Published on Bob’s Hide Out
One of the best things about living on planet earth, besides the fact that it provides us with the oxygen we breathe and the food we eat, is that there’s a virtually limitless amount of different, fascinating, vivid places to go see.
From lush forest to frozen tundras, from the biggest cities to the harshest deserts, the infinity of mother nature can be astounding. Add in the human species’ effect on the earth’s natural processes and, well, sometimes we might experience things outside of the norm — but when it comes to planet earth, what even is ‘normal?’ Here, reality is far stranger than fiction, but these 30 places from around the world bring even the strangest things to reality.
An Ocean That Glows Brighter At Night
Shimmering sands that glitter in the dark like a nighttime sky? No, this isn’t just a reflection of the moon’s light we’re talking about! The waves and shore of Vaadhoo Island in the Maldives actually produce their own light, illuminating the entire shoreline in a hauntingly beautiful blue glow. It seems that as the wind moves across the waters, or as the waves kiss the sand, that they’re producing energy and light, much like the stars and nebulas that exist galaxies away. How can something like that exist here, so close that we can touch and swim in it? That very question astounds a great number of travelers every year, all of whom flock to the island to bask in the light of these fabled waters, called ‘The Sea Of Stars.’
If it sounds like magic, it’s because it is — or, it’s about as close to magic as we can get. In this case, let’s call magic by its real name: bioluminescence. That’s what scientists call the phenomenon of phytoplankton producing light whenever they are moved. Upon further research, scientists found that when these tiny little dinoflagellates were exposed to electrical pulses, their cell membranes reacted and created light. Okay, okay, rationalize it all you can; but seeing an ocean glowing in the dark is something a person has to see at least once in their life.
The Infamous Pink Lake Of Australia
Roses are red, violets are blue and water is… pink? Sure, most water is blue, but you’ll be surprised to find that the water that comprises Lake Hillier in Australia is a deep, opaque color of pink! It looks almost as if it’s the cup of water you rinse your paintbrushes out in. What could turn a lake such an ostentatious color, that pops so drastically against the greenery that surrounds it on all sides? That very question is the one that sprang into the heads of Matthew Flinders, British Navigator and Cartographer, and his crew in 1802 when they happened across the lake for the first time. Yes, 1802 — this lake has been inspiring awe (and many, many questions) in people for more than two centuries. Without photo evidence, perhaps the first people to hear about Lake Hillier thought it was a myth!
Here’s the kicker — no one actually knows why Lake Hillier is pink, even after years and years of studies. However, scientists have their guesses. Some experts believe that the pinkish hue results from the bacteria in the water (with a far different effect than those bacteria that populate the Sea of Stars). However, just like with the Sea of Stars, the water is totally safe for swimmers and tourists, many of whom flock to Australia to take a dip in this highly-instagrammable location. Lake Hillier is a trek to get to, but if you put forth the effort, you will be rewarded with a remarkable experience.
Toeing The Line Between Heaven and Hell
Sometimes the most fascinating places on earth aren’t naturally occurring. Instead, they’re the product of what happens when humans interfere with some rather delicate and unstable natural processes. Take this fiery hellhole located in Derweze, Turkmenistan. It’s dark, it’s scary, it’s on fire, and it’s a result of Soviet engineers taking advantage of what they thought was a pretty sweet oil drilling location. What resulted has become a terrifying and hellish tourist destination for those horror-loving thrill-seekers out there.
When those Soviet engineers discovered the site in 1971, they very quickly realized that it was a subterranean natural gas deposit instead. As they were assessing the site and preparing it for drilling, the Derweze Gas Crater (as it has become known) collapsed into what we know it as now — a crater; a doorway to hell. It did not, however, just spontaneously catch on fire. Scientists decided to set the crater on fire to get rid of the escaping natural gases, but it serves a dual purpose: the Turkmenistan government hopes that, over time, this stranger sight will become a popular tourist destination.
