World mythology is full of fantastic kingdoms and realms that exist alongside our own. Many of them are said to have entrances in the real world, meaning that it’s possible to at least stand on the doorstep of some pretty amazing places. Now, if only we knew the passwords to open those doors . . .

10The Fairy Kingdom

Knockma Woods is located in the western wilds of Ireland, and it’s associated with a couple of major legends. The legendary warrior queen Maeve is said to be buried in a cairn on Knockma Hill, and the hill itself is supposedly the entrance to one of Ireland’s fairy kingdoms. Ruled by Finnbheara (or Finvarra), the Fairy King of Connacht, the kingdom is said to exist just beyond one of the many stone circles and fairy rings that dot the hill.

According to legend, Finvarra once abducted the beautiful bride of an Irish lord and carried her back to his kingdom. The lord followed Finvarra and his bride to the hill and ordered his men to start digging, but every night as the men slept, their work was repaired by Finvarra’s fairies. To keep them from repairing the entrance, the lord threw salt over the hill and eventually dug his way into the kingdom to retrieve his wife.

Finvarra is also mentioned in family legends of the 18th and 19th centuries, said to protect the nearby Castle Hacket, keep the family wine cellars stocked, and ensure their horses’ victories in whatever race they entered. Knockma isn’t just a place of legend, either: Archaeological excavations have found a number of Neolithic sites in the woods, and cairns on the hill date back to around 6000–7000 B.C.

9The River Styx

The River Styx is the primary entrance to the Greek netherworld. It’s said to flow around the realm of Hades seven times, and its water is corrosive, poisonous, and deadly. The river was rumored to ultimately flow between two massive silver pillars, guarded by the nymph for whom the river was named. It’s also reportedly real, and its deadly waters are now thought to be what killed one of the greatest leaders in world history.

According to legend, the waters of the River Styx functioned as something of a polygraph test for the gods when Zeus forced them to drink it. If they were lying, they would lose their voices and the ability to move for a year. These symptoms are eerily similar to those suffered by Alexander the Great before his premature death due to an unidentified sudden illness in 323 B.C. The Greek leader suffered stabbing pains in his internal organs and joints, high fever, and voice loss before he slipped into a coma.

Those symptoms are also very similar to those experienced by a person who has ingested calicheamicin, a toxin produced by bacteria found in limestone, which is found in high concentrations in the Mavroneri River. Also known as Black Water, the river flows out of the Peloponnesian mountains and has long been thought to be the real-world entrance to the River Styx. Ancient tradition states that the water was so corrosive and so deadly, like its mythical counterpart, that the only things it couldn’t dissolve were a boat and raft made from horse hooves.

If the theory about Alexander the Great is true, it suggests that he died not from malaria or typhoid, as previously suspected, but that he was poisoned by someone who had taken water from the mythical River Styx.

8The Lost City Of Z

The Lost City of Z is a mythological city nestled in the wilds of South America. Supposedly, it was a massive, advanced civilization strangely inspired by ancient Greek cities and full of treasure and riches. According to the writings of a 16th-century friar, it was populated by white natives and female warriors. As far as mythical cities go, this one didn’t seem too unlikely. There were huge, unexplored areas of South America that were so deep and dense that there wasn’t really any way of knowing what was buried in the jungle.

One of the most famous people to go in search of the city—and disappear in the process—was Colonel Percy Fawcett. The colonel, who kept his intended route a secret to keep rival explorers from beating him to the mythical city, vanished in the Amazonian jungle in 1925. His expedition and disappearance are shrouded in mystery, and his cryptic writings and deliberately misleading coordinates offer few answers. One theory that some researchers have adopted is that the famed explorer wasn’t actually going into the jungle to find his lost city but to found a new one based on the worship of his young son, who accompanied him on the trek.

While these theories are far-fetched, the one thing that isn’t as far-fetched as it sounds is the city itself. Modern satellite imaging has captured what Fawcett was looking for, not far from where he said it should be. Fawcett believed that the entrance to the mythical city was somewhere in Amazonian Basin between the Xingu and Tapajos tributaries of the Amazon River, and more than 200 earthen structures stretching along the Brazilian border of Bolivia suggest that there was something to the theory. It’s been estimated that some of the structures date back to A.D. 200, while others originated as recently as the 13th century. The entrance to Fawcett’s massive, glittering city appears to be just a little farther southwest from where he was last seen.

Before this new information was uncovered, it was long thought that the Amazonian jungle wasn’t capable of supporting widespread agriculture, much less a giant city of these proportions. However, estimates suggest that the city was once home to somewhere around 60,000 people. The city isn’t just small buildings, either—some of their monuments are larger than the Egyptian pyramids.

7Shambhala

Shambhala is perhaps better known in the Western world as the fictional paradise it inspired, Shangri-la. According to Buddhist tradition, Shambhala is a hidden kingdom where Buddhist values and traditions rule. The utopian realm is also home to the Great Warrior Gesar, who leads hordes of the righteous who will eventually ride into the human world to combat our demons.

Many accounts of visiting Shambhala have been published. It’s said that Shambhala can be entered from long-forgotten outposts established by Alexander the Great, Russia’s Belukha, Afghanistan’s Sufi Sarmoun settlement and ancient city of Balkh, the border of Tibet in the Himalayas, and the Sutlej Valley in India. Heinrich Himmler was convinced that Shambhala was home to an Aryan race like the one the Nazis wanted to create and orchestrated seven expeditions to find it.

Entering Shambhala is more difficult than it seems, though. According to the Dalai Lama, the entrance will not appear to you until you’ve attained a state of purity on par with the mystical city. Many people believe that means the entrance is not a physical location but a state of mind, which means that all of the above entrances could be real.

6Yomi No Kune

Yomi No Kune is a part of Japanese mythology that predates the widespread belief in Buddhism. According to the myth, all of creation was the product of a god named Izanagi and his goddess sister-wife, Izanami. After Izanami died giving birth to fire, her heartbroken husband journeyed to the underworld to retrieve her.

In striking similarity to other myths, the determined husband discovered a dark and gloomy place where souls who retain their mortal bodies are condemned to rot for all eternity. Izanagi was forbidden to look at his wife until they reached the surface, but like his many mythological counterparts, he caught a glimpse of her rotting, maggot-ridden body. Enraged that he dared to look at her in that condition, Izanami sent ghoulish demons to chase him back into the underworld forever, but he escaped and sealed the entrance to Yomi No Kune with a giant boulder. In response, Izanami promised to take 1,000 lives to the underworld every day, and Izanagi promised to make 1,005 new ones.

Today, visitors to the Matsue area of Japan can visit the boulder that Izanagi is said to have used to seal off the underworld. Yomotsu Hirasaka, the official name for the entrance, is allegedly located behind one of the boulders near the Iya Shrine. It’s not clear exactly which boulder hides the entrance, which might be for the best. Izanami’s grave is also nearby, along with a shrine to her.

5Xibalba

At the height of its power, the Mayan Empire sprawled across Mexico and Central America, and its people’s belief in the otherworld was powerful. Their final resting place was Xibalba, which could only be entered by the dead and only after the soul faced a series of challenges, from crossing rivers of scorpions and pus to passing swarms of bats to following a dog that could see in the dark.

As we’ve mentioned before, there are several different entrances to Xibalba, and researchers have recently uncovered another one in the Yucatan Peninsula. The underground and partially underwater ruins are a massive maze of caverns that contain some grim indicators of what the Maya thought waited at the end.

Archaeologists have uncovered 11 different temples in the caves, along with evidence of human sacrifice. There are a number of artifacts that were left as offerings to the dead, including pottery, stone carvings, and ceramics. Archaeologists excavating the caves have also found massive stone columns and structures that were built underwater, a testament to the time, effort, and dedication it took to create the shrine. While it’s not clear whether the myth of Xibalba was constructed around the discovery of the caves or if the caves reinforced the myth, it’s certain that the two were connected.

4The Gates Of Guinee

According to voodoo tradition, the Gates of Guinee have something to do with the passage of the spirit from life into death. Since the traditions of voodoo vary wildly, so do descriptions of the gates. In the voodoo of New Orleans, the guinee are spirits that exist in the afterlife who are often consulted as one is passing from one life to the next. The Gates of Guinee are portals into that afterlife, comprised of seven gates. It takes seven days to pass through all of the gates, and if the spirit fails, they may return to Earth as a zombie.

Some voodoo practitioners believe that the seven gates are located in seven different cemeteries in New Orleans, although the exact location and numerical order of the gates is a closely guarded secret. Clues have allegedly been spread throughout the city and its cemeteries, left for those who are knowledgeable enough to decipher them, often taking the form of voodoo deities’ sigils.

The gates are supposedly the easiest to find and open around holidays like Mardi Gras and All Saints’ Day, but finding them is only the beginning of the problem. Gates have to be approached and opened in the correct order, and each one has a guardian who requires a suitable offering. Opening the gates in the wrong order or displeasing the guardians is said to allow angry, dangerous spirits to leave the otherworld and enter ours.

3The Garden Of Hesperides

According to Greek mythology, Gaia gave Hera a wedding gift of trees that bore golden apples, which were kept in the Garden of Hesperides for safekeeping. Hercules was tasked with stealing one of the apples as his eleventh labor, which he accomplished by taking the place of Atlas and holding up the Earth while the Titan fetched one of the golden fruits.

The entrance to the gardens was said to be located in modern-day Lixus, a coastal city in Morocco. Once a bustling Roman port, the walls and buildings of Lixus are now ruins. They include the remains of one of the city’s biggest industries, the manufacture of paste made from fermented fish guts. The location of the gardens is mentioned in a nautical text dating back to Hellenistic Greece, but other locations have also been proposed for the gardens, including Cyrene and one of the islands off the coast of Libya.

2Newgrange

Newgrange is a massive tomb that was built in Ireland’s Boyne Valley more than 5,000 years ago. It’s not only an impressive display of astronomical know-how but also one of the entrances to the Celtic otherworld. According to Celtic mythology, the gods traveled back and forth between the earthly realm and their own worlds through properly prepared and sanctified mounds like Newgrange.

Thought to be the entrance to a magnificent feasting hall for the so-called Lords of Light, Newgrange was said to lead to a land where no one ever died, aged, or grew sick. There was an infinite supply of food and drink as well as magical trees that continuously bore fruit. The oldest mythology surrounding Newgrange makes it the otherworldly home of the personification of the Boyne River and home to a well that was the source of all wisdom in the world. Trees near the well dropped their nuts into the water, which released the knowledge they contained into the human realm.

The next inhabitant of the otherworld associated with Newgrange was the Dagda, one of the oldest of the Irish gods, who is associated with knowledge, the Sun, and the sky. His son, Oengus, is closely tied to Newgrange, being born after a single day that was extended by the power of the mound to last nine months. Later, Oengus tricked the Dagda into giving him the portal tomb, which he is said to guard to this day.

1The Scholomance

The Scholomance is a mythical school whose existence was only passed down through Romanian folklore until it was recorded by an English author named Emily Gerard. According to Gerard, the Scholomance accepts 10 pupils at a time, who were taught by the devil himself. They learned all of his spells and tricks, including communicating with animals and controlling the weather. After the curriculum was completed, only nine students were released. The last one was kept by the devil as payment for the class, who sent him away to an infinitely deep lake where he lived until the devil needed him to make more thunderbolts.

Gerard’s version of Scholomance is slightly different from the traditional Romanian one, which is chalked up to a mistranslation. In Romanian folklore, it’s called the Solomanari, and it’s located in a world that exists parallel to our own. After reading Gerard’s work, Bram Stoker used the idea of the Scholomance in Dracula to explain how Dracula’s family learned their demonic skills.

The lake where the devil’s dragon-riding aide sleeps and the school where he teaches is said to be high in the Carpathian Mountains near Hermanstadt, which is allegedly plagued by daily thunderstorms. Those looking for the lake will know they’ve found it when they see the cairns that line the shores of the lake, markers where hapless travelers were struck down by the devil’s bolts.

+Luilekkerland

Luilekkerland, otherwise known as Cockaigne, was a utopian mythological city. Those fortunate enough to gain entry would find everything they could possibly want, especially when it came to food. Wall were made of great slabs of bacon, roofs of tarts and pancakes, and fences of sausages. Wine ran in all of the fountains, the rivers flowed with milk instead of water, and trees in Luilekkerland bore meat pies and fruit tarts instead of pinecones. Even the weather was made of food: Snow was made of sugar, and hail rained down in the form of sugared almonds. You could also literally make money in your sleep.

