Here Are 23 of the Weirdest Places on Earth

It's a strange world out there.

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Our planet is an awesome place. Not only because it’s the only place in the cosmos that supports life as we know it but because it is humankind’s supermassive history book. Since time immemorial, humans left their mark on Earth. We drew in caves, created intricate art, crafted strange petroglyphs, and started building massive stone structures, evolving step by step into the civilization we are today. We built Pyramids, built massive temples, created incredible art, and eventually ended up on the moon. But we also explored the planet, discovering places that are stranger beyond our wildest imagination. Earth itself is a wonderfully mysterious planet, and we did our job to make it even more so. In this article, we go through some of the weirdest places on Earth. Some of these locations are unique because of their natural origin; others are stunning because we can’t explain how our ancestors did it.

The Nazca Lines

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monikawl999 / Pixabay

Not far from Chile is Peru. More precisely, Nazca Peru. On the Nazca plateau’s arid surface, ancient cultures drew intricate symbols and shapes visible mostly from the Air: The Nazca Lines. The strange etchings were created thousands of years ago, and no one really knows why. Although many theories have been proposed, the scientific community is unable to agree on one explanation.

The Tesla Towers

the “High Voltage Marx and Tesla Generators Research Facility” belongs to the Russian Electrical Engineering Institute and is a massive Tesla-Coil project. Located in Istra, some 40 kilometers away from Moscow. The facility is notable for containing what is believed to be the world’s largest Marx generator, created to help test lightning insulation in military aircraft.

The Giant’s Causeway

Giant's Causeway, Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland. Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0
Giant’s Causeway, Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland. Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0

In Northern Ireland, there’s a natural formation that looks as if it was made in distant times by human hands. But despite the perfect shapes, the Giant’s Causeway was created around 60 million years ago, as volcanic eruptions left behind molten basalt.

Once it solidified, it created these amazing cracks in the rock.

The Desert Hand

Or the hand in the desert, however you prefer. If we travel to the Chilean desert, we will find a stunning, freaky statue created by sculptor Mario Irarrázaba. The intricate hand, sticking out of the dry Chilean Desert, depicts loneliness and human suffering, some of what Irarrázaba usually illustrates through his art.

The Zone of Silence

The mysterious strip of land dubbed the Zone of Silence is located near the Bolsón de Mapimí in Durango, Mexico. It overlaps the Mapimí Biosphere Reserve. There, clocks stop working, and compasses go crazy. It’s an anomalous zone said to be filled with strange magnetism. A lot of meteors tend to impact the region.

The Great Pyramid of Cholula

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Thought that the Great Pyramid of Giza was the largest Pyramid on Earth? Think again. Located in modern-day Mexico is the Great Pyramid of Cholula, a massive structure allegedly built one thousand years. According to the Guinness Book of Records, it is the largest pyramid and the largest monument ever constructed anywhere globally.

The Door to Hell

The Door to Hell, a burning natural gas field in Derweze, Turkmenistan. Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
The Door to Hell, a burning natural gas field in Derweze, Turkmenistan. Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Turkmenistan is home to a mysterious opening in the ground, dubbed the Door to Hell. It was once a field of gas (Darvaza gas crater) that the Soviets set on fire. It was supposed to burn for only a while, but for some reason, it has continuously been burning for around 40 years.

Goblin Valley State Park

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

If you travel to Utah, USA, to the Goblin Valley State Park, you’ll find scenery almost out of an alien movie. Hundreds of weirdly shaped sandstone formations adorned the landscape. The state park is a very popular hiking destination.

The Bermuda Triangle

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Just off Florida’s coast and between Bermuda and Puerto Rico, we find a freakishly large area in the Atlantic Ocean covering more than 500,000 square miles. The Bermuda Triangle is supposedly home to an unidentified anomaly that causes ships and airplanes to disappear.

Pedra do Inga

There’s a massive stone in Brazil covered in countless symbols, which experts believe depict an ancient cosmic chart. Among the many etchings on the stone’s surface are stars, spirals, and constellations.

The Cochno Stone

Image Credit: Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland.
Image Credit: Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland.

Another cosmic map, they say. Located in Scotland, we find a stone covered in strange symbols. According to experts, the Cochno Stone features more than 90 curious spirants and markings that some authors have interpreted as parts of a massive cosmic map.

The Saudi Arabian Gates

Image Credit: Google Earth.
Image Credit: Google Earth.

Satellite images have helped experts make numerous discoveries. With the help of Google Earth, researchers have discovered what seems to be hundreds of groups of stone walls – called “gates” in the Saudi Arabian desert.