The Mysterious Hum Of Taos
Some of the people who live in Taos, New Mexico have to live with a strange phenomenon. While many times a day sounds might occur that seem to defy explanation, but Taos has become famous for producing a sound — a hum — that has not stopped for decades. It was first reported in 1991 when a group of frustrated residents complained to the local congress about it. In a small town such as Taos, such a large group of people all reporting the same noise warranted in an investigation. In response to complaints, Joe Mullins from the University of New Mexico was brought on board to complete a study.
Sound sensitive equipment was set up in the homes of the Taos residents who could perceive the hum (around 2% of the small, artsy population were known as ‘hearers,’) but nothing was found to stray far from the norm. What was most interesting from the results of Mullins’ study was that all of the hearers heard or described the hum differently. Some described it as a buzz rather than a hum, and some even called it more like a ‘whir.’ Though many different sources have shouldered the blame over the years, from the government to pranksters to radiation, scientists tend to believe that the hearers are reporting subjective experiences rather than objective ones.
Magnetic Crop Circles In Africa
Crop circles aren’t a phenomenon limited to the American mid-west! These peculiar examples of perfect symmetry are located all the way the world, on the Atlantic coast of southern Africa. These are large circles, colored red by Namibia’s desert sands, that are perfect in every way — no desert brush or any plants grows within their circumference. For ages, scientists have been trying to figure out the reason behind these otherworldly occurrences. In some areas of the world, they’re known as fairy circles — or crop circles produced by extraterrestrials. But, what in one of the world’s driest atmospheres could be producing it? Surely fairies and other magical creatures can’t survive Namibia’s harsh heat!
These circles are big, too. They range from 5 to 130 feet in diameter and can really only be perceived from above — if you’re on the ground, you might think you’ve simply come across a clearing in the bush. If that’s not crazy enough, each one of the circles maintained a very low-level of magnetism. When a magnet is dragged across the circle, it attracts more sand than outside of the circle. It’s a small factor, but it can’t be ignored when considering how bizarre these circles are! Could the circles’ electrical fields also be the reason for their existence? Perhaps, but more scientists are leaning towards the explanation of termites, or even a toxic bush called Euphorbia Damarana.
Murals On A Simply Gigantic Scale
Way back during antiquity, artists were rather limited in their choice of artistic materials. Paints and dyes were made from plants, sculptures were made from whatever stone was lying around and murals were on the sides of caves, not the sides of walls… and when prehistoric artists desired an even larger canvas, they turned to geoglyphs. Geoglyphs are not common in modern art, so if this is the first time you’re hearing this term, know that it refers to an extremely large design that is either carved into the ground (negative geoglyph) or an arrangement of natural materials (positive geoglyph), usually in some sort of widely understood image, pattern or design.
The geoglyphs that were discovered in the Nazca Desert in Peru have perhaps become the most famous of all geoglyphs. They are negative geoglyphs, deeply carved into the soil by a group of people who wanted their story to be recorded in the earth for the ages. It’s difficult to date creations such as these, but scientists estimate they were created sometime between 500 BC and 500 AD and possibly refer to the Nazca people’s strong belief in astrology. Either way, these things are old! They show the likeness of animals and plants, but there’s also a series of straight lines that jut straight across the landscape. To view most of the Nazca lines, you must be in an airplane or helicopter, but a rare few are visible from nearby hilltops.
An Undiscovered Corner Of The Earth
For no less than 5.5 million years, this cave located deep within Romania’s terrain had remained unseen by human eyes. It was sealed off and isolated from the rest of the world and was only recently discovered in 1986 when Romanian scientists stumbled across it in their search for a site for a nuclear plant. Interestingly enough, even though Movile Cave has been completely shut off from the rest of the world, it simply teemed with life — life that possibly thrived because of the contained environment and distance from humankind.