Unlike many mythical places, Luilekkerland wasn’t accessible only to those who were particularly good and righteous—you just had to be extremely hungry. In order to get there, you were told to head to North Hommelen, a city near northern France, and look for the gallows. The entrance, a massive mountain of porridge, would be unmistakable. Those who seek the city must eat their way through the mountain to get there, so a big appetite is required.

We may not realize it, but Google Maps has revolutionized our lives in more ways than one. Most of the apps we use wouldn’t be possible without their tech. We no longer have to rely on bystanders for navigation, and for the first time, we can actually see all the travel destinations we’d never be able to visit in high detail.

SEE ALSO: Top 10 Ways Google Does Evil

That being said, there have been times when Google Maps has managed to give us quite the creeps too. People have found some bizarre and mysterious stuff just looking through Google Maps and its Street View feature, ranging from harmlessly creepy to downright horrifying.

10 A Possible Scientology Base

Scientology is a weird mix of science and religion—with quite a bit of aliens thrown in—that we really don’t have the space to get into right now. We often hear bout it when a Hollywood celebrity gets associated with it, which is probably for the best as it’s all too complicated to understand.

What’s weird, however, is that there several sites around the U.S.A. and the world suspected to be Scientology bases. One of them is the Trementina Base in New Mexico, which is visible from Google maps. It’s just two overlapping circles with diamond shapes in their centers, and someone has clearly gone to great lengths to make it.

While most people thought that it was a facility meant to flag aliens making their way to Earth (or something), an ex-Scientologist denied the claim as that would be ridiculous. No, according to him, the facility actually has a sensible purpose, which is to guide other members towards L. Ron Hubbard’s works that have apparently been written on gold sheets and kept in titanium boxes.

9 Bodies in a Dumpster

Catching just a quick glimpse of this Google Maps image might be a bit disturbing. Have you stumbled across a town of murderers or cannibals? The moment seems to have occurred on trash collection day, with garbage cans lining the pavement at the side of the road. Among the bins, boxes, and generic rubbish, however, there are some rather creepy additions to the pile of unwanted goods. Stuffed into the cans or scattered at the side of the road is a collection of what has been described as “dead bodies.”

The user who came across this image described the scene, writing: “Google Street View captures a dumpster full of dead bodies in Chile!” Indeed, around six human-like figures can be seen among the rest of the trash. One is face down in front of the cans, and another stuffed upside down into a can with its legs flailing in the air. Slumped beside the third bin, one of the figures almost looks like it is sitting on the curb. Another body can be seen wedged into a can so that just its head and arms pop out. While the scene may have left users aghast—at first—on closer inspection, it seems these human forms might not be actual people. The color and fabric-like material they appear to be made from suggests they are actually mannequins.

8 Giant Disfigured Bunny

Imagine just browsing through Google Maps and accidentally running into a giant, disfigured pink bunny out of nowhere. Located in Northern Italy, its face is all out of shape and visibly screaming, giving the whole thing an even more unsettling vibe. If you stumble upon it, you may assume that your app is glitching or that someone actually went to great lengths to build a giant creepy bunny for people looking from above. Fortunately, it’s the latter, and it doesn’t involve the occult.

In reality, the bunny is a part of an art installation by a Viennese collective and is meant to serve as a hangout spot for visitors. One of the members says that it’s supposed to be a huge thing that makes you feel small, which it probably does if you see it up close. From afar, though, it has that look of an abandoned, mangled bunny that so many horror movies begin with.

7 Nogoro, Japan

If you’re ever exploring the Japanese countryside on Maps, the chances are that you’ll stumble upon the sparsely-populated village of Nogoro. From a distance, it may look like it’s full of people casually chilling around all over town. Zoom in a bit, and you’ll realize they’re actually lifeless dolls. We hope you didn’t do this when you were all alone at night.

The village is actually on its way to being completely abandoned, as its residents keep leaving it for better opportunities in the cities. The dolls are made by a woman named Ayano Tsukimi as a tribute to its departed, which is inexplicably the only way she could come up with to do that. We don’t know about you, but knowing that all of those dolls represent someone who is now dead does raise the creepy factor of the whole thing for us.

6 Underwater Pyramids

While we’re strictly against conspiracy theories (unless they’re creepy or awesome), mysterious locations found on Google Maps have done their part in giving credence to many of them. One of them is the underwater pyramid found on Google Maps in the Bahamas.

Many tabloids and conspiracy-lovers hailed the discovery as proof of aliens, Atlantis, and a wide variety of other things that probably aren’t real. It was found by a conspiracy theorist, too, though that doesn’t mean that the structure doesn’t actually exist. Some experts believe that it may have been something built by an ancient civilization, though they also admit that there’s no way to disprove that it’s not a secret alien base.

5 Pigeon People

If you explore the streets of West Tokyo on Maps, you may run into a row of people just standing and looking at you. They may come across as people just staring at the Google’s Street View crew out of curiosity, except all of them have their pigeon masks on. Aside from the legitimate question of “where did they even get so many pigeon masks to begin with”—it’s all rather inexplicable and unsettling.

As it turns out, the pigeon people were locals who knew about the Google crew and wanted to appear in the final photo of the street. It’s all rather harmless and fun, provided you know the explanation.

4 Abandoned Gas Masks

Exploring Pripyat in Ukraine—the site of the worst nuclear disaster in history—is a horrifying experience in general. It is now a ghost town with abandoned buildings that won’t be inhabited again for a long, long time to come. And it has that dilapidated look we here at thoroughly love.

However, the creepiest sight in the whole town has to be the room full of abandoned masks, which is saying a lot in a town full of creepy sights. We don’t know if it’s so disturbing because there are so many of them or that they’re child-sized and located inside an abandoned school.

3 El Bronx , Colombia

El Bronx in Bogota, Colombia, had managed to earn the reputation of one of the most dangerous places in the city before it was demolished. One of the most crime-riddled regions in the country, it certainly didn’t make for a nice walk at night, or any time of the day, really.

While the area doesn’t exist anymore, Google’s Street View Crew managed to capture it at the peak of its glory. Unfortunately, what may look like normal streets of a slum are made multiple times more horrifying if you knew that the neighborhood was known for child prostitution and murder. Some of those buildings also housed murder victims at times, who were then fed to starving dogs as a message to rival gangs.

2Ariel Castro’s Blurred-Out House

When it comes to highly-publicized, gruesome acts of crime, very few cases manage to grip national conscience like that of Ariel Castro. He kidnapped three women and kept them hostage for over nine years and was only arrested when one of them escaped with her six-year-old child (whom she conceived and gave birth to while in captivity). Castro was charged with multiple counts of rape, aggravated murder, kidnapping, and attempted murder, among others.

So, how is it related to map locations? The house Castro kept the women in could be seen on Google Street View. Except now, it’s completely blurred out. We’d say that it’d have been equally creepy if the house was just there, but seeing it blurred out because of the seriousness of the crime somehow makes it even more disturbing.

1 Murder Victim

For those who’ve always wondered if Google Maps has ever accidentally recorded a serious crime, we’re here to tell you that—yes, it has. The case in question was of a 14-year-old boy in Richmond, California, whose dead body showed up on Google Maps. It was seen with police cars and a bunch of detectives standing around, suggesting that it was taken after the body was found.

Understandably, the images brought back some emotions for the victim’s father, who immediately requested Google to remove the image. It was gone from their maps within days, though it does make us wonder if Google Maps still has accidental images of other serious crimes around the world.

About The Author: You can check out Himanshu’s stuff at Cracked and Screen Rant, or get in touch with him for writing gigs.

Famous landmarks and other locations around the world draw millions of tourists every year. Even now after lockdown, many of these places can still be toured virtually, cementing their overwhelming popularity.

Every so often, however, a landmark also becomes infamous as the location where someone was spotted or encountered for the very last time before they seemingly disappeared into thin air.

10 Truly Bizarre And Chilling Cases Of Mass Disappearances

10 George Penca Jr.
Last Seen: Upper Yosemite Falls Trail

On a beautiful June day in 2011, 30-year-old George Penca Jr. went hiking with around 20 members of his 80-strong church group. They decided to hike the Upper Yosemite Falls trail. But when they trekked back down, George was no longer with the group.

Assuming that he’d hiked back to the Yosemite Valley floor, his friends only reported George missing at 9:00 PM when it became apparent that he was nowhere to be found. At the time of his disappearance, George was dressed casually in sweatpants, a T-shirt, and running shoes. He was carrying a bag containing minimal food and water.

A full-scale search and rescue operation got underway first thing the next morning. Approximately 105 people, several helicopters, and six search and rescue dogs scoured the area for about a week without finding any clues or trace of Penca.^[1]

In 2020, there is still no information as to what may have happened to Penca. His remains, clothing, and bag have never been located.

9 Carla Valpeoz
Last Seen: Machu Picchu

In December 2018, 35-year-old Carla Valpeoz, who is legally blind, traveled from her home in Detroit to Peru to attend a wedding. While there, she tried to tour Machu Picchu. But she was denied entry due to her low vision.

A tour group offered to help her explore the site. Carla and members of the group stayed together the whole day and then went dancing at a club. They returned to the Pariwana Hostel, where they were all staying, at around 4:00 AM on December 12.

Later, Carla texted a new friend from the tour group that she was going to explore the city that morning. Then she disappeared.

According to her brother, Carlos Valpeoz Jr., a female member of the tour group said that she had awakened around 9:30 AM and noticed that Carla and all her belongings were gone. Around this time, security officers and a receptionist had seen Carla getting into a taxi.

The taxi driver was located, and he told police that he had dropped Carla off at a Cusco bus terminal as she wanted to further explore the city. The last information that Carla’s family and friends received is that a man working at the entrance to Machu Picchu saw Carla there and she looked well.^[2]

Shortly after Carla’s disappearance, her father and brother started traveling Peru looking for her. To date, no evidence about Carla’s fate has been found.

In 2019, police investigating her disappearance expressed doubt that Carla ever made it to Machu Picchu on December 12, 2018, despite the park employee claiming that he saw her on that day.

It is believed that the case is still open. However, there is some speculation that she was victimized by criminals but has now been found and quietly returned to her parents.

8 Tinashe Chitambo
Last Seen: Victoria Falls Rain Forest

In March 2012, 25-year-old Tinashe Chitambo visited Victoria Falls with his sister. The duo decided to have lunch at Shearwater Restaurant. Afterward, Tinashe told his sister that he was going back to the falls for another tour.

Shortly after Tinashe left, a tourist approached a security ranger and said that he had spotted a man loitering around the falls. A team was sent out to investigate but didn’t find the man, who was later suspected to have been Tinashe.^[3]

He never returned to the restaurant where his sister was waiting for him. A police spokesperson explained that they couldn’t eliminate explanations such as suicide and Tinashe’s “[possession] by evil spirits.”

The suicide ruling has yet to be confirmed as Tinashe’s body was never found.

7 Gavin Cusi Octaviano
Last Seen: Golden Gate Bridge

On November 21, 2018, 22-year-old Gavin Octaviano traveled to San Francisco to spend Thanksgiving Day with his family and celebrate his birthday. On November 23, Gavin took a family member’s car and drove to the Golden Gate Bridge. He parked the vehicle in the northern parking lot at 5:20 PM.^[4]

Just over four hours later, a motorist almost hit Gavin, who was walking near the Golden Gate Bridge tunnel. According to the driver, Gavin seemed to be under the influence.

Gavin was never seen again.

On November 28, after seeing Gavin’s photograph on a missing person’s poster, the motorist contacted the young man’s family to tell them about the encounter. Devastated family members spent several days searching on and around the bridge to find clues as to what may have happened to Gavin. He is still missing in 2020.

6 Mujuet Bales
Last Seen: Central Park

In April 1994, Joseph Bales took his two-month-old baby girl, Mujuet, to Central Park and promptly fell asleep on a park bench for a few minutes while the baby lay beside him. His wife and other daughter, four-year-old Priscilla, were exploring the west side of the park.

When Joseph awoke, Mujuet was gone. Her carrier stood around 305 meters (1,000 ft) away from the bench. For some reason, Joseph and his wife, Helena, who were French-Canadian tourists, didn’t report Mujuet’s disappearance for 20 hours. Until then, they returned to their Manhattan hotel and waited. Later, the couple told police that they had delayed for so long because neither of them spoke English.^[5]

As the police investigated the suspicious story, they learned that the couple had crossed into the US from Canada with only one child, Priscilla. When confronted with this information, Joseph and Helena decided to come clean.

