BRINY BEACH, a seashore at the edge of a dirty and busy city. Accessible from the city's heart by trolley, the beach is crowded with tourists on hot and sunny days. On grey and cloudy days Briny Beach was a favorite destination for the Baudelaire children, and it was on one of these trips that they learned of the horrible fire that destroyed their home and killed their parents.

Briny Beach is also favored by the elusive author Lemony Snicket for peaceful walks and the ability to locate materials regarding the Baudelaire case.

(Lemony Snicket, The Bad Beginning, New York, 1999; Lemony Snicket, The Carnivorous Carnival, New York, 2002)

CALIGARI CARNIVAL, a traveling fair camped on Rarely Ridden Road in the hinterlands outside a large city. The carnival is not terribly successful, nor has it left the campgrounds in recent times. The few structures include a ticket booth, a phone booth, several enormous tents with caravans, and a huge rollercoaster. The rollercoaster has fallen into disuse and is covered with ivy.

Caligari Carnival is run by Madame Lulu, a fortune-teller who uses her crystal ball to supposedly see things that are distant or in the future, though all she really does is tell people what they want to hear. Her information tends to be accurate not because of any supernatural powers she possesses, but rather due to the extensive collection of documents she keeps hidden beneath the table in her tent. She tells fortunes only in the morning, using a special contraption to aim the sunlight directly into the tent, distracting her patrons while she searches for the answer to their question.

The other major attraction of the carnival was the House of Freaks, the denizens being a hunchback, a contortionist, and an ambidexterous man. Toward the end of the carnival's existence the collection of freaks also included a two-headed person and a half-wolf baby, but they were really the Baudelaire children in disguise.

The carnival shut down after a series of events involving Count Olaf and the Baudelaires. Olaf brought several lions to Caligari Carnival, meaning to feed one of the freaks to them. Tragically, Madame Lulu and one of Count Olaf's associates were devoured by the lions instead. The carnival burned to the ground shortly after, and the freaks (including the disguised Baudelaire orphans) departed with Count Olaf.

(Lemony Snicket, The Carnivorous Carnival, New York, 2002)

GORGONIAN GROTTO, an underwater cave located near the Mediocre Barrier Reef, underneath the former site of Anwhistle Aquatics. Currents of water originating in the Stricken Stream terminate here, carrying lots of debris.

The walls of the conical entrance to the grotto are decorated in mosaics depicting noble events from the history of a secret organization known as V.F.D., as well as portraits of the famous writers, scientists, artists, musicians, philosophers, and chefs who inspired its members. Various secret passageways led up to the marine research center and rhetorical advice service. A pumping machine could drain the entire grotto or flood it with seawater in a manner of minutes, but this device is rusted now, leaving the entrance of the grotto submerged in water. The lighting system is also nonfunctional.

Visitors who follow the current will eventually wash up on a beach littered with various flotsam and jetsam. All travelers are advised to avoid this beach, as under the sand lies the Medusoid Mycelium. Developed by Gregor Anwhistle, this deadly fungus waxes and wanes, such that the beach may be completely clear one moment, and covered in treacherous mushrooms the next. A single spore of Medusoid Mycelium can kill within the hour. The only known cures are horseradish or wasabi.

(Lemony Snicket, The Grim Grotto, New York, 2004)

HEIMLICH HOSPITAL, a medical facility in the middle of a wide, empty expanse. The hospital accommodates hundreds of patients despite being only half-finished.

The completed half of Heimlich Hospital is a shiny white building with a row of tall pillars in front and small carved portraits of famous doctors erected over each window. The front lawn is neatly mowed and scattered with wildflowers. The unfinished half consists of the framework and little else - boards nailed together, planks for floors, and some sheets of plastic that flutter in the breeze. Even the front yard is incomplete, being little but a field of dirt.

The hospital's name is displayed on the front of the building, with "Heimlich" printed in gold letters on a white square of wood, and "Hospital" written in ballpoint pen on cardboard.

The layout of the hospital is extremely confusing, and maps are displayed on the walls to help with navigation. Also placed at intervals are intercoms through which hospital personnel can make announcements. The small office of the Director of Human Resources is located behind the seventeenth floor on the left inside the finished half of the hospital, but anyone who ventures to this office is likely to encounter just another intercom seated at the desk.

Patients are organized by ailment into various wards, including:

The Surgical Ward has an Operating Theater that is filled with varied onlookers whenever a new procedure is being performed.

The basement of the hospital is host to a Library of Records, housing information from all over the area. The library has two rooms, with a small antechamber preceding the large filing room. The library is filled with rows and rows of locked filing cabinets. The ceiling is low and each aisle is only big enough to walk single file. Records are deposited through a chute from the outside and then filed away by the recordkeeper, Hal.