Far from uninhabitable, the cave played hosted to 48 individual species of critters. Most astonishingly, 33 of those species were unique to the cave! That’s right, most of the spiders, scorpions, centipedes, leeches, and isopods found within Movile Cave existed nowhere else in the world and had evolved completely independent from the rest of the world. If you guessed that they also evolved to live without eyes, well, you’d be right. After spending millions of years in complete darkness, they did not need sight! Less than 100 very daring people have ever visited the cave, because of it’s extremely remote location. Perhaps that’s why Movile Cave went so long before being discovered anyways!
Music That Rocks — But Not In The Way You’d Think
If you threw a rock, you might expect to hear a dull, heavy thud when it lands. What would you think of instead of a thud you heard… ringing? Well, that’s what happens when you strike a certain grouping of medium to large-sized stones in Pennsylvania. Known as the ‘Ringing Rock of Pennsylvania,’ they create a sound that resembles a sonorous, metallic clang when struck. Are these made of stone, or metal, or maybe they’re even hollow?
These rocks aren’t just occasional occurrences, either. They cover an area equal to seven or eight acres, tucked deep within the Ringing Rocks Country Park in Pennsylvania. Stranger yet, the rocks defy normalcy differently: the rocks almost always appear at the very top of hills. Almost always, large boulders sit at the bottom of hills and mountains, due to landslides and the omnipresence of gravity. No one knows how they appeared, why they’re situated where they are, but after numerous studies, scientists discovered that the rocks have an interesting chemical makeup. They’re comprised of a substance called diabase, which comes from volcanoes and is made of iron and other extremely hard minerals. If these rocks really did come from volcanoes, perhaps their larger-than-life creation is what begot their strange musical abilities!
Is It A Bird, Or A Plane, Or… A Car-Sized Ball Of Light?
Do you believe in aliens? If you were in the middle of Norway and you saw a giant ball of unexplainable light flash across the night sky, you just might begin to consider it! The Hessdalen Valley runs along some of the tallest peaks in Norway, but taller yet are the strange lights that occur right above them, dancing and moving as if they were alive. It’s an abnormal thing to see, especially when you learn that there can be more than one of them at a time!
The Hessdalen Lights know how to keep us entertained, too. They occur in white, yellow or red — and can appear either above or below the horizon! The lights shine bright anywhere from a few seconds to a few hours, as reported trends show us. There’s also a second interesting trend that reported sights demonstrate: the sightings began in the 1930s but peaked in the 1980s with as many as 20 sightings per week. This was around the same time that the area became a huge tourist destination, with people clamoring to get their own eyes on Norway’s extraterrestrial light show. Since then, interestingly enough, the sightings have dropped off dramatically. Since 2010, there’s only been about 20 per year — a far cry from the 20 per week during the Hessdalen Lights’ heyday.
The Lake Of Almost Certain Death
Move over, Chernobyl — there’s another Eastern European nuclear disaster site that people foster a morbid fascination over! Lake Karachay is its name, and this lake takes the title of ‘the most polluted place on earth.’ Unlike a riverbed full of single-use plastics, Lake Karachay’s contaminants stray more towards the… radioactive side of things. Lake Karachay is so polluted that in 1990, standing near its shores for more than an hour would result in nuclear exposure of nearly 600 roentgen. That’s far more than enough radiation needed to kill a human being!
Toxic waste sites such as Lake Karachay don’t come out of thin air. Lake Karachay was created, not incidentally, by the Russian government and a nearby nuclear facility named Mayak Productions. At the time, the lake must have seemed like the natural solution for the issue of waste of nuclear production — but now, we see the effect that this frivolous land management has on the environment. This devastating result was kept a government secret until 1990, but the long-term damage had already been done. Nearby communities and people who had been exposed sadly saw a 21% increase in cancer rates, a 25% increase in birth defects and a staggering 41% increase in leukemia. 65% of the people suffered from radiation sickness if they hadn’t already been diagnosed with a chronic health condition. It was called ‘special disease’ in doctor’s records, as a way to conceal the sickness’s true illicit origins.