Ten days earlier, Mujuet had been found dead in her crib in Canada. Due to earlier allegations of child abuse about a foster child at their home, Joseph and Helena wanted to avoid any further allegations of abuse. So they threw the baby’s body in a nearby woods in Quebec and traveled to the US to pretend that the child had disappeared in Central Park.

Mujuet’s body was recovered, but the cause of death was unclear according to newspaper accounts at the time.

Top 10 Extremely Unsettling Disappearances

5 Tylee Ryan And J.J. Vallow
Last Seen: Yellowstone National Park (Ryan) And Kennedy Elementary School (Vallow)

In what has turned out to be an incredibly confusing and tragic missing persons case, siblings Tylee Ryan and J.J. Vallow disappeared without a trace in September 2019.^[6]

Seventeen-year-old Tylee was seen for the last time with her family at Yellowstone National Park on September 8, 2019. Seven-year-old J.J. was last seen at Kennedy Elementary School on September 23, 2019. Despite all this, their mother, Lori Vallow, got married on November 5, 2019, to Chad Daybell (whose late wife had died in October 2019).

When Idaho police tried to conduct a welfare check on J.J. on November 26, Lori told them that J.J. was with other family members in Arizona. That story unraveled fast as the police investigated. By the time officers returned on November 27, Lori’s home in Idaho had been abandoned. Days later, Lori and Chad quietly slipped away to Hawaii where they lived in a rental townhome.

The investigations into the disappearances of Tylee and J.J. were made public on December 20, 2019. Lori missed a court-ordered deadline to produce the children on January 30, 2020. On February 10, it was reported that police had found Tylee’s cell phone with Lori’s belongings in Hawaii.

On February 20, Lori Vallow was arrested by Kauai police and ultimately charged with multiple counts related to these disappearances. Shortly before her arrest, it became known that Lori and her husband were convinced that Tylee and J.J. were possessed and had become zombies as a result.

On June 9, 2020, police discovered the remains of Tylee and J.J. in the backyard of Chad Daybell’s home in Salem, Idaho. J.J.’s body was wrapped in plastic and duct tape. Tylee’s body had been dismembered and set on fire.

Daybell is also facing charges in connection with the deaths of these two children.

4 Karl-Erivan Haub
Last Seen: Klein Matterhorn, Swiss Alps

In April 2018, German billionaire Karl-Erivan Haub went skiing on the Klein Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps. An experienced skier, Haub was by himself at the time of his disappearance. He was training for an upcoming race. When he didn’t return from the glacier-shrouded peak, he was reported missing.^[7]

A full-scale search operation was launched but to no avail. Over two years later, what happened to Haub is still unclear as no trace of him has ever been found.

The last sighting of the billionaire was at the mountain station of the gondola lift. There is no active search at this point. According to the general consensus, Haub probably fell into a crevasse. So it is unlikely that his body will be recovered.

The full truth behind his disappearance remains to be discovered.

3 Floyd Roberts III
Last Seen: The Grand Canyon

On June 17, 2016, Floyd Roberts III, 52, set off to the western part of the Grand Canyon with his friend Ned Bryant and Ned’s daughter Madeleine. After splitting from Ned and his daughter and using a different route to climb a hill, Floyd became one of the many missing hikers at the Grand Canyon.

Floyd and Ned had been friends since childhood and had gone on regular hikes together for over 20 years. The hiking party had planned a nine-day trip, which started with them camping by a river.

When they reached the fateful hill on the first day, Ned and Madeleine opted to climb over it. But Floyd decided to go around it. They arranged to meet at a point on the other side of the hill.^[8]

As Ned and Madeleine waited for Floyd, they became anxious when he didn’t turn up. They camped for the night and then walked to an area where they had cell phone reception. There, they reported Floyd missing on June 18 at 3:00 PM. The initial search lasted for six days but was scaled back on June 24.

Searchers found no clues or evidence that Floyd had somehow fallen, and there was no trace of him or his backpack. The case went cold very quickly but remains open.

2 Ben Trommels
Last Seen: Niagara Falls, Ontario

Twenty-four-year-old Ben Trommels lived alone in an apartment in the north end of Niagara Falls, Ontario, in 2016. The young man was troubled and had been struggling with mental health issues for at least three years at that point.

On February 11, 2016, Ben went grocery shopping with his mother. While they were talking, Ben said something that would haunt his mother for years to come.

As they were walking in the store, Ben said, “I’m tired of it all.” This occurred after conversations in which Ben had declared that he wanted to jump down the falls and never be found as he felt that he was a burden to his mother.^[9]

In the early hours of February 12, 2016, Ben Trommels left his Niagara Falls apartment and vanished into the night. His mother, Monique Smith, only realized four days later that her son was missing. Volunteers searched the falls, but no sign of Ben was found.

More than four years later, Monique is none the wiser when it comes to Ben’s fate. However, she believes that he made good on his promise to take his own life.

1 Prabhdeep Srawn
Last Seen: Kosciuszko National Park

Bushwalker Prabhdeep “Prabh” Srawn, 25, rented a van in Sydney on May 13, 2013, and signed an agreement that obligated him to return the vehicle in Melbourne two days later. Security footage showed him entering a convenience store near Jindabyne later that day.

Prabh drove to and parked near the Charlotte Pass Ski Resort staff quarters on May 14, 2013. He was seen heading toward the Main Range Trail carrying some food and a cell phone.^[10]

The day started out bright and sunny. However, around noon, the temperature dropped significantly and snow started falling hard and fast. Other bushwalkers reported that the trail was difficult to see in spots because of the deep snow.

The first sign that Prabh was likely in trouble on the trail came when a caretaker at the resort noticed that the rental van was still parked in the same spot on May 18, 2013. A search and rescue operation lasted about two weeks. Then Prabh’s family launched extensive private searches in a desperate attempt to find him.

Employees and a skier in the Little Austria area reported that they heard what sounded like a human voice calling out on May 22, 2013. A helicopter search was commenced in the area, but nothing was found.

Even after the snow melted, there was still no sign of Prabh. After spending over $200,000 on private searches, Prabh’s family was forced to call off their efforts in October 2013.

Prabh was declared dead in June 2015 despite no trace of him having ever been found. His family still hopes for a miracle.

10 Baffling Disappearances That Remain Unsolved

It’s 2021 and the world has changed. But the beauty of Earth’s most mysterious locations remains. These places are steeped in history and legend and make for mesmerizing photographs. Some which are easily accessible have become tourist fodder, while the ones that are harder to reach remain somewhat hidden away except for a series of images taken and posted online by a brave explorer. On this list are just some of the mysterious places around the world, some so extraordinarily stunning that it’s hard to believe the images are real.

10 Ancient Magical Spells That People Actually Believed

10 Rakotzbrücke

The enchanting Rakotzbrücke is any Instagrammer’s dream. This man-made, semi-circle bridge is located in Kromlau Park, Saxony, Germany and has been given the nickname ‘Devil’s Bridge’ because of the mythical stories surrounding it. The bridge has become widely popular over recent years because of the illusion of a perfect circle created when it reflects just the right way in the lake below, giving it a truly other-worldly look.

Legend has it that devil’s bridges such as Rakotzbrücke, were built with the help of the devil himself in exchange for the soul of the first person who crosses it. In the case of the Saxony Devil’s Bridge, the superstitious are of the opinion that humans could not have accomplished the delicate arch and therefore the devil must have been the one who built it. Devil’s bridges are characteristically constructed from stone and include masonic arches. Some believe that Rakotzbrücke becomes a portal to another world when the reflection completes the bridge’s circle and a full moon shines brightly overhead. Looking sideways while crossing through the ‘perfect circle’ will cause the devil to appear in the water where he waits for the next soul to drag with him to hell…^[1]

9 Mount Roraima

Known as the ‘floating island of Venezuela’, Mount Roraima is a flat-topped mountain (tepui) located at the point where Brazil, Venezuela and Guyana meet.
Long before anyone even thought of hiking up Mount Roraima, the Pemón Indians living nearby regarded it as an unmissable part of world history. According to legend, a great tree that bore fruits and crops for the Earth was cut down by an ancestor of the ancient Indians. The tree caused a huge flood after crashing to the ground and its trunk was the only thing left after the incident. The legend further has it that the trunk is Mount Roraima and that the rivers flowing into it are the territory of these ancient people.

Since the advent of hikers and tourists, there have also been multiple reports of UFO sightings with people reportedly having seen strange lights above Mount Roraima. Others have reported experiencing an altered state of mind while visiting the site, and even having bizarre dreams of aliens.^[2]

8 Sedona Vortices

Sacred sites dot the map worldwide. Along with some of these sites, those who are curious might also find vortexes or vortices. These are ‘special spots’ where energy is said to either enter the earth or project outwards from its plane. Some of the most well-known and hugely popular vortex sites include Glastonbury in southwestern England, Stonehenge in Wiltshire, The Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt and the Mayan Ruins in Tulum, Mexico.

America lays claim to major energy vortices in the city of Sedona, Arizona. Those who take the supposed power of vortices to heart, flock to Sedona in droves, in search of spiritual healing. The most visited site is the Airport Mesa Vortex where people are encouraged to hike the strenuous path to the top and enjoy the spectacular views while looking out for colored orbs. It is believed that the Airport Mesa Vortex is an Upflow area that enables your spirit to soar to greater levels of serenity.

The other vortices include Cathedral Rock Vortex, Bell Rock Vortex and Boynton Canyon Vortex.^[3]

7 Tianmen Mountain

Tianmen Mountain in China is regarded as a holy mountain. Its sacred reputation has been strengthened by the ‘Stairway to Heaven’ that comprises of 999 steps leading to Tianmen Cave; the world’s highest naturally formed arch. Tianmen Cave is where ‘the gods meet the mortal world’ according to Chinese legend and it attracts millions of visitors every year. It is believed that erosion caused by water and soil led to the formation of the cave.

There are six mysteries believed to surround Tianmen Mountain: the exact origin of the Tianmen Cave, a ghost picture taken of ancient religious master, Guigu, turbulent waters in the left cliff of the Tianmen Cave, treasure supposedly still buried somewhere around the mountain, the secret turning of the Tianmen Cave and the sightings of the Auspicious Unicorn within the primitive forests surrounding the mountain.^[4]

6 Devil’s Pool

Devil’s Pool in Queensland, Australia is as deadly as it is stunning. Large boulders, called the Babinda Boulders, fill the creek bed. Legend has it that a young woman named Oolana from the local Yindinji Tribe, broke her promise to stay married to a tribal elder, choosing to run away with a young warrior, Dyga, from another tribe. The couple were captured and Dyga was taken away by the elders. In her despair, Oolana threw herself into the Devil’s Pool and her sobs became the torrents rushing through it. To this day, locals believe that Oolana still haunts the pool, dragging unsuspecting men to their death.

Since 1959 there have been 19 deaths at Devil’s Pool of which 17 were men who drowned. Aboriginal locals tell the story of a young man who vanished beneath the water after kicking at a plaque that commemorates those who have died. In another story, two lovers stood together on the rock platform overlooking the pool when an errant ‘wave’ swept them both into the water. The girl survived but her male partner did not.^[5]

5 Castlerigg Stone Circle

Near Keswick in Cumbria, North West England, stands a circle of 38 Neolithic stones. The circle is thought to have been constructed as part of a megalithic tradition during the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Ages. To date there have been no extensive excavations at the site and it remains unclear what may be buried beneath the surface and perhaps between the stones.

Much like the other stone circles to be found in the UK, it is not clear exactly what the purpose of the Castlerigg stone circle was. Experts are not convinced that it was a burial site, with some believing it may have been aligned with lunar cycles.

English poet and philosopher, Samuel Coleridge, mentioned the Castlerigg circle in his writings in 1799, saying “The Mountains stand one behind the other, in orderly array, as if evoked by and attentive to the assembly of white-vested Wizards.”^[6]

4 Underwater waterfall

In the grand scheme of history, Mauritius is a relatively young island which sits on an ocean shelf that is raised over seabed level. Off the coast of the island known as Le Morne Peninsula, various shades of blue can be observed in a gradual slope that drops off into a 4000-meter deep ‘abyss.’ Because of the constant movement of sand and silt along these shaded slopes, an optical illusion of an underwater waterfall has been created.

