9. GERMAN U-BOAT
When World War I ended, Germany surrendered over 100 U-boats.
Most were simply scrapped, but some were given to the French navy.
And one lone submarine somehow ended up on the muddy bank of the River Medway in Kent, England.
It’s known as UB-122, and it has sat at its current resting place for over a century.
The vessel is believed to be one of the surrendered U-boats. During the war,
it would’ve carried 10 torpedoes. Later on, its engines were cut out and used to power
a cement factory. It’s unclear why the rest of the submarine wasn’t scrapped,
especially since the materials would have come in handy during World War II.
It’s possible that the tow line pulling the boat broke, and that it seemed like more
trouble than it was worth to chase down. UB-122 It’s the only complete U-boat that
has ever been found in British tidal waters, according to marine archaeologist Mark Dunkley,
who spoke with MailOnline. And it’s the only visible evidence of the more than 40 U-boat
wrecks that happened in British waters, but there are no plans as of yet to preserve it.
The partially buried vehicle’s visibility changes with the water levels. It’s gained
a lot of attention in recent years after being exposed by a series of harsh storms. But the
submarine will continue to deteriorate, and it’ll probably eventually disappear.
8. EUREKA CITY
Some of the oldest geological formations on Earth can be found in South Africa’s
Makhonjwa Mountains, which serve as a scenic backdrop to the modern-day town of Baberton.
Dating back more than three-and-a-half billion years, the mountains represent one of the first
landmasses that emerged from the ocean at a time when the planet was covered by a global ocean.
New residents flocked to the remote region after a man named Edwin Bray found gold there in 1885. The
so-called “Golden Quarry” went down in history as the richest goldmine ever worked by human hands.
Settlers established a town called Eureka City, and within a year,
it boasted three shops, three hotels, a bakery, a chemist, a racecourse,
a music hall, and bars. By 1887, Eureka City had a population of at least 700 people.
But like most boomtowns, the settlement eventually went bust. When the gold supply dried up,
residents left in search of opportunities elsewhere, leaving behind a ghost town
that fell into ruin. The once-bustling site is now eerily quiet. All that’s left of Eureka
City are the crumbling remnants of some of its buildings, including a former hotel,
and faded ox wagon tracks. What little exists of the ruins helps to tell the story of a place
that once attracted hopeful fortune seekers, who came from far and wide determined to hit it big.
7. BELCHITE
From 1936 to 1939, Spain was bitterly divided in a violent civil war between
fascist rebels and the Republican government. In the country’s arid and remote northeastern region,
a small town called Belchite found itself caught along the war’s front lines.
Bechite was controlled by the Nationalist Army until September of 1937, when the Republicans
captured it following a weeks-long siege. By then, the town was almost completely destroyed.
Author Cecil D. Eby wrote that the destruction was so extensive that people could hardly
tell where any of the streets were. He also described witnesses seeing dead bodies being
pulled from beneath piles of mortar, bricks, and other debris. The stench was unbearable,
and the scene was littered with mule carcasses and people’s personal belongings,
including sewing machines, cooking pots, and other everyday items.
Belchite was retaken in 1938 by Nationalist forces under the command of General Francisco Franco,
who later became the country’s Fascist dictator after securing his victory.
Instead of razing the town’s ruins, he left the site as a war monument.
People continued to live there for another 15 years until a new village was built nearby.
Today, the ruins look much like they did when they were abandoned. The hallmarks of brutal warfare
are evident in the bullet-riddled buildings, the piles of rubble, and the other damage left behind.
Visitors hoping to catch a glimpse of this dark chapter can take guided tours.
6. SPINALONGA
Throughout history, governments and leaders established leper colonies
in remote places, where sufferers were forcefully kept at a distance
from mainstream society. The small Greek island of Spinalonga
was therefore an ideal place for keeping patients conveniently out of sight and out of mind.
Spinalonga’s history dates back to Venetian times. It served as a fortress under Ottoman
rule from 1715 until 1900. Then, in 1903, a leper colony was established there.