The Disappearing Underwater-Water Park
Gruner See, or ‘Green Lake’ in the native tongue, maintains the superpower of being a tourist destination year-round. That’s not the case for many natural sights in Austria, where the seasons greatly impact the ability of these wonders to be enjoyed. However, during most of the year, Gruner See is a small lake where people can bask in the sun during, but in the summer — specifically June — it transforms into a 36-foot deep gargantuan lake that engulfs all surrounding trees, benches, and bridges. Surprisingly, this does not keep nature lovers at bay. Instead, they flock to the Gruner See during this time!
The cause of this drastic change in size is the surrounding mountain range, The Alps. When the seasonal temperatures begin to rise during springtime, the snow understandably melts. This meltwater runs down the steep slopes and coalesces right there in the valley which Gruner See occupies. This phenomenon creates an underwater world like you’ve never seen — one that looks suspiciously like the forest parks we know and love, only completely submerged in clear water. Divers and curious people alike are attracted to Gruner See, eager to understand how something like this can exist, but in 2016 exploratory activities were prohibited to protect the natural area.
A Boiling Lake Without Geological Connections
The Amazon Rainforests exists to this day as one of the most vivid, mystical places on the planet. Many of the stories that come out of the Amazon are deemed myths or lore — at least until their existence is scientifically proven. In a rainforest that is so vast, that not always happens… so when word got around of the existence of a boiling lake deep within Peru, called Shanay-Timpishka by the local tribes, scientists immediately doubted its existence. It was simply impossible for a boiling lake to exist so far from geothermal or volcanic hotspots. So, a local Peruvian scientist decided to set out to confirm the story’s authenticity.
The scientist, named Andres Ruzo, discovered far more than the truth to the story. Not only was the boiling river a reality, but it was locally known as the site of Mayantuyacu — a sacred healing site under the spiritual and energetic domain of a powerful shaman. The source of the 4-mile-long river’s heat, according to the healing authorities, is a gargantuan serpent spirit that can bring forth both hot and cold water. It is a powerfully healing site, so perhaps the unlikely heat should just be understood as it is. Sometimes, phenomenons defy all explanations!
Two Trees Are Better Than One
An epiphyte is not an unknown occurrence in the science community — but one like this definitely is new! An epiphyte is a plant that grows upon another plant, but not parasitically. They both coexist, one not necessarily using the other as a host, but more like an ‘environment,’ of sorts. The ‘Bialbero di Casorzo,’ or ‘Double Tree of Casorzo’ bends all the normal rules of plant biology. Whereas with normal epiphytes one will always be far smaller than the other (and has a shorter lifespan), these two trees are both fully formed and thriving. This double tree, growing in sunny Piemonte, Italy, sports a mulberry tree with a cherry tree growing on top of it. What a delightful pairing!
In this rare example, the cherry tree stands much taller than the mulberry tree, which is thick and wide, likely to accommodate another’s weight. What likely happened to create the ‘Grana Double Tree’ (another name for one of Italy’s strangest sights) is that a bird dropped a cherry seed above the mulberry tree, and the seed became deeply embedded. It sprouted here and has continued to thrive ever since. The fact that both of these trees have been able to continue growing past maturity is truly rare because most large epiphytes need to have its root network connected to the ground in some way — but here’s the Bialbero di Casorzo, out to break all scientific theories!
Medusa’s Favorite Well
Turning to stone must be one of humanity’s greatest fear since they created a Greek monster with the power to do just that. The legend of Medusa, the woman with hair made of snakes and whose gaze could turn a person to stone, must have come from somewhere — and if you guessed that the legend originated from Mother Shipton’s Petrifying Well, you might be somewhat close. This small body of water, bubbling up from underneath the earth’s surface, has the eery ability to turn anything, living or nonliving, into petrified stone.
Understandably, the well’s history is rife with people choosing to blame its cursed waters for any foul luck or ill will that befell them. Anything dark or tragic was blamed upon Mother Shipton, but the real fear came about in the 1600s. Generally, when fear overtakes a group of people, there also exists a curious fascination with whatever is at hand. As such, people began to perform experiments with the Petrifying Well. They tested it by leaving things such as toys, hats, and stuffed animals… only to find them completely turned to hardened rock in a relatively quick period of 3 – 5 months.
