From lost worlds that float in the sky, to abandoned places frozen in time, here are
10 of the most mysterious places on Earth.
10.
Mount Roraima This giant plateau soars up into the sky and
is often surrounded by a sea of clouds.
It has its own very unique ecosystem with many tall waterfalls and highly specialized
plant and animal species such as pitcher plants and the Roraima bush toad.
Located on the border of Venezuela, Guyana, and Brazil, 75% of the mountain is in Venezuelan
territory.
Also called “the floating island, the cliffs rise about 400 meters (1300 ft) into the sky.
Made famous by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in his 1912 novel, The Lost World, he writes that
a group of explorers find dinosaurs and other extinct creatures are still alive on this
mountain.
And some people believe that’s still a possibility!
But before Doyle, there were the Pemón indigenous people, that say that Mount Roraima is the
stump of a mighty tree that once held all the fruits and most of the vegetables in the
world!
They also believe that it was knocked down by Makunaima, the trickster/creator god (depending
on who you ask).
This is the beginning of life as we know it as when the tree crashed to the ground, life
was released.
The mountains are sacred and no place for the living to be as it is full of gods and
spirits.
Many say that Mount Roraima inspired the Hallelujah Mountains of Pandora in Avatar as well as
Paradise Falls in Up!
See, Adventure is OUT THERE!!
9.
Pripyat Following the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl
in 1986, thousands of people were evacuated from the neighboring city of Pripyat.
Over 30 years later, most of the town is still there, frozen in time and left to decay.
The city had over 15 schools, a large hospital, pools, amusement parks, gyms, apartment buildings,
everything a growing community needs and everyone was evacuated in just 3 hours.
Pripyat looks exactly like it did in 1986, and the clocks are all frozen at 11:55- the
time electricity went out.
Now, over 10,000 tourists go and visit the power plant and Pripyat every year.
The government has created an Exclusion Zone, a restricted space with a 19 mile radius that
surrounds the blast area.
No one can touch any of the items or sit down on anything in this area and everyone is checked
for radioactive particles before they leave.
While tour guides are happy to take you around and claim that the area is safe, but Ukrainian
officials warn the area won’t be habitable for another 20,000 years.
The lack of people has been good for wildlife.
Elk, moose and boar are now flourishing, along with their predators the wolves and the lynx.
The city of Pripyat itself serves as a warning for us all and is one of the creepiest, and
most mysterious-looking cities in the world!
8.
McMurdo Dry Valleys The McMurdo Dry Valleys are a row of snow-free
valleys in Antarctica.
What?
No snow in Antarctica???
That’s right.
The Dry Valleys have extremely low humidity levels and the mountains around the valley
prevent any ice from flowing down around it from glaciers.
There is loose gravel covering the bottom of the valleys but no ice or snow.
In fact, it is one of the most extreme deserts in the world, with its only lakes being saline
lakes.
No living organism has been found in the permafrost here.
Researchers believe it is as close to Mars as we can get!!
However, more recently, water samples of Blood Falls have revealed metabolic processes never
before witnessed and some bacteria has also been discovered.
It is believed that cold, dense air is pulled downhill by the force of gravity.
These katabatic winds are so strong, they can reach speeds of up to 200 mph.
When they descend , they heat up, evaporating any moisture that may be present.
Any life found here is quite the miracle and these mysterious microbes and unique bacteria
might just defy all odds!
Who knows what else is out there in this harsh, inhospitable environment?
7.
Abandoned Military Hospital Beelitz-Heilstätten is a district in Beelitz,
Germany that is made famous by a hospital complex that contains almost 60 buildings.
At first, the complex was built to treat TB and then became a sanatorium . But at the
beginning of the first war, it became a military hospital.
While some of the buildings have been restored, most of them are in terrible condition, and
are pretty spooky.
In 1916, even Hitler was treated here as he recovered from an injury in World War I.
Most of the area is now shut down today, but the neurological rehabilitation center and
an area researching Parkinson's disease remains in operation.
For those working there, rumor has it, it is haunted.
This may be the stories of the cruel treatment of those housed there that triggers the hallucinations.
Or…it could really be haunted as most of it is still abandoned.
As the hospital lived through so many years of turmoil, the place has seen many dark deeds.
Now it is often used as a set for movies such as the Pianist and some of Valkyrie.
Also there is no shortage of videos of urban explorers and drones going over the place
on YouTube!
6.
Travertine Pools of Pamukkale Pamukkale means "cotton castle" in Turkish
which makes sense, once you see the pools in this place!
They are made up of hot springs and travertines which are terraces of carbonate minerals left
by the flowing water.