The exact site of this illusion was once the center of a local legend. In 1835, slavery was abolished in Mauritius, and authorities were sent to a community of runaway slaves to give them the good news. Unfortunately, the slaves misinterpreted the sudden arrival of the policemen and instantly made the decision to run to the cliffs overlooking the ocean and jump into the water, committing mass suicide. This tale has been become woven into the fabric of the background story of the ‘waterfall’ with some believing that the spirits of the dead slaves are responsible for the spectacular optical illusion.^[7]

3 Skyscraper City

Even though Madagascar is the world’s fourth largest island, it still took humans 300,000 years to discover. As highlighted by the animated film, Madagascar, it is home to dozens of lemur species and more than half the world’s chameleons. It is here that you will find the Avenue of the Baobabs as well as Skyscraper City, aka the world’s largest stone forest. The ‘forest’ is made up of limestone spiky grey rocks known as Tsingy, which means ‘’walk on tiptoes.” Its origins date back to 200 million years ago when tectonic activity pushed a limestone bed upward from the bottom of a lagoon. Falling sea levels allowed the pushed-up stone plateau to become exposed and over time the ‘forest’ came into being.

There are several walkways and bridges that allow tourists to get up close to the stony wonder, without hurting their feet on the sharp rocks. And while it may seem like a completely inhospitable environment, you will find 11 different species of lemur here.^[8]

2 The Tree on the Lake

The aptly named Fairy Lake in Canada is famous for more than its glittering waters and tranquil atmosphere. Out of its still surface protrudes one end of a dead Douglas fir tree log. On top of the log grows another tiny Douglas fir tree, the log as its only source of nutrients. The little tree is in a continuous struggle to survive and this has inspired many a photographer to document it on film.

Every so often, the water of the lake rises, and covers the tree stump making the little tree look like its floating just above the surface. Tourists have taken to calling the tree the “Fairy Bonsai” and often line up in the logging road next to the lake to catch a glimpse of it.^[9]

1 Skellig Michael

Skellig Michael is an island off the coast of Kerry, Ireland which was used as a location in the filming of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The publicity did wonders for tourist numbers and by November 2015 the island had received its highest number of overseas visitors ever.

Skellig Michael, which means ‘Michael’s Rock’, is also home to a 1400-year-old preserved monastery. There are two oratories, a cemetery, and a monolithic cross on the island. Evidence shows that the island had been attacked by Vikings several times which could have caused the monks that lived in the monastery, to flee to the mainland. To ensure the further preservation of the fragile monastery, limits have recently been placed on the number of tourists allowed to visit it.^[10]

10 Fascinating Magical Traditions From Around The World

Earth is more than just a fuzzy blue and green ball floating in space. Our planet houses more than 7,5 billion people, spinning all of us through four seasons each year while providing us with magical views of oceans, mountains, valleys and more. There are a host of mysterious locations around the world, some extensively explored and explained by experts, others holding on to their mysteries. On this list are just some of the lesser talked-about locations on Earth, all surrounded by fascinating stories and theories.

10 Of The World’s Last Unexplored Places

10 Masuda-no-Iwafune

Referred to as the ‘birthplace’ of Japan, Asuka village lies within the hills of the Nara Prefecture of Kansai, Japan. The village dates to the Tumulus Period and is home to several Buddhist temples and shrines.

The hills surrounding Asuka hold several stone monuments not built in the same style as the Buddhist sculptures, and their origins remain a mystery. The biggest of these has been named Masuda-no-Iwafune and is around 15 feet in height, weighing 800 tons. The stone has two square holes carved through it and is similar in construction to Ishi-no-Hoden, another ancient megalith in Japan.

While some believe that Buddhists may have carved the rock or that it was done in commemoration of Masuda Lake, the most popular theory surrounding the mysterious rock is that it may have been used as an astronomical observation point. The ridge line across the top of the rock runs parallel to the mountain ridge in the village and furthermore lines up with the sunset on a particular day of the year called “spring doyou entry.” This day historically indicated the beginning of the agricultural season and was of importance in the lunar calendar. ‘’Spring doyou entry” also occurs 13 days after the sectional solar term ‘Pure Brightness’, but the majority of experts don’t believe that any of this indicated that the rock could have been used for astronomical observation, leaving the rock’s purpose shrouded in mystery.^[1]

9 Dubrovnik’s islands

The city of Dubrovnik lies on the coast of the Adriatic Sea and accommodation here offers panoramic ocean views including several islands; the closest of which are Lokrum and Daksa. Day trips to Lokrum island are popular amongst tourist and locals, but no overnight stays are available and is discouraged. Daksa has been studiously avoided by both residents of Dubrovnik as well as visitors and tourists.

Long-standing legends have it that a community of Benedictine monks were chased from Lokrum by Napoleon’s forces in 1798, which led to the monks cursing the island before leaving it. They did so by walking the perimeter of the island three times, carrying lighted candles upside-down and leaving a trail of melted wax while chanting that those who wanted to claim Lokrum for their own pleasure would be damned. Fifty years later the younger brother of Emperor Franz Josef, Habsburg Royal Maximilian, bought Lokrum and established several gardens including exotic trees and imported birds. His story turned dark however, after he was executed by the Republicans and his wife slowly lost her mind after the death of her beloved husband. Visitors to the island today can still enjoy the trees planted by Maximilian and walk alongside brightly colored flowerbeds while keeping an eye out for friendly peacocks.

Daksa was also inhabited by monks in medieval times. By 1944, Partisans were rounding up Fascist sympathisers and took scores of them over to Daksa where they were executed. Those who stayed behind in Dubrovnik were warned not to try and find their loved ones or what remained of them. This led to several rumors of ghosts and hauntings on Daksa.

The rumors were further fuelled by the discovery of 53 bodies on the island in 2009, all of which were reburied in a newly constructed burial plot.^[2]

8 Papakolea Beach

Hawaii is a dream destination with white sand beaches, crystal clear waters, frequent rainbows, and green mountains. On this magnificent island state, you will also find red, black, and green sand beaches. Papakolea Beach on Big Island is one of only four green sand beaches in the world. Aptly named Green Sand Beach, the sand color was created by olivine crystals left behind by lava. The beach itself is carved from the side of a volcano, Mauna Loa, which also happens to be the world’s largest volcano.

The ocean washes away the lighter sand, leaving behind the heavier olivine, ensuring the deep green hue. Olivine is also known as the Hawaiian Diamond and mixed with glass and black pyroxene it makes up the volcanic material of Green Sand Beach.

To deter visitors from taking some of the green sand home with them, a legendary curse has been dreamed up, allegedly by park rangers. The legend has it that if anyone takes the sand home with them, bad luck will befall them immediately. Their misfortune would include accidents and family tragedies. Only returning the sand to the beach would stop the bad luck.

This legend caused many a superstitious tourist to mail the sand that they had taken back to the National Park Service out of fear that the curse would get them. Along with green sand, people also mail or fly back lava rocks as well as black and red sand.^[3]

7 Eye of the Sahara

The Eye of the Sahara, better known as the Richat Structure, lies near Quadane in west-central Mauritania. Even though it is a massive geologic formation, it wasn’t truly studied until humans spotted it from space, even though it was first described between the 30s and 40s. When photographs taken during the Gemini IV mission were published, scientists initially thought the strange ring structure was an impact crater. However, research didn’t reveal sufficient melted rock for that theory to hold up.

Several other theories followed, including a wacky claim that the Eye is proof that Atlantis existed in Africa. It has been concluded that the Eye is a geologic dome and contains rocks that are at least 100 million years old. Geologists now also believe that the Eye formed over 100 million years ago when Pangaea was torn apart and the continents of Africa and South America split up. It is also believed that the Eye erupted just after this creating the ‘look’ the structure has today.^[4]

6 Hermit Island

In Lake Superior you will find the beautiful Apostle Islands: 22 in total. It is believed that humans have inhabited the islands as early as 100 BC with full time settlers arriving around 950 AD. The name Apostle Islands was thought up by historian, Pierre Francois Xavier de Charlevoix who named them after the 12 apostles (indicating the largest 12 of the islands).

One of the islands, Hermit Island, is known to have been visited by Native Americans and the first recorded white settler was William Wilson who lived his life as a hermit there after being expelled from La Pointe in the 1850s. Wilson and John Bell had a falling out after Wilson threatened to kick Bell’s dog. Bell challenged Wilson to a fist fight, the consequence being that the loser would have to leave Madeleine Island where they both lived at the time.

As fate would have it, Wilson lost the fight and left for Hermit Island. Wilson made some money on the island by crafting barrels for the fishing industry but lived his life alone. In 1861, a man named Benjamin G. Armstrong who had previously assisted Wilson in purchasing a barrel of whiskey, realized that no smoke had come from Wilson’s island home in a few days. He let the then magistrate, John Bell, know of the situation and Bell sent a convoy to investigate.

Entering his small home, they found Wilson dead on the floor, surrounded by evidence pointing to murder.

Naturally, rumors of William Wilson’s ghost roaming the island soon followed. His restless spirit was said to have been the reason that a mansion built on the island in 1895 was never inhabited by its owners and reduced to rubble by the 1930s.^[5]

Top 10 Places You Can’t Go?utm_source=seealso&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=direct

5 Zone of Silence

Also described as the Mexican Bermuda Triangle, the Zone of Silence in the Chihuahuan desert in northern Mexico might only measure 50 kilometres across, but it has cemented its place as one of the most mysterious places on Earth.

When people drive into the Zone, radio signals stop working and compasses go haywire. In 1970 an Athena rocket launched from a US air force base in Green River, Utah, was meant to come down near White Sands in New Mexico. Something went drastically wrong and the rocket crashed 400 miles to the south in the Zone of Silence in the early hours of the morning. The crash led to the establishing of the Mapimi Biosphere Reserve by the Mexican government a few years later.

After the recovery operation by the US Air Force, paranormal stories about the Zone started making the rounds, including claims of strange lights, unexplained beings, fireballs, and UFOs. Some have claimed to have encountered blond aliens who ask for water in Spanish and then disappear into thin air.^[6]

4 Saalfeld fairy grottoes

The Saalfeld fairy grottoes in Germany were named the “most colorful cave grottoes in the world” by the Guinness Book of World Records. The caves were once a mining pit called Jeremias Luck in which miners mined black alum shale. After the mine was eventually closed, the remaining caves were transformed into a fairytale world over time with stunning colors dotting its formations.

The grottoes were largely forgotten however, after the closure of the mine, but became popular again after its ‘rediscovery’ in 1910. In 1913 a third chamber was discovered, and tours were offered to the public in 1914. These tours were halted when WWI broke out. In the decades that followed millions of tourists have visited these grottoes. Legend has it that during its mining days, some miners saw a fairy inside one of the caves. They approached the fairy and she disappeared. From this incident the grottoes are said to have earned their magical name.^[7]

3 The Seven-Colored Earth of Chamarel

Mauritius is well-visited because of its pristine beaches, wonderful culture, and fantastic tourist attractions. One of the most beloved attractions on this beautiful island is the ‘seven-colored earth’ of Chamarel. This geological curiosity consists of a small, bare landscape that displays shades of purple, yellow, red, brown, green, blue, and violet and is located inside a dense forest. It is known that the bedrock of the landscape was formed after a volcanic eruption, and that the colors are due to the formation of secondary iron oxides and hydroxides in the weathered basalt.

When first gazing upon the Chamarel attraction, it seems as though there are shadows that create the illusion of several different colors. However, once you go closer to the colored earth, you realize that the colors are real and that the shadows are the real illusion. What’s more, even when you can mix the different colored sand together, it will always settle back into separate layers.^[8]

2 New York’s Eternal Flame

The eternal flame in Eternal Flame Falls in Chestnut Ridge Park, New York, is not the only one in the world, but it is certainly the most unique. Legend has it that a Native American lit the flame hundreds of years ago and that the flame has been burning ever since. Technically, the flame has had to be re-lit several times when it is extinguished by the waterfall cascading past it. Hikers carry lighters with them for this very purpose.

