Weird, wonderful and totally out of the ordinary - these are places that you won't believe actually exist on earth. Take a look inside a cave that has been cut off from the rest of civilization for 5.5 million years, a forest where trees have grown crooked and gigantic geoglyphs, among others. Some of these places you can visit, while others are banned to tourists. Some have invited alien conspiracy theories, others are yet to be fully understood by science. Read on to find out more about five of the most mysterious places in the world.
Movile Cave in Romania
Special Halloween blog: Valentina Cetean (Geological Institute of Romania) tells us about the unique Movile cave in Romania, where sulphurous and thermal water creates the perfect environment for spooky creatures!
— GeoConnect3d (@Connect3dGeo) October 31, 2019
Link to see them➡️https://t.co/sLuetWcxch#Geomanifestations pic.twitter.com/yVCfLeUvGo
Movile Cave is a cave that was discovered in 1986 in Romania. Workers were testing the ground to see if it was suitable for a power plant when they stumbled upon the cave, which had been sealed off from the rest of the world for 5.5 million years. Cut off from the rest of the planet, life in this cave evolved in isolation. According to BBC, scientists have discovered 48 species in this cave, including 33 that are not found anywhere else in the world.
Meet the unique inhabitnats of Movile Cave, cut off from the world for 5.5 million years. https://t.co/WtCP20v7Jv pic.twitter.com/y4pE9wRO9S
— Corey S. Powell (@coreyspowell) May 30, 2016
Life has flourished in Movile Cave for millions of years, despite a complete absence of light and a poisonous atmosphere. Unique spiders, leeches, centipedes and other animals - many of these never seen by humans before - abound in this cave. Many of these creatures are born without eyes, which would be useless in the dark, and almost all of them are pale, evolving as they did away from sunlight.
Crooked Forest in Poland
Krzywy Las (crooked forest) in West Pomerania - oddly shaped pine trees & no one knows why. Theories from work of aliens to being deformed for ship builders #krzywylas #crookedforest #poland pic.twitter.com/dJxQP3empL
— Agri Warschau (@AgriWarsaw) January 15, 2020
The unsolved mystery of what curved the trees of the 'Crooked Forest' in Poland has fascinated scientists for generations. Located near the town of Gryfino, these bizarre woodlands consist of around 400 oddly-shaped pine trees - and nobody is really sure what caused their unusual 'J-shape'. According to IFL Science, theories range from a unique gravitational pull in the area to aliens.
Ringing rocks of Pennsylvania
When you hit a rock, you would expect to hear a dull thud. In the Ringing Rocks County Park in Pennsylvania, US, however, there is a field of boulders that produce a metallic clang when they are struck. According to Atlas Obscura, the rock field is spread out around seven acres and only a third of the rocks 'ring' on being hit. For the longest time, scientists could not figure out why the rocks produced the metallic sound, but in 1965 a group of scientists crushed, broke, and sliced the rocks. They found that when struck, each rock produced a low frequency sound not detectable by the human ear. The tones of multiple rocks interact with each other to produce the sound we hear.
Nazca Lines in Peru
Ancient 'spaceman' Nazca Lines in Peru: sometimes claimed extra-terrestrial, they were actually traced out on foot. pic.twitter.com/Rv1LOZoPBM
— Andrew Rader (@marsrader) January 13, 2016
The Nazca Lines are a collection of gigantic geoglyphs - large designs or motifs produced on the ground - in Peru. These geoglyphs were created around the first century CE by the ancient Nazca culture in South America. According to History.com, there are three basic types of Nazca Lines: straight lines, geometric designs and pictorial representations. Some of them stretch up to 1,200-feet.
Experts have debated about the purpose of these lines since they gained widespread attention in the 1930s, with theories ranging from aliens to astronomical significance. More recent research suggests that these giant geoglyphs were ritual-related.
Kawah Ijen volcano in Indonesia
An Indonesian volcano that erupts "blue" lava—@NPRskunkbear on the science of Kawah Ijen: https://t.co/NhOIuMroJE. pic.twitter.com/7XNR3e2ub2
— CA AcademyOfSciences (@calacademy) September 10, 2016
A blue volcano? This is not a scene from a fantasy movie, but a place that you can actually visit in Indonesia. Dazzling blue fire streams down the Kawah Ijen volcano at night. According to National Geographic, these blue flames result from the combustion of sulfuric gases.
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