Mystery, it seems--is always afoot.
And ever since our ancestors crouched around campfires, out in the deep, dark wood--whilst
wolves and other such monsters howled into the night, our civilization has been obsessed
with the relentless pursuit of long lost magical kingdoms, places of power that have been hidden
from human sight to shield their otherworldly riches from unworthy, prying eyes.
Folklore has been the foil to our society for time long forgotten, and within that eternal
canon--brave adventurers and unassuming heroes alike have been tasked with discovering some
of the most mysterious and unobtainable locations in folklore.
So, in that case--I guess we better give it a shot of our own, and take a look.
Hello horror fans, what’s going on, and once again welcome back to the scariest channel
on YouTube--Top 5 Scary Videos.
As per usual, I’ll be your horror host Jack Finch--as today, we curiously take a look
at the Top 5 Most Mysterious Places In Folklore.
Roll the clip.
For the curious amongst you, that clip was of course from 1999’s Sleepy Hollow, a fantastic
horror-fueled foray into folklore, as Ichabod Crane gingerly took an axe to The Tree of
the Dead, moments before finding out that the Headless Horseman had a habit of storing
human heads like a particularly greedy squirrel.
And really, I’ll use any excuse to give a shoutout to Sleepy Hollow, because it’s
an awesome film--and we’re all about setting the tone over here at Top 5 Scary Videos.
So, in that case.
Tone set.
Let’s begin.
Kicking off at Number 5 - Biringan City
And for our first entry, we’re heading over to the Northern Samar province of The Philippines,
where for hundreds of years, local legend and whisperings of folklore have spoken about
a place that seemingly doesn’t exist within our dimension, but is instead a portal to
another realm, where the supernatural Engkantos--the enchanted, supernatural beings of Philippino
myth and legend reside.
Some refer to this mysterious place as The Black City--or The Invisible City, but in
the language of Waray, the local tongue of Northern Samar, the literal translation of
this place is--where one finds the lost.
Geographically speaking, the actual location of this mysterious place is considered by
many to be pretty definitive, and Biringan City allegedly exists in a location off the
coast of Gandara, Tarangnan and Pagsanghan--in the murky depths of the North Pacific Ocean.
In fact, not only that--but a number of people have actually claimed to have seen this city,
which only ever appears at night in a strange array of bright, glowing energy.
Many sailors have claimed to have seen a dazzling city of light appearing in the distance on
moonless nights, only shimmering in the distance, if only for a few brief moments.
They describe it as a dark, beautiful city--with high-rise, towering buildings equipped with
some strange, advanced technology.
In fact, several years ago--there were numerous reports of a Japanese Mining company capturing
satellite images of a series of brightly lit islands off the coast of Northern Samar, who
believed it to be rich deposits of gold and uranium.
Obviously, as Mining Companies are apt to do--they began work immediately, setting up
a large work site in the town of San Jorge--sending boats out to the location where their satellite
images had captured the lights.
Strangely enough though, the town of San Jorge and the Mining Company were soon plagued with
a series of mysterious accidents and mishaps--and within mere weeks, the company was forced
to shut down the operation in fear of bankruptcy.
Now, I’m not saying what they found was definitively evidence of Biringan City--but
I’m also not, not saying that.
It’s pretty interesting, right?
Swinging in at Number 4 - Kitezh
And this particular bastion of folklore is equal parts awesome, and equal parts something
straight out of a fantasy novel.
As the legend tells it, beneath the waters of Lake Svetloyar of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast
in Central Russia--resides a town of unimaginable ingenuity--that has remained undiscovered
ever since its creation sometime in the year 1200 AD.
And that’s down to the fact that The Invisible Town of Kitezh, has an uncanny habit of submerging
beneath the waters of Lake Svetloyar at will.
Yeah.
Isn’t folklore awesome?
As the legend goes, in the early 13th century--the Grand Prince of Vladimir, Yuri II--built a
town known as Maly Kitezh--or little Kitezh, on the banks of the Volga River.