The flame burns because of a natural gas leak seeping through the rock of the small grotto it is located in. The gas has a higher concentration of ethane and propane than any of the other eternal flames around the world. And while geologists are still puzzled as to how the NY eternal flame is continuously defying the laws of nature, seeing as how the rock beneath the flame is nowhere near the boiling temperature which is needed to release the natural gas, they have theorized that the gas may be coming from a source 1,300 feet below the surface. They also believe that this process may be the result of an undiscovered geologic process caused by the production of the natural gas within shale rock.^[9]

1 The Chocolate Hills – Philippines

In the Philippines, as many as 1776 hills take on a golden-brown color during the summer season and have been given the name ‘Chocolate Hills.’ Often referred to as the ‘Eighth Wonder of the World’ the Chocolate Hills is one of a kind, even though there are similar mounds on the island Java in Indonesia as well. The Indonesia mounds have a less ‘uniform’ appearance compared to the Philippines mounds, however.

Legend has it that a giant cried over love gone wrong and the hills sprung up where his tears fell. Another legend says that two giants engaged in their own personal war with one another and heaved boulders at one another for days on end. When they eventually buried the hatchet, the boulders remained, becoming the Chocolate Hills we know today.

Geologists believe the hills were formed due to the erosion of limestones that had shifted above sea level and fractured because of tectonic processes. Some theorize that the hills may have been coral reefs that erupted from the water after a geologic shift.^[10]

Top 10 Amazing Places You Can Visit (In Minecraft)

Treasure. There is a world of imagination in just that one word. It conjures up a hint of possibility and a whole lot of excitement.

Treasure hunting is a popular activity around the world, especially in locations such as Oak Island, Nova Scotia which is rumored to be the place one might find the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail, supposedly buried there by the Knights Templar. Numerous attempts have been made to locate these items, as well as pirate treasure and even Shakespearean manuscripts thought to also be hidden somewhere on the island. None of these attempts have yielded anything other than miscellaneous artifacts, but that hasn’t dampened the excitement of what might lie just around another corner.

On this list are some more long-lost treasures around the world and the places they could possibly be discovered in.

10 Legendary Treasures Still Waiting To Be Found

10 The Florentine Diamond

The stunning light-yellow Florentine Diamond was once part of the Crown Jewels of Austria and the pride of the Medici Family. Its worth in modern times has been estimated to be around $20 million, even though it was once sold for a mere 2 francs by a soldier who took it off the lifeless body of Charles the Bold in 1477.

The diamond has nine sharply-cut sides, originated in India and is said to have been cut by Flemish jeweller Lodewyk van Bercken. After the diamond was sold for glass by the aforementioned soldier, it passed through many hands before it ended up being displayed in Vienna as part of the Austrian Crown Jewels.

The stone was stolen in October 1918 along with Queen Elizabeth’s diamond crown, rings, necklaces and more valuable gems. The trail of the Florentine diamond ended in 1919 after a lawyer, Bruno Steiner, who was entrusted to keep the stone safe disappeared with it. When Steiner was eventually tracked down in 1923, he denied having the diamond saying that Charles I of Austria had sold it to regain the throne. He died in 1930 without the diamond ever having been found.

Rumors abounded that the diamond had been smuggled into South America, while yet more rumors had it that the gem had been re-cut or even cut into smaller diamonds and sold on the international diamond market. These days, there is no telling where the diamond could be, but the search is still on in the USA for a hopeful few who are chasing the dream of being the discoverer of this rare diamond.

9 Jesse James’ gold

Jesse James was not a nice guy. He and his brother Frank committed horrible acts against unarmed Union soldiers, and participated in the Centralia Massacre in 1864. When the Civil War ended the brothers became common criminals, robbing stagecoaches, trains and even banks across the Midwest. Jesse had a target on his back in the form of a reward for his capture and one of his own gang members eventually took him out with a bullet, hoping to cash in on the reward.

Despite all the awful things Jesse James did in life, he became somewhat of a heroic figure after his death with many ‘fans’ comparing him to Robin Hood. This was despite a complete lack of evidence that he ever shared his loot with the less fortunate.

It is believed that Jesse buried some of what he stole in the Keechi Hills located in the Wichita Mountains of Oklahoma. Locals and foreigners alike have for years tried to decipher symbols and other clues carved into the rocks in the area, supposedly by Jesse and Frank, hoping that it would lead them to gold. So far, no luck, but treasure hunters are not giving up hope just yet.

8 Sao Joao shipwreck

On 8 June 1552, the Portuguese ship São João was wrecked along the coastline of present-day Port St. Johns in what is today known as the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The ship met its end near the mouth of the Umzimvubu River and 100 of the 600 people on board drowned. The remaining 500, led by Manual de Souza e Sepulveda remained where they washed up for a couple of days before starting a gruelling trek north, towards Mozambique. However, only 21 people, of which 14 were slaves, survived the journey to Delagoa Bay.

The ship was laden with the richest cargo at the time it went down, worth a million in gold. It was crammed full of pepper, precious stones, Chinese blue and white porcelain, carpets and more. Before starting the doomed journey to Mozambique, some of the slaves allegedly took some of the treasures from the ship. The money chests, however, went under with the wreck and treasure hunters are still looking for it. Some claimed to have found some porcelain and Carnelian beads along the shore, while one treasure hunter even claimed to have found a gold pendant.

The bulk of the treasure is seemingly still underwater, just out of reach of those who want to find it the most.

7 East River treasure

The HMS Hussar, a 28-gun British warship, was on its way to Rhode Island via the East River in November 1780. On board, according to several whisperings, was gold to the value of at least $4 million. The Hussar sank in the tidal strait between Astoria and Wards Island, also known as Hell Gate. Survivors of the incident later claimed that the ‘treasure’ had been delivered to its intended destination before the ship sank.

This did not deter the British government, who tried to find the wreck on three separate occasions without success. When they finally gave up, it was the turn of treasure hunters who braved the dark waters to try and uncover the gold. Nothing has come of anyone’s search other than pottery and other small artifacts and the wreck has yet to be discovered, with some experts believing that the remains of the ship has been incorporated as landfill in the Bronx. Some treasure seekers believe the gold may also be part of the landfill now.

6 Varyagin’s valuable cargo

Russia might not be the first location that comes to mind when the topic of treasure hunting arises, but there are some valuable lost items in this country that treasure hunters wouldn’t mind discovering. This includes the Library of Ivan The Terrible, Napoleon’s gold which is believed to have been sunk in a lake in the western part of the Smolensk Region and Kolchak’s Gold which today would be worth over $280 million.

On October 7, 1906 cargo liner Varyagin sank off the coast of Ussuri Bay in what is known today as the Primorye Territory. It wasn’t a ‘big deal’ at the time, but the owner of the ship, Aleksei Semyonovich Varyagin drew a lot of attention to himself and the incident when he asked the authorities to compensate him for a ‘valuable cargo’ that had been lost. The amount he requested was 60,000 rubles. The governor at the time, refused and it was only in 1913 that the former captain of the Varyagin tried to launch an expedition to the site of the sinking. His efforts were unsuccessful and subsequent efforts to find the ‘valuable cargo’ were hindered first by the start of the First World War and then the 1917 Revolution.

However, those who are brave at heart are not discouraged from seeking out the treasure for themselves. The prize might just turn out to be a windfall amounting to several million rubles.

5 The many lost treasures of Hawaii

Hawaii is a spectacular holiday destination, with the added bonus of a horde of buried treasure sites. According to several legends, that is. One of the most exciting rumors have it that the burial chamber of King Kamehameha, who died in 1819, contains warrior robes made from the feathers of now-extinct birds, and heaps of valuable gems. Treasure hunters have yet to find this burial chamber with some believing it might be hidden away in a rainforest cave.

During the battle of Kepaniwai in 1790, King Kamehameha’s army murdered most of the Maui warriors and dumped their bodies at Iwao Stream, not far from Wailuku. Treasure enthusiasts believe that relics from this battle can still be found hidden in the area.

In addition to this, many believe that over $5 million’s worth of gold and silver was buried near Palemano Point by English pirate Captain Cavendish, and that Captain James Cook’s treasures and weapons were buried on Kauai after he was killed by natives in 1778.

4 Nadir Shah’s loot

The allure of finding treasure hasn’t escaped exotic India.

In 1739, Persian invader Nadir Shah invaded Delhi with an army of 50,000 men. After massacring at least 30,000 people, his army looted the place and ended up with a treasure caravan of 150 miles long. It is here that the story gets a bit murky. Some versions have it that Nadir was murdered on his way back to Persia that same year, while others say he was murdered in 1747. Either way, the person who killed him is alleged to be Ahmad Shah who made off with the bulk of Nadir’s stolen treasures. Before Ahmad’s death he apparently buried these treasures in the tunnels of the Hindu Kush Mountains.

The Koh-I-Noor diamond was among the loot and has been added to the British Crown Jewels. The rest of it remains up for grabs, so to speak.

3 The Kruger Millions

During the South African War, things started to look really bad for the Boers in South Africa. The president at the time, Paul Kruger, was forced into exile in Europe after South Africa’s annexation to the British Empire, to avoid capture. Leaving Pretoria on 29 May 1900, he travelled by train to Machadodorp on 4 June after which he crossed the border to Mozambique and got on a ship to Europe. He died during exile in Geneva, Switzerland.

What was discovered after he left, is that Kruger allegedly hid away a cache of gold bars and coins to the value of $500 million in the Blue River area in what is today known as the Mpumalanga province. This rumor started in 1900 when British governor, Lord Alfred Milner, revealed that gold had been taken from the South African Mint and National Bank. While Kruger was still in Machadodorp, a train was reportedly loaded to the brim with these bars and coins and sent on its way to Mozambique. However, it never arrived there and between Machadodorp and the Mozambiquan border, the gold seemingly vanished into thin air.

Local treasure hunters believe that the gold had been stashed away on a farm between Sabie and Waterval Boven. Hundreds of searches have been carried out in and around the area, but the treasure has yet to be discovered.

Update: In February 2021 several news articles stated that some of the Kruger Millions have been discovered after Kruger ponds were found in a Swiss vault. They have since been acquired by the South African Mint.

2 The Jacobite Gold of Loch Arkaig

In Lochaber, Scotland lies the beautiful Loch Arkaig. Unlike at Loch Ness, those who travel here don’t keep a look out for a fabled sea serpent. Instead, some try their hand at finding the lost Jacobite gold believed to still be hidden in the area.

The Jacobite gold was a large amount of gold coins sent along by Spain to finance the Jacobite rising in Scotland in 1745. Spain pledged to send at least 400,000 livres each month to sustain the rebel army and the first lot was dispatched in 1745. It had hardly landed on the west coast of Scotland however when it was captured by Clan Mackay. In April the following year a shipment of 1,200,000 livres was unloaded at Loch nan Uamh, Arisaig. In total, seven caskets of Spanish gold made it to Scotland, but by the time the last casket was offloaded, the Jacobite fight was over and their army scattered.

Six of the seven caskets were brought to Loch Arkaig and buried. MacPherson of Cluny was in control of the money and is believed to have used some of it to fund ultimately failed attempts at another uprising. All of the gold has not been accounted for however. There were multiple claims and accusations recorded between the Highland chiefs and exiled Jacobites regarding the treasure, but the fate of the rest of the gold has not been established.

1 Stolen European treasures

Almost 76 years ago a S.S. officer using the pseudonym ‘Michaelis’ wrote constantly in a journal. His writings outlined Nazi commander Heinrich Himmler’s plans to hide stolen European ‘treasures.’ The diary was kept away from the public and was in the possession of a Masonic lodge for decades after the war.

In 2019 the lodge gifted the diary to a Polish foundation named Silesian Bridge. The foundation in turn, confirmed that same year that they had received the journal as ‘an apology for WWII.’ At the time, it was yet to be determined whether the journal was authentic, but a map included with it caused great excitement. The map indicated the location of a well on the Hochberg Palace grounds where the Nazis purportedly hid their stolen treasures. These include around 63,000 artworks and cultural artifacts stolen from Polish Jews.

The diary further listed another 10 sites where it is believed the Nazis buried gold, gems, paintings and religious artifacts. The gold at the bottom of the abovementioned well alone is purported to be worth more than $1 billion.

10 Lost Treasures And The Awesome Ways We’re Getting Them Back

You’ll find quirky and unusual restaurants anywhere in the world. From fine dining to fast food, they all try to create a unique experience that will keep their patrons coming back. Most are in traditional shop fronts or purpose-built buildings. With many antiquated buildings being redeveloped, it certainly isn’t unusual to find a restaurant or cafe in an old heritage building or even a disused bank or church.

