Easter Island, Chile
This small piece of land in the Pacific (area - 163.6 km2, population - about 6,000 people) is known all over the world for the mysterious stone idols - moai. Almost nine hundred statues stand on the perimeter of the island, like sentries. Who made them? How did the multi-ton blocks move? What function did the statues perform? For many decades Europeans have been racking their brains over these issues. And although it is believed that Tour Heyerdahl solved the riddle, the locals still believe that the Moai contains the sacred power of the ancestors of the Hotu Matau clan.
Aokigahara, Japan
This is a dense forest at the foot of Fuji on the island of Honshu. The place is ominous: rocky soil, the roots of trees are braided by rocky debris, there is a "deafening" silence, compasses do not work. And although all these phenomena scientists (seemingly) have found explanations, the Japanese believe that in the forest there live ghosts - the souls of feeble old people who were left there to die in hungry times. Therefore, during the day, Aokigahara is a popular holiday destination, and at night - a "haven" for suicides. About this place wrote books and songs, films, including documentaries, were shot.
Rastrick-Playa, USA
In the California National Park, the Death Valley has a dried-up lake that would be mediocre, if not for a phenomenon over which scientists have been racking their brains for many years. On its clay bottom are moving 30-kilogram stones. Slowly, but without the help of living beings. Lumps leave behind long shallow furrows. The trajectory of their movement is absolutely arbitrary. What pushes stones? Various versions were voiced: the specificity of the magnetic field, wind, seismic activity. None of the conjectures has received sufficient scientific justification.
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Roraima Plateau, Brazil, Venezuela, Guyana
Roraima is a mountain on the border of three countries. But its peak is not an acute peak, but a luxurious, cloud-covered plateau with an area of 34 km2, with unique plants and picturesque waterfalls. That's how Arthur Conan Doyle imagined "The Lost World." According to the beliefs of the Indians, Roraima is the petrified trunk of a tree that gave rise to all the vegetables and fruits on the planet. Even the Indians believed that the gods live there, so before the arrival of the Europeans, no one rose to the top. Modern travelers say that on Roraima people embrace simply a sacred delight.
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Valley of pitchers, Laos
At the foot of the Annam ridge, giant pots are scattered: up to three meters in height and weighing up to six tons. Archaeologists assume that the jugs are about two thousand years old, but can not understand how the ancestors of the modern inhabitants of Laos used them. Laotian legends say that this is the utensils of the giants who lived in the valley. Another said that the pitchers ordered to make King Khung Chung, to cook a lot of rice wine and celebrate the victory over the enemies. Historians have their own versions: pots could collect rainwater or store products in them. Maybe they were funerary urns?
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Bermuda Triangle
In the Atlantic Ocean, in the "triangle" between Florida, Bermuda and Puerto Rico, there is an abnormal zone where over a hundred years more than 100 ships and aircraft have "evaporated". The most famous case occurred in 1945. Five bombers "Evanger" took off from the US Navy base and disappeared. The planes that went to their search also disappeared without a trace. Skeptics say that the whole shred of shoals, cyclones, and storms. But many are inclined to believe in more mystical versions: for example, kidnapping by aliens or residents of Atlantis.
Shilin, China
In the province of Yunnan, on the territory of 350 km2, there is the "Stone Forest". Ancient rocks, caves, waterfalls, and lakes create the atmosphere of a fairy-tale world. According to legend, one young man decided to save the people from drought and build a dam. The wizard gave him a whip and a rod to cut and move the stone blocks. But the instruments had magical power only until dawn. The young man did not finish his work, and huge monoliths remained scattered throughout the valley. Scientists believe that 200 million years ago on the site of the "Stone Forest" was the sea. It dried up, and the rocks, amazing in their beauty and beauty, remained.