The Land Of A Thousand Lightning Strikes
Venezuela, nestled in the top corner of the fiery South American continent, is hot in a way that’s completely unrelated to spicy foods and salsa/tango dancing — there’s a small area that gets struck by lightning at a completely unprecedented rate. We’re talking about more than 1.2 million lightning strikes a year! It’s a place dubbed as ‘The Beacon of Maracaibo,’ and the lighting takes on a variety of colors: red, orange, blue and pink. This endless firestorm occurs over the Catatumbo River, where the heat and moisture are captured and destabilized by the surrounding mountains.
This everlasting storm where you can see the bright lightning but not hear the thunder has made quite an impact on people throughout history. Those who laid their eyes upon the Catatumbo lighting were sometimes moved to speak and write out the mystery and wonder of such a phenomenon like it did for the Spanish poet Lope de Vega in 1597. In his poem called ‘The Dragontea,” he uses his fluid lyrics to describe how the lighting helped the Spanish to defend Maracaibo from the English. He describes how the lightning lit up the sky so that they could see the ships of Sir Francis Drake approaching under the veil of nighttime.
Waters So Blue, It Has To Be Photoshop
We’ve seen some funky colored waters already in this list, but can you imagine being amazed to see a pond that’s… blue? Okay, before you click off of this story, hear us out. We know that water is supposed to be blue anyways, but the Blue Pond of Hokkaido is just an outstandingly beautiful shade of blue that it’s drawn travelers from very far away to glimpse it. It all began when a photo of the pond in Hokkaido, Japan was shared far and wide as an iPhone wallpaper. People who came across the photo couldn’t believe a place like that actually existed. Was it real, or was it photoshop and creative filter use?
Thankfully the Blue Pond is a real place, and it’s become widely known across Japan. This pond is not entirely naturally occurring — it came into existence after measures were taken to protect the nearby town of Biei from volcanic eruptions and lava flow. in 1988, the Biei River was dammed up after Mount Tokachi erupted. Water backed up into valleys and ponds were formed, including everyone’s favorite blue pond. The shimmering blue color is because of aluminum hydroxide, which prohibits anyone from swimming in the water… but respectful gazing from a safe distance is more than welcome.
The Indonesian River Of Lava
Craters generally maintain a pretty strong otherworldly feel to them, but the Kawah Ijen crater does so in a very unique manner. Located on the island of Java in Indonesia, this crater has water that flows out of its cracks and crevices that burn bright blue. Yes — water that is burning; and it is burning blue! It looks very much like lava, which led many people to assumed that this was indeed a volcanic flow. Kawah Ijen is indeed not made of lava but instead is given its bluish glow from all the sulfur-rich gases that escape their subterranean confines. They ignite upon contact with the surface air.
These are no small flames, either — the extreme pressure and high temperatures of the gases create flames that jump nearly 16 feet into the air. These gases can sometimes become so hot that they liquefy and run down the sides of the crater, which is why many people mistake this land of fire and ice for lava.
The Disappearing Waterfall Trick
A State Park deep in the heart of Minnesota harbors a secret called The Devil’s Kettle. The Devil’s Kettle is a waterfall that splits into two, but that’s not why it’s well known. It’s famous because one half of the waterfall continues on its merry way downstream, but the other half is engulfed by a deep, dark hole… never to be seen again. It’s true, the water simply vanishes! For ages, people have been mesmerized by the mystery behind the vanishing waterfalls. They would indulge in throwing objects into the waters and watching them be swallowed by The Devil’s Kettle. They hoped that they’d be able to chart a course and see where it eventually spilled out… because all that water had to go somewhere! Despite this, no one was ever able to figure out where The Devil’s Kettle led.
