A Journey to the Scary Side of Geography

So. Look at this map. This is not the Google Maps you open on your way to work. Here you can see the world’s most mysterious places!

From the Bermuda Triangle to the Pyramids of Giza. From the Island of Dolls to Easter Island. Grab your Pith Helmet and let’s go!

You’re venturing deep into the Sahara. What’s that on the horizon? It looks like the remains of a once-thriving civilization! Near the city of Tiaret, 155 miles southwest of Algeria’s capital, you can find 13 monuments shrouded in mystery. You see large underground vaults and other constructions made of stone.

They were built between the 4th and 7th centuries CE. Some chambers are interconnected with a labyrinth. Walking through it takes about 2 hours. People who once inhabited this place carved hunting scenes and animal figures on the walls.

Researchers believe the place was built as the final resting place for the Berber royalty. But there’s no way to prove it. And the abandoned city in the desert remains a mystery.

Now, how about the Island of the Dolls? If this name doesn’t give you the heebie-jeebies, I don’t know what will. While moving down an ancient Aztec canal, you find this mysterious island. Hundreds of abandoned dolls are hanging from trees. There are so many you lose count.

Legends say it was a man who hung them there. He decided that one wasn’t enough. So he spent his life hanging dolls on trees. Creepy! Speaking of creepy, in Mexican desert land, there’s a spot called the Mapimi Silent Zone. People say no radio or any other kind of signal can be received there. I definitely wouldn’t want to get lost there!

In the far North of Canada lies the inhospitable Lake Anjikuni. It’s covered with snow and ice for half of the year. It was once home to the Inuit people. But something terrifying happened to this entire village. What exactly? This mystery is still unsolved.

In 1930, Joe Labelle was passing through a village that seemed deserted. He noticed that something was off there. There was no noise or any sign of human activity. He opened doors, one after another — but nobody was home. The inhabitants of the entire village were gone. They left behind seven sled dogs — those were still tied to their posts. No one has been able to explain this disappearance so far.

One of the world’s biggest mysteries is the Pyramids of Giza. The Great Pyramid of Giza itself was built as a final resting place for Pharaoh Khufu around 4,500 years ago. It remains unexplained how the Egyptians managed to build the pyramids without any of the technology available to us nowadays. Interestingly, the pyramids align with Orion’s belt and all face toward the north.

Yellowstone National Park is known for its beauty — but also for some bizarre accidents. For example, in the summer of 1929, hundreds of people visiting the site fell sick. It all began with six employees but quickly spread to the staff and guests of different hotels.

Until today, it’s unknown what happened. People didn’t eat the same food. Neither did they drink from the same water source or stay at the same hotel. Make sure to keep an eye out for anything strange if you’re ever in the area!

The River Nidd, in North Yorkshire, is said to turn things into stone. People from all over the world come to see this phenomenon with their own eyes. Tourists and locals travel there to leave different items in the well. A bicycle abandoned in the well turned into stone several days later.

An old teddy bear became a piece of rock. Many believed that whoever stepped into this water would have a similar fate. But according to scientists, this is just a natural phenomenon. Local water is rich in minerals that form a coating around objects. It’s this hard shell that makes them look as if they’re made of stone.

How can rocks slide across the ground on their own? At Racetrack Playa, a dry lake bed at Death Valley National Park in California, they do! These moving rocks, called sailing stones, have been observed since the early 1900s. Locals believed that strong winds pushed them around.

Other theories involved magnetic fields. In 2014, researchers discovered that the rocks were actually pushed by melting panels of floating ice driven by winds. Way to go, science!

The Bermuda Triangle is a world-known notorious place! That’s where over 50 ships and 20 airplanes have allegedly disappeared. Rescue missions never came back. It’s located off the coast of Florida, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Unexplained disappearances there date back to the mid-19th century.

There are different theories about why ships and planes vanish into thin air in this region. Some of them claim that the area is just extremely foggy, which makes it difficult for navigation. Another theory states that methane rising to the surface of the ocean can be the answer to the mystery. But no theory has been proven yet.

In the mountainous country of Pakistan, you’ll find the lost city of Mohenjo-Daro. This ancient archeological site dates back to 2500 BCE. Scientists believe the city was built by the Indus Valley Civilization. Here we see a well-planned street grid.

And look at this elaborate drainage system. Nobody knows what happened to the people living in this town. The only thing scientists are almost sure about — it looks like something ended their lives at once.

Has the mystery of Easter Island finally been solved? You’ve probably heard of the fascinating monolithic statues standing on this Polynesian island. The statues, called Moai, weigh up to 90 tons. They were built by the Rapa Nui people.

How they managed to transport the statues remains unexplained. Researchers from the University of California believe the statues were built to make the soil on the island more fertile. And the coolest thing? The analysis has shown that the areas where the Moai sculptures stand are indeed more fertile.

The crooked forest in Poland is weird, to say the least! A grove of oddly-shaped pine trees looks like something straight out of a sci-fi movie. The grove is home to around 400 pines that were planted in 1930. They all first bend toward the north and then continue growing upright. No one knows for sure why this happened. The surrounding forest is full of perfectly straight pine trees.

Is there a monstrous creature living at the bottom of Loch Ness in Scotland? Whether it’s myth or reality, it sure is spooky. The Legend of the Loch Ness monster appeared somewhere around 1933. Since then, people have been claiming to have seen dragons, prehistoric monsters, and sea serpents in the lake. Will we ever know the truth?

The Wharton Basin, off the western coast of Australia, is home to odd geological phenomena. Huge earthquakes happen there, one after another. This would be unsurprising if the area was located above a fault line, which is where two tectonic plates meet. But that isn’t the case! The area is located on the Australian plate. But researchers believe that a new fault line might be forming there. This is the only reasonable explanation for what’s happening in that area.

One of the most isolated places on Earth, the North Pole, is as mysterious as it gets. A land of ice and odd disappearances. In the late 1840s, an expedition of more than 130 people known as the Franklin Expedition vanished in that region. Some evidence was found 150 years later: a leather shoe and snippets of journal entries. My own theory? They were all hired by Santa Claus to work in his toy factory. Yeah, no one else bought it either.

Machu Picchu is also known as the “Lost City of the Incas.” It’s a testament to the power of the Inca civilization. But the purpose of the site is still a mystery to be unraveled. The citadel was constructed at 7,000 feet above sea level around 1450 CE.

The question remains: why did the Incas build a city like this in a place so inaccessible? Archeologists have discovered that most of the city is built underground. And about 60% of the place remains unexplored. So, who knows what might be hiding down there?

The Mariana Trench is the world’s deepest, darkest place. Imagine this: no sunlight, freezing waters. There seems to be little to no chance of life existing so deep under the surface.

Yet, sea explorers claim to hear a bizarre sound coming from the depths of the trench. The records of this mysterious noise lead some to believe that a deep-sea monster is calling the trench its home. Alright. Too spooky. I’m outta here.