When it comes to life on Earth and human history, scientists and historians have some answers, but not all. Sometimes they encounter something that leaves them stumped. Today’s video features strange and wonderful places all over the world that are amazing to see but impossible to understand, even for scientists.
Two Trees in One: Casorzo, Italy
In Casorzo, Italy, there’s a remarkable sight to behold in a field – two trees in one, and they’re completely different species of tree. The bottom one is a Mulberry tree, but it has a Cherry Tree growing on top of it. While smaller trees do occasionally grow on top of larger ones, it’s very unusual to see two fully grown trees cohabiting and thriving like this. The strange tree has become a tourist attraction for the area, although it’s had to be fenced off for its own protection so that people don’t get too close. Climbing it is illegal.
The Mysterious Head Enter: Austria
Mystery surrounds the origins of the Head Enter in Austria. It’s believed to have been built during the reign of the Roman Emperor Constantius the second, who ruled between the years of 351 and 361. But that’s a little more than a best guess. The ancient Romans sometimes built structures like this to mark the side of significant military victories. It’s becoming a popular gathering spot for Pagans who refer to it as heaven’s gate for reasons unknown.
No Return Island: Kenya
There’s a clue in the name of No Return Island in Kenya that tells you a lot about how the Kenyans feel about it. The name of this strange-looking island, which is on Lake Turkana, translates as no return. The myths and legends surrounding the place suggest that nobody who enters it will ever return. In 1935, English explorer Vivian Fush decided to test that theory by visiting it with colleagues on a research mission, but when they failed to return, it only served to reinforce the legends.
The Temple of Andara: Syria
There are many ancient and wonderful temples in Syria, most of which have their own fascinating story to tell. But the fascination with the Temple of Andara is especially strong, mostly because of the huge human foot imprints that appear at the entrance to the temple. Scientists and archaeologists say that they were carved by the same people who built the temple and are intended to represent the procession of the gods into the temple’s inner chambers, but many local legends disagree.
Visiting the Abu Gorab Sun Temple in Egypt
There are many tales of giant humans living in this part of the world during ancient times, and the footprints are the first thing that the people who believe these stories point to as evidence. Sadly, the temple was badly damaged after being hit by a Turkish air raid in 2018. However, most people who visit Egypt also visit the Great Pyramid of Giza, which is a spectacular sight to see. But if a few more of them could be persuaded to drive a further 20 minutes to Abu Gorab, it wouldn’t be such a little known secret.
The Abu Gorab Sun Temple used to have a stepped pyramid of its own and was built somewhere around 2400 years ago. From ancient Egyptian historical records, we know that there were once 6 sun temples at Abu Gorab, but only two remain today. Their ruins today are the colossal stone obelisk that once marked the westernmost point of Abu Gorab. The massive red granite blocks that are scattered across the area are a puzzle for archaeologists.
Mysterious Barsacq Elmus in Kazakhstan
Once upon a time, Barsacq Elmus was an island in the Roc. These days, the water level is a little lower than it was in ancient times, and it’s now a plateau in Kyzylorda, Kazakhstan, much like a vignette island in Kenya. This is said to be a place that people visit and never returned from, and even the name which, translated from its original Turkic language, means whoever comes here shall not return. In 1939 it was declared a National Reserve and was closed off to visitors for the remainder of the 20th century.
Nobody knows what the Soviets did there during those years, but there are plenty of rumors that it was used for top secret research. Even today, electronic devices fail as you get close and navigational equipment stops working. There have been documented cases of people’s skin turning blue after spending too long at or close to the plateau, and a commonly told legend about a group of nomads who stayed here for what they believed to be a year only to return to civilization to find that three decades had passed. It’s a mysterious and seemingly supernatural place.
The Temple of Hercules in Amman, Jordan
I visited the ruins of Amman in Jordan, where you’ll find the crumbling shells of temples and palaces. You’ll also find the shattered remnants of a giant human hand made from stone. This is the hand of Hercules, and even in its broken three-fingered state, it’s still a strangely intimidating thing to look at. The hand is part of the Temple of Hercules, which was built during the 2nd century during the Roman occupation of Amman Citadel.
For reasons that have been lost to history, it appears that the temple was never finished. The presence of an elbow made from marble implies that there was once a plan to build a colossal statue of Hercules here, which, had it been completed, would likely have been the largest statue in the world at that time. The region is known for earthquakes, so it’s possible that the Romans gave up on the idea of building anything here after enduring 1 earthquake too many for their liking.
The Lost Civilization of Mesoamerica:
There is some evidence that an enormous volcanic eruption destroyed the civilization that once existed. But aside from that, they left very little behind for us to remember them other than their pyramid. By examining the land around the pyramid, archaeologists have been able to conclude that it was farmed for a period that started around 3200 years ago and ended during the 1st century when the seat lay volcano erupted. That was a tragic twist of irony for the Mesoamerican population who are thought to have worshiped the God of fire. While some historians believe that the entire population perished in that disaster, there are some who believe that these survivors fled to other parts of Mexico and took elements of their culture with them. Eventually playing a role in the rise of Teotihuacan. While there are no humans living here anymore, there’s a thriving population of rattlesnakes and tarantulas, making it a somewhat hazardous place to visit.
The Mystery of the Lost City of the Kalahari:
The mystery of the lost city of the Kalahari is an existential one. By which we mean that there’s controversy about the question of whether it really exists at all. The story begins in 1885 when the Canadian magician and explorer William Leonard Hunt, also known as the Great Farini, claimed to have found that empty city of ancient ruins while crossing the Kalahari Desert on foot. In his report to the Royal Geographic Society, he spoke of seeing half-buried ruins, shattered temples, burial grounds, and semi-collapsed walls. That prompted no less than 25 expeditions in the decades that followed, none of which found anything like what the great Farini described. By 1964, a new idea had arisen. AJ Clement theorized that the magician had been mistaken about the route he took through the desert and devised an alternative route that Hunt may have taken by accident. By following it, he found a series of colossal stone monoliths made of dolerite, a material that erodes and can begin to resemble straight, square blocks that resemble walls. Clement concluded that what Hunt actually saw was nothing more than a natural rock formation dating back 180 million. But his explanation didn’t satisfy everybody. There are still people searching for the lost city of the Kalahari to this day.
The Nazi Concrete Rings:
The Nazis built a lot of strange structures all over Europe over the course of the Second World War, and not all of them are understood. In the absence of solid information, many wild and wondrous theories have sprung up, such as those that surround the concrete rings they built on the coast of the barren sea. The fact that the Soviet military took ownership of them after the war and refused to let anyone else get close for several decades did little to dispel the most extreme of those theories. Some Soviet interest in the site confirmed that these were places that the Germans conducted tests on anti-gravity devices and weapons of mass destruction. There’s been some speculation that this is the place that the Nazis worked on, a top-secret project known as Digoxin or the Bell. Other than knowing its shape, nobody truly knows what dialogue was supposed to do, aside from the fact that it was a fearsomely powerful weapon. It’s perhaps more likely that these were concrete bases upon which rotating artillery pieces were mounted, but that’s far less fun to believe.
Conclusion
These strange and unexplainable places all over the world continue to fascinate and intrigue us, and they remind us that there is still much to discover and explore in our world.