All these questions prompted further study. A hydrologist named Jeff Green took on the task of figuring out where all the water in The Devil’s Kettle went. It didn’t take long for Jeff to learn that the large volume of water being displaced by the hole in the side of the mountain wasn’t being charted towards the center of the earth. Simply put, it rejoins the rest of the river just downstream. It all seems a little too logical to be trusted — but it still leaves on question dreadfully unanswered. If the water reappears, what happens to all of the objects thrown into the water?
Trees That Are Proud Of Their Curves
When something that considered is strange is surrounded by things that would be considered normal, people take notice. The dichotomy between strange and normal treads a thin line here in West Poland, in a place known as The Crooked Forest. This temperate pine forest features trees that grow at a 90-degree angle — no, that’s not 90-degrees from the ground itself! This particular group of trees, surrounded suspiciously by trees that behave normally, grows 3 to 9 feet along the ground before twisting to reach straight upwards.
Why do these trees do this? Well, to this day, no one knows. Since there’s no scientific reasoning behind it, many people have concluded that the unnatural bend in these trees is a result of human intervention. Like the Native Americans used to sculpt trees to hollow out into canoes, or how the Japanese weave delicately crafted Bonsai trees, perhaps ancient Poles wanted to utilize the wood from these trees to make furniture. Perhaps the bend is from a more natural cause, like a snowstorm, but that would not account for the thousands of normal standing pines that surround it.
2,000 Leagues Under The Sargasso Sea
If the Sargasso Sea that just sounds like another one of those small seas put on the globe to make you fail your geography exams, think again! This particular sea is not an actual sea that you’ll find on a map. It’s the name for a patch of sargasso seaweed that is 700 feet wide and stretches along 2,000 miles of the Atlantic Ocean, off of the east coast of North America. The conditions of this particular area of the Atlantic differ from the rest of it and creates the perfect environment to grow lots and lots of seaweed. Ocean currents coming from all sides keep the water self-contained and spinning in this one area, trapping heat from its frigid surroundings.
The seaweed in question is called sargassum and it lays in a thick layer on top of the water’s surface. rather than growing from the seafloor like most seaweed, sargassum only grows floating in high waters. It gives the water a yellow/brownish look to it. While sargassum helps to make the otherwise barren sea habitable for several creatures (like sea turtles who use it for nesting), the curious flora can be most of a nuisance to others, blocking out sunlight for other plants and plankton, while blocking access to air for other mammals.
Welcome To The Michigan Triangle
The Bermuda triangle has become famous for its ability to make planes and boats — and the people inside of them — simply disappear. While most people aren’t very eager to experience this ‘no-fly’ zone themselves, if they did, people wouldn’t have to travel to Bermuda to experience it. As it would turn out, Michigan has its very own version a lot closer to home! This particular triangle extends from Ludington to Benton Harbor (both in Michigan) to Manitowoc, Wisconsin.
This mysterious portion of Lake Michigan first became known as The Michigan Triangle after the first boat disappeared in 1891. The boat was named ‘The Thomas Hume” and it simply vanished one night, during a violent windstorm. No remains of the boat were ever found (and neither were its passengers). For those of you who are thinking that The Thomas Hume clearly sank, there have been many other unexplainable occurrences in the triangle. This was not the only account of a boat having simply vanished, but people have also reported seeing UFOs and strange lights above the water.
UFO In The Baltic Sea
What would you do if you found an alien spaceship lying on the bottom of the ocean floor? If you’re not entirely sure, neither was the Swedish ‘Ocean X’ diving team when they came across a giant Millennial Falcon-type anomaly at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. The treasure hunters, who had become accustomed to searching for less extreme (but still very much exciting) finds, such as ancient high-end alcohol bottles and other historical artifacts and treasures, dove into the ocean in 2011 on a fairly routine exploration tour. As they were looking around for anything of interest, they found something that would go down in the history books — something that looked very similar to a sunken UFO.
