Although people would like to think that everything around us can be explained or analyzed, there are still mysterious places here in our world that seem to defy logic and science. Although some scientists have managed to come up with theories as to what is going on, one cannot help but be filled with strange wonder and amazement when looking at these bafflingly weird and mysterious places.
5) Eternal Flame Falls
The next time you visit New York’s Chestnut Ridge in Orchard Park town, be sure you stop by the Eternal Flame Falls. What makes this waterfall wonderfully weird is that it has a flame eternally burning in the middle of it. Although eternal flames caused by escaping gas are not that uncommon, Eternal Flame Falls is unique due to its watery location.
4) The Oregon Vortex
Located in Gold hill, Oregon, The Oregon Vortex is a roadside attraction that consists of gravity hill optical illusions where strange things seem to happen like objects rolling uphill and people’s heights’ changing. According to local legend, Native Americans believed that the site is a forbidden land that is supposed to be shunned. Although the attraction’s proprietors propose that supernatural forces are behind the bizarre occurrences, it is actually the area’s distorted background that produces the optical illusion, making a slight downhill slope appear like an uphill slope.
3) Racetrack Playa in Death Valley
Racetrack playa is a massive dry lakebed that measures 1.3 miles wide and 2.8 miles long. The playa is popular among photographers and tourists for its mysterious sailing rocks. No one has ever witnessed the rocks moved. As a result, countless theories have emerged about how the rocks (some weighing as much as 700 pounds) “sailed” across the playa.
The mystery of these sailing rocks was solved in 2013 by scientists who conducted a two-year experiment on the playa. Scientists concluded that a rare combination of events are required for the strange phenomenon to happen. First, the playa must be covered with a thin layer of ice (the Racetrack playa freezes over once every several years), that is floating on a thin layer of water. When the wind blows the melting sheets of ice across the playa during warmer weather, it drags along the rocks that are embedded on it.
2) Blood Falls, Antarctica
Flowing from Antarctica’s Taylor Glacier, Blood Falls got its name because of the blood-red water that is coming out of the glacier. It was originally believed that the water’s color was caused by algae but a recent discovery has revealed that it might be caused by huge quantities of iron oxide from the nearby West Lake Bonney.
1) Caño Cristales of Colombia
Considered as the most beautiful river in the world, Caño Cristales of Colombia is truly a sight to behold. Normally, Caño Cristales has clear waters where you can see the bed of rocks below covered in green moss. For two months of the year however, (September and November), the otherwise a regular-looking body river turns into a liquid rainbow of colors. This exploding torrent of colors is the due to a plant growing on the riverbed called Macarenia Clavigera, which changes colors depending on the water and light conditions. These plants have been seen in red, yellow, orange, green and even blue. The green algae, yellow sand, black rocks and blue waters also add colors which produces a lustrous effect.
