There’s some creepy stuff - lurking down there in the deep depths of history, layers
upon layers of lost cities, villages and towns - just waiting for an unwitting archaeologist
to stumble upon their horrors - accidently unseal an ancient tomb, and let out a treacherous,
evil curse that was meant to be locked away for eternity.
Sometimes, when we go digging through history - our civilization have found numerous terrifying
horrors that - were probably better off left undiscovered.
Hello horror fans - 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 Scariest Archaeological Discoveries.
Roll the clip.
For the curious amongst you, that clip was from - of course, the legendary 1973 horror
masterpiece - The Exorcist - because, we all know that sooner or later, if you go digging
around in the dirt - you’re going to discover some kind of relic of the demonic Pazuzu.
Right?
Kicking off at Number 5 - The Falyron Delta Necropolis
Now Greece, of course - is the land of one of this planets longest standing ancient civilizations,
and dig sites are a dime a dozen across both the rural and metropolitan areas of the country,
slowly uncovering the mysteries of a long-lost Greek Society.
Well, in early 2016 - researchers discovered one terrifyingly unique manner of burial and
mass execution.
Apparently - because - well, they’re not entirely sure.
Found in a large ancient cemetery in part of the Falyron Delta necropolis in Athens
- were at least 80 skeletons, in a line - stacked on top of each other, with their wrists clamped
together in a chain of iron shackles.
The strangest thing was though - that all of these men were incredibly young, and in
a very good state of health - indicating that they weren’t slaves or common criminals
- and the orderly, uniform way that they were buried seemed to support this.
Whatever happened was an incredibly violent act - with their hands bound above their heads
before being uniformly executed.
The whole thing doesn’t really make any sense at all - but the leading theory is that
all of these young men were part of an attempted coup during a period of great unrest for Athenian
society.
The coup failed, of course - but the fact that these men were all buried in a respectful
manner, despite the violent circumstances that they were executed in - leaves far more
perplexing questions than answers.
Swinging in at Number 4 - The Persian Siege
Now, in the ancient world - sieges and bloody battles were the only real way to get things
done - but during an age where the most cutting edge technology was a composite ballista,
it was pretty shocking when archaeologists discovered startling evidence of - chemical
warfare.
In 256 AD.
Well, turns out that over 2000 years ago, 19 Roman soldiers rushed into a cramped underground
tunnel, as they prepared to defend the Roman-held Syrian city of Dura-Europos from an army of
Persian soldiers digging beneath the city’s mudbrick walls.
Instead of meeting a horde of Persian besiegers though - they were met by one soldier, and
then a wall of noxious black smoke that turned into acid in their lungs.
They all died in excruciating pain - sealed for eternity beneath the earth.
Flash forward to the 1920s though, and French archaeologist Robert du Mesnil began excavating
the site that backed up against the ancient Roman site, backed up beside the Euphrates
River.
That’s when he found the piled up, skeletal remains of the 19 Roman soldiers - and one
lone Persian at the other end of the tunnel.
Initially, he thought that the Persian soldier had somehow managed to defeat 19 highly trained
Legionnaires in close quarters combat, but that’s when he noticed crystals of sulfur
and bitumen scattered across the tunnel walls.
Turns out, the Persian force had developed an experimental, tar-like petrochemical that
burnt fast and hot and killed with deadly efficiency.
Also turns out - that chemical warfare was much more common than we expected in the Ancient
World.
What a way to go, eh?
Next up at Number 3 - The Mystery of Herxheim
And this one is pretty damn terrifying, really.
Some time in 5300 BC - which is a long, long time ago - what is known as a Linear Pottery
culture developed in the Southwest Region of Herxheim in Germany - one that, for all
intents and purposes, could be described as an idyllic, peaceful Stone Age settlement.
Safe from invaders and predators, the village thrived with its rudimentary agriculture and
societal development.
That is until, sometime around 4950 BC - the settlement in Herxheim, abruptly, and without
warning - disappeared.
But - they didn’t exactly disappear, instead - they were ritualistically butchered, smashed
to pieces, and buried beneath the same dirt that they called home.
Turns out - in 2009 - an archaeological dig site unearthed human remains of over 1’000
ancient villagers.
The bones were of men, women, children - even infants and fetuses.
Stranger still though, tool markings on all of the bones showed that the flesh had been
carefully scraped off - while larger bones had been broken, possibly to get at the marrow
instead.
Hell, even the skulls were cracked open - in an effort to extract their brains.
Whoever did this - knew exactly what they were doing, and were incredibly proficient
at butchering the human anatomy - presumably to eat - as there was no sign of the removed
flesh in the surrounding areas.