From the hills on the opposite side of the valley, you will see the ancient Greco-Roman
city of Hierapolis, built so that the people could enjoy the health benefits of the hot
water.
For over 2000 years, people have been attracted to these springs.
Deep in the earth, the water is heated by volcanic lava!
It dissolves pure white calcium and then spills out of the surface of the earth where it seeps
down the hillside.
As the calcium cools, it creates these formations making the hillside look kind of like a castle.
While it looks like ice from a distance, it is actually the white calcium.
Of course in a place like this that has been around for so long, there must be a legend
to go along with it.
No one wanted to marry this Turkish girl because everyone thought she was ugly, so she threw
herself off the travertine.
However, she survived the fall and became beautiful and of course, caught the attention
of a lord.
So now, everyone thinks that it is great for your health, AND can make you more beautiful!
5.
Richat Structure The Richat Structure or the Eye of the Sahara
is a mysterious round formation found in the Sahara near Mauritania.
It appears to be some sort of sci-fi experiment, but it is actually a deeply eroded, slightly
elliptical dome that is 25 miles wide.
This erosion of resistant layers is said to have created high-relief circular slopes,
giving it the illusion of an Eye from space.
At first, scientist thought it was an asteroid impact structure due to its shape.
However, the erosion theory is now the likely answer.
Even now they are still testing and studying the strange formation, and many people still
have a lot of questions about it.
There are also extra-terrestrial studies still being conducted in case some aliens had something
to do with it, you know, just to be safe!!
Unlike scientists though, most of us just enjoy the beauty and wonder of the formation,
no questions asked…though that alien thing seems pretty interesting.
4.
Shicheng, China Shicheng City or China’s Atlantis or Lion
City, is an underwater city in the Chinese province of Zhejiang.
This city is strange for two reasons!
It was forgotten and lost for thousands of years…and it has survived remarkably well
underwater!
At one time, it was a maze of white temples, large buildings, and beautiful sculptures.
But in 1959, the Chinese government built a new hydroelectric power station and they
flooded the ancient city.
Now, it is under the manmade lake and can only be visited by divers.
For over fifty years, the lake was simply known as Qiandao Lake.
The government actually forgot about the city and the fact that they had covered it up.
Somehow, the city was discovered again accidentally.
How it took fifty years is unknown since it is simply 130ft underwater!
But the place is beautiful and there are many dramatic pictures out there of this lost city
underwater!
3.
Fly Geyser Likely the most beautiful geyser in the world,
Fly Geyser can be found in Washoe County, Nevada.
It is just 5 feet high, by 12 feet wide.
So why is it is amazing or mysterious?
Well look at it!
It isn’t natural, but rather the result of a test site after a geothermal power company
drilled into the rock.
No one knows how what happened next to create this unique formation, but it was likely one
of two reasons.
The well was not capped correctly, or it was left unplugged.
Soon after, minerals started rising and accumulating, creating the travertine mound.
This is where the geyser sits today, growing slightly every year.
Now these deposits have become 3 large mounds that rise out of a field on fly ranch.
The geyser’s trio spew scalding hot water and it is now famous for its amazing rainbow
coloring.
2.
The Maunsell Sea Forts From afar, these guys look kind of like oil
rigs or something, but they’re really just old sea forts known as the Maunsell Forts.
These were built during WWII to help defend the UK.
Each fort has built-in firearms and were originally used by both army and navy personnel, a rare
occurrence.
Each of the forts were built as a cluster of seven stilted buildings that surrounded
the central tower.
At one time, catwalks connected each of them to form one large base.
In the 1950s, they were decommissioned and got taken over by pirate radio broadcasting
stations and one is the unrecognized Principality of Sealand!
A micronation!
Today, they are nearly completely abandoned and decaying to the point of no return.
Why they weren’t taken down, demolished, or repurposed is unknown.
1.
Door to Hell If the name isn’t enough to scare you, wait
till you hear the story behind the Gates of Hell.
Officially known as the Darvaza gas crater, the “door” is actually a natural gas field
in Derweze, Turkmenistan.
When seen up close, which you never ever really want to be, you will see fire, boiling mud,
and orange flames in the hole.
The crater itself is over 200ft wide and over 60ft deep.
It was first identified by Soviet engineers in 1971.
That’s when drilling begin and a natural gas pocket was discovered.
The drilling created fissures throughout the ground that caused the ground around the pocket
to collapse and release the gas.
With the release endangering nearby towns, the engineers decided to light it on fire.
They believed it would only take a couple of weeks for the fire to stop burning.
But over forty years later, the gas continues to burn…this is the reason that many actually
believe that this is the actual gateway to hell.