Here Be Demons: Sulfur in Our World Quiz

Answer: Montserrat

After the eruption, Montserrat's capital, Plymouth, which was founded in the mid-1600s as the island's only port, was overrun by lava and completely abandoned. People still live on the northern third of the island, but the continuing eruptions of Soufrière Hills, including a moderate-sized explosion in 2010, have generally scared away new construction there.

Answer: Kîlauea

Sulphur Bank is the northwestern border of the Kîlauea caldera, along Crater Rim Drive in the park, where the lava flows from the two active volcanoes in Hawaii, Kilauea and Mauna Loa, meet. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, Kîlauea is both the most-visited volcano in the world and the most dangerous volcano in the U.S. Prior to its current eruption, which began in 1983 and was still continuing in 2011, it was known as a "drive-by" volcano because its lava fountains could be seen from cars on the road through the park.

The eruption has caused much of that road to be closed, and some has even been covered with lava.

Answer: Yellowstone National Park

Most of Yellowstone National Park is the caldera of a supervolcano, formed by an eruption 640,000 years ago, and the bubbling pool of Sulphur Caldron illustrates how danger lurks just below the surface there. The yellow color of the pool is produced by thermoacidophile bacteria, which react with the hydrogen sulfide gas there to release yellow sulfur -- instead of the dark grey or black iron sulfide that is generally found in the nearby Mud Volcano and surrounding mudpots. The pool in Sulphur Caldron is really just diluted sulfuric acid.

However, the igneous rock rhyolite, which is similar to granite, was the "yellow stone" that led to Yellowstone's name, not the sulfur.

Answer: Naples

Solfatara, which is located in Pozzuoli, at the north end of the Bay of Naples, is the center of the Phlegreaen Fields ("Burning Fields", or "Campi Flegrei" in Italian). It also shares its name with vents that release sulfurous gases (also called sulfurous fumaroles) that are common in areas of volcanic activity.

However, by the early 21st century, Solfatara hadn't had a major eruption for around 4000 years, and even its last minor eruption (a mud volcano) took place nearly 1000 years ago.

Answer: Baiae

The Romans built an elaborate underground system to move water from the sulfur springs of the Phlegreaen Fields to the baths of Baiae. However, along with the resort baths came such vices as gambling and prostitution, and ultimately the emperor Augustus placed much of Baiae under imperial control so that the emperor could enjoy the baths without the town's other distractions -- which led to the growth of Baden, the hot sulfur springs in present-day Switzerland.

Some later emperors, such as Tiberius, Caligula and Nero, may have enjoyed the other distractions as much as or more than the baths.

But continuing underground volcanic activity caused most of Baiae to be abandoned after an outbreak of malaria around 1500, and Baiae then sank into the Bay of Naples.

Answer: The Greenbrier

The White Sulphur Springs resort became particularly famous after the Civil War, as both the North and the South had occupied it at different times during the war. The current building known as the Greenbrier was built by the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad in 1910.

Its popularity peaked during the Eisenhower administration, when the U.S. government built a secret underground bunker on the property for emergency use in the event of a nuclear holocaust.

Answer: Golf

In 1884, Oakhurst Links, the first golf course in the United States, was opened in White Sulphur Springs by the Montague family. It was a nine-hole course playing at around 2,235 yards, which was quite sufficient in the days before the "wound" golf ball was created. It predated the more famous St. Andrews Golf Club of Yonkers by four years and Shinnecock Hills on Long Island by seven years (although the Royal Montreal Club became the first course in North America in 1873).

However, because The Greenbrier soon built its own course (which later hosted the Ryder Cup and employed professionals like Sam Snead and Tom Watson), Oakhurst Links was never updated for play with wound balls, unlike other old American courses. It is now operated as a "throwback" course, on which players are required to use hickory-shafted clubs and use gutta-percha balls, which were the state of the art when Oakhurst Links originally opened.

Answer: Virginia Tech

In 1872, Virginia decided to build its federal land-grant school near Yellow Sulphur Springs and bought a failing nearby school, known as the Preston & Olin Institute, to serve as the original campus. At the turn of the century, the school was merely an adjunct to the resort, which featured three major hotels.

However, changes in health practices -- in particular the widespread use of soap beginning in the late 19th century -- caused the resort to falter and finally close at the start of the Great Depression, while the post-WWII growth of universities propelled the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (nicknamed Virginia Tech) into a prominent role in both academics and sports. Only one of the old Yellow Sulphur Springs hotels still survives.

Answer: Utah

Fruita was founded as a Mormon settlement in an otherwise-bleak area near the Waterpocket Fold, which is the cause of the barren landscape. However, Fruita was so remote that it was generally impossible to reach by land, which meant that most of the fruit grown in the town was grown for the consumption of the 100 or so people who generally lived there. During the 1950s, the town was purchased by the National Park Service, and the remaining residents were required to leave.

In 1962, the U.S. government built the first road to the town. Today, Fruita serves as the headquarters of the national park, and the fruit trees have been maintained for self-pick use.

Answer: Joséphine

Joséphine de Beauharnais (born Marie Josèphe Rose Tascher) was born on the island of Martinique but moved to the town of Soufrière on Saint Lucia after the French reacquired it in 1763 and hurricanes destroyed her family's estate on Martinique. In 1777, when she was 14, a rich French aristocrat, Alexandre de Beauharnais, agreed to marry her 12-year-old sister Catherine, who unfortunately died before the wedding. De Beauharnais agreed to marry Joséphine in Catherine's place, and she left Soufrière and the smell of sulfur behind forever.

He was executed during the French Revolution in 1794 in one of the last killings of the Reign of Terror. Joséphine met Napoléon the next year and married him less than a year later, which capped her rise from "sulfur-breather" to Empress.