June 29th, 2017 | Updated on March 1st, 2024
As you go about your daily life, it’s easy to forget all of the weird and wonderful things that are tucked away around the world. A Redditor cobbled together 25 of the strangest places on earth, reminding us all of the creepy things that could be hidden in our very towns. Dark forests, abandoned cities, strange museums and other oddities are everywhere.
1. Fly Geyser, Nevada, USA
This otherworldly geyser is on private land on the edge of Black Rock Desert in Nevada. Created accidentally in 1964 after an energy company drilled down into geothermal waters, today a scalding fountain erupts up to five feet high and the resulting mineral build up means the cone is growing by several inches each year. The brilliant hues of red and green are down to thermophilic algae.
2. Lake Hillier, Western Australia
This remarkable lake was discovered in 1802 on the largest of the islands in Western Australia’s Recherche Archipelago. The lake keeps its deep pink colour year-round, which some scientists say it’s down to high salinity combined with the presence of a salt-loving algae species known as Dunaliella salina and pink bacteria known as halobacteria.
3. The Catacombs, Paris, France
The deeply creepy catacombs are a network of old quarry tunnels beneath Paris and the final resting place of around six million Parisians. Most are anonymous, skulls and bones taken from the city’s overcrowded graveyards during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; it wasn’t until the authorities realized its potential as a tourist attraction that the bones were arranged in the macabre displays seen today.
4. Glass Beach, California
This glittering sea glass beach in California is a remarkable side effect of years of rubbish being dumped on the beach; it wasn’t until the 1960s that this was stopped and by then the sea was full of everything from electrical appliances to bottles and cans. Over time, the waves broke everything down into colourful pebbles and the beach became a major tourist attraction – now ironically under threat because visitors are taking home the glass.
5. Thor’s Well, Oregon
In rough conditions at Thor’s Well, also known as Spouting Horn, the surf rushes into the gaping sinkhole and then shoots upwards with great force. It can be viewed by taking the Captain Cook Trail from the Cape Perpetua Scenic Area visitor centre, but for your own safety stay well back, especially at high tide or during winter storms.
6. Hoia Baciu Forest
This forest is known as the “Bermuda Triangle” of Romania. Multiple people have gone missing in it, people have sighted UFOs, there has been unexplained electrical phenomena and more.
7. The Catacombs
The Parisian catacombs are a giant ossuary and cemetary that are located beneath that city’s streets. There are approximately 6 million bodies put to rest in the catacombs. There is a city of the dead waiting to be explored beneath the city of lights.
8. Varosha
Varosha is a completely uninhabited resort city on Cyprus’ coast. After the Turkish invasion, Varosha was quickly evacuated. Today, Varosha stands frozen displaying exactly how life was in 1974. From a distance it looks like a bustling resort town, but it is completely dead.
9. Oradour-sur-Glane
This is a small French village that was decimated by the Nazis in WWII. The entire city was burned and almost every inhabitant was executed. The remnants of the village still stand today.
10. The Door to Hell
This was once a gas field, but the Soviets set it on fire. Now, it has been burning for over 40 years. It seems that the dangerous pit of fire will never stop burning.
11. Maunsell Sea Forts
These were designed to protect England from a potential Nazi invasion during WWII. Today, they stand empty, ghosts guarding the coast.
12. Leap Castle
The Leap Castle is reportedly one of the most haunted castles in the world. Its rumored that the hallways are patrolled by “the Elemental,” an unseen force. The castle is allegedly haunted because it hosted historic slaughters and was even built on top of a torture pit.
13. San Zhi Resort
This resort was built to be a tranquil place, but because of the strange amount of deaths during the construction, it was abandoned. Now, the “pod” resort stands empty and supposedly haunted.
14. Wonderland
Wonderland was supposed to be China’s version of Disneyland, but much bigger. There were construction problems with the project, leading it to be abandoned. The remains of the theme park are still in the middle of an empty field, open to adventurers.
15. Jacob’s Well
This natural spring is over 100 feet deep. Many locals jump into the well for recreation, even though there are sharp rocks jutting out from all sides. Scuba divers explore the depths of this well, but with caution. Over the years, novice divers have perished in the well.
16. Kryziu Kalnas
Kryziu Kalnas was originally a ceremonial site where Lithuanians would mourn the dead lost at war. The Soviet Union bulldozed the area twice, but locals rebuilt it to be even bigger. Today, over 100,000 crosses stand on the hill.
17. Kabayan Mummy Caves
The Kabayan Mummy Burial Caves are manmade caves full of preserved mummies, isolated from most of the world. These mummies are some of the best preserved in the world.
18. Muynak
Muynak was once a busy port city on the Aral Sea. The Soviet Union drained the Aral Sea for irrigation purposes, destroying Muynak and leaving the remants of a busy port sit in a desert wasteland.
19. Centralia
This was one a busy mining town, until the coal veins under the city caught fire. This dangerous fire has been burning since 1962. The town was bandoned, except for approximately 10 people who still live there. The creepy town was the visual inspiration for the horror movie Silent Hill.
20. Island of the Dolls
This place is an uninhabited island in Xochimilco, Mexico. According to legend, a girl died in the canals surrounding the island, after which dolls began to wash ashore constantly. The island’s only inhabitant and caretaker then began to hang the dolls that would wash ashore in memory of the little girl.
21. Cincinnati’s Abandoned Subway
There were plans to build a subway system in Cincinnati in the early 1900s. The city ran out of funding, but the tunnels that were constructed are still open beneath the city, a maze that is left to be explored.
22. Jatinga
Jatinga is a relatively normal town, but it’s plagued by massive bird “suicides” that happen every September – October. The en masse bird deaths occur at the end of the monsoon months, when on dark, foggy nights the bird populations are attracted to the lights of villages and are then killed by the villagers. In modern times, conservation groups have made an effort to decrease the amount of bird deaths during this season.
23. Akodessewa Fetish Market
Over half of the population of Togo practices indigenous beliefs, requiring religious paraphernalia you would not find in any normal market. Shrunken heads, skulls, flesh and more can be found in a fetish market like this.
24. Spotted Lake, British Columbia, Canada
Spotted Lake has long been revered by the native Okanagan (Syilx) people and it’s easy to see why they think of it as sacred. In the summer the water of the lake evaporates and small mineral pools are left behind, each one different in colour to the next. The unique lake can be viewed on Highway 3, northwest of the small town of Osoyoos, although visitors are asked not to trespass on tribal land.
25. The Giant’s Causeway, Northern Ireland
Sixty million years ago a huge volcanic eruption spewed out a mass of molten basalt, which then solidified and contracted as it cooled, creating the cracks that can be seen today. There are an estimated 37,000 polygon columns at this World Heritage Site, so geometrically perfect that local legend has it they were created by a giant.
source : roughguides.com, viralnova.com