However, you’ll be amazed at the truly innovative places in which some eateries can be found. Their locations are so unique that they have actually caught on and become growing trends for unusual dining. Some are ingenious, others are a little creepy, and then there are some which are downright hilarious.

10 Church Crypts

The dark depths of church crypts were traditionally used as burial places. However, in modern times, the coffins in many of these crypts have been relocated, leaving dark, cavernous empty spaces. Parishioners have found inventive ways to use these areas. Many of them have been repurposed as storage, homeless shelters, even army barracks during wars.

However, you’ll be amazed to know that many of these former burial grounds have been transformed into restaurants and cafes. In fact, cafes in crypts seem to be becoming something of a worldwide trend.

Sydney, Paris, and London are among the cities which have successful eateries operating from former church crypts. St Madeline’s in Paris operates a charitable restaurant, providing cheap meals for the elderly and homeless from the dining area beneath the church. The crypt cafe in Sydney’s St James church has grown in popularity from a small courtyard cafe to fine dining in the crypt.

St Martin-in-the-Fields on the corner of London’s Trafalgar Square even has old tombstones lining the floor of their Cafe in the Crypt (pictured above). Artifacts such as an old whipping post and church sculptures are on display as a bit of a talking point, just in case dining in a church crypt isn’t enough to start a good dinner table conversation.^[1]

9 Old Toilet Blocks

A toilet block is also probably one of the last places you would expect to find a restaurant or cafe. Yet they are another class of disused buildings which are becoming increasingly popular venues for culinary establishments. Buildings that were once seedy, filthy, and covered in graffiti have been given makeovers to become trendy eateries.

A popular burger outlet in Berlin retains the unmistakable tiling from the building’s former days as a public convenience. Maintaining the building’s character, napkins are even dispensed from a toilet roll holder.

In the UK, converting disused water closets into trendy cafes and bars is becoming quite common. A number of smaller towns are turning these old facilities into restaurants in lieu of demolishing the buildings.

In Sydney, the city council has been investigating turning old toilet blocks into cafes. Many of these former restrooms are located in publicly convenient locations, so they make ideal, if not interesting, venues for an eatery.^[2]

8 Old Train Tunnels

Most modern cities have labyrinths of dark tunnels lurking beneath their streets. Some were used as train and tram routes; others served as war bunkers or drainage channels. They all tend to be dark, creepy places that few would really like to visit.

However, the value of these underground caverns is being recognized, sparking a trend for subterranean restaurants and bars. You might expect to find a coffee shop, fast food bar, or vending machine at the station. But now, restaurant owners are delving a little deeper to provide a unique dining experience.

In Sydney, a project to expand the city’s rail system was abandoned during the Depression years. A pair of St James station tunnels have largely sat idle since then. Inspired by tunnel restaurants overseas, plans are now underway to redevelop these dank tunnels into a complex of bars and restaurants.^[3]

In London, you can dine in a decommissioned tube carriage (pictured above), located in an underground tunnel. The original decor of the 1967 carriage has been retained. Diners can enjoy a four-course menu on the carriage, and ticketed events are held on specific dates each year. In Paris, plans are also underway to turn disused Metro tunnels into hip restaurants and bars.

7 Aerial Dinner Table

Fancy dinner on a flying dining table? Yes, that is actually a thing, if you are not afraid of heights.

In 2006, a Belgian communications agency teamed up with an amusement park company, and they came up with a bizarre dining concept, Dinner In The Sky, which has taken off around the world. Up to 22 diners sit on a platform which is then hoisted 50 meters (164 ft) off the ground to enjoy a midair feast.^[4]

The concept of a flying feast has taken off, and diners in over 40 countries have enjoyed a sky-high meal. It sounds like an exhilarating dining experience, but just don’t drop your napkin.

6 Plane Dining

Airline food is renowned for being unappetizing, so a plane is not exactly the place you would look for gourmet cuisine. However, disused airplanes are being repurposed as restaurants. Some offer fine dining experiences, while others provide wacky themed restaurants.

In Malaysia, diners can enjoy a three-course meal in a converted Boeing 737 (pictured above). True to the airline theme, menus range from Economy to Business and First Class.^[5] Similarly, in Colorado, you can enjoy a meal on a former US air force jet, while in Costa Rica, you can dine beneath the wings of an abandoned military plane.

5 Restaurants In Caves

You probably think of stalactites and stalagmites when visiting a cave, or even perhaps diving to discover underwater treasures. Caves have always been popular venues for picnics and parties, and established cave restaurants are a growing trend.

The Grotta Palazzese cave restaurant in Italy is believed to date back to the 1700s, as evidenced by its depiction in a watercolor from 1783. Today, it offers a fine dining experience with a view of the Adriatic Sea.

Along China’s Yangtze River, diners step along an acrophobia-inducing 30-meter-long (100 ft) walkway secured high up a cliff to access a mountain cave where they can enjoy an unusual dining experience.^[6] Many Asian holiday destinations are also following the trend for subterranean dining, with luxury cave restaurants popping up near many popular resorts.

4 Laundrobars

Sunday afternoon at the laundromat is an onerous chore for many of us. However, at least one cafe fad is helping to ease the boredom of wash day.

Restaurants, cafes, and bars in laundromats are now a thing. A number of ingenious laundromat owners around the world are making good use of the time their patrons waste while their weekly laundry goes through its cycle. Gone are the days of vending machine coffee and snacks while you wait for your wash to finish.

The concept first became popular in Germany, where laundromat owners initially began offering barista coffee and snacks to their patrons. The idea soon took off across Western Europe, spreading to the US and Australia. Many these laundromats resemble swish nightclubs and restaurants. Some offer fast food and coffee, others have established bars, and even live entertainment and dance parties are not uncommon among the whirling washtubs.^[7]

3 Former Mental Asylums

Gone is the dark heyday of institutionalized mental health care, and many large insane asylums now sit abandoned. The very history of these buildings creates a creepy, dark atmosphere. However, their size, architecture, and locations often make them ideal for redevelopment as luxury hotels and restaurants, which is why across the world, many of these grand old buildings have made the transition from hospitalization to hospitality.

New Mexico and New York both feature historic asylums redesigned into luxury hotels and restaurants. An 18th-century asylum in Edinburgh is among many similar buildings in Europe now providing ideal romantic weekend getaways. In Tasmania, a restaurant has been established in the dormitory of one of the region’s oldest asylums.

The thought of dining in a former psychiatric institution may be off-putting to some, but the project is a great example of repurposing old buildings.^[8]

2 Graveyard Restaurant

Cemetery restaurants are not unremarkable. Many larger cemeteries have cafes where visitors and mourners can stop for refreshments. Restaurants often surround big graveyards to cater to visitors. However, one restaurant in India is perhaps a little too close to the dearly departed for most people’s liking.

The New Lucky Restaurant in Ahmadabad, India, is located on the site of an old Muslim graveyard. Rather than disturbing the dead, the tables are set up surrounding the graves.^[9] Metal fences surround the raised coffins, beside which diners enjoy their graveside coffee and curry.

1 Dinner In A Tree?

Ever thought of climbing a tree for dinner? Quite a few diners do just this for a particularly unique restaurant experience.

In Costa Rica, you will find a restaurant and cafe built around the branches of a massive ficus tree (pictured above), which you can access by simply climbing the stairs. In Thailand, however, you can be hoisted up into the treetops in your own private dining pod. Food is served to you via a series of cables from the ground below. Meanwhile, in Queensland, Australia, you can enjoy dinner in the treetop canopies at a local spa resort.^[10]

Hopefully, the local wildlife in the trees know a little dinner table etiquette.

Lesley Connor is a retired Australian newspaper editor who provides travel articles for online publications and through the travel blog.

Southern Europe is known for having a Mediterranean climate that produces hot summers, mild winters, and lots of sunny days.

But there is a definite chill in the air whenever any of the below spooky stories are told…

Related: Top 10 Ghost Towns Inside Or Near Famous Cities

10 Quinta da Pauliceia, Águeda, Portugal

Águeda is home to the Umbrella Sky Project, a project that forms part of the annual AgitÁgueda Art Festival. A kaleidoscope of around 3,000 colorful umbrellas is suspended over the streets in the center of the town, adding to the festive atmosphere.

In contrast, Águeda is also where you’ll find one of the most haunted houses in Portugal. Quinta da Pauliceia stands on an abandoned plot of land and has that typical haunted house look about it. Long ago, it was inhabited by the Águedense family, who moved to Portugal from Brazil. In 1918, all but one member of the family died during the influenza pandemic. The surviving family member stayed until they, too, eventually died, leaving no heir behind.

Neighbors on either side of the house have heard the neighing of horses coming from the crumbling stables on the property in the dark of night, and some have even reported hearing shotgun blasts breaking the silence. And the few who dared venture close to the house to investigate have reportedly had their hair pulled by an invisible hand.^[1]

9 Đavolja Varoš, Kuršumlija, Serbia

Đavolja Varoš, Serbian for “the devil’s town,” is a strange-looking rock formation that stands near Kuršumlija in southeastern Serbia. While it is commonly accepted that the rocks’ peculiar shape was created by soil erosion, a persistent local legend has it that the rocks are the remains of people attending a wedding reception. The revelers were petrified by the devil, who appeared to them as they drank water from a nearby spring. For the sake of twisted fun, the devil infiltrated their minds and tried to force a marriage between a brother and sister. A local fairy overheard the commotion, and realizing what the devil was trying to do, she whipped out some magic tricks and turned everyone into stone.

Some locals insist that the area remains haunted, and you won’t catch them spending the night there.^[2]

8 Skrinjari House, Croatia

In the small village of Skrinjari, Croatia, stands a nondescript house surrounded by trees. It’s only when the history of the house is revealed that the picture takes on an eerie hue. It is said that the house was built in the 1980s, and the original owner and his family fled the property because of paranormal activity. No one will buy the place even though it’s been for sale since 1997 for a very low price. Rumors are still making the rounds that the current owner is willing to give the house to the first person who can spend an entire night inside of it and live to tell the tale.

As most haunted house stories go, it is believed that the Skrinjari house was constructed over a graveyard, and all sorts of mishaps then began to befall its occupants. According to legend, a little girl fell into a well on the grounds and drowned. Her body was never retrieved. A young woman was murdered in the house, and her remains were hidden in the foundation.

Those who have tried to “win” the house by staying the night have allegedly ended up in a mental hospital after encountering the ghosts of the little girl and young woman. Some people have also reported hearing a baby’s cry coming from the house and seeing strange shadows flitting past the uncovered windows. Sometimes an electric bulb can be seen glowing and swinging inside the attic even though the house is not connected to a power supply.^[3]

7 Piazza Navona, Rome, Italy

Olimpia Maidalchini was born into a poor family in 1591, a fact which later ignited a fire in her to climb up the social ranks. Her parents wished for her to become a nun to avoid the expense of a wedding, but Olimpia flat-out refused. She went on to marry twice, both times marrying into money. Her second husband, Pamphilio Pamphili, came from one of the wealthiest families in Italy. Thus Olimpia lived her best life in the various palaces owned by the Pamphili family, including the Palazzo Pamphili in Piazza Navona.

After Pamphilio died, Olimpia became the right-hand woman of his brother, who would eventually be Pope Innocent X. Those who wished to visit the pope had to bring Olimpia expensive gifts to be granted the privilege. Soon, there were rumblings that she and the pope were in a sinful relationship. Olimpia solved this problem by poisoning the gossipers.

It is alleged that when Pope Innocent X was on his deathbed in 1684, Olimpia locked him inside his bedroom while she stole the papal treasure, including two chests of gold. She wasn’t about to use any of the gold to pay for the pope’s funeral, so she fled Rome when the night was at its darkest.

Olimpia never returned and died of the plague a couple of years later. Her ghost returned, however, and rumors started flying that Olimpia, dressed in black and holding on tight to her stolen gold, could sometimes be seen fleeing Piazza Navona and hurtling across the Ponte Sisto. Other times she is seen in a black carriage drawn by black horses, as her shrill laughter echoes in the night.^[4]

6 Accursed Mountains, Albania

In Albania, you’ll see mosques and churches standing side by side in a country known worldwide for its religious tolerance. The Albanian people are also known for going out of their way to make visitors and tourists feel welcome.

