From undersea noises to wandering rocks, are 10 of the most famous mysteries to have been
solved….(for the most part!)
10.
Blood Falls
Because of its remote location and inhospitable environment, there’s a lot still to be discovered
in Antarctica.
One feature that’s been a mystery ever since they were found are the blood falls in the
Mcmurdo Dry Valley.
Pouring from the Taylor Glacier, the water is a deep red colour, and has an average temperature
of only 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit- well below the freezing point of 32!
Initially, the colour of the falls was thought to be as a result of red algae, but recent
radar scans have unveiled the true cause.
Beneath the glacier, there’s a complex network of sub-glacial rivers and a huge sub-glacial
lake, all of which are filled with salt water that is high in iron, which gives it the red
colour.
This also explains why it flows at such cold temperatures instead of freezing, and allows
the rivers to exist, despite flowing through the coldest glacier on the planet.
9 Clicking in Stockholm Harbour
In 1981, a Russian submarine, armed with a nuclear warhead, entered Swedish waters near
a naval base.
At the time it was blamed on an accidental navigation error, but since then, the Swedes
have kept a careful listen out for any more intrusions into their territory.
13 years later, in 1994, acoustic devices picked up the tell tale sign of a vessel,
with a series of metallic clicking noises being heard near Stockholm harbour.
In response, the Swedish Prime Minister, Carl Bildt, apparently sent a strong worded message
to Boris Yeltsin, so you can only imagine his embarrassment when the true cause of the
sound was discovered.
Scientists looked into it, and discovered that rather than being produced by a Russian
submarine, the clicking noises were actually caused by fish farts.
More precisely, the expulsion of air by herring- something it’s now thought they do as a
means of communication to help form protective shoals overnight.
8.
The City of Troy
The ancient city of Troy was the focus of Homer’s “Illiad”, where it lay under
siege for more than 10 years before finally succumbing to a Greek army being led by King
Agamemnon.
Troy is famous for the beautiful Helen of Troy, Achilles, and the horse.
Many stories have been told of the place, but the site of the true ancient city of Troy
is located to the northwest of Turkey.
Whether this is the city described by Homer, or even if the Trojan War actually took place,
is a matter of debate, but one thing’s for sure- the real Troy, now known as Hisarlik,
has been there for thousands of years and is a place steeped in mystery itself.
It was first inhabited around 3,000 BC, and has seen a number of wars since.
Each time the city was knocked to the ground it was re-built, and there is evidence of
at least 10 different cities lying on top of each other.
The earliest settlement was a small city surrounded by stone, and outside was a large stone with
an image of a face inscribed upon it- thought to be the representation of a deity welcoming
visitors.
Excavations have found a number of treasures there, some thought to have belonged to King
Priam himself or another wealthy king who would have ruled over the area.
There might be more truth to the legends than we thought.
7.
Mass Whale Graveyard
In 2011, during a road widening project in the Atacama Desert of Chile, builders stumbled
across a mass graveyard, but it wasn’t what you might expect.
It was full of the bones of whales, strange walrus-faced dolphins and sloths all lying
side by side.
The fossils were found to be about 6 to 9 million years old, and it became a mystery
as to why so many animals would die in one place together, and how it would happen in
a place that was 130 feet above sea level.
A few years later, a plausible explanation was reached.
Researchers theorised that it was caused by blooms of algae that were feeding on the iron-rich
run offs from the Andes Mountains.
These would have poisoned the animals in and around it that had come for a drink, and caused
massive die-offs.
The site itself is thought to have been a tidal basin, and in the space of a few weeks,
all the carcasses of the dead animals washed into it.
The lack of large predators in the region meant that nothing disturbed the bodies, and
they were covered up by sediment over thousands of years.
As for the height at which they were found, the tectonic plate that the region lies on
has been continually pressing against its neighbouring ones for millions of years, meaning
the land is much higher now than it would have been when this event occurred.
Still, finding all of those bones would be quite a shock to the system.
And now for a super weird one, but first if you are new here welcome and be sure to subscribe!!
6.
The Bloop
In 1997 a loud, ultra-low frequency sound, which became known as the “Bloop” was
heard on hydrophones across the Pacific.
It was so loud, in fact, that it was picked up by listening devices over 3,000 miles apart.
The problem was, no-one had any idea what could make such a noise, and for the next
decade there was much debate about its cause.
Some wanted to believe that it was the sound of an undiscovered creature that lives beneath
the waves because of what they felt was the organic sound, while others thought it was
the cracking of an ice shelf.
Here’s what it sounds like
By comparing the available data, scientists are now very certain that the Bloop wasn’t
caused by a giant animal but, as they suspected, the movement of ice.
Each year there are thousands of Ice-quakes, which are caused by ice melting and cracking
off into the sea, and they make sounds very similar to the Bloop.
Further to this, there were a number of ice quakes detected at around the same time as
the Bloop was detected, and it’s thought that a particular big quake could have been
loud enough to echo through the ocean, developing it’s deep tone as it travelled such long
distances.
5.
The Easter Island Statues
Easter Island is one of the remotest inhabited islands in the world, more than 1,600 miles
away from the nearest town.
