World’s 9 Most Mysterious Places That Are Worth Visiting

Ever looked at something and thought, “How is that actually possible?”  Yeah, like when you just open a bag of chips and the next second, they’re all gone! Gets me every time… But besides that, there are some real places out there that even leave scientists completely baffled! I mean, just look at…

Blood Falls

When you think about Antarctica, you probably imagine a vast land of sheer frozen whiteness. Well, that’s pretty spot on until your eye gets caught by a blood-red waterfall spilling from the icy walls! Located in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, this rust-colored liquid runs out of fissures in the Taylor Glacier looking like something straight out of a horror movie. For a very long time, scientists couldn’t figure out what the reason was behind this crimson fall. Most people won’t see Blood Falls in person, but even in photographs, the sight is arresting: a blood-red waterfall staining the snow-white face of Taylor Glacier. Glaciologists and microbiologists have sought to determine what causes the mysterious red flow. They’ve concluded that the source is a subterranean lake rich in the iron that gives the water its red hue. Stranger still, recent research has revealed microorganisms living 1,300 feet beneath the ice, sustained by the iron and sulfur in the water. At first, they believed that red algae gave the water its gory tint. But new studies found that iron oxides (or, basically, rust) are present in the water.

The Petrifying Well

This mystical well is located near the River Nidd, which runs through Knaresborough in North Yorkshire, UK. Oh yeah, and its water is known for turning objects into stone! For many centuries, locals believed that the Petrifying Well was cursed. In fact, you’ll find the well inside a cave named after a 16th-century seer and supposed witch known has Mother Shipton because it’s where she was possibly born. Anyway, nowadays people leave different items there – from teddy bears to bicycles – in order to witness this unusual transformation. But scientists analyzed water samples from the Petrifying Well, dispelling the supernatural vibe surrounding this place.

Eventually, scientific analysis of the water revealed the magic behind the petrification process. The water has high mineral content that precipitates over objects creating a hard shell of mineral over it in much the same way as stalactites and stalagmites form in a cave. What’s amazing, however, is the speed at which petrification occurred. Rather than centuries, small toys like teddy bears can petrify in just three to five months. Teddy bears are popular because they are porous which allows water to soak in and petrify the toy inside out. Other have left personal items such as rings and clothing, kitchen utensils, and even a bicycle. This coating creates a hard mineral shell that makes them look like they’re made of stone. Basically, the same process happens when stalactites and stalagmites form, which are those icicle-shaped things you see hanging up above in most caves. But it can take centuries for those to form, while the petrification of these items only happens in weeks or sometimes months depending on the size. And this is something scientists have yet to explain! Hmm, perhaps it’s Mother Shipton’s curse, after all!

Floating Islands that move

Islands are not supposed to move, right? Psh, tell that to the mobile islands on Loktak Lake! It’s the largest freshwater lake in northeast India and home to floating islands called “phumdis” that move in the water during the rainy season and sink during the dry months. These patches of grassland consist of matted vegetation and soil that’s been thickened into a solid form. And if you walk on their spongy surface, it kinda feels like walking on a trampoline. Loktak River covers around an area of 286 sq km. Due to the entire ecosystem that is rich in a varied collection of flora and fauna, this lake has earned the name of being ‘The Wetland of International Importance’ under the Ramsar conservation. Despite these islands constantly moving, locals build their huts on them because most people in the area earn money by fishing in the lake. There’s even one with a school on it and another with an entire national park!

Fiery Gates Burning Forever

What do you think, how long can one fire burn? Well, in the hot Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan, there’s a 226-foot-wide hole that’s been on fire for almost 50 years! The story behind how [the crater] came into existence has been sort of shrouded in mystery, and there’s no other place like it on Earth,” Kourounis told National Geographic. “It is very unique, in that there’s no other place where there is this pit of burning methane that’s being ejected from the ground at high pressure. The Darvaza Crater isn’t volcanic or anything like that – it’s actually man-made. In 1971, there was an accident as engineers were setting up an oil-drilling rig on the site. The ground beneath the rig collapsed into a wide crater which started releasing potentially poisonous gas into the air. That’s why the engineers decided to set the crater on fire hoping that the gas would burn out within a few weeks. But weeks turned into months, which then became years. Decades passed, and it’s still burning today. And, yes, you can visit this place, so don’t forget your marshmallows! As of a current situation, the crater has become a minor tourist attraction in Turkmenistan, though Kourounis says he didn’t have any trouble with crowds of people turning up to watch him. Only a few “tourist outfits” and a couple of people with camels passed by.