Located off the coast of Crete, the island was once home to nearly 400 residents.
They were banished there after having their property and assets seized and their citizenship
revoked as a punishment for a condition that was completely out of their control.
At its peak, the colony consisted of a main street filled with shops, as well as a cafe and a school.
While the community strived to give themselves some sense of normalcy, they lacked access to a
lot of the things that are available to people in the free world. Only one doctor served the
population, and he only visited if someone had an ailment unrelated to their leprosy.
The disease became curable in the 1940s, but the stigma against lepers persisted,
and the colony at Spinalonga continued to operate until the Greek government shut it down in 1957.
This was done as quietly as possible, and the authorities were careful to destroy any and
all records of its existence. They were planning to eliminate all physical traces of the colony,
but they had a change of heart when they realized that the ruins attract visitors.
Today, the island is uninhabited. Parts of the former community have been restored,
and Spinalonga is Crete’s second-most popular tourist attraction.
Efforts are being made to designate it as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
5. NEMRUT MOUNTAIN TOMB
King Antiochus I ruled the Greco-Iranian kingdom of Commagene from 70 to 31 B.C.
He established a cult that followed a belief system of mixed Greek and Zoroastrian elements.
The ideology was designed to ensure that Antiochus would be worshiped after his death.
In keeping with his grand view of himself, the ruler had a tomb built for himself eight years
into his reign. He chose the 7,000-foot-high (2,134 meters) summit of Mount Nemrut in
southeastern Turkey’s Taurus Mountain range, which would put him as close as possible to the gods.
Today, the site consists of a collection of large limestone statues measuring up to
30 feet (9 meters) tall. The sculptures include depictions of the king himself,
along with lions, eagles, and various Greek gods,
including Zeus, Hercules, and Apollo. Their heads were broken off at some point for unknown reasons
and remain scattered throughout the property. This may have been done in an act of iconoclasm,
which is when icons and monuments are destroyed for political or religious reasons. But the
statues aren’t completely ruined, and some even still bear their original inscriptions.
Experts believe that King Antiochus was buried at his self-dedicated shrine,
but his remains have never been found. And this is just one of several mysteries about what
exactly went on at the site, but unfortunately, we may never know the answers to these questions.
Do you have any thoughts on where King Antiochus might be buried? Let us know in
the comments below and be sure to subscribe to the channel if you haven’t already! :)
4. RARE LAVA LAKES
Even with advanced modern technology, there are some places in the world that are simply difficult
to explore. One of them, known as Saunders Island, is part of a sub-Antarctic archipelago known as
the South Sandwich Islands. It’s home to an active volcano called Mount Michael which, on most days,
is hidden from satellite and overhead view by a layer of clouds or the plum spewing from its top.
Scientists knew, starting in the 1990s, that something odd was going on there. They detected
a thermal anomaly, leading them to suspect that the volcano’s crater contained a lava lake.
But the imagery was of somewhat low quality, and it was impossible for experts to determine
if the lava represented a stable feature or a temporary pool.
A team revisited the matter in 2019 after getting their hands
on 30 years’ worth of higher-resolution satellite images. They found that the
crater’s lava supply is stable, making it the seventh known lava lake ever found.
The 360-foot-wide (110 meters) lake is roughly the size of eight Olympic swimming pools. Its hottest
sections reach temperatures between 543 and nearly 800 degrees Fahrenheit (284-419 Celsius).
Lead study author Danielle Gray pointed out that the research techniques her team used could come
in handy for monitoring other volcanoes that are inaccessible due to their location, political
instability, or other factors that make it unsafe to visit. There are a handful of other known lava
lakes in remote places, including Antarctica's Mount Erebus, the Erta Ale volcano in Ethiopia,
the Ambrym crater and Mount Yasur in the Vanuatu Islands, and the Masaya volcano in Nicaragua.