Since the hospital was burned down no one will go within 12 miles of the wreckage, now overgrown with kudzu.

(Lemony Snicket, The Hostile Hospital, New York, 2001)

LAKE LACHRYMOSE, a town surrounding a lake of the same name. Discovered and named for the explorer Ivan Lachrymose, the lake is so large that despite being located inland, it can be affected by hurricanes.

Visitors can traverse Lake Lachrymose by taking the Fickle Ferry, or renting a sailboat from Damocles Dock at the edge of town. The town itself is mostly a resort, with a number of stores along its grey cobblestone streets only open on a seasonal basis. Businesses open year-round include the Anxious Clown restaurant, a family establishment known for terrible food like their Cheer-Up Cheeseburgers.

The lake itself has many landmarks like caves, islands, and beaches. These include Carp Cove, Chartreuse Island, Cloudy Cliffs, Condiment Bay, and Curdled Cave. Curdled Cave is for sale and is located across from Damocles Dock and west of the Lavender Lighthouse. Local residents Josephine Anwhistle and her husband Ike supposedly explored every inch of Lachrymose Lake before their deaths.

Lake Lachrymose is home to a number of aquatic species, but the most famous of these are the Lachrymose Leeches. They have six rows of very sharp teeth, and can smell food at extreme distances. They normally feed on small fish, but will devour human beings if they smell food on a person. Anyone traveling in the lake is advised to wait one hour before entering the water. This applies to travel by boat as well as swimming.

On a high cliff above Lake Lachrymose once stood the small home of Josephine Anwhistle, perilously hanging over the lake and attached to the hill by a series of metal stilts. The library was filled with numerous grammar books, and had a large window with a spectacular view of Lake Lachrymose. The house was destroyed by Hurricane Herman shortly after the arrival of the Baudelaire orphans.

(Lemony Snicket, The Wide Window, New York, 2000)

MORTMAIN MOUNTAINS, a tall range bordering the hinterlands outside a large city. The summit is known as Mount Fraught, and it is from here that the Stricken Stream begins. The Stricken Stream winds down through the range, through the Valley of the Four Drafts, eventually terminating in the ocean. The very top of the stream is completely frozen, forming a solid ice slide down the side of Mount Fraught.

The waters of the Stricken Stream are thick with salmon, which feed off the snow gnats native to the area. Snow gnats travel in well-organized groups, are capable of forming well-defined shapes, and like to sting people for no reason. Travelers are advised to wear concealing clothing to protect themselves, and smoke from a fire will keep the troublesome insects away.

The secret headquarters of V.F.D. were located in the Valley of Four Drafts, deep in the heart of the Mortmain Mountains. There were many ways to reach the headquarters, including a long shaft attached to a cave further down the mountain. This cave used to be occupied by Volunteer Feline Detectives, and a long pole ran down the shaft so people could slide down and hide in the cave during emergencies. The shaft was known as a Vertical Flame Diversion, since smoke from fires set inside the cave could travel up the shaft instead of being seen outside. The pole was later removed to be used in the construction of a submarine.

The Vertical Flame Diversion leads up to a curved hallway with a small grate on the ceiling opening into the valley, where the winds scatter the smoke. At one end of the hallway is a storage area for sleds and snowsuits. The other side leads to the Vernacularly Fastened Door. The door is large and metal, having a coded lock in the middle that unlocks using phrases that change every season.

The V.F.D. facilities were large and included a kitchen, dining room, parlor, disguise center, movie room, stables, gymnasium, training center, garage, six laboratories, dormitories, schoolrooms, lounge, music room, museum, ice cream shop, rehearsal studios, testing centers, swimming pool, and a library. The kitchen window would look out upon the frozen waterfall of the Stricken Stream, and a device heated the water to create steam that concealed the headquarters in a blanket of mist.

Unfortunately, the V.F.D. headquarters was burned down by rogue members of the organization, who set fire to each room individually over a period of time, such that the destruction would go unnoticed until it was too late. The ashes turned the waters of the Stricken Stream black, and drove the snow gnats away. All that remains of V.F.D. headquarters is the large iron archway that once formed the entrance to the library, and a refrigerator containing condiments that can be used to create coded messages, known as the Verbal Fridge Dialogue.

Few travel to the Mortmain Mountains, with the exception of the Snow Scouts, a children's organization that visits Mount Fraught once a year. They come for False Spring, when the weather in the mountains warms up for a short period of time, melting the waters of the Stricken Stream. The Scouts dance around the Springpole and crown a False Spring Queen (though it is always Carmelita Spats, because the leader of the Snow Scouts is her Uncle Bruce).

