10.
OLD TROLLEYS Deep in a forest in western Pennsylvania,
there’s a bizarre collection of old train and trolley cars from Philadelphia, Cleveland,
and Boston.
The collection sits on some abandoned railroad tracks.
At first glance, they look like they’ve been in a wreck.
They’re rusting, overgrown, and covered in graffiti with broken windows and other
visible damage.
A local legend allegedly claims that there was a horrible accident at the site in 1957,
and that the cars left behind are believed to be haunted.
The story reached an even wider audience in 2015, when pictures taken by photographer
Seph Lawless went viral.
But it’s unclear whether there truly is any folklore surrounding the site, and there’s
little evidence to suggest that this is the case.
And even if there is, the story of the trolley tragedy simply isn’t true.
The real story is that a rail enthusiast named Ed Metka bought the cars during the early
‘90s and had them moved to the tracks, which he bought specifically for their storage.
His plan was to fix up and resell the cars to cities for tourism purposes, but the person
he hired to restore them died unexpectedly.
As of 2015, Metka was still trying to sell the cars, which he estimates would cost $1.5
million each to renovate.
For now, they continue to sit in their seemingly post-apocalyptic state in the middle of the
woods.
9.
A SECRET VILLAGE A remote Swiss-German village sits in the
hills of Argentina called La Cumbrecita.
It looks strikingly out-of-place with its German street signs, giant cuckoo clock that
greets visitors upon entry, and restaurants that sell traditional European cuisine.
The town’s roots date back to 1932, when a German couple living in Buenos Aires, named
the Cabjolskys, began searching for a place to build their vacation home.
Missing the mountains of their hometown region, the pair bought a large property in the valley
of Calamuchita which, at the time, had no vegetation or roads.
But it did have a waterfall, and this was good enough for the Cabjolskys.
They started building and planted thousands of trees, including spruces and pines, which
are not native to the region.
As part of their goal to make the environment as Bavarian-esque as possible, the couple
leased out plots to people who agreed to build their homes and businesses in a Swiss-German
architectural style.
Around 1,500 residents live in La Cumbrecita today, where the Cabjolsky family continues
to run the local bar.
The unique outpost welcomes around 300,000 visitors every year.
8.
THE MONSTERS OF BOMARZO Also known as the Sacro Bosco, or Sacred Grove,
and the Parco dei Mostri, or the Park of the Monsters, the Garden of Bomarzo is a monumental
complex located in the Viterbo province of Italy’s Lazio region.
Built during the Renaissance, it can be found in a wooded valley beneath the Castle of Orsini.
The park features a series of bizarre sculptures, including a monstrous fish head, a giant ripping
another giant in half, a war elephant, a tilted house, and an enormous screaming head with
a gaping mouth.
Visitors can go inside the gaping mouth, known as the “mouth of hell,” where they’ll
find a picnic table large enough to accommodate a small group.
Duke of Bomarzo Pier Francesco Orsini, an avid supporter of the arts, commissioned the
Parco dei Mostri’s construction in 1552.
It came following a series of traumatic events including a brutal war, the murder of Orsini’s
best friend, being held for ransom for several years, and his wife’s death.
Orsini hired the respected architect Pirro Ligorio to help him create a “Villa of Wonders”
inspired by his grief.
The sculptures were built over several decades and took a less sinister tone with time.
His last monument, a temple dedicated to his second wife, was built 20 years after the
park opened.
The garden became neglected and overgrown during the 19th century, but was restored
after Salvador Dali created a short film about it during the 1950s.
It remains a popular tourist attraction to this day.
7.
THE STONE HEAD OF GUATEMALA In 1987, a notary, lawyer, and doctor of philosophy
named Dr. Rafael Padilla received a photo of a unique face-shaped monolith that was
supposedly located somewhere in the Guatemalan jungle.
The picture showed a large head carved out of stone, was reportedly taken in 1950 by
the owner of the property it was located on.
Padilla was unable to obtain information on the mysterious structure’s precise location
because the landowner had recently passed away.
The picture sparked controversy not only because of the inability to locate the stone head,
but because the face seemed to possess distinctly Caucasian features, like thin lips and a long
nose.
Skeptics pointed out that these characteristics were uncommon among almost all of South America’s
pre-Hispanic inhabitants.