Unsure of what they were looking at, the Ocean X team used their sonar imaging technology to capture images of the sunken spacecraft. The photos were blurry and some distortion led to skepticism around what had been recorded, but many people were able to glimpse structures that were found nowhere else in natures — things such as trails, ramps, and a staircase. The entire formation is astonishingly circular, but experts say that a natural rock formation cannot be ruled out.
A Sound You Can’t Ignore
Anything that cannot be explained is often a source of stress for scientists and laymen alike. Sounds are vibrations in the air that must come from a stimulus or a source… but what happens when a loud — a very loud sound, at that — seems to come from nowhere? One such sound has been driving scientists crazy since 1999 and has become known as ‘The Julia.’ That March, a 15-second sound was heard that was so strikingly loud that it was picked up by the Equatorial Pacific Ocean Hydrophone Array. That means the sound could have originated from almost anywhere.
That’s not where the strange aspects of The Julia Sound stop. It’s not immediately identifiable as anything else found in the ocean, but it does resemble the chilling sound of a human moan. If you’ve heard it, it certainly sounds like something that came out of a horror movie rather than the earth’s ocean! There is no official cause of Julia recorded, but many spectators are quick to assume it’s a sea monster. Scientists lean more towards the explanation of an iceberg breaking, but with less of our oceans having been explored than earth’s solar system, can we ever be too sure?
A Washing Machine From Which You Can’t Escape
Nature is full of all sorts of surprisingly deadly things: flowers that are poisonous, bugs that are venomous and waters that can drown even the most cautious of swimmers. One specific river and the subsequent pool of water has claimed 17 different lives, possibly because it looks so unassuming. There is a sign posted outside of the river that “This creek has claimed many lives.” The sign serves as a warning to all hikers not to venture closer (and the hiking trail does not even go close to the water, only to vistas and outlooks), but still, people perish in the waters. How so?
The creek, near Queensland, Babinda, Australia, is part of a haunting local legend. The story goes that a young bride, fleeing her marriage to be in the arms of another, jumped into the waters to escape her pursuers. She perished in these waters and now haunts the area, drawing many young men to their death. True to legend, 16 of the 17 people who have died in The Devil’s Pool have been men. Perhaps that’s because the water doesn’t immediately look threatening, which enticed some people to brave the waters. However, the rapidly changing conditions (think: flash floods) and slippery rocks prove to be too much for most.
The Forest That’s More Beautiful Than Black
The Black Forest in Germany is not as grim as the name might suggest. It’s named such because the thick, dense trees shroud out light and keep the forest fairly dark, but that’s where the negative associations should end. The Black Forest is so beautiful that it is comparable to something you might see illustrated in a children’s book, or described in a story. It’s vast, it’s grand, and it’s historic. Germany serves as the inspiration for many old-timey fairytales (did you know that Snow White and Cinderella were both German?), which might lead wanderers to believe that they might happen across Hansel and Gretel’s fabled cottage.
The Black Forest is a big demonstration of Germany’s grandeur. It blankets more than 2,320 square miles of Germany’s vast mountain range, stretching northeast for nearly 100 miles. Included in this massive range is Germany’s tallest peak, the Feldberg Mountain. Though it does get cold and snowy in the winter, The Black Forest is ready to be enjoyed during all seasons. Hiking, camping, skiing, and snowboarding are all welcome here! For those who prefer to enjoy the forest situated in front of a nice, big window with a large stein of beer in hand, the Baden-Baden spa is a great place to relax and enjoy.
Do These Mountains Look Familiar?
There are few places on earth that inspire such awe and fascination as the mist-shrouded Tianzi Mountains in China. They’re wild enough to stand on their own, but one of their biggest claims to fame is that they were James Cameron’s main inspiration behind Pandora’s landscape for the movie Avatar. They’re geo-dated to be about 300 million years old, which would explain their massive height. However, these particular mountains are composed of sandstone, a type of sedimentary rock, which gives them their tower-like (sometimes floating) appearance.