Later on, after the town found great success and fortune--Yuri decided to cross the other
rivers that flowed from the banks of the Volga, where he found an even more beautiful spot--on
the shores of Lake Svetloyar.
According to Russian Folklore, that’s where Yuri decided to build a town even greater
than Little Kitezh--where he named this one, Bolshoy Kitezh--or Big Kitezh.
Soon after it’s construction, the two towns of Kitezh became a place of such immense success,
that they drew the attention of The Golden Horde, The Mongol Army under the leadership
of Batu Khan, that had already conquered vast portions of the Russian Land.
As the legend goes, the Mongols quickly captured and ransacked Little Kitezh, forcing Yuri
II to retreat back through the hidden passages of the woods, to Bolshoy Kitezh.
The Golden Horde quickly found him though, sheltering in the town on the shores of Lake
Svetloyar, but as soon as the army approached the town--they found no fortifications, just
a bunch of villagers in the Square--on their knees praying.
Thinking they’d quickly got the upper hand--The Golden Horde charged at them, but suddenly--countless
foundations of water burst from beneath the ground, as the army were washed back--witnessing
the town of Kitezh submerge fully into the lake before disappearing entirely.
Some say that still to this day, you can still hear the chiming of bells and people singing
from beneath the waters of Lake Svetloyar.
Russian Atlantis.
Who knew?
Next up at Number 3 - Hy-Brasil
And for this one in particular, we’re heading over to a mystical, magical realm, that allegedly
existed off the western coast of Ireland--a breathtaking place of immense natural beauty,
and also home to some of the most awesome instances of folklore going.
Although this one, is perhaps a somewhat lesser known location of local legend, and is shrouded
in mysteries of both the physical and the metaphysical.
And also, no--not Brazil, as in the very real place that exists in South America.
In fact, the actual etymology of Brasil, or Hy-Brasil, is relatively uncertain--but is
thought to have come from the Irish word Ui Breasail--which means descendants of the clan
Breasil, one of the ancient clans of Ireland.
As the legend tells it, Hy Brasil is a phantom island that is said to lie somewhere in the
Atlantic Ocean, and Irish Myth describes it as a place cloaked in mist that appears for
only one day every seven years.
Despite that though, strangely enough--the island itself appeared on a number of nautical
maps, dating as far back as 1325--and up until the late 1800s, was considered to be very
much a real place.
So much so, that in 1480--expeditions for the island of Hy-Brasil set out from Bristol,
where although the historical records are murky--a captain known as John Cabot was noted
as actually discovering the place.
A few hundred years later, in 1674--a captain John Nisbet claimed to have seen the island
whilst travelling on a voyage between France and Island, stating in his personal records
that the island of Hy-Brasil was a bizarre place, populated by large black rabbits, and
a lonesome magician who lived in a tall, stone castle.
He claimed to have glimpsed the island just off the coast of the Iles of Aran.
In fact, talk of the Island of Hy-Brasil became so widespread in folklore, that it was considered
by many to be the *other* Atlantis--evidence of a long forgotten sunken empire that resided
in the deep waters of the Atlantic Ocean.
Again, strangely enough--in 1862, Hy-Brasil was considered to have been identified as
the Porcupine Bank by the Geological Society of Ireland, a series of cold-water reefs that
appear 200 miles from the coast of Western Island.
Many consider the reefs to be evidence that the sunken island of Hy-Brasil was once, a
very real place.
What do you guys think?
Coming in at Number 2 - Dinas Emrys
And for this one, we’re staying firmly in the British Isles--with perhaps one of the
most mystical and magical places, in the equally magical realm--of Wales, a place of such ancient
mystery, steeped in folklore traditions and Celtic Mythologies--that there’s quite a
few places to choose from when it comes to the Mysterious Places of Folklore.
But this one, Dinas Emrys, is perhaps the most incredible.
And also, strangely enough--perhaps the only entry on this list that has the archaeological
credibility to back it up.
That’s a bold claim, right?
But let me explain.
As the legend goes, the Warlord Vortigern, King of the Britons, fled into Wales to escape
the Anglo Saxon invaders sometime in the 5th century.