One of the largest lava lakes can be found on the summit of the Nyiragongo volcano in
the Democratic Republic of Congo. Unlike most of the other known lava lakes throughout the world,
the 700-foot-long (213 meters) pool of violently churning orange liquid and deadly gases sits above
a highly populated region. Hundreds of people have died in past eruptions, and with as many
as one-and-a-half million residents now living in the volcano’s shadow, even more lives are at
risk. So it’s probably for the best that most lava lakes are in places with few or no people nearby.
3. LA COUPOLE
In the dense forest of France’s northernmost region, there’s a massive World War II era Nazi
bunker known as La Coupole. The concrete structure was intended as a launch base
for V-2 rockets against London and other parts of southern England and for storing stockpiles
of fuel, rockets, and warheads. Built into the side of a disused chalk quarry,
it’s the earliest known precursor to modern-day underground missile silos.
La Coupole was built above a network of underground tunnels consisting of storage areas,
launch facilities, and living quarters for crew members. The Germans planned to launch
dozens of missiles daily and did their best to keep the site a secret from the Allies.
But before the complex was finished, the site was heavily bombed in a campaign codenamed
Operation Crossbow. Construction ground to a halt and La Coupole never entered service.
The Allies captured the bunker in late 1944, and it sat, unused and neglected, until the 1990s.
In 1997, it opened to the public as a museum dedicated to telling the story of the German
occupation of France during World War II, as well as the development of V-2 rockets.
There’s also a 3D planetarium that offers a 360-degree simulated view of the night sky.
2. FIRST ARRIVALS TO THE FAROE ISLANDS
The Faroe Islands are a rocky archipelago located in the North Atlantic
between Iceland and Norway. For a long time, scientists believed that
the first settlers to arrive there were a group of Vikings. And it makes sense,
given the lasting influence their culture has had on the region. In fact, modern-day residents
speak a dialect of the Old Norse language that was brought there by their ancestors.
But researchers made a groundbreaking discovery last year that stands to rewrite the history
of the Faroe Islands. As it turns out, ancient British or Irish people may have settled there
before the Vikings arrived during the 9th century. Sheep DNA and feces found on the
island of Eysturoy was dated to 500 A.D., and the only way sheep could have reached the remote area
was by boat. So it’s clear that humans must have transported the animals there,
but who these people were and what brought them to the Faroe Islands is still a mystery.
Speaking with the BBC, Dr. William D’Andrea described the group’s presence on Eysturoy
as being like an “on-off switch.” Based on the DNA of modern residents and Celtic gravemarkers
that were left behind, he said that these early inhabitants were probably from the British Isles.
But these suspicions are controversial and unproven, leaving the debate open for now.
1. OUT-OF-PLACE ROCKS
Situated in the Indian Ocean between Madagascar and Africa’s east coast, Anjouan Island is part
of the remote Comoros Islands archipelago. The 163-square-mile (424 km2) landmass
was formed by volcanic eruptions and is therefore largely made up of igneous, volcanic rock.
But scientists were left baffled after discovering a large amount of
non-volcanic rock on Anjouan Island in 2018. They recently confirmed long-standing rumors
of a heavy quartzite presence there, but are unable to explain how it got there.
Quartzite is not typically found on volcanic islands. It’s associated with the lighter colored,
less dense rocks that continental plates are made of. Anjouan Island is in a region that lacks
the usual components of quartzite formation, yet half of an entire mountain there is made from it.
Locals have long known about the quartzite, which they use for sharpening knives. But
searching the island for it is difficult due to the thick layer of vegetation that covers
most of it. Now that scientists have started documenting and analyzing the discoveries,
they hope to figure out how the out-of-place rock ended up there. The first step is to
determine how old the quartzite is, which could help the team identify where it originated.
They also plan to study other types of rock that are found on Anjouan Island
in hopes that a better understanding of its geological past will help solve the mystery.
Thanks for watching! If you’d like to learn about more incredible discoveries in remote places,
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