Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld

Grace Loudon is perhaps best known as a singer / performer in Second Life. However, she is also a creator of worlds, notably within her Full region of Amainiris, currently offered under the name of Boogeyman’s.

The name may seem to be appropriate for the time of year when I’m writing this, but I gather the overall themes of the setting – dark mystery and fantasy with a good splash of horror – are pretty much year-round. It offers an enticing visit and, as the home of Grace’s music venue, the chance for some good live music sessions.

We’re creepy all year! – Scary, gore, insane, haunted, ghost, explore, hangout, music, live, perform, spooky, monster, zombie, asylum, trick or treat, Halloween.

– Boogeyman’s About Land Description

The Landing Point takes the form of a little residential street busy with trick-or-treaters scurrying between the houses. Those arriving are advised to read the scrolling introductory notes which will appear before them (don’t land and hurry forward!) to get the best from their visit. Head lights are also available for those who might find things a little dark.

There’s not a lot to see within the houses along the street – they are all façades – but the little Trick-or-treaters are fun to observe – including a couple from Cica Ghost.

However, the fun begins at the far end of the street relative to the Landing Point. Here sit three paths leading into the dark woods covering pretty much the entire region. Which one you take first is entirely up to you as all have much to offer.

Along one, for example you’ll find an asylum which might not carry the name Arkham – but so easily could. Beyond it along a winding path more is to be found from weird creatures to a scene that might have you mentally quoting The Scottish Play (if not When shall we three meet again?, then almost certainly, Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble), and more before coming to a creepy swamp.

The main thing is, all the paths – and their branches – should be followed, and followed carefully if you’re to experience everything: the creepy playground balancing the swamp; the zombie train (complete with outdoor cinema close by – just be wary of anyone coming up behind you!); the cemetery and – within its own Landing Point and forming another jumping-off point for explorations, the delightfully spooky Boogeyman’s club itself.

This is actually one of three venues within the region, the other two being the quirky Groovy Girl Café and Sound Control. Both are located in the sky, with the former celebrating Second Life’s female sings and live performers, and the latter carrying a cabaret club vibe with a strong celebration of the RCMP. Both are packed with detail, and I’ll likely cover them as a part of my Coffeehouses and Cafe series.

Back on the ground, there are two particular spots await discovery. They sit fairly close together along a path, each carrying a warning: Don’t Go Down the Ladder!, together with And Don’t Go in the Water Either!

Of course both are open invitations – although you’ll need to accept the local Experience to either climb the ladder or take a dip (you’ll only need to accept it the one time, obviously!).

The ladder will take you to my favourite part of the setting: the catacombs. This, for me, has wonderful echo of Tolkien – not that this is likely intentional. You’ll heard the dragon before you see it (just look up!), whilst the entire arrival space has a feel of the great halls of Erebor after Smaug’s arrival.

Across the field of bones, an entrance beckons, carrying you on down. I’m not going to spoil things any further other than to note that the path through the tunnels and caverns will mix elements of beauty and touches of beasties. Just be sure to key an eye out for points where the tunnels branch.

Take a dip, meanwhile and you’ll be on something of an undersea adventure. Again take a good look around and then follow the path winding down into the sea floor sinkhole. Both the caves and the underwater elements have teleports that will carry you back to the top of the ladder’s well or the banks of the pond. Elsewhere you might find a door with a warning of its own and a trip through a maze containing the season’s Ghoul’s and Ghosts game (also seen elsewhere in SL).

Throughout all of this are touches large and small (beware of a giant spider dropping in on you in the caverns, for example), and places which simply offer somewhere to sit down – even if one is beneath the roving eyes of a ventriloquist’s dummy sitting on a shelf!

Whilst offering something of a Halloween-y style of destination, Boogeyman’s leans more towards fun and light scares rather than gore and horror (zombies notwithstanding!), with the touches filtering lightly into the two skyborne venues without being overpowering or spoiling their very individual environments and ambience.

In all, a fun visit, with plenty of opportunities for re-visits to enjoy some of SL’s best music and vocal artists.

SLurls

Amainiris is rated Moderate

• Boogeyman’s Main Landing
• Boogeyman’s Club Landing
• Groove Girl’s Cafe
• Sound Central

In September 2026, I wrote about a novel and engaging location in Second Life: the Museum of Curious Laws (Museum der Kuriosen Gesetze), which I thoroughly enjoyed visiting. As a result of this, the Museum’s creator, Novadien invited me to visit the latest project he and his team have brought together in Second Life, ahead of its formal opening: Historia Wax Museum.

Wax Museums come in a variety of forms and can often be somewhat questionable in nature. At the upper end of the scale in terms of overall quality and global reach sits the Tussaud chain (and not to be confused with the smaller chain of museums founded by her great-grandson, and which exist as an entirely separate business operating largely in the North American continent).

Historia, were it to be present in the physical world, would easily equal Tussaud’s in its breadth and depth of historical figures presented – over 103 in total at the time of opening – and the quality of their presentation.

Hosted within a grand hall with three mezzanine-style levels built around a central atrium space, the building is imposing and lavishly decorated in a manner redolent of a grand country house.

These levels are divided into bays, with each bay featuring a figure (or figures) from history presented against a suit backdrop display. Information givers will present, when touched, a short biography on the figure in either English or German.

Each of the figures has been crafted in mesh by Novadien, and considerable care has been taken to try to achieve an historical likeness of the subject in question, using a variety of sources. And trust me when I say that these figures have to be seen to be appreciated.

Not all of the figures are restricted to such bays, however. One John Wilkes Booth, for example, is stalking one level, a pistol conspicuously held in one hand, his eyes furtive, as if seeking someone.