Never-ending Lightning Storm

If “lightning never strikes the same place twice” then apparently this unique spot in Venezuela where the Catatumbo River meets Lake Maracaibo didn’t get the memo. Here, there’s an average of 260 storm days and about 1.2 million lightning bolts striking it a year. Yep, that makes it the most lightning-struck place on earth, and the energy produced in this one spot by pure lightning strikes is enough to power 100 million light bulbs! But Venezuela’s Lake Maracaibo also earned a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for “highest concentration of lightning” with 250 lightning flashes per square kilometre each year. The storms ease off in the dryer months of January and February and are most spectacular at the peak of the wet season around October. At this time of year, you can see an average of 28 lightning flashes each minute. Decades ago, it was believed uranium deposits in the bedrock were what caused the phenomenon. Later, scientists suggested methane from oilfields below boosted conductivity in the air above the lake. However, now they say this never-ending light show happens because of the region’s unique topography and wind patterns. Whatever it is, I’m staying far away!

Boiling River of Amazon

Located deep in the Peruvian Amazon, this 4-mile-long river known as Shanay-Timpishka gets as hot as 196°F, which obviously means no swimming if you don’t wanna become soup! Hey, it’s happened to wildlife that cluelessly decide to take a dip… Usually, only close proximity to a volcano can make a river so hot, but the nearest one is more than 430 miles away. According to local legend, a giant serpent spirit called Yacumama (or “Mother of the Waters”) heats the river up. Scientists, however, believe that the water seeps deep into the earth through fault lines, gets heated up by underground hot springs, and finally comes back to the surface. That’s kinda boring, I like the snake story better! According to the experts he spoke to, the answer was a unanimous “no” – after all, hot rivers do exist, but they’re generally associated with volcanoes, and there are no volcanoes in that part of the country. But when Ruzo went home over the holidays and asked his family where the myth had come from, his mother told him that the river didn’t just exist, she and his aunt had actually swum in it before. It sounded pretty ridiculous, but in 2011, Ruzo took a chance and hiked into the Amazon rainforest with his aunt, and saw the famed river with his own eyes.

Hot springs aren’t uncommon, and thermal pools get to these temperatures in other parts of the world, but nothing even comes close to the scope of the river – it’s up to 25 meters (82 feet) wide and 6 meters (19.6 feet) deep, and runs burning hot for an incredible 6.24 km (3.87 miles). Add that to the fact that the river is around 700 km (435 miles) from the closest volcanic system, and the temperature just didn’t make any sense. In fact, it’s the only river of its kind anywhere in the world that we know of.

Split Sea

The devastating flood that hit Kerala, India last year almost submerged the whole state underwater. But once the flood finally receded, the locals of the coastal city of Ponnani were really surprised when they saw a narrow strip of sand that had surfaced from the water along the beach and literally split the sea into two. This sand strip is now attracting a lot of visitors who, despite the danger, wanna walk its 1,600 feet long before the strip gets washed away by high tide. The sandbed has formed following the deposits caused by the excess rain and the opening of the shutters of the Malampuzha dam and the Aliyar dam in neighboring Tamil Nadu. The high tides and the oversetting of the banks of the Bharathapuzha river also seems to be the reason for the formation of the sandbed on the Ponnani cove. People can now walk into the sea over the sandbed from the shore, but it is not safe as the sea can be rough due to high tide, which we can’t predict. If high tide occurs after people walk into the sea, it would be difficult for them to come back, a precarious situation indeed. This natural phenomenon still remains unexplained but some believe that sand swept away from a nearby river formed the stretch. But the state of Kerala is also famous for another mystery.

The Twin Town

Kodinhi, a remote village in Kerala’s Malappuram District, continues to puzzle scientists because of how many twins are born there! It was estimated that there are more than 450 pairs of twins in a village where only 2,000 families live. While the national average of twin births is no more than 9 in 1,000, the number is as high as 45 in 1,000 in Kodinhi. In 2016, a team of researchers from different institutions came to the village to explain this bizarre phenomenon. They collected saliva and hair samples from the twins to study their DNA but didn’t find any conclusive answers. Another general factor in heightened rates of twinning, he continued, is that they tended to be born to more mature women, who were over 5ft 3in tall. Again, though, the people of Kodinhi weren’t about to fit into that neat little pigeonhole. As a rule, they marry in their late teens and begin families soon after. In addition to that, the women of the village average around 5ft in height. Oh, boy, I can’t even imagine how people there can tell who’s who!

The Sleeping City

Speaking of mysterious villages, this real-life and literal sleepy hollow is the remote town of Kalachi in Kazakhstan. In 2013, locals couldn’t stop falling asleep while they were doing everyday activities. I mean, I also doze off when I’m riding the bus or just having a peaceful picnic in the park, but these people would have bouts of slumber that could last for a few days in a row and hit them right as they were walking! More and more residents fell prey to this weird sleepy sickness over the course of time. The people’s health, the town’s air quality, and the food and water locals were consuming were all analyzed in a massive investigation. Still, nothing was out of the ordinary on those fronts. Finally, two years later in 2015, the big mystery was solved. The authorities stated that high concentrations of carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons coming from old uranium mines nearby had caused oxygen levels in the town to drop. The city started a relocation program, and I’m just glad they figured it out and got people to safety!