Chillisauce is a UK event planner that has organized corporate events, team building days, product launches, activity breaks, company parties and experiential marketing campaigns since 2001. Their adventure weekends include gorge scrambling, caving, assault courses and more. Now, Chilisauce has an overnight Werewolf Hunt scheduled that simulates a hunt for a werewolf taken from the literature of black-and-white films.
“Chillisauce pride themselves on being a fun, creative and an adventurous events agency and the overnight werewolf hunting experience embodies exactly that,” said Adrian Simpson, director at Chillisauce.co.uk in a TravelPulse article. “This is the ultimate event for those looking for an adrenaline-fuelled experience that really does live out your werewolf attack nightmares.”
Happening in Droitwich, Worcestershire, England, and priced from 149 British pounds, a group of eight will spend the night in search of the beast.
First, the “hunters” participating will be prepared with safety training, outfitted with werewolf-repellent clothing followed by a crash course in basic military training and weapons training.
In line with established werewolf procedures, hunters will learn how to set up preventative trip wires and explosive booby traps around the camp to protect against the imminent attack.
This is no luxury weekend either. Military-style bunks will be available where group members can rest after the hunt … until the safe light of day.
Fall festival season is in full swing now, getting people out and about on the crisp autumn weekends. Some festivals are annual events across town, others take a road trip or weekend getaway to see. In the United States, many have a common theme that includes pumpkins, hay and cider somewhere along the way. In other parts of the world, annual festivals at different times of the year offer a measure of tradition and have been held for decades. Others are just plain odd but they bring some of the most fun that distant lands have to offer.
Sakon Nakhon Wax Castle Festival
Coming up in October, Thailand has the Sakon Nakhon Wax Castle Festival, marking the end of Buddhist Lent. During the festival, the people of Sakhon Nakhon gather in a celebration, which includes a Wax Castle procession, longboat races and cultural performances. Originally using beeswax to make different kinds of flowers, attached to banana tree trunks, today’s festival features castles, temples and shrines paraded around the city showcasing local skill and wisdom.
The Battle of Oranges
Basically a huge food fight, the Battle of Oranges is a festival in the Northern Italian city of Ivrea, which includes a tradition of throwing of oranges between organized groups. During the three-day Orange hurling brawl, the city will go through 50,000 cases of oranges (about 400 tons) as townspeople will get dressed up to re-enact a Middle Age battle. Those dressed as Middle Age kings’ guards, throw oranges at others dressed as foot soldiers as thousands of people gather to watch.
The Night of the Radishes
Mexico has their Day of the Dead festival held in November, a centuries-old tradition that honors those who have died with a walking procession through town in a Mardi Gras sort of way. The Night of the Radishes comes in December and is an exhibition of sculptures made from large red radishes especially grown for this event. It is held only in Oaxaca, Mexico, which is the name of both a state in Mexico and that state’s capital city. Winners get their photo published in the local paper and win a prize, but the festival has more than a century been a focal point of Christmas celebrations in Oaxaca.
World Bodypainting Festival
The World Bodypainting Festival is an annual festival happens in Austria. The week-long painting fest is the biggest annual event of the body painting culture and community, drawing the best body painting artist teams and models as well as thousands of visitors, from all over the world. The artists compete in many categories from brush and sponge to airbrush and special effects. There is a World Facepainting Award and a special award for special effects face make up. Artists use mostly volunteer male or female models as they wish and female models can go topless if they want.
International Bognor Birdman
The International Birdman is a series of two competitions held in West Sussex, England, that have human ‘birdmen’ attempting to fly off the end of a pier into the sea for prize money. The competition brings serious aviators mainly flying hang-gliders and people in costume with little or no actual flying ability, raising money for charity. Initially, there was a prize of £1,000 for anyone who could travel beyond 50 yards but over time that increased to £30,000 for reaching 330 feet.
“Man vs. Wild” host Bear Grylls will teach ten lucky (or deep-pocketed) fans his famous survival techniques during the first Bear Grylls Survival Academy in Scotland this November.
