KRAKEN: Travellers' tales and truth. Is Whanganui subject to its own mythology? PICTURE / GETTY IMAGES
Travellers' tales tell of ancient maps bearing illuminated script describing arenas of the unknown.
"Here be monsters" depicted lurking grounds for mermaids and the dreaded ship-wrecking Kraken. Seafarers' fates hung in the balance and survivors were heroes.
Thereby legends and myths were spawned, becoming part of the fabric of common life. I
don't think much has changed. The newcomer to any community will be privy to many a yarn.
The challenge is to discern truth from fiction. It can be difficult finding acceptance or establishing a place in any community, developing new directions, finding encouragement for new ideas.
My experience in Whanganui has been no exception.
Scratch the surface of any newcomer's life and I will wager one finds a similar comment, even amongst locals who have been here 10 years or more.
Why is that so? Locals put the answer down to the lie of the land, the mythologies of hearsay and spiritual energies. As any real estate agent will tell you, location is pivotal.
Whanganui lies in a valley at a river mouth.
The globe is traversed by a grid of energy lines known as ley lines. High energy happens where lines intersect.
Whanganui lies on one such node so artistic energy is high.
Energy runs down river so Whanganui river port and mouth are low energy, though, I'm told, the CBD is high energy. Class consciousness is rife.
Wealthy hill residents look down on the lowlanders.
Upriver warlike Maori hate the downriver peaceable Maoris.
The red and blue gangs are everywhere making life perilous.
Reports abound of animal sacrifice and horse carcasses on Castlecliff Beach.
Witches' covens are common with witches (or Wiccans) preferring to reside on the high points of the land to govern those below. The prison population influence is negative.
In early local history an Upokongaro Maori elder cursed the white settlers, saying that the Pakeha would never succeed as long as the Pakeha held control here. Seaside Castlecliff is poverty bound.
The river is worshipped. Elsewhere, normally, the reverse is true.
These are local urban myths.
Whether your values are conservative or liberal, these legends have touched your life somehow. Knowledge of them may well shed light on why the quest for progress and buoyancy is such hard work and perhaps an educated answer will reignite the fires of fortune and curiosity.