One of the most famous landmarks in Albania is the mountain range known as the Accursed Mountains or the Albanian Alps. Tourists and hikers are drawn to these mountains because of their remote location and tranquil atmosphere. Two villages in the mountains, Valbona and Theth, are connected by a lone trail that snakes over the mountains, and you can only get from one to the other by hiking over the Valbona Pass, which takes around eight hours.

The Accursed Mountain range got its name because of the legend of three brothers who went hunting up in the mountains and there met a fairy. All three instantly fell in love with the fairy and began fighting about who saw her first. The fight turned ugly, and all three brothers died. The fairy watched but couldn’t help. So when the brothers died, she ran and hid behind the peaks of the mountain.

Days passed, and the mother of the young men began searching for her sons after becoming worried that they hadn’t returned yet. She found their lifeless bodies and began wailing as she buried them, her cries echoing down the mountain. The fairy emerged from her hiding place when she heard the mother’s cries and tried to explain. The mother refused to listen to the fairy and blamed her and the mountain range for her children’s deaths. Ever since, the mountains have been referred to as the Accursed Mountains.

Many locals still hold fast to the curse and are convinced the mountains are haunted.^[5]

5 Cismigiu Hotel, Bucharest, Romania

Romania will forever be first associated with the so-called Dracula’s Castle, more formally known as Bran Castle.

However, legend has it that several restless spirits also wander this country, the most famous of which is that of a student who still roams the Cismigiu Hotel in Bucharest. The hotel was built just after the start of the 20th century, but by 1970 it had been abandoned and left to rot. Finally, 20 years later, the property was acquired by the Theatre Academy and converted into student housing.

One particular weekend, shortly before a school vacation was to start, all the students had already departed for home, except for a lone girl. She walked down the hall and entered what she thought was a dorm room. It was nearly midnight and very dark, and what the girl actually stepped into was an elevator shaft. She fell down the shaft and was seriously injured. Panicking and in pain, she shouted for help, but there was no one to hear her. She died a short time later.

Ever since the accidental death, reports have been making the rounds about screams echoing through the halls of the building and from what used to be the elevator shaft. The building has since been renovated and converted back into a hotel. The shaft no longer exists, but that hasn’t stopped people from reporting ghostly goings-on in this former student housing building.^[6]

4 The House of the Seven Chimneys, Madrid, Spain

In the 16th century, Chueca in Madrid, Spain, was a quiet and tranquil place. And it was also the location of a major scandal. Elena, the beautiful daughter of Philip II’s huntsman, caught the eye of the king (who was still a prince at the time). To avoid rumors, Elena was married off to another, Captain Zapata. Unfortunately, Zapata died during a battle in Flanders soon after the wedding, which devastated a pregnant Elena. Shortly after giving birth to a baby girl, Elena also died.

It was believed that Elena had died from a broken heart, but soon another story started making the rounds. Servants murmured behind their hands about knife wounds on Elena’s body, which gave rise to the theory that her child may have been the king’s and not Zapata’s. No investigation could be done on Elena’s remains as her corpse mysteriously vanished, and not too long after, her father was also found dead.

A hideaway/love nest known as the House of the Seven Chimneys was initially constructed for Philip II and Elena, but it was only her ghost that would eventually roam there. Citizens passing by the house reported seeing a woman dressed in white flitting between and around the chimneys, stopping only to point a finger at the Alcazar where Philip II lived at the time.

At the end of the nineteenth century the building was renovated, and the bones of a woman were discovered inside the walls of the basement along with 16th-century coins.^[7]

3 The Well of Souls, Kifissia, Athens, Greece

Greece is the stuff of vacation dreams. Here you will find friendly people, stunning beaches, gourmet food, fantastic wine, and excellent coffee.

But much the same as all the other places on this list, Greece has a spooky side too. In the northern suburb of Kifissia in Athens is a well that has been sealed with a cement block and has reeds growing around it, making it difficult to find. The outer part of the well has symbols scribbled over it and is believed by locals to be haunted by the souls of the dead who cannot pass on to the next life. These apparitions appear to those who pass by the well at night and often take on terrifying forms.

It is rumored that a man once tried to shoot one of these ghosts. The following day he became ill and died.^[8]

2 Parco Sempione, Milan, Italy

Near the Castello Sforzesco lies the Parco Sempione, the largest park in Milan. The park dates back to the 15th century and is a popular hangout spot for locals. Inside the park are several buildings and sculptures that highlight the history of the area.

But it is not only the living that enjoys the park. Legend has it that the Veiled Lady walks here on hot summer nights, her face covered with a black veil. She keeps to herself most of the time, but when the scent of violets permeates the air, it is said that the Veiled Lady wishes to reveal her true form.

Whenever a man catches the scent of the violets, he will soon find a stunning woman in a black dress approaching him. Her face remains covered as she extends her hand to her victim. Once she grabs the man’s hand, she drags him into the depths of the park toward a dilapidated mansion.

Here, she lifts her veil, revealing a skull in the place of a face. This causes the man to instantly go insane, after which he is condemned to keep searching for the Veiled Lady until he dies.^[9]

1 Mdina, Malta

Malta is a stunning island country in Southern Europe. And while it may be the world’s tenth-smallest country, it has some of the world’s eeriest tales to tell.

Mdina, also known as the Silent City of Malta, is the location of a scary legend. In ancient times, a beautiful young woman named Katerina, who lived in Mdina, was attacked by a knight as she was walking home. She fought back and accidentally killed her attacker.

Katerina was found guilty of murder and was sentenced to death by execution. Minutes before she was beheaded, she was allowed to marry her true love. Now, Katerina is known as the headless bride of Mdina. She stands motionlessly at the end of the streets, beckoning people to follow her. She even appears in their photographs. Sometimes she floats up to widowers and men who have had their hearts broken and whispers to them to give up on true love and join her in death instead.^[10]

Have you ever read a book that described a location so vividly that you wished you could visit it? Well, sometimes you can. Often authors are inspired by real-world places when crafting their book settings, whether based in our world or a fantasy one. This means that readers who have been bitten by the travel bug can set off on real adventures to explore some of their favorite locations from literature.

This list rounds up 10 UK locations from classic books that you can actually visit, providing a literary tour of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. They are listed from “loosely related” to “basically identical.” So even if you aren’t a bookworm, this list likely includes a true classic or a more modern work that you love with an accompanying destination worth exploring.

Related: 10 Rude-Sounding British Places With Unbelievable Backstories

10 Glamis Castle and Cawdor Castle: Macbeth (1606) by William Shakespeare

Although Macbeth is based on the life of a real Scottish king, Shakespeare was no historian, and his version is highly fictionalized. Macbeth is described as the Thane of Glamis and the Thane of Cawdor, but these castles weren’t actually built until around 300 years after Macbeth’s death. Both castles have fostered this literary connection, though.

Glamis, which looks like an ornate French chateau, has a walking trail that features wooden carvings of the main characters from Shakespeare’s play and a grand hall named after one of Macbeth’s victims, King Duncan. Of course, it has its own history of murder and witchcraft, too (as do the majority of Scottish castles).

Cawdor is a medieval fortress built around a holly tree (now petrified at the base of the old tower) due to a vision apparently experienced by the Thane of Cawdor (the real one, not Shakespeare’s Macbeth). He was instructed in a dream to let a donkey roam and then build a castle wherever it lay down to sleep. Like Glamis, Cawdor takes advantage of the Shakespeare connection and has previously staged a production of Macbeth.^[1]

9 Llandudno: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) by Lewis Carroll

Alice Pleasance Liddell (now known as the real “Alice” in Wonderland) spent summer holidays with her family in the Welsh seaside town of Llandudno. The Liddells were close friends with Charles Dodgson, better known by his pen-name, Lewis Carroll, and the story goes that he was inspired by Alice’s adventures in Llandudno.

The Welsh town has made the most of this association, beginning with a White Rabbit statue installed in 1933 and continuing with a number of Wonderland Town Trails. These trails cover much of the Victorian resort town, which has the longest pier in Wales, and feature statues of characters from Carroll’s fantastical novel. You can now even explore the trails with augmented reality.^[2]

8 Unst: Treasure Island (1883) by Robert Louis Stevenson

While there is no record of exactly which island inspired Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson certainly had a few to pick from. His father was a lighthouse engineer, and Stevenson would often accompany him on visits to various islands. There are around 900 islands surrounding mainland Scotland, but Unst has a particularly strong claim.

Stevenson traveled to Unst, part of the Shetland Islands and the UK’s most northerly inhabited island, with his father in 1869. Beautiful and relatively isolated, it is easy to see why this island would spark a story about pirates. Paula Williams, the curator of the Maps, Mountaineering, and Polar Collections at the National Library of Scotland, explains that the outlines of both islands resemble each other “complete with corresponding inlets and [the] small islet Skeleton Island, [as it is called in the novel], or Uya [its real name].”^[3]

7 Edinburgh: The Harry Potter Series (1997–2007) by J. K. Rowling

J. K. Rowling created the Wizarding World while living in Edinburgh, and the city’s grand architecture and cobbled alleyways are reflected in the books. Candlemaker Row features a plaque and mural to mark it as the inspiration of Diagon Alley. But if you type “Diagon Alley” into Google Maps, it will send you to Victoria Street, which feels just as wizardly with its colorful shops and secret stairways.

Another link between the Scottish capital and Harry Potter can be found in Greyfriars Kirkyard, a 17th-century cemetery. The cemetery features the gravestone of Thomas Riddell, which only slightly differs in spelling from the birth name of Lord Voldemort, Tom Riddle.

You can also visit places where parts of Harry Potter were written. The earlier books were largely written in The Elephant House café, and the series was finished in a room (now named The J. K. Rowling Suite) at the Balmoral Hotel. The suite features subtle Harry Potter decorations, but it isn’t cheap, costing almost £2000, or $2700, for a one-night stay.^[4]

6 Haworth: Various Novels by the Brontë Sisters

This entry covers books written by the Brontë sisters, primarily Charlotte’s Jane Eyre (1847), Emily’s Wuthering Heights (1847), and Anne’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848). The sisters lived in the Yorkshire village of Haworth, which is surrounded by dramatic moorland, and they set their novels in the area, which is now known as Brontë Country.

Their family home has been turned into the Brontë Parsonage Museum, which houses the largest collection of Brontë manuscripts, letters, and early editions of poetry and novels. Around the area are various properties which inspired buildings from the novels. Top Withens, a ruined farmhouse located on the moors near Haworth, inspired Wuthering Heights, while Gawthorpe Hall and Wycoller Hall served as Ferndean Manor in Jane Eyre. There is even a 44-mile trail called the Brontë Way, which links key locations from the books.^[5]

5 Antrim Coast and County Down: The Chronicles of Narnia (1950–1956) by C. S. Lewis

In fiction, the world of Narnia is accessible through a wardrobe; in reality, it is located in Northern Ireland. C. S. Lewis’s fantasy world was inspired by the landscapes of the Antrim Coast and County Down. In a letter to his brother, he declared, “That part of Rostrevor which overlooks Carlingford Lough is my idea of Narnia.” And in his essay “On Stories,” he stated, “I have seen landscapes (notably in the Mourne Mountains) which, under a particular light, made me feel that at any moment a giant might raise his head over the next ridge.”

It is easy to see how the rugged vistas of Northern Ireland inspired Lewis. The ruins of Dunluce Castle, perched on a cliff above the sea, would fit comfortably within the world of Narnia. The hexagonal basalt columns of the Giant’s Causeway feel infused with the magic which Lewis saw in the country. Legend has it that the giant Finn McCool built the Causeway as a bridge over to Scotland. Although New Zealand was the filming location for the movies, the closest you can get to Lewis’s idea of Narnia is Northern Ireland. ^[6]

4 Oxford: His Dark Materials (1995–2000) by Philip Pullman

There are many magical locations visited in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials, but the story starts in an alternate version of Oxford. Pullman attended the University of Oxford during the ‘60s, and it clearly left an impact on him because his main character, Lyra, grows up at the university. All of the college buildings spread throughout the city look impressive, but the basis for the fictional Jordan College was probably Pullman’s alma mater, Exeter College. When filming the TV series, though, New College was used as a substitute for Jordan.