Unsatisfied with the limited information available on the sculpture, author and explorer David
Hatcher Childress tracked down Dr. Padilla for a one-on-one conversation.
Padilla said that he had, in fact, gotten in touch with the property’s owners, who
told him exactly where to find the stone head.
When he reached the site, the face had allegedly been obliterated by anti-government rebels,
and it was disfigured so badly, it was no longer recognizable.
With no evidence that the megalith actually existed, many remain in doubt and wonder if
the photograph was somehow faked. 6.
SIGIRIYA Built during the fifth century, Sigiriya is
an ancient fortress that was built into a nearly 660-foot-tall (200 meters) rock column
in the Sri Lankan jungle.
With a series of passageways and a set of lion’s paws carved into the base, the structure’s
name appropriately translates to “Lion’s Rock.”
Commissioned by Sinhalese King Kashyapa I, the fortress served as the kingdom’s capital
until 495 A.D., when Kashyapa was defeated and died.
His palace, which sits atop the colossal rock in ruins, was decorated with large, colorful
frescoes that appear to depict celestial singers and dancers called apsaras.
There was also a “mirror wall” that was so well-polished, people could easily see
their reflections in it.
The site was equipped with elaborate water-retaining technology, and some of these systems still
work today.
Some of the world’s oldest known landscaped gardens can also be found at Sigiriya.
The palace served as a Buddhist monastery during the 14th century before it was once
again abandoned, and the surrounding forest eventually consumed the formation, limiting
knowledge of it to locals and Buddhist texts.
British historians rediscovered the site during the 19th century after Britain seized control
of Sri Lanka (then called Ceylon).
Today, it’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Would you like to visit Sigiriya?
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:) 5.
BIZARRE EXTINCT MAMMAL 220 million years ago, when the supercontinent
Pangea still existed, what is now Arizona was located near the equator.
The environment was likely tropical, humid, and filled with lush vegetation, much unlike
today’s dry desert landscape.
It was home to a hamster-sized early mammal that was identified in 2020 after paleontologists
found the creature’s fossilized jawbone in Arizona’s Petrified Forest National Park.
Dubbed “Kataigidodon venetus,” the strange-looking species was classified as a member of a group
called cynodonts, which included early mammals and their close relatives.
Like today’s mammals, K. venetus had incisor, canine, and postcanine teeth, but it was considered
a close cousin rather than a true mammal.
And researchers are unsure whether it had fur, but they think that it probably did.
Cynodont fossils are rarely found in western North America, but are common along the American
East Coast, South America, and southern Africa.
According to the team who performed the study, their tendency to live in lush, tropical environments
indicates that humid climates played an important role in the evolution of early mammals.
And they believe that there may be more cynodont fossils in North America, waiting to be found.
4.
A FOUR-MILLION-YEAR-OLD FOREST A recent study of fossilized leaves found
in Borneo revealed that the island’s rainforests are around four million years old!
Filled mostly with trees from the Dipterocarpaceae family, these ancient landscapes look very
similar today to how they looked between 5.3 and 2.6 million years ago, during the Pliocene
Epoch.
In a world that’s constantly changing, it’s a surprising discovery.
Borneo’s forests contain at least 270 dipterocarp species, and during the study, scientists
found more dipterocarp fossils than any other plant group.
They’re among the world’s tallest trees, with some reaching heights of up to 328 feet
(100 meters).
Experts say it’s crucial to preserve them as tropical Asian biodiversity becomes increasingly
threatened by climate change, logging, agriculture, and other damaging effects of human activity.
While most old-growth rainforests in the Brunei part of Borneo are still preserved, they’re
disappearing elsewhere on the island.
If the dipterocarp trees vanish, they’ll not only take four million years of their
own history with them, but the unique wildlife that live in the forests, and that scientists
are still learning about and discovering.
3.
CORPSE FLOWER The tropical rainforests of Sumatra and Borneo
are home to the world’s biggest and most foul-smelling flower.
Known as the corpse flower, it typically reaches a diameter of around 3.3 feet (1 meter) and
weighs as much as 24 pounds (11 kg).
It emits an extremely unpleasant odor similar to decaying flesh.
