Pop culture · October 23, 2026

Puzzle #15 answers

The five places from Where Was It? Pop culture #15, and the story behind each one.

01
Film
In Gandhi (1982), the young lawyer is thrown off a first-class train carriage at this South African city's station.
Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Vasiliymeshko · CC BY 3.0
Pietermaritzburg is the capital of KwaZulu-Natal. In 1893 Mohandas Gandhi was put off a whites-only carriage at its station, an episode Richard Attenborough's Gandhi (1982) recreates.
-29.601, 30.380
02
TV
HBO's The Last of Us, shot largely in Alberta, filmed scenes in this national park on the border with Montana.
Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, Canada
Kenneth Hynek from Edmonton, Canada · CC BY 2.0
Waterton Lakes National Park, in the south-west corner of Alberta, borders Glacier National Park in Montana. Canada's fourth national park, it served as a filming location for The Last of Us.
49.050, -113.933
03
Books
On the run in Deathly Hallows, Harry and Hermione camp in this English forest near Wales, where a silver doe leads Harry to a sword.
Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, UK
The original uploader was Lemoncurd at English Wikipedia. · CC BY-SA 3.0
The Forest of Dean is an ancient woodland region in western Gloucestershire, England. In J. K. Rowling's final Harry Potter novel, Harry pulls Gryffindor's sword from a frozen pool there.
51.790, -2.540
04
Film
The prologue of The Exorcist (1973), where an elderly priest unearths a demon's amulet, was filmed in this ruined city in Iraq.
Hatra, Nineveh Governorate, Iraq
Hatra was an ancient city in Upper Mesopotamia; its ruins lie in Iraq's Nineveh Governorate. William Friedkin shot The Exorcist's opening dig there, with Max von Sydow as Father Merrin.
35.588, 42.718
05
Music
Lady Gaga recorded her 2025 album Mayhem at Rick Rubin's studio, a former ranch converted for Bob Dylan and The Band.
Shangri-La, Malibu, California, USA
L'Homme à tête de chou · CC BY-SA 4.0
Shangri-La in Malibu, owned by Rick Rubin, began as a ranch leased by The Band in the 1970s and was converted into a studio for them and Bob Dylan. Lady Gaga recorded Mayhem there.
34.021, -118.826

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Puzzle #15 answers

The five places from Where Was It? Pop culture #15, and the story behind each one.

Film

In Gandhi (1982), the young lawyer is thrown off a first-class train carriage at this South African city's station.

Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Pietermaritzburg is the capital of KwaZulu-Natal. In 1893 Mohandas Gandhi was put off a whites-only carriage at its station, an episode Richard Attenborough's Gandhi (1982) recreates.

-29.601, 30.380

HBO's The Last of Us, shot largely in Alberta, filmed scenes in this national park on the border with Montana.

Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, Canada

Waterton Lakes National Park, in the south-west corner of Alberta, borders Glacier National Park in Montana. Canada's fourth national park, it served as a filming location for The Last of Us.

49.050, -113.933

Books

On the run in Deathly Hallows, Harry and Hermione camp in this English forest near Wales, where a silver doe leads Harry to a sword.

Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, UK

The Forest of Dean is an ancient woodland region in western Gloucestershire, England. In J. K. Rowling's final Harry Potter novel, Harry pulls Gryffindor's sword from a frozen pool there.

51.790, -2.540

Film

The prologue of The Exorcist (1973), where an elderly priest unearths a demon's amulet, was filmed in this ruined city in Iraq.

Hatra, Nineveh Governorate, Iraq

Hatra was an ancient city in Upper Mesopotamia; its ruins lie in Iraq's Nineveh Governorate. William Friedkin shot The Exorcist's opening dig there, with Max von Sydow as Father Merrin.

35.588, 42.718

Music

Lady Gaga recorded her 2025 album Mayhem at Rick Rubin's studio, a former ranch converted for Bob Dylan and The Band.

Shangri-La, Malibu, California, USA

Shangri-La in Malibu, owned by Rick Rubin, began as a ranch leased by The Band in the 1970s and was converted into a studio for them and Bob Dylan. Lady Gaga recorded Mayhem there.

34.021, -118.826

Think you'd have found them?

Play today's puzzle