Pop culture · October 31, 2026

Puzzle #23 answers

The five places from Where Was It? Pop culture #23, and the story behind each one.

1. 01

   Books

   Jonathan Harker is collected by Count Dracula's carriage at this Carpathian mountain pass, the 'Borgo Pass' of the novel.

   Tihuța Pass, Bistrița-Năsăud, Romania

   

   The Tihuța Pass, also called the Bârgău or Borgo Pass, crosses the Eastern Carpathians in Romania. In Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897), Jonathan Harker meets the Count's carriage there.

   47.269, 25.019

2. 02

   Music

   The Doors' Jim Morrison was born in 1943 in this namesake of an Australian city, on Florida's Space Coast.

   Melbourne, Florida, USA

   

   Melbourne is a city in Brevard County on Florida's Space Coast, 116 km south-east of Orlando. Jim Morrison (1943–1971), singer and lyricist of the Doors, was born there.

   28.084, -80.608

4. 03

   Film

   Peter Jackson shot parts of The Fellowship of the Ring in this 22 km gorge just north of a New Zealand resort town.

   Skippers Canyon, Queenstown, New Zealand

   

   Skippers Canyon is a historic, scenic gorge about 22 km long, a few kilometres north of Queenstown. It was one of the filming locations of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001).

   -44.879, 168.626

5. 04

   Anime

   Gosho Aoyama, creator of Case Closed (Detective Conan), was born in 1963 in this small town in western Japan.

   Hokuei, Tottori, Japan

   

   Hokuei is a town of about 14,500 people in Tottori Prefecture. Gosho Aoyama, born there in 1963, is the manga artist behind Case Closed, known in Japan as Detective Conan.

   35.490, 133.758

6. 05

   TV

   Downton Abbey filmed at this preserved station on the Bluebell heritage steam railway in Sussex.

   Horsted Keynes railway station, West Sussex, UK

   

   Horsted Keynes is a preserved station on the Bluebell Railway in Sussex, used by many film and TV productions. Julian Fellowes's Downton Abbey is among them.

   51.046, -0.045