Expecting some bloodthirsty battle, he chose a lotfy hillfort to defend his royal retreat--that
resided in a rocky and wooded hill near Gwynedd, in North-West Wales.
Every day, Vortigern’s men worked their fingers to the bone, trying to erect the first
stone tower of the fort--but the next morning, they would find their work crumbled and collapsed
in a heap.
This continued for weeks on end, to no avail--and in a final act of desperation, Vortigern was
advised to seek the aid of a young boy that lived in the woods.
A young boy not conceived by a mortal man--and after sending his soldiers out into the Welsh
Valleys, eventually they found him.
His name was Myrddin Emrys.
Who you may also know by his other name--Merlin Ambrosius.
As in, yes.
That Merlin, of Arthurian legend.
Now, the young Merlin quickly diagnosed the King’s dilemma, and informed him that beneath
the mountain were two vermes--or dragons.
One white, and one red--one that represented the Saxons, and fought for them--but would
soon be defeated by the Red Dragon of Wales.
Well, Vortigern wasn’t the wisest of kings--and ignored Merlin’s advice--which quickly led
to his downfall, but Welsh legend believed that the Red Dragon remained at the Fort--which
after Vortigern’s downfall, was constructed to near perfection.
Strangely enough though, in 1954 and 1956--two excavations of the alleged site of Dinas Emrys
were undertaken, and researchers were surprised to discover that not only were the foundations
of the alleged fortications found, but that they carbon dated to pretty much the precise
time that Vortigern ruled in Britain.
Yeah.
This place is pretty magical in more ways than one.
And finally--coming in at our Number 1 spot--El Dorado
Because we can’t talk about mysterious places, without giving an allusion to one of the most
renowned locations in the murky mysteries of humankind.
El Dorado.
The City of Gold.
A place that was one considered to be a man, a mythological tribal chief of the Muisca
people--whose legend then morphed into a city, then to a kingdom--and then finally an empire--of
pure gold and riches untold.
Although it was considered to be disseminated across South America by mere whispers, countless
rumours that have since morphed into an unreachable legend, as the Spanish conquistadors plundered
their way through Colombia, Venezuela and portions of Northern Brazil--there is no denying
the fact that El Dorado is *the* Holy Grail when it comes to mythology, folklore, and
the relentless pursuit of human adventure.
Throughout history, the concept of El Dorado has undergone several transformations--eventually
being combined with the mythologies of several legendary lost cities, many of which may be
entirely true.
However, perhaps the strangest part of the El Dorado legend--is that there may already
be credible evidence to at least it’s existence.
Although it was dismissed entirely in the 19th century as a myth, the legend has been
tied to a Lake Parime--a place that allegedly became the gateway to the Golden City, but
was since closed off to prying adventurers.
Strangely enough though, evidence of the existence of Lake Parime was discovered in 1977.
Researchers discovered watermarks of an ancient lake along the surrounding hillsides where
Lake Parime was considered to be, and geological studies corroborated the fact that 700 years
prior, in 1690--a massive earthquake had opened up a huge bedrock fault where the lake should
have been, forming a rift that caused the lake to disappear completely.
I mean.
That sounds like a pretty convincing way to lose the entrance to a vast golden city, right?
Well, unless it’s been discovered already.
Who knows.
Well, there we have it horror fans--our list for the Top 5 Most Mysterious Places In Folklore.
What did you guys think?
Do you agree?
Disagree?
Have any more to add to this list?
Let us know your thoughts down in the comment section below, as well as any choice picks
of your own.
Before we depart from today’s video though, let’s first take a quick look at some of
you more resounding remarks from over the past few days.
First up, Michael Sansivero says--
Please never stop with the horror themed dad jokes!
And can you give a shout out to my kids Arik and Luke, who are both huge horror--and Top
5 Scary Videos fans as well?
--Of course Michael Sansivero--consider it done!
What’s up Arik and Luke, many thanks for the support.
On that note--that’s all we’ve got time for in todays video, cheers for sticking around
all the way until the end.
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