It gets weirder though - because after extracting DNA from their remains, it turned out that
these people came from all over Europe, in roughly a 500 mile radius.
In fact, the leading theory is that all of these people volunteered to come to Herxheim,
on their own free will - be ritualistically sacrificed, and then - seemingly - eaten.
Yeah.
Coming in at Number 2 - The Tomb of the Sunken Skulls
Talking of ritualistic burial sites - there’s an even older one - and it’s even weirder,
actually.
Sometime in 2009, archaeologists found what they believed to be a Stone Age settlement
near what was once a shallow lake in Motala - a town in southwest Sweden.
The routine dig took a strange turn though, when researchers discovered the skulls and
skull fragments from 11 individuals, including men, women, children and infants.
In fact, the site - which would later be known as Kanaljorden - turned out to be nearly 8000
years old.
But, we also have to remember - that Kanaljorden was a lake - and the remains were found stacked
inside a large, stone mass grave - with a giant, heavy lid - built on the bottom of
a body of water.
Hey - it gets weirder though, guys.
Because two of the human skulls found were pierced with wooden stakes - with the majority
of the others showing signs of also being penetrated by sharp objects.
It points toward using their heads as some sort of bizarre trophy or totem - but also,
it poses the question - why would you then bury them underneath a lake?
In a stone tomb?
With children?
But hey, again - it gets even weirder - because one of the female skulls found there, was
actually filled with fragments of bone from all of the other skulls in the tomb, like
some weird kind of horrifying potpourri.
The leading theory is that Kanaljorden likely served as a sacred meeting spot for several
nomadic bands of Mesolithic Swedes, roaming the forest and shores of Sweden over 8’000
years ago.
For some reason, they felt compelled to bury people's heads in a stone tomb at the bottom
of a lake - and no one really knows why.
My best guess though?
Vampires.
Or Aliens.
Alien Vampires.
And finally - coming in at our Number 1 spot - The Cladh Hallan Mummies
If you know anything about bog bodies, you’ll know that they’re already terrifying enough.
The British Isles are relatively unique, in the sense that they’re littered with geographical
peat bogs - a unique, high-acid, low-oxygen environment which inhibits specific bacteria
that break down organics.
Because of that, they’re also perfect for preserving bodies - and history has shown
numerous instances of discovering ancient bodies hidden away in the deep peat bog of
Scotland, Ireland, England and Wales.
Well, usually - they’re just incredibly well preserved - mummified perfectly for archaeological
purposes.
But - back in early 2012 - scientists discovered two 3’000 year old Scottish bog bodies,
remnants of the 11th century ancestral houses at Cladh Hallan, a prehistoric village on
the island of South Uist.
If that timeline isn’t already peculier enough - it gets weirder.
Because first and foremost, researchers discovered that these two corpses had been buried between
300 and 600 years AFTER their death.
Hold on though - because it gets weirder, because these corpses quickly had scientists
scratching their heads - their bones just didn’t match up, although they showed clear
signs of being articulated as one cadaver.
Turned out, after DNA testing each of their limbs - they were from COMPLETELY SEPERATE
PEOPLE.
All of which had died at different points in ancient history.
It’s what’s called a composite mummy - and no one has any idea what the hell it was - or
still is - but for some reason, an ancient society was collecting body parts and sticking
them all together in some horrifying Frankensteinian manner.
Yeah.
Let that one sink in.
Well - that one was pretty horrifying right, guys?
Yeah, I think I need to have a lie down.
Why don’t you let us know your thoughts as well as any traumatizing ancient insights
in the comment section down below.
Before we depart though, let’s take a look at some of your most entertaining edifications
from over the past few days.
First up, Onkelhumptydumpty says -- Thanks from Germany for butchering the name Schmidt.
-- hey, that’s no worries buddy - glad I could do it justice, I’ve got a penchant
for germanic etymology - it’s one of the reasons that English is such a fascinatingly
difficult language.
And finally - peaceturtleinfinity says --
I want to get my comment read but couldn’t think of anything witty to say …
--- Eh, don’t worry peaceturtleinfinity - better luck next time.
Well there we have it horror fans - unfortunately that’s all we’ve got time for in today’s
video - cheers for sticking around all the way until the end.
If you were a fan of this video, make sure to hit that thumbs up button - as well as
that subscribe bell, and we’ll be seeing you in the next one.
As per usual, I’ve been your horror host Jack Finch - you’ve been watching Top 5
Scary Videos - and until next time, you take it easy.