Much like his television show, the adventure will require participants to test their land and sea survival skills as well as a series of adventure tasks. The culminating test? A 36-hour wilderness expedition that involves tasks like making a fire in the pouring rain, building emergency shelters, foraging for food and river crossings.
“So many people have asked me over the years where they can learn extreme, practical survival – the type that requires spirit, determination and the skills to self-rescue against the odds, in some of the harshest terrain around,” saids Bear Grylls in a release. “Oh, and it may hurt a little.”
In 2013, Grylls plans to expand the course to Scotland, the United States and Africa.
On completion, enrollees will receive a badge, certificate and a Bear Grylls Ultimate Gerber knife. The price for this torture experience? A cool £2,999 per person (excluding flights).
During World War II, the British were sure they were about to be invaded. The English Channel seemed like nothing more than a narrow creek against the might of Nazi Germany. As the British army fought in North Africa and Southeast Asia, the Home Guard and teams of civilians prepared for the worst.
One elderly English woman told me that when she was a teenager she helped lay electric wire below the water line of the southern beaches. The idea was that if the Germans launched an amphibious invasion, sort of a D-Day in reverse, they could flip a switch and electrocute the Germans. While the idea disturbed her at the time, the thought of an occupied England disturbed her even more.
Another defensive measure was the construction of more than 18,000 small bunkers called “pillboxes” at strategic sites. Thousands still stand along the rivers, estuaries, ports and main roads. If you hike for any length of time in England, Scotland or Wales you’re bound to come across some. The one shown above guards the road leading into Faringdon, Oxfordshire. Jump the cut to see another view of the same installation.
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As you can see it’s not very big, barely room enough for a couple of men and a machine gun. Still, it would have slowed down the enemy and given the British time to organize a counterattack. Many installations were strung out in long lines called “stop-lines” across the countryside with the idea that the German invasion could be halted along those lines.
Pillboxes came in numerous types. They were built of concrete, stone or brick reinforced with concrete and had various shapes. The Pillbox Study Group is dedicated to the study and preservation of these defenses. Anyone who knows the British will not be the least bit surprised that such a group exists. They’re big on all sorts of societies and associations. These groups allow a rather introverted people an excuse to gather without (or sometimes with) the social lubricant of alcohol. Sometimes this is rewarded with a major discovery. The Richard III Society must be having their best year ever.
I’ve clambered over plenty of these little forts and each one is a little different. In Orkney, I even came across one built atop a prehistoric Pictish broch. Some have been incorporated into later buildings and one has even been used to create a habitat for bats. Most, however, are quietly decaying, visited only by local teens as a private place to drink and screw. Only a few are preserved as historic buildings. The Pillbox Study Group is trying to change that.
If you come across a pillbox while hiking, be careful. Despite once being bullet proof many are now in rather poor shape. Watch your step and admire these remnants of the nation’s Proudest Hour.
After seeing a 250% increase in people puking on rides, the staff at Thorpe Park in Surrey decided to do something about it. And with the help of science, they’ve created the United Kingdom‘s first winged roller coaster, the Swarm. Not only that, but it’s designed to cure hangovers.
First, riders are shot through head first down a 128-foot drop. While this may sound counterintuitive, neuropsychologist Dr. David Lewis explains the blast of oxygen on the high-speed ride actually speeds the metabolic rate of a drunk person, helping to break toxins down more quickly.
There is also a breathalyzer next to the height bar. If you fail, you’re sent to The Swarm and not allowed on any other rides until you’ve sobered up. While Thorpe Park doesn’t condone drinking and riding, they understood many freshman just starting college probably don’t realize they’re still suffering from the previous night’s partying.
“We felt it was our duty to ensure that all of our guests enjoy the extreme nature of our rides and by putting them on the Swarm, which is proven to be the ultimate hangover cure,” Mike Vallis, divisional director of Thorpe Park, told news.com.au.
For a visual idea of the ride, check out the video above.