a break, sitting on the grass. When he looked up towards Segonzano castle he realised he was in the exact spot that Durer must have painted from, because his view matched the artist’s famous watercolour exactly!

Until that point, nobody had been able to confirm the identity of the castle in Durer’s painting – but thanks to Paolo’s grandfather, Trentino was able to officially recognise the location as a living part of artistic history.

I realised the sudden winds we’d felt at the Segonzano Castle had completely disappeared, and when I mentioned this to Paolo he explained that this area has its very own microclimate. Every afternoon there’s a strong wind called Ora del Garda which blows northwards from Lake Garda, which can be felt all across the Trentino region.

In Valle di Cembra this means overcast skies and the occasional rain shower, but it always disappears after an hour or so and reverts back to sunshine again. This daily shifting of weather creates a perfect environment for the grapes, and contributes to the delicious flavour of the wines produced at Cantina dei Baroni!

Napping with the bees at BeeWellness Contadino

Our final stop was the most fascinating: the family-run business of Gocce d’Oro, which offers ‘a multi-sensory journey into the world of bees’.

Ever since their great-grandfather Peter began to keep bees in 1850, the Andreatti family have made bees their business. Today they look after 250 hives and also cultivate a number of aromatic plants and herbs, which allows them to create soaps, lotions, candles, teas and sweets using honey, beeswax and natural ingredients like chamomile, calendula, echinacea and thyme.

But the real draw is their bee wellness treatment, which takes place in a picturesque little hut a ten minute walk away from Gocce d’Oro.

Inside the hut are four beds made from locally sourced mountain hay. Guests are invited to lie down, close their eyes, and listen to the sound of the bees happily buzzing in and out of the ten hives attached to the outside of the hut.

The ‘therapy’ aspect comes from the low rumble-buzz of the bees: the Andreatti family claim the bees’ particular frequency relaxes your muscles and provides a serenely calm environment.

Over-tourism versus ‘hidden gems’: which is best?

After spending two days exploring Trentino’s Valle di Cembra, it was clear that this area has such a strong passion for the natural world – and it’s a passion which has been passed down through the generations.

The community who live here work the land with their hands, so they’re more in touch with where they come from. And thanks to the calm, relaxed attitude which pervades the valley, Valle di Cembra is a world away from the heaving crowds and constant noise of Italy’s more visited areas; instead, it’s a place where local farmers offer you a bowlful of freshly picked wild strawberries.

I can guarantee that’s never happened to me on the streets of Rome or Paris or London!

As over-tourism becomes more of a pertinent issue, perhaps it’s time to focus on how we can all combat the problem by eschewing the world’s iconic destinations in favour of the unknown instead.

After all, those hidden gems do taste a lot sweeter.

Would you visit Valle di Cembra now? What non-touristy places have you visited recently?

Pin this article if you enjoyed it!

Disclaimer: I was kindly hosted on this trip by the folks at Visit Trentino and Visit Pine Cembra.

Read more:

– A weekend guide to visiting Arezzo, Italy

– Eco-friendly gifts for the traveller in your life

– Fishing for plastic in London’s canals

– Rural village life in the rice terraces of Bali

The post The Best Italian Eco Adventures in Valle di Cembra, Trentino appeared first on Flora The Explorer.

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[sjohnson24]

Haunted Camptonville California

Ghosts & the Supernatural – Saturday and Sunday, there was a Camptonville Ghost Tour scheduled.  HPI (Halo Paranormal Investigations) was to get a table to display our equipment, books, cleansing materials, etc.  We planned to do a bit of networking and hand out our business cards to the ghost hunting enthusiasts.   Holly Ulrey Bell who conducted a few investigations with HPI, invited us to this event.  I was supposed to be a guest speaker and when everything was said and done, we were going on a ghost tour. 

Some of the HPI members that wanted to attend this event were Deanna Jaxine Stinson, Abigail Williams, Kathy Payne Foulk, Xandean Smith and Sally Johnston.  Unfortunately, since there will be rain on Saturday, the event was canceled.  Camptonville is expecting 5 inches of rain.  They are rescheduling for April 28 & 29, 2018 and I believe some of our HPI investigators will show up to this event.  Unfortunately once more, Deanna and I, will not be able to attend the event, because we will be in San Francisco.  We are taking a ferry boat from Vallejo to SF and spending the day in SF.  The San Francisco trip was already on our schedule.

THIS IS THE ORIGINAL MESSAGE THAT WAS SENT OUT TO MY INVESTIGATORS:

April 7 & 8, 2018 Saturday and Sunday – Time to be there on both days: 2pm: HPI has been invited to the Camptonville Ghost Tour. HPI will have their own table and all of the investigators are invited. Bring your equipment, so you can display it on the table. There will be live music and lots of interaction with visitors. At 5pm, I will be giving a presentation / speech. This is all FREE! We are to meet at: 15333 Cleveland Avenue – Community Center – Camptonville, CA.  At 8pm they are having a ghost tour and that is not free and they are having a fundraiser, in case you want to donate anything. That will be up to you. No pressure.