(Lemony Snicket, The Slippery Slope, New York, 2003)

PALTRYVILLE, a dreary village located just outside Finite Forest. The village's only road is lined with a few small shops lacking windows, a post office with a shoe dangling from its flagpole instead of a flag, an optometrist's office in a building shaped like an eye, and the Lucky Smells Lumbermill.

Lucky Smells Lumbermill is run by a man referred to as "Sir", and his partner Charles. The lumbermill is located across from the post office, separated from the street by a high wooden wall. The entrance gate is adorned with a sign spelling out the lumbermill's name in old chewing gum, and stacks of old newspapers line the sidewalk outside. Inside the fence are three buildings - a storage shed, a dormitory, and the lumbermill. Workers at the mill live in the windowless dormitory and sleep on bunks. They receive chewing gum for lunch, casseroles for dinner, and are paid in coupons. The lumbermill has a library, but there are only three books.

It is unknown if the optometrist's office is currently open for business. The last known owner, Dr. Georgina Orwell, was killed in an accident at the lumbermill involving the infamous Count Olaf and the Baudelaire orphans. The children worked at the lumbermill for a time after the death of their Aunt Josephine, but were sent away by Sir after two accidents at the lumbermill and the subsequent escape of Count Olaf.

As there is nothing remarkable about Paltryville, visitors are advised to leave as soon as possible. The train stops there once a day.

(Lemony Snicket, The Miserable Mill, New York, 2000)

PRUFROCK PREPARATORY SCHOOL, a private school with its name and motto, "Memento Mori" ("Remember you will die"), engraved on a stone arch above the entrance.

The campus consists of several buildings constructed of smooth grey stone, rectangular structures with rounded tops that resemble tombstones. They are arranged in an irregular line on the expansive brown lawn. The main structure is the administrative building, with the small office of Vice Principal Nero located on the ninth floor. Students are not allowed in the administrative building, and those who break this rule have their silverware confiscated at meals.

Meals are eaten in the cafeteria, where food is served from enormous trays and the students sit at long rectangular tables. Students who are late for meals have their cups and glasses confiscated. Classes are held seven days a week in a separate building, and any student late for class must eat their meals with their hands tied behind their back.

Every night in the auditorium Vice Principal Nero performs a 6-hour violin recital. His performances are wretched, but students who miss a concert have to buy Nero a bag of candy and watch him eat it.

The student dormitory has a huge living room with a brick fireplace, a game room, and a large lending library. Each student has their own room and fresh fruit is delivered to them every Wednesday. Students must have their parents' permission to live in the dormitory. Students without parental permission are forced to live in a small tin shack. The shack has beds of hay for sleeping, the floor is infested by small territorial crabs, a tan fungus drips from the ceiling, and the walls are covered in a bright green wallpaper decorated with tiny pink hearts. After the Quagmire triplets lived there, the shack was nicknamed the "Orphans Shack" by Carmelita Spats.

The school was closed sometime after one of the teachers, Mrs. Bass, was arrested for bank robbery.

(Lemony Snicket, The Austere Academy, New York, 2000)

VILLAGE OF FOWL DEVOTEES, a village just outside an unnamed city. The name of the village is usually abbreviated as "V.F.D." when written or spoken. The village rests in the middle of a wide expanse of flat, dry land.

The village is divided into an uptown and downtown. The jail is located uptown, filled with several small cells, the Deluxe Cell being the dirtiest. Just outside the jail is the village's newest landmark, Fowl Fountain. The metal fountain is made to look like a crow, spitting water into the air from its beak. The interior of the fountain is accessible by pushing a button concealed within the crow's eye, and is large enough to hide at least two children.

Downtown is Town Hall, a building of white marble with a high ceiling. Inside is a long bench where the Council of Elders sits. In front of the bench is a small platform, and behind the platform are approximately 100 folding chairs for the rest of the villagers. The Council will only discuss things that are on the platform.

The village is named for its most notable feature, the murder of crows that nests there. The crows roost uptown in the mornings, downtown in the afternoon, and spend their nights in Nevermore Tree on the outskirts of town. Nevermore Tree is large enough to completely conceal a elephant, three horses, and an opera singer behind its trunk. When the crows roost in town, they cover everything from buildings to roads, giving the village a blurry black appearance from afar.

The Village of Fowl Devotees was founded 306 years ago by a group of explorers who were fascinated by the migratory patterns of the crows and formed a settlement to admire the birds. The sight of the birds migrating is a magnificent sight, but visitors to V.F.D. must be wary of the village's strict and numerous rules. There are thousands of rules, and they include:

A complete list of the rules is publicly unavailable, since such a book would violate Rule #108. However, the former handyman Hector kept a secret library in his barn containing all of the books banned by the Council of Elders. The barn also has a secret workshop full of mechanical devices and is located on the outskirts of town near Nevermore Tree.

(Lemony Snicket, The Vile Village, New York, 2001)