The Rock Fortress of Sigiriya

Image Credit: Amila Tennakoon.
Image Credit: Amila Tennakoon.

Located north of the Matale district in Sri Lanka, at a massive rock formation 200 meters high lie the massive ruins of a magnificent ancient temple, reaching for the sky. Rightfully dubbed the Alakamandava, or the City of the Gods, this ancient rock fortress is unlike any other structure on Earth.

The Megalith of Al-Nasla

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There’s a massive megalith located in Saudi Arabia called Al Nasla that appears to have been cut in half with laser-like precision.

The massive piece of stone is located at the Tayma Oasis in Saudi Arabia. In addition to being split with mind-bending precision through the middle, it features curios symbols portrayed in ancient times on its surface.

Nan Madol

The Ancient Ruins of Nan Madol. Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
The Ancient Ruins of Nan Madol. Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

The Atlantis of Micronesia. Thousands of years ago, ancient people built a city on top of a lagoon. Called Nan Madol, which means Space in -Between, the entire city is interconnected through massive canals and stone walls. The stones were intricately placed one on top of another. It remains a mystery as to how exactly the city was built.

The Growing and Disappearing Vatnajokull Glacier Caves

Image Credit: Guide to Iceland.

The Vatnajokull glacier, located to the southeast of Iceland, is home to Ice caves that grow and disappear. The Icy interior walls tend to change shape, growing and disappearing depending on the time of the year. The ever-changing ice creates interconnected changes that show off a magical interior.

Whale Bone Alley

Yttygran Island, whale bone alley. Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
Yttygran Island, whalebone alley. Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Siberia is home to numerous mysteries. One of them is the Whale Bone Alley. Located around 150 from Alaska, the area is scattered with whale ribs, jawbones, and vertebrae. The bones did not get there on their own. Experts believe they were placed there as offerings in the 1400s by the region’s ancient inhabitants.

Siberia’s Living Crater

Patomsky crater, view from a helicopter. Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
Patomsky crater, view from a helicopter. Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Another mystery in Siberia. More than 70 years ago, geologists stumbled across a strange crater in Siberia dubbed ‘the Eagle’s Nest.’ The crater constantly changes shape and has an estimated volume of 230,000–250,000 cubic meters and a weight of one million tons—the strange formation known as the Patomskiy crater.

Romania’s Living Stones

Romania’s Growing Stones. Image Credit: Descopera.

There are stones in Romania that can grow and move. It’s not fake news, nor is it a conspiracy. Referred to as ‘Trovants,’ the curious stones have caused confusion among experts ever since their discovery.

The stones can grow as little as ten millimeters to as much as ten meters. After it rains, new formations are found on the ground. They grow in size and eventually change location.

The Dancing Forest

Image Credit: Anna Pronenko/Panoramio.
Image Credit: Anna Pronenko/Panoramio.

There’s a strange forest in Russia dubbed the Dancing Forest. There, trees are bent in curious shapes, and the exact reason for the strange contortions in the trunks of the trees continues to elude researchers. Located between the Baltic Sea and the Curonian lagoon, there is a forest with a twist. Literally.

The Boiling River

Thought to be only part of an ancient Myth, there’s a strange river in the Amazon that boils. It was discovered by a researcher called Adres Ruzo. The indigenous river’s name—Shanay-Timpishka—can be translated to “boiling with the heat of the Sun.”

Gobekli Tepe

The ruins of Gobekli Tepe. Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
The ruins of Gobekli Tepe. Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

An Ancient temple built before written history and then buried mysteriously by an unknown people. Gobekli Tepe is considered the first temple on Earth. More than 200 pillars in about 20 circles are currently known through geophysical surveys. It is believed to be more than 11,000 years old.

The Ancient Rock-Cut Temple Cave Complex of Ellora

An image of the Kailasha Temple. Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
An image of the Kailasha Temple. Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Located in the Aurangabad district of Maharashtra, India is one of the largest rock-cut monastery-temple cave complexes in the world: the Ellora Caves. The construction of only ONE temple required removing three million cubic feet of stone, weighing more than 200,000 tons.

The site is home to more than one hundred caves, all of which were excavated in ancient times, without modern technology, from the basalt cliffs of the Charanandri Hills. Only 34 of the 100 caves are currently open to the public.


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Written by Ivan Petricevic

I've been writing passionately about ancient civilizations, history, alien life, and various other subjects for more than eight years. You may have seen me appear on Discovery Channel's What On Earth series, History Channel's Ancient Aliens, and Gaia's Ancient Civilizations among others.

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