Doing some research, I learn that Camptonville is very haunted.  I will give you some bits and pieces on the history of Camtonville and the paranormal activity that has taken place in Camptonville.  In 1850 gold was struck in Camptonville.  Camptonville during that time was known as Gold Ridge.  The town blacksmith was Robert Campton and in 1854, the town was named after Robert Campton.  There are stories that Robert Campton may still haunt the town, because a man wearing a black suit with coat tails has been seen walking around the post office area.  A resident named Menon Doyle from Marysville says that Robert Campton loved this town so much, his soul is still around to watch over the town.  Menon says that the locales believe the apparition that they have seen is Robert Campton.  The locals compare the apparition to a portrait of Robert Campton and how the apparition looks like the portrait.

That is one of the possible ghosts.  A few houses in Camptonville are known to be haunted.  More on the history.  Camptonville was a significant community during the California Gold Rush era.  Travelers would definitely stay for a spell, especially since the town in the 1850s and up to the 1860s boasted fifty saloons, some brothels and even a bowling alley.  Most travelers descended upon Camptonville from the Henness Pass, a major route that went over the Sierra Nevada mountains.  Present time Camptonville now has:  a Lost Nugget Gas Station and convenience store; a post office; Camptonville Elementary School; a monument to the Pelton wheel, the inventor of which lived here in the 1860s; and the original Mayo Saloon; currently home to a restaurant and bar called Burgee Dave’s at the Mayo; and the Yuba River Ranger District Office of the Tahoe National Forest, which is also the headquarters of the Tahoe Hotshots fire crew.

Danella Eaton from Yuba City says that her grandfather used to hunt near and around Camptonville and on one particular day, he spied a large buck, the buck looked behind him and seemed startled.  The buck darted away quickly.  Danella’s grandfather couldn’t figure out why the buck ran away, because he felt that he was as quiet as a mouse.  A few seconds passed and Danella’s grandfather heard the breaking of branches.  The sounds came closer and closer.  Finally the sounds stopped.  Danella’s grandfather looked up and he saw a huge hairy man.  The face was of a man, but the body of this creature was covered with thick matted brown fur.  The creature was at least 12 feet tall.  As Danella’s grandfather was watching the creature, the creature looked at him and gave out a mighty roar.  Danella’s grandfather ran like the dickens to get away from the creature.  As Danella’s grandfather reached his vehicle, he looked back and on top of the hill was the creature watching him.  After that experience, Danella’s grandfather stopped hunting and he had nightmares that centered around that encounter with the creature.

A resident of Orangevale who does not want to be identified makes claim that one time while walking in Camptonville during dusk hours, he heard laughter, a woman screaming, piano playing, glass breaking, feet shuffling and what sounded like two men arguing. As he stood by, the sounds continued. Finally the Orangevale resident was very curious on where the sounds were coming from. He found himself walking towards the epicenter on where the sounds were originating. When he approached the epicenter, the sounds stopped. When the sounds stopped, other sounds seemed to stop also, he no longer could hear the sounds of crickets or the sounds of birds chirping.

Lorna Whittenbach from Scottsdale, Arizona was visiting her mother that lives near Camptonville and she makes claim that she encountered 3 spectral horses grazing in a nearby field. The horses looked healthy and majestic. Lorna wanted to photograph them and approached the horses cautiously. As she went to snap a photo of the 3 spectral horses, they just vanished and when she looked at her photo, there was nothing in her photo except for grass, the hillside and a few bushes. Lorna calls the 3 horses, her Magic Horses. Lorna says after her encounter with the horses, she had some good fortune fall upon her. She was in extreme debt and was thinking about filing for bankruptcy before encountering the Magic Horses. The good luck came about after she encountered the Magic Horses. Lorna received some financial benefits that dissolved her debt. She is now debt free and she gives credit to the Magic Horses.

HPI will be going to Camptonville at the end of April 2018. I am anxiously awaiting to see what evidence of paranormal activity will be found when HPI places their boots on the ground. A defunct paranormal investigation group from Willows, California called W.S.U. (Willows Spectral Unity) makes claim that when the visited Camptonville, CA – they captured 6 EVPs. One of the EVPs was a Class A EVP that says…”no whisky tonight”. This Class A EVP was that of a gruffy sounding man. WSU also says they captured many orb pictures and 2 pictures of what looks like mist. WSU at the time had 3 male members and one of the members claims he was touched inappropriately. The leader of WSU says he may have been touched by a ghostly prostitute from one of the former brothels that were once in this town. WSU confirms that this town is indeed haunted.

By Paul Dale Roberts, HPI’s Esoteric Detective Halo Paranormal Investigations – HPI International. www.facebook.com/#!/groups/HPIinternational/