Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Most Gothic Place Names in the United States--Rhode Island




For previous entries, click the "Most Gothic Place Names" label under Features in the right sidebar.


Unsurprisingly, some tremendous appellations crop up in Lovecraft Country, such as Chopmist (a.k.a. Arterial Spray), Dyerville (sounds like a town in terrible trouble), Nooseneck (suburb of Stillmanville?), Purgatory (everyone's on the waiting list to get out), Lonsdale (Chaney's kind of place), Grayville (everlastingly overcast), and Black Plain (stark darkness, as far as the eye can see). Nevertheless, all these names are overshadowed by...

Locustville.  No seventeen-year breathers here; this place is perennially plagued.  Or imagine a town where grasshoppers are on the menu at every restaurant, as an ostensible appetizer.  Then again, Locustville could simply take its name from the locals' fondness for a certain Nathanael West novel (and its angry-mob-scene climax in particular).

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