The Tianzi Mountains have experienced millennia of erosion from China’s atmospheric elements, bestowing them with their incredibly unique colors, shape, and layers. These mountains don’t just look cool, though. They play host to a variety of different animal and bird species, due to its varied vegetation at different elevations. Animals that might not be able to find this type of environment elsewhere (let’s be honest, it is very unique) are able to use the Tianzi Mountains as a host, making it something truly amazing.
Frozen Caves Of An Otherworldly Nature
Ice is cold, hard and unforgiving — it covered both the north and the south poles of our planet, cools down our drinks and stabilizes the earth’s temperature, but it doesn’t often get the recognition it deserves. The Mendenhall Glacier in Alaska is one place where travelers can get their icey kicks; the caves concealed within the glacier are truly spectacular, though. The caves are a deep, jewel-like blue and the walls weave and dance in a beautiful way.
The caves are actually formed by water flowing within the 12-mile glacier and crater that it’s within. This is what gives the caves their almost fluid appearance. The glacier itself is more than 3,000 years old and, even without the caves, claims the title of Juneau’s most popular tourist sight. Although most visitors only view the glacier itself (and a small part of the caves which is visible from the viewing center), it’s highly suggested that visitors gain access to the caves by taking a guided tour.
Peru’s Mountains Of Many Colors
Mountains of these colors used to be relegated just to paintings! However, with the wide availability of photography and flights around the world, we now know that the Ausangate Mountain to be a stark and beautiful reality. The Rainbow Mountain of the Peru Andes is bright and beautiful, with as many colors striping its rocky exterior as there are paints on an artist’s palette. The reason behind the many colors is hidden within the mineral composition of its soil.
This stunning scene sports a multitude of colors from lavender to maroon, orange to gold, greens, and even light blues, it’s unsurprising to learn that the Ausangate Mountain also stands as a holy pilgrimage site for local Peruvians. There are large groups that gather at it daily to pay homage to this work of art, clearly created with god’s hand. For those who wish to visit, it’s no easy feat. A hike to get to this particular section of the Peruvian Andres takes several days and is nothing less than arduous — but the sights? Well worth the effort.
Bermuda’s Beautiful, But Its Triangle Is Not
The North Atlantic Ocean harbors a dangerous secret; one that has been haunting explorers and travelers for ages. It is popularly called the Bermuda Triangle, or ‘Hurricane Alley’ to some. It covers a large area of 500,000 square miles, from the southern tip of Florida and Bermuda. It overlaps with the Sargasso Sea, but that is not what the Bermuda Triangle is infamous for. No, The Bermuda Triangle is far more deadly than that! Since the 1950s, planes, boats, and people have all disappeared over this ominous triangle of blue.
There’s no explanation for the disappearance of these vessels, innocently attempting to cross part of the Atlanta. Light was finally shed on this situation in 1952 after several more reports of vanished planes and ships began to inspire questions in the general public. It was that year that Fate Magazine published a popular and riveting article titled ‘Sea Mystery At Our Back Door,’ which detailed the situation at hand with the Bermuda Triangle. The powers of this triangle have since become legendary. Do these people disappear because of paranormal activity, or is there another reason right in front of our nose? Though scientists are hesitant to give the alien activity claims any credit, there’s nothing out there that disproves such a theory.
A Blue Giant, On Land
If you think ice being on this list of fantastical places is strange, then you clearly haven’t seen blue ice before! This frigid monolith is the result of when lots and lots of ice becomes really, really dense. These particular conditions create a type of glacier that is deep blue in color and semi-transparent. It’s no wonder that all of those mouthwash brands named the blue flavor after this particular phenomenon!
The glacier in this picture occurs in Antartica, but blue ice can be found wherever there’s permafrost and glacial activity. Blue ice is the result of the thickness of the ice — if it’s as thick as it needs to be to create blue ice, that means that light cannot get through to the other side. All colors in the spectrum of light are reflected back except for the color blue. This is also the effect that colors the daytime sky blue, but it’s so strange to see it replicated in something as solid as a giant block of ice!