Ever since the first explorers visited the place, it has stood out for one main reason-
the 887 Moai, giant statues of heads that are placed around the coast.
The Moai became things of legend, with numerous theories about why they were there, and who
was capable of making them.
The first archaeological expedition to the island was in 1955 and, since then, a lot
has been learned.
People first moved to Easter Island prior to 380 AD, and there were three distinct stages
of development- known as the Early, Middle, and Late periods.
During the Early Period no statues were built, but they did build large stone-cut altars
and platforms that were stood facing the ocean in alignment with the sun and the stars.
The Second Period, that began in around 1100 AD, saw the introduction of the large statues,
which were placed on these platforms.
They were religious icons to the gods- not, as some thought, a means to deter visitors
because, at this time, sea travel to such remote regions was very unusual.
In less than 600 years, more than 600 of the giant statues were carved in the local quarry
and, at the peak of production, they would be more than 40 feet tall and weight up to
80 tonnes.
They would also place a red, stone, cylinder hat on their heads, which itself weighted
12 tons.
The third period began when war struck the island as a result of the first Europeans
arriving.
They happened to arrive on Easter Sunday, hence the name Easter Island.
Left in the quarry was the largest statue yet, 70 feet long, but all the work finished
in about 1680.
Most of them were knocked over and buried, which brought this incredible feat of art
and engineering to an end.
4.
The Mary Celeste
For more than 100 years the story of the Mary Celeste has baffled people.
After the ship failed to arrive at port, search parties went to find it, and discovered it
completely empty, with no sign of a struggle.
But why would a crew abandon a seemingly fine ship, what could possibly convince them to
do this?
The answer, it’s now believed, is to do with the cargo they were carrying- highly
volatile alcohol.
More than 300 gallons had begun to leak and, if they caught fire, that would certainly
be a dangerous enough situation for the captain to call on everyone to abandon ship.
The only problem with this theory is that there were no signs of burn marks on board,
but recent experimental evidence has shown that this wouldn’t necessarily be the case
if the cargo exploded.
By recreating the events on a smaller scale, it has been proven that a pressure-wave type
of explosion could have been caused, which would send a burning fireball upwards but,
crucially, not leave a mark behind it.
It would have blown the hatches open and caused a panic, and explains why the crew left in
such a hurry and, in the process, crating one of the greatest maritime mysteries of
all time.
3.
The Wandering Rocks of Death Valley
Racetrack Playa, a desert lake bed that lies in the mountains above Death Valley, has been
the site of an extraordinary phenomenon- rocks that seemingly move by themselves.
For decades, no-one has been able to explain how the rocks traverse the surface, leaving
a trail in their wake.
Some suggested it was caused by wind or rain, or perhaps even people moving them.
It was only in December of 2013, though, that the truth came to light.
The rocks were actually being moved by ice.
During the winter, a huge ice encrusted pond covers most of the region and, when it begins
to melt, it drifts along the sands, slowly taking some of the rocks with it.
Research in 2013 found that the furthest moving rock actually rested more than 700 feet from
its starting position, leaving a long trail behind it where it had been pushed along.
2.
Amelia Earhart
Amelia Earhart was a aviation pioneer, and became the first woman to make a solo flight
across the Atlantic Ocean.
She would go on to attempt a number of different challenges, but on July 2nd, 1937, she went
missing, without a trace, in the Pacific while flying from Papua New Guinea to Howland Island
as part of an attempt to fly around the world.
Her story has fascinated people for the decades since, each with their own theory about what
might have happened to her.
Recently, the truth seems to have been settled.
3 years after her disappearance, British officials found 13 human bones on the island of Nikumaroro,
also known as Gardner Island.
Along with the bones were a Benedictine bottle, an American sextant box, and part of a shoe-
all known to be things Earhart used, but in 1940 a doctor determined that the bones were
of a short, European man.
Add that to the recent photo that appeared from the archives showing a woman on a dock
surrounded by Japanese and it is possible that she may have been captured.
Recently, the bones have been re-tested, and it was determined that they almost certainly
were from a tall woman.
It now seems likely that for some reason, Earhart found herself on this island, and
had no chance of escape or survival- most likely dying from her injuries that she suffered
when getting there.
Perhaps her plane was shot down, or she was taken prisoner.
Or these remains might not be hers at all.
With the discovery of the picture, many people believe that the mystery of Amelia Earhart
has finally been solved.
The question still remains of how she died.
1.
The Bermuda Triangle
The Bermuda Triangle is undoubtedly one of the biggest mysteries ever, but in recent
years the superstition surrounding the region has been debunked.
It’s the part of the Atlantic Ocean between Miami, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico- and supposedly
has been the site of many plane and ship disappearances.
There have been a number of theories for this, ranging from alien abductions and holes in
the Universe, to extreme weather events or methane releases from the sea bed.
The truth now, however, is that there isn’t actually a mystery at all, and it’s all
just superstition.
Recent research has found that, statistically, there’s no more danger when flying or sailing
through it than there is in any other part of the world.
The higher number of incidents can simply be put down to the fact it’s a particularly
busy place for transport routes and, with so many more trips being made through it,
and strange weather patterns there are bound to be more accidents taking place.
Of course you can choose whether you agree with this or not..
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