Strange Cave with Stairs Found in Antarctica

What comes to your mind when you hear the word Antarctica? Most likely, “cold, snow, ice, and penguins.” Yet, this is one of the least explored regions in the world that hides many strange and unique things. Check them out.

You don’t have to go to Antarctica to see this weird thing. All you need to do is open Google Earth and move to one of the southernmost islands of Antarctica — King George Island. Recently, Internet users have noticed a large and pretty strange cave entrance there. Where does this wide dark passage lead? People started making suggestions.

“It’s the entrance to a secret base or some laboratory!” “This is part of a spaceship that crashed there thousands of years ago.” “This is the door to the ancient city of Antarctica.” “Perhaps, there’s a giant rock mountain with an ancient cave beneath all this snow and ice.” Well, there’s some ideas. Users have calculated the approximate dimensions of this cave. It might be about 74 feet high and 250 feet wide. You can hide a Boeing passenger jet in there!

Nature probably created this entrance. This is a logical explanation, but there are two strange factors. First, take a look at the foot of the mountain. It seems that there are steps there. They’re dark in color — as if they are made of stone. And if you look closely, you can notice something similar to human footprints. Has anyone entered this cave? Or maybe someone is still living there now? The second oddity is the disappearance of the mysterious finding. For the first time, people noticed it in a Google Maps snap in 2007. Then the entrance disappeared. Then, it reappeared a few years later. After that, it vanished. And in 2022, people saw it again.

Perhaps, old snow melts, a new layer falls, then the wind blows it away, and the cycle repeats. But the alleged steps leading deep into the cave make one doubt the natural origin of this tunnel. You can easily find the coordinates on the Internet and visit the cave via Google Earth. You might see something there and tell the world!

There’s another strange thing people discovered with the help of Google Earth. In 2020, one user found a strange object that looked like a giant ship 100 miles off the coast of Antarctica. It was covered with ice and snow and lying on its side. It looked like a cruise ship. You could notice the windows, the deck, and the bridge... But not all people agreed with this. Some claimed it was a spaceship. Others said it was some kind of secret building. The user who had first noticed “the ship” stated that its size was about 400 feet — which is the perfect length for a passenger vessel. But what is this ship doing in such a remote place in the middle of a glacier? How did it get here? Who was its captain? No one has found the answers to these questions yet.

In 2016, people using Google Earth discovered a photo of an unknown sea monster floating off the coast of Antarctica. This creature resembled a giant squid with a length of about 200 feet! This is slightly shorter than three train cars. Just imagine this giant Kraken swimming in Antarctica’s dark, icy waters and dragging to the bottom everything it meets on its way. Maybe it’s the great and terrible Cthulhu or one of its offspring?

You will quickly notice this blood-red waterfall among Antarctica’s endless dazzling white landscapes. Don’t worry — it’s not blood. For many centuries, the waterfall has been painting snow in a bright red color. The stream flows straight out of a white iceberg. Let’s look inside and find out what’s happening there. Millions of years ago, there was a small crystal-clear pond. But then a glacier formed around it. A thick layer of ice and snow blocked sunlight, heat, and oxygen access. For millennia, the reservoir remained in this cold vacuum. But at one point, the water made a hole in the icy wall and broke out. When this salty water comes into contact with oxygen, it immediately turns scarlet or rusty. Antarctica is the only place where you can find such a unique natural phenomenon.

One of the driest places on Earth is located in Antarctica. It’s one of the most lifeless deserts in the world — the McMurdo Dry Valleys. In this desert, you won’t see the scorching sun, hot sand, and cacti. A desert means a place with a lack of precipitation and life. The McMurdo Dry Valleys meet these parameters. But this place is also unique for Antarctica since you won’t find glaciers there. Despite the frost, ice can’t form in the desert because it hasn’t rained for millions of years there. It also never snows. A strong wind coming down from the mountains reaches speeds of up to 200 miles per hour. It’d be difficult for you to stay on your feet there. The wind is filled with moisture. It heats up and evaporates all the liquid and snow in the desert because of its high speed. Only dry air reaches the ground.

But you can find several lakes there. They don’t freeze only thanks to the high concentration of salt. The water is so salty that large life forms can’t develop there. But scientists have found microscopic organisms near the lakes. Twenty million years ago, Antarctica was filled with swamps and trees and swarming with insects and animals. But now, it resembles the surface of Mars, literally. Scientists and astronauts are exploring such regions as the McMurdo Dry Valleys since the natural conditions there are similar to those on the Red Planet. So, before you go to Mars, you can practice living in similar places on Earth.

Also, scientists discovered an underwater world in the Antarctic filled with hundreds of amphipods — crustacean animals similar to shrimps. Wait a minute. It happened in the Antarctic. But the McMurdo Dry Valleys are located in Antarctica. The words are very similar, but what is the difference? Oh, and don’t forget about the Arctic! The Antarctic is the region in the southernmost part of Earth that houses the continent of Antarctica. And the Arctic is another land altogether. They have the same natural conditions — frost, ice, and snow. But they are located in different parts of the planet. The Arctic is at the North Pole. Antarctica is at the South Pole. Now, back to the discovery. Scientists put forward theories that the ice of the Antarctic hides a vast network of freshwater rivers and lakes. And in 2022, they found a new ecosystem. Researchers explored the Antarctic Ross ice shelf and its underground rivers. This is a massive piece of ice floating in the ocean.

A team from New Zealand used a special drilling rig equipped with a hot water supply to drill a hole 1,640 feet deep — that’s more than the height of the Empire State Building. Then, they lowered some video cameras and saw thousands of crustaceans swimming in different directions. So it seems, they’re very unorganized.

In the waters of the Antarctic, you can also meet some of the scariest creatures on the planet. These are sea spiders. They got this name because they resemble land spiders. But they’re actually a species of marine arthropods. And unlike land spiders, those in the ocean are much larger. They look like 8 strong legs without a body. One such spider can be like a dinner plate in width. Some of them have no eyes and have proboscises instead of jaws. Sea spiders are poorly studied because they live in deep cold waters.

Antarctica hides many little-known animals. There are long tunnels in its glaciers leading into scary darkness. On this cold continent, people have found the remains of giant dinosaurs and other ancient creatures, such as the ancestors of modern ducks. Many underground rivers and lakes hide unexplored wildlife. Even the ice here can be weird. Take a look at these striped icebergs! They have blue, black, green, and turquoise stripes. The color depends on the conditions of the water during freezing. For example, green lines appear because of algae; blue ones form when the water freezes too quickly. Okay, I’m freezing. Time to go thaw somewhere warmer.