Our planet has some seriously mysterious places; locations that seem to defy science, contain unknown treasures, or have an aura of mystery. Whether it’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site we still don’t understand or a place where living things go and never return, delve deep into the territory of conspiracy theorists as we attempt to explain the most mysterious places on Earth.
Easter Island, Chile
Great Pyramid of Giza, Egypt
Bermuda Triangle, Atlantic Ocean
Between Bermuda, Miami and Puerto Rico lies a triangle-shaped patch of Atlantic Ocean that seems to swallow people up. More than 50 ships and 20 planes are said to have been lost to the Bermuda Triangle’s murky depths – and conspiracy theorists offer a multitude of reasons why.
Could it be that the Bermuda Triangle is a wormhole or vortex to a different dimension? Are aliens using it to kidnap humans for experimentation? Is it actually the location of Atlantis?
But when you look at the stats, the region is not particularly disaster-prone: it encompasses the popular holiday islands of Turks and Caicos, and plenty of shipping and aviation traffic passes through the area on a daily basis. Some more likely explanations for this mysterious place include tropical hurricanes, rogue waves and human error.
Crooked Forest, Poland
Gates of Hell, Turkmenistan
Nazca Lines, Peru
Etched into the dry earth of Peru’s Nazca desert are massive man-made glyphs of animals, plants and strange lines, a UNESCO World Heritage Site covering an area of roughly 170 square miles. These mysterious drawings were created between the 4th century BC and the 6th century AD and are best seen from the air, but we still don’t know why they were drawn: early studies suggested they formed part of a celestial clock, while more recent theories include ceremonial procession markers and a beg to the gods for water by the area’s ancient people.
Lake Hillier, Australia
Richat Structure, Mauritania
Deep in the Sahara is a strange rock formation that predates life itself. The Richat Structure is a mysterious place, a concentric ring in the Earth’s crust with such an otherworldly and almost-artificially symmetrical appearance it’s known as the ‘Eye of the Sahara’.
Rippling through the desert for 25 miles, Mauritania’s Richat Structure is so huge it was only identified when astronauts spotted it from space. Some say the Eye of the Sahara is the remains of Atlantis, as its circular shape matches Plato’s description of the utopian city, but it’s actually a geological dome that eroded long before humans walked the earth.
Island of Dolls, Mexico City