And while it may repel humans, the insects that pollinate it are attracted to it.
The corpse flower is parasitic.
It grows on the vines of only one host plant called the Indian chestnut vine.
Only its five-petaled flower can be seen outside of the host plant.
Corpse flowers are either male or female, and both are needed to reproduce.
It’s a lengthy process – when a plant is ready to reproduce, it takes about a year
to bud.
Once the flower opens up, it lasts for just a few days.
This is when the corpse flower really begins to stink, luring the beetles and flies it
depends on for pollination.
Despite its horrific smell, the plant attracts curious human visitors.
In fact, there’s been a noticeable decrease in budding corpse flowers in popular tourist
areas.
The species has not been assessed for the IUCN Red List, which keeps the most comprehensive
records of the world’s threatened plants and animals.
But it’s believed that ecotourism is posing a threat to corpse flowers, which are already
considered rare to begin with.
2.
THE “LOST CITY” OF THE MONKEY GOD During an expedition to Honduras in early
2015, researchers discovered the ruins of a mysterious city built by an unknown culture.
Long-standing rumors of a so-called “White City,” also known as the “City of the
Monkey God,” and aerial mapping led the team into a remote uninhabited part of the
Mosquitia Rainforest.
There, they found extensive plazas, mounds, earthworks, and an earthen pyramid.
The archaeologists also uncovered a series of stone sculptures that had been left untouched
since the day the settlement was abandoned.
The once-thriving civilization that built the site around 1,000 years ago mysteriously
vanished.
Experts don’t know what they called themselves or why they suddenly up and left.
The discovery of an unlooted and well-preserved settlement like this is exceptionally rare,
according to Mesoamerican Archaeologist Christopher Fisher, who spoke with National Geographic.
He believes that the cache of stone sculptures, which were left undisturbed at the pyramid’s
base, may have been left as a ritual offering.
They were found with the tops of some of the sculptures peeking through the ground, while
many others were completely buried.
The collection consisted of ceremonial seats and decorated vessels featuring snakes, vultures,
and zoomorphic figures, including a “were-jaguar.”
Indigenous legend holds that the “White City” functioned as a refuge for Native
people fleeing Spanish conquistadors, and that those who went there never returned to
where they came from.
Archaeologists and explorers tried to find it numerous times starting in the 1920s.
But the first promising evidence of its location appeared in 2012 after an aerial survey was
conducted using lidar technology, which enables scientists to see through thick vegetation
and underground.
The only known person to have supposedly found the site before its more recent discovery
mysteriously committed suicide, taking knowledge of its whereabouts to the grave.
To protect the ruins from vandalism, archaeologists did not disclose its exact location.
But the White City may not remain a well-kept secret for long due to deforestation, which
threatens to expose it through the destruction of the rainforest.
1.
A MAN-MADE RAINFOREST One of Charles Darwin’s least known accomplishments
lives on today in the form of a man-made rainforest on the remote island of Ascension.
Located in the South Atlantic just south of the equator, the 33-square-mile (85.5 km2)
landmass was once nothing more than a barren volcanic outcrop.
Darwin arrived there in 1836 and found the environment to be so “hideous” that he
set forth a plan to create a lush artificial ecosystem!
But doing so would prove to be a challenge thanks to Ascension's arid atmosphere, which
lacked a freshwater source and where the rain evaporated almost entirely.
At Darwin’s urging, a botanist and explorer named Joseph Hooker convinced the Royal Navy
to go along with the idea.
Tree and plant shipments from botanical gardens in Europe, South Africa, and Argentina began
arriving on the island in 1850.
They were planted on Green Mountain, which sits at an altitude of more than 2,000 feet
(610 meters) above sea level.
Things worked out surprisingly well.
The trees captured and absorbed rain, causing less moisture to evaporate.
The soil became richer, and a diverse array of species thrived by the late 1870s, including
Norfolk Island pines, banana trees, bamboo, and eucalyptus.
Ascension’s rainforest is especially impressive because it sprang up in just 150 years!
Even when conditions are conducive, this highly complex type of environment usually takes
much longer to form.
Scientists are looking to the rainforest on Green Mountain for potential clues about how
they could someday grow plants on Mars.
Thanks for watching!
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See you next time, bye! :)