Dispatches

From haunted ruins to hallowed ground, Dispatches on the Gothic Dispatch seek out the places where our world overlaps with others. This page collects these Gothic travel guides, or you can use the search bar to find Gothic places by country around the world. Each combines the story of a particular location, my experiences exploring it, recommendations for where to go next and, where necessary, advice for getting out alive. Posts are also accompanied by something that’s sure to send a shiver down your spine – my own amateurish photography.

These are Dispatches, light reports from the world’s darkest places.

The King’s Men at Rollright – a stone circle dating back to around 2500 BC.

The Legend of the Rollright Stones, Where a Witch Tricked a King

Posted on 31 October 202431 October 2024 by The Gothic Dispatch

While you or I may – and should – depart this strange site as soon as possible, the King’s Men at Rollright must themselves wait until midnight. Or so goes one of the many stories.

Greetings from the Rollright Stones, three ancient arrangements in a field in Oxfordshire, England. Hear the stories, both plausible and improbable, behind their mysterious appearance. Pay tribute to the wooden witch that still watches over them. And if you’re spending the night in the nearby village, make sure you’re safe in bed before the clock strikes midnight.

The Keble College chapel, an enormous red and white brick Gothic Revival building on the edge of a green quad.

Gothic Revival Masterpiece Keble College and the Quest To Destroy It

Posted on 19 September 202419 September 2024 by The Gothic Dispatch

I have no shortage of critics, be they of my writing, my comportment or my appearance. But even their numbers cannot rival those of the Destroy Keble Society.

Greetings from Keble College, one of the many colleges that make up Oxford University and, most certainly, the least popular. Discover the unsavoury source of the fortune that funded its building. Hear the horrible things that England’s brightest minds have said about its Gothic Revival style. And if you’re a member of rival St John’s College, please leave your chisel at the gate.

The statue of the devil in Madrid, now exhibited as the Fountain of the Fallen Angel. The bronze sculpture of an angel writhes in agony, wrapped in snakes.

The Fountain of the Fallen Angel is the world’s oldest statue of the devil

Posted on 19 August 202419 August 2024 by The Gothic Dispatch

Spain would have you believe that it’s home to the world’s first and only monument to the devil. But it doesn’t know some of the people I do. This is merely the first and only one in public.

Greetings from the Fountain of the Fallen Angel in Madrid’s El Retiro park, where pride comes before, during and after the fall. Get as close as you dare to a statue commemorating the origins of evil. Ponder the strange coincidence that placed it exactly 666 metres above sea level. And remember that, no matter your sins, somebody else has almost certainly done worse.

The exterior of the Museo del Prado in Madrid, with its large statue of Francisco de Goya outside.

The gothic moods of Francisco de Goya’s Black Paintings

Posted on 18 July 202415 August 2024 by The Gothic Dispatch

There aren’t many people who could withdraw to a remote farmhouse, paint horrifying scenes on the walls and be hailed for their genius. Francisco de Goya was one of them. I am not.

Greetings from the Museo del Prado, one of the world’s most prestigious art museums and home of the 14 Black Paintings of Francisco de Goya. Discover some of the darkest work of Goya’s life and the tragedies that inspired it. Lose yourself in scenes of witchcraft and violence, gothic moods of which he was a master. And do your best to keep the work out of sight – just as the artist intended.

A view over the courtyard of San Juan de los Reyes.

Solemnity, seclusion and sin at San Juan de los Reyes Monastery

Posted on 17 June 202415 August 2024 by The Gothic Dispatch

Matthew Lewis’s novel The Monk is full of gothic obscurity. I travelled to Toledo to get as close as possible to the novel’s setting – as long as you don’t mean geographically.

Greetings from San Juan de los Reyes Monastery, where Franciscan monks lived and studied in solemnity and seclusion. Discover the corridors and chapel of the monastery built for Spanish royalty. Wonder at the possible sins and secrets kept behind the many locked doors. And succeed where the monk Ambrosio and I have failed, in staying on the path of virtue.

A view of the front porch of Saint-Maclou Church. Flamboyant gothic stylings climb the façade, giving the appearance of a church on fire.

Saint-Maclou Church and the breakout of flamboyant gothic architecture

Posted on 16 May 202415 August 2024 by The Gothic Dispatch

There’s little risk of being burned as you explore flamboyant gothic architecture. But I do consider it my duty to warn you that you do risk being burned if you’re seen exploring it with me.

Greetings from Saint-Maclou Church, a significant spark in the outbreak of flamboyant gothic architecture in France. Find out why art historians cite it as one of the finest, fiercest examples of the style. Hear of the French and English who continued to argue as the flames rose around them. And wonder at the power of fire, as ruinous as it is purifying, in gothic architecture and beyond.

In a display case in Toledo’s museum of witchcraft in Spain is a handwritten recipe book surrounded by obscure plants preserved in jars.

The wise healer becomes the evil witch in Toledo’s Brujeria Museum

Posted on 17 April 202415 August 2024 by The Gothic Dispatch

Just as superstition and misunderstanding have ruined the reputation of this writer, so they ruined the image of the witch in 15th century Europe.

Greetings from the Brujeria Museum, a cabinet of curiosities collecting the history of witchcraft in Spain – and her fall from wise healer to wicked heathen. Learn why witchcraft was safer practiced in the south of Spain. Read the handwritten recipe books for spells of transformation, invisibility and more. And help keep the image of the wise witch alive – even if you can’t save the other.

The interrogation chair, a torture device of the Spanish Inquisition, in Toledo’s Museum of Torture. Iron spikes on all surfaces leave little to the imagination.

The Museum of Torture and the “painful questions” of the Spanish Inquisition

Posted on 18 March 202415 August 2024 by The Gothic Dispatch

So, you’ve been accused of heresy in 15th century Spain. What’s next? I won’t keep you in the dark. That, after all, is the job of the Spanish Inquisition.

Greetings from the Museum of Torture, a collection of “painful questions” put to the accused during the reign of Fernando II and Isabella I. Look back with regret at the events leading up to accusation and incarceration. Browse the cruel and merciless methods used to extract confessions from enemies of the state. And ask yourself if, maybe, you were better off kept in the dark.

A corner of the courtyard of Saint-Maclou Aître. The timber-framed gallery features funereal wooden carvings while stone pillars are carved with the characters of the danse macabre.

Saint-Maclou Aître, the ossuary that swallowed an entire French parish

Posted on 19 February 202415 August 2024 by The Gothic Dispatch

The Black Death arrived in Rouen by boat and, in no time at all, wiped out three quarters of the population. I arrived by rail and, to the best of my knowledge, went comparatively unnoticed.

Greetings from Saint-Maclou Aître, location of the remains of Rouen’s plague ossuary and, indeed, many of its residents. Discover the funereal decorations builders carved into the beams of the medieval courtyard. Join the dance of death before its characters are worn to dust. And learn the fate of all those homes left empty when the Black Death disembarked.

The Parkland Walk spriggan leans out from under a railway arch. All around, wild vines creep and hang – against the dark stone, colourful graffiti.

The Parkland Walk spriggan, guardian of the wilderness

Posted on 18 December 202315 August 2024 by The Gothic Dispatch

Under the castle ruins, among the standing stones and in the barrows under England, the old world is sleeping. One magical creature, however, had the misfortune to draw the night shift.

Greetings from Parkland Walk, once a battlefront of industrialisation, now reclaimed by the wilderness and its spriggan guardian. Join me as I walk the three-mile path through London. Pay tribute to the powers at work here – whether of our world or another. And follow the Gothic Dispatch if only to keep me from being led maliciously astray.