Elsewhere, Bram Stoker is apparently scribing his famous character – and his castle – into existence around himself!

There is also some subtle partnering – so to speak – in some of the displays. Nicolas II, and Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (aka Vladimir Lenin) share side-by-side bays, but they stand slightly angled as if slyly angling their backs toward one another.

On the ground floor, meanwhile, Edison and Tesla occupy side-by-side locations, pointing to their relationship in the development of electrical power in the United States – and the storm clouds outside the windows behind Tesla perhaps hinting at the tempestuous nature of the their relationship.

Nor are all of the figures within the museum from the physical world, as Novadien noted to me:

In the atrium, to the left of the main entrance are not historical figures, but people from our city of Neudarmstadt in Second Life, and home to all of our projects. We wanted to celebrate some of the residents and friends of our city; people without whose help and support Neudarmstadt probably would not exist in its current form.

– Novadien, October, 2026

This, to me, is a delightful addition to the museum.

The museum also features a display of portraiture – some of the subjects of which also have figures within the museum. This adds a further depth to the experience of a visit, although at the time of mine, these did not have any form of identification of their subjects; hopefully this will change.

And in case you’re wondering why no Tom Cruise, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Scarlett Johansson, Kate Winslett et al, the answer is simple: to avoid issues of likeness licensing and other potential legal concerns.

Not that Historia needs modern-day celebrities; the clue is in the name: this is place for marking the lives of historical figures, be thy people with whom we might have a fair degree of familiarity to others with whom we may not be so familiar. But howsoever any of the individuals featured in Historia strike us, one this is guaranteed: a visit will be informative and engaging – Historia has been extremely well put together.

The official opening for the museum will take place from 11:00 SLT on Saturday, October 17, 2026, featuring a mix of live music and a DJ set. However, the museum is already available for people to visit (with some last-minute work going on!).

Oh! And should you visit, don’t forget to Mouseover (and click) the figures on display! 🙂 .

Slurl Details

• Historia Wax Museum (Ibranic, rated Moderate)

In August 2026, after dropping back into Lost Lagoon, I noted that sometimes we bloggers tend to forget the more timeless locations in Second Life in favour of those that shift with the changing seasons or which are routinely given a new vision by their creators – or which are simply new to SL as a whole.

One such timeless region – indeed, one which completely vanished for a time but made a welcome return a few years back – is that of Hazardous.  Occupying a Full region, it is a place which may well change slightly and in subtle ways – some new seating here, an event space there, a shuffling of the environment – but which has in essence remained unchanged throughout all of its time in Second Life.

There is good reason for this: Hazardous is one of those spots of natural beauty so well put together that any significant change would be the equivalent of stomping on it with and oversized and brutish hobnail boot.

Designed and held by Chris Gray (Chris Jackman – formerly known as Mandingo Quan), it’s a place occupying a quiet corner of my heart, being one of the first locations in Second Life I wrote about as my blogging turned more towards art and destinations 15 years ago, and a place to which I’ve returned a number of times down the years to either write about or simply wander.

Hazardous is known for its towering cliffs and the U-shaped plateau sitting atop them, cut through almost completely north-to-south by a sheer-sided gorge.

Something of a showcase for some of the trees and shrubs produced by Chris under the [We’re Closed] brand (and which were, when I first took to really designing and building my own places and homes for friends, among some of my earliest purchases of landscaping items), Hazardous presents a rugged yet welcoming demeanour.

In this the name seems both fitting and odd. Fitting because get to near the edge and you could end up spending a brief moment impersonating Willie E. Coyote on the wrong side of a cliff before becoming acquainted with the area direct below it.

Odd, because frankly for the majority of visits, it’s hard to find a more tranquil setting for restoring the harried mind, and far from any sense of hazard.

I think that’s why I particularly like Hazardous. Its high, blank cliffs, enduring table top with trees, shrubs and scattered signs of loose habitation offers and enduring steadfastness that’s more than just a matter of familiarity. It’s like the setting is saying, “Come what may, I’ll be here for you.”

The other aspect is that this is a setting that is utterly deceptive. Yes, it may well stand as “the place with the cliffs and the gorge” – but when one takes the time to explore and pry, Hazardous is so much more than that; it has definite life and breath of its own.

Some of this may be obvious – the aforementioned scatterings of human habitation (of which the various swings, seats and the like offered to visitors just add to the welcome air of the region). Others are perhaps a little easier to miss or escape attention altogether.

Of course, the house down in the gorge, with its boardwalk over the waters there and the zip line running down to it, is an obvious attraction; so too, perhaps is the rope crossing close to the mid-point of the gorge.

But how many find the art displayed within the region? Forget looking inside any of the buildings – and don’t be fooled into believing I’m merely referring to the projector running quietly outside of the old ruined house on the east side of the island. No; I’m referring to the – literally – floating and sunken displays of art waiting to be found.

Wander to the north of the setting and the standing windmill there; you might find the steps leading down to where some of the art – and more – might be found. Similarly, don’t assume that deep, dark ponds are only the home of fish or possibly creepy nasties.

For those who enjoy good music, this might also be found at Hazardous, courtesy of the stage area to the east side of the region. This will next host two hours of live music on Saturday, October 24, 2026, starting at 17:00 SLT.

Sadly, that’s a little too late for me – but those who attend will likely enjoy the line-up of Amberle and Max Kleene – but please mind the Quokka if you decide to dance!

An evergreen setting in Second Life, Hazardous remains a classic destination for all to enjoy. Just mind the step down from the landing point!

Slurl Details

• Hazardous (rated Moderate)