There are many Oxford landmarks mentioned throughout the books. You can visit the Covered Market, which sells far more than just the fish mentioned in The Golden Compass; The Pitt Rivers Museum, which Lyra explores in The Subtle Knife; and Jericho, a neighborhood with canals where Pullman’s Gyptians moor their narrowboats.^[7]

3 Birmingham: The Lord of the Rings (1937–1949) by J. R. R. Tolkien

J. R. R. Tolkien, like his friend C. S. Lewis, was inspired by where he grew up when creating the fantasy world for his novels. Though, again like C. S. Lewis, the adaptations of his works were filmed in New Zealand. Tolkien grew up in and around Birmingham, and the area inspired his descriptions of Middle Earth.

The Shire, the idyllic home of the hobbits, was based on Sarehole, Tolkien’s childhood home, which he described as a “kind of lost paradise.” The peaceful English village was composed of old-fashioned cottages (now gone) and an old mill (which is now a museum). Close by is Moseley Bog, a densely wooded area that is reminiscent of the Old Forest on the edge of the Shire.

Landmarks in the city of Birmingham also inspired the author. For instance, Perrott’s Folly and Edgbaston Waterworks Tower helped Tolkien conjure up his Two Towers. The industrialized Black Country of Birmingham was expanding into his beloved countryside and can clearly be seen as a version of the hellish Mordor.^[8]

2 Whitby: Dracula (1897) by Bram Stoker

Bram Stoker drew extensively on Transylvanian folklore when he was researching Dracula. Still, while the novel starts at Dracula’s castle in Transylvania, key elements of the Gothic story did not come together until he visited Whitby for a vacation in 1890. He then chose the English seaside town as one of the novel’s central locations.

Dracula, in the form of a wolf-like creature, runs up the 199 steps that wind up to the impressive ruins of Whitby Abbey. St. Mary’s Churchyard was featured as the location where Lucy is first attacked by the vampire. Whitby’s atmospheric scenery was not the only thing that inspired Stoker, though. He heard of a Russian ship, the Dmitry, which was wrecked on Tate Hill Sands in 1885, and this made it into his novel in the form of Dracula’s ship, the Demeter, meeting the same fate.

In the public library, he read a book that mentioned Vlad Tepes, known as Vlad the Impaler or Dracula. He added the note “Dracula in the Wallachian language means Devil,” and thus, he found the name of his Count. Before this, Stoker had planned to call his vampire Count Wampyr, a name so bad that it probably would have doomed the novel to obscurity.^[9]

1 Ashdown Forest: Winnie-the-Pooh series (1925–1928) by A. A. Milne

If A. A. Milne’s childhood classic books featuring Winnie-the-Pooh and friends adventuring in Hundred Acre Wood captured your imagination as a child, then I’ve got good news for you! Hundred Acre Wood is real, and it’s called Ashdown Forest. Christopher Milne, son of A. A. Milne and inspiration for Christopher Robin, wrote in his autobiography that “Pooh’s forest and Ashdown Forest are identical.”

In 1925 the Milne family bought a holiday home near Ashdown, located only 30 miles from London, in East Sussex. Their time among the pine trees and heathland inspired the classic children’s books. You can even visit the footbridge where Christopher and Pooh play Poohsticks. In the nearby village of Hartfield, you can find Pooh Corner, the village sweet shop that the family visited, which is now a Pooh-themed tea room and museum (called the Pooh-seum).^[10]

Movies filmed on location often add greater realism not found in those shot on sound stages or studio backlots. From the montage of New York City’s iconic landmarks in Manhattan to Rome’s Trevi Fountain in La Dolce Vita, authenticity can greatly enhance the viewer’s cinematic experience. But sometimes looks can be deceiving, as showcased in our top 10 filming locations at odds with the movie. 

10. Body Heat

South Florida served as the backdrop for this 1981 steamy, neo-noir thriller starring William Hurt and Kathleen Turner. However, frigid temperatures in the Sunshine State required the cast and crew to summon all their talents and skills to depict a sweltering heatwave.

Inspired by noir classics such as Double Indemnity and The Big Sleep, Body Heat revolves around a femme fatale (Turner) who plots to murder her wealthy husband with the aid of an unscrupulous lawyer (Hurt). Principal photography began in late November 1980 over a stretch that saw temperatures drop into the low 40s. As a result, the actors had to suck on ice cubes before delivering their lines to prevent condensation, and crew members constantly applied ‘sweat’ with spray water bottles.  

Despite frigid conditions, the clever stagecraft proved convincing and helped launch the careers of the lead performers — both relatively unknown at the time. Fellow newcomers Ted Danson and Mickey Rourke also appeared in supporting roles, adding heft to the critically acclaimed film.

9. Saving Private Ryan

Although Ireland remained neutral throughout WWII, the country saw plenty of action thanks to Steven Spielberg’s epic masterpiece in 1998. For starters, there’s the stunning 20-minute long battle sequence, capturing the intensity and carnage of the Normandy Invasion — better known as D-Day. But instead of the beaches of northern France, cast and crew invaded the southeastern Irish coast to re-create the largest amphibious operation in military history.

Due to various issues, including the actual site’s status as a historical landmark, filming there simply wasn’t possible. Fortunately, Ballinesker Beach in County Wexford, about 70 miles south of Dublin, provided a close match to stage the brutal combat that occurred at Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944.

Over $11 million was spent transforming the usually serene Irish shores into a war-torn battlefield. Spielberg’s keen attention to visual detail meant the meticulous construction of Nazi “pillboxes” and barbed wired barricades and splattering thousands of gallons of fake blood. 

Bolstered by a stellar ensemble of actors that included Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Edward Burns, Tom Sizemore, and Barry Pepper, the war epic went on to gross $481,840,909 worldwide and earned Spielberg the Oscar for Best Director.

8. Lone Survivor

New Mexico’s Sangre de Cristo Mountains (Blood of Christ), the southernmost subrange of the Rocky Mountains, owes its name to the reddish glow that occurs at sunrise and sunset. In 2013, a cacophony of hellfire explosions and gunfire replaced the celestial atmosphere during the making of Lone Survivor.

Based on Marcus Luttrell’s biographical book of the same name, the movie chronicles the exploits of a Navy SEALS team ambushed in the Hindu Kush mountains of Afghanistan. The film stars Mark Wahlberg in the role of Lutrell, who managed to survive a ferocious siege and subsequent failed rescue attempt, resulting in the deaths of 19 U.S. soldiers.  

In real life, Luttrell stands 6’5″ tall. Walhberg doesn’t (more like 5’6”), and northern New Mexico lies roughly 7,500 miles from the battle-scarred terrain of central Asia. No matter. Director Peter Berg relied on combat veterans to serve as technical advisors, whose duties included whipping the actors into shape. Furthermore, a small army of stuntmen took their lumps (and several broken bones) to create an avalanche of falling bodies — action that film critic Andrew O’Hehir described as “war porn.” 

7. Good Will Hunting

This 1997 coming-of-age tale shines a spotlight on Will Hunting (Matt Damon), a young blue-collar math whiz from the tough streets of south Boston. But Canada’s biggest city served as the primary filming location, with the University of Toronto and Central Technical High School standing in for MIT and Harvard University.

In one of the film’s most memorable scenes, Will tells a condescending Harvard student, “How you like them apples?” The location is supposed to be the Bow and Arrow bar in Beantown – but it was actually Toronto’s Upfront Bar and Grill. Sadly, both are now shuttered. 

Movie fans, however, can visit the park bench where Will has a heart-to-heart discussion with his therapist (Robin Williams) at Boston Public Garden. The site has become a memorial of sorts to honor Williams, who won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and died in 2014.  

6. Cold Mountain

Set during the American Civil War and loosely based on Homer’s Odyssey, Cold Mountain stars an Australian actress (Nicole Kidman), a British actor (Jude Law), and was filmed in Romania. But who needs the authenticity when enticing tax incentives can be had?

Disgraced mogul Harvey Weinstein and his company, Miramax, green-lit the production after securing a 10% rebate to shoot in the former communist country. To be fair, the Carpathian Mountains proved to be a worthy substitute for North Carolina’s Appalachians, where much of the story takes place. Moreover, the Transylvania region also had less infrastructure at the time, such as power lines and paved roads, creating an underdeveloped, rural setting. 

The film also benefited from the talents of director Anthony Minghella (“The English Patient”) and an Oscar-winning performance by Rene Zellweger, whose spot on southern accent reflected her upbringing in Texas. 

5. Braveheart

Directed by and starring Mel Gibson, Braveheart tells the story (or, rather, a story) of Scottish national hero William Wallace. Aside from a few scenes filmed in Bonnie Scotland, the historical drama was shot almost entirely in Ireland, which included the medieval Anglo-Norman fortress, Trim Castle. Additionally, more than 1,000 members of the Irish Defense Forces were featured in the large-scale battle scenes. 

Substituting the Emerald Isle for Scotland was congruent with a narrative rife with inaccuracies, such as anachronistic clothing and military tactics, as well as Gibson’s paltry Scottish accent. The Aussie movie star later justified his vision for the 13th-century warrior: “Some people said that in telling the story, we messed up history. It doesn’t bother me because what I’m giving you is a cinematic experience, and I think films are there first to entertain, then teach, then inspire.”

4. Dallas Buyers Club

Despite having the city’s name in its title, this biopic about AIDS patient Ron Woodruff replaces “Big D” with the “Big Easy” of New Orleans. Matthew McConaughey stars as Ron Woodruff, a womanizing, homophobic cowboy who establishes a drug distribution network, providing AZT to fellow patients afflicted with the deadly disease. 

The demanding role saw McConaughey lose 47 pounds (a quarter of his body weight), and co-star Jared Leto shed 30 pounds. For their efforts, both men would take home Oscars. 

The movie’s low budget greatly benefited from Louisiana’s hefty 30% tax incentive program. Filming took place over a twenty-five-day period, during which rehearsals were largely excluded, and scenes given limited takes.

McConaughey, a native Texan, provided this insight on the disguised location: “You have to watch the tropical foliage; that ain’t in Dallas. In some places you can see the humidity and the mildew and the overgrowth where Mother Nature takes over in New Orleans.”

3. Titanic

While attempting to circumnavigate the world, legendary Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan named the western reaches ‘Mar Pacífico’ (‘peaceful sea’). Nearly 400 years later, director James Cameron also made history, transforming these waters into the treacherous North Atlantic during the making of Titanic. 

In 1996, 20th Century Fox built a 17 million gallon outdoor tank that adjoined and overlooked the Pacific Ocean near Playas de Rosarito, Mexico. A demanding shooting schedule followed, creating a hostile environment that further cemented Cameron’s tyrannical reputation.

Several members of the cast and crew fell ill due to spending long hours in cold water and turning the tank into a giant toilet. Kate Winslet suffered several bruises and nearly drowned during a scene in which her coat got caught on a gate while underwater.

Titanic would eventually emerge as the highest-grossing movie of all time, raking in $1.8 billion worldwide. As for his temperamental behavior, Cameron shrugged it off as merely doing his job: “Film-making is war. A great battle between business and aesthetics.”

2. Elf

Christmas movies typically feature heart-warming themes such as love, family unity, and Santa Claus. In 2003, Elf managed to tick all these boxes and more, even though several scenes took place at an abandoned mental institution near Vancouver, British Columbia.

For nearly a century, Riverview Hospital operated under the governance of BC Mental Health & Addiction Services before closing its doors in 2013. The expansive complex later became a popular location for film and TV projects, including Supernatural, The X-Files, and Halloween: Resurrection. 

For Elf,  a comedy starring Will Ferrell as a fully grown elf in search of his real family, the hospital interiors were used to create a wide variety of sets ranging from a police station to an orphanage. According to the film’s production designer Rusty Smith, “It is one of the creepiest places I’ve ever been in my life.” 

1. Journey to the Center of the Earth

Based on the best-selling Jules Verne novel, this 1959 sci-fi movie stars James Mason, Pat Boone, Arlene Dahl, and “Gertrude the Duck.” The filmmakers at 20th Century Fox selected Carlsbad Caverns in southeastern New Mexico to stage several of the underground sequences. Although the renowned caves provided an exotic setting for the earth’s core, it’s a safe bet that neither humans, reptiles, nor waterfowl could survive in an environment with temperatures hotter than the sun.

Studio executives, eager to match the success of previous Verne adaptations, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and Around the World in 80 Days,  invested heavily in the project and “filmed in the incomparable magic of CineScope.” The gamble would pay off in spades as audiences flocked to “monstrous” creatures, which in reality, were iguanas with prosthetics glued to their backs and a painted Tegu lizard.