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.

Once again, it’s time to call out the bored, overcaffeinated programmers of this environment we call reality. As we have pointed out on multiple occasions, despite all the obvious and serious problems with the programming, they still apparently find time to leave strange, nonsensical things in unlikely places—purely to screw with us.

We would like to point out that noted extremely smart person Elon Musk has publicly stated his belief that the likelihood that we are not living in a simulated reality is one in billions. We would also like to point out that we appear to have been slightly ahead of the curve on this. Mr. Musk, on the off chance that you are reading this, consider this series an ongoing catalog of evidence to support your assertion.

10 Ponyhenge

On a small parcel of farmland in Lincoln, Nebraska, you can find a herd of horses, currently numbering about 30. The difference between this and any number of other horse gatherings you might find in the area will be immediately obvious: They’re old-style rocking horses—some wood, some plastic, all silently standing in a circle facing each other. Their number has slowly grown over the last several years, and nobody in town has the same story about how the first one got there.

Some say it began as part of a Halloween display. One man remembers a couple of kids with a lemonade stand bringing the first two. Then more kept appearing seemingly every month, placed among their creepy brethren by unknown visitors. Rather than petering out over the years, the proliferation of horses seems to be increasing and their positions in the field change often, also by unknown means.

Local residents love the display, unofficially known as “Ponyhenge,” and profess to not want to know where the horses are coming from. With their number doubling over the course of a recent year, however, some are starting to kick around the idea of culling the herd. If you ask us, messing with those horses in any way sounds like a terrible idea.

9 The Clown Motel

Located in the middle of a giant desert off a lonely highway, the tiny former mining town of Tonopah, Nevada, is pretty much exactly where you would expect to find a creepy motel. It’s the sort of motel you’d be reluctant to stay in for fear of a terminal case of the willies, at the very least. But Tonopah’s aptly named Clown Motel is the sort of creepy place that would make a certain type of person—the type who can’t even look at the picture accompanying this entry—floor the gas pedal and speed off screaming into the night.

Yes, this sleepy town of 2,500 is home to the world’s only (we hope) Clown Motel, and it’s not just a name. Each room is clown-themed, featuring clown dolls and portraits of famous clowns. But that’s not all—the lobby is filled with clown dolls, too. Hundreds and hundreds of them.

As if this isn’t enough, Tonopah is home to an old prospectors’ cemetery that was established in 1901. Its residents include a bunch of townspeople who died in a mysterious, turn-of-the-century plague and 14 miners who died in a horrific mine fire. With its rusted metal fence and dilapidated old graves, it looks like a nightmare come to life with the history to back it up. And where is the cemetery located?

Why, it’s right next to the Clown Motel.

8 419.99 Mile Marker

If you’ve ever seen a highway mile marker, and we’re pretty sure you have, you’ll notice immediately something wrong with the one above. Situated on Interstate 70 next to the tiny Colorado burg of Stratton, it appears to be missing the other 99 signs marking off the hundredths of this particular mile.

But it’s not a mistake or part of an unreasonably extensive highway marking program. The marijuana-related signifier “420” is particularly dear to residents of this state, and Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) workers replaced the Mile 420 marker with this one after getting tired of replacing it.

Unfortunately for the crews who do maintenance on I-70, there are only two other highways in Colorado that run long enough to have this problem—and the other two simply forgo the Mile 420 marker altogether. Why this novel solution was chosen for I-70 is unclear, but it has worked. The new marker has remained untouched. Apparently, nobody wants to be perpetually stuck 0.01 miles away from party time.

Strangely enough, this is not the first time this trick has been employed on the very same highway. CDOT officials were forced to install a Mile 68.5 marker after repeated theft of . . . well, you get the idea. In answer to your question, no, Colorado is not composed entirely of college students, but it is getting close.

7 The Bug Carousel

The Bronx Zoo is 265 acres of nature plunked down in the heart of New York City. Over 100 years old, it is a Big Apple institution. Its Butterfly Garden draws over 300,000 visitors per season, but its companion carousel may make some of those visitors run shrieking all the way to Manhattan.

Yes, the carousel features 64 hand-carved, frighteningly large likenesses of insects with a bevy of different species that are all impressively (or disturbingly, depending on your point of view) detailed. The 15-meter (50 ft) carousel has serviced hundreds of thousands of riders since opening in 2005 and is billed as the world’s first and only carousel with a lineup entirely of insects, which we are not sure needed to be clarified.

What kind of carousel music must be featured on such a ride? We’re glad you asked. Its sound track is composed of insect sounds, courtesy of the Wildlife Conservation Society. If the carousel’s space ever becomes needed for a different exhibit, we suggest moving it to Tonopah, Nevada. For some reason, we feel like it would feel right at home there.

6 Waitomo Glowworm Caves

Located outside the Waitomo Township on New Zealand’s Northern Island is an extensive series of underground caves that have become a local attraction. They were discovered near the turn of the 19th century by a Maori chief and a British surveyor who ventured into the caves by candlelight to map them out—only to quickly realize that the candles weren’t necessary.

The caves are home to an enormous population of Arachnocampa luminosa, which is a species of glowworm native to New Zealand and not a spell that you remember from a Harry Potter novel. As the name implies, the worms are bioluminescent. Hundreds of thousands of them populate the Waitomo caves’ grotto, giving off an otherworldly glow and illuminating the naturally carved limestone formations among the caverns’ many twists and turns.

While visitors could be forgiven for thinking they’ve stumbled upon a portal to outer space, locals have been enjoying the attraction for over 100 years. The caves are currently maintained by the government, with the first guided tours given in 1889 by the same Maori chief who helped to discover them.

5 The Blue Flash

The small town of Bruceville, Indiana, is right in the heart of flyover country, the type of town where there’s very little to do and not much worth stopping for. One day in the early 2000s, resident John Ivers got it into his head that the town really needed a roller coaster. So with a handful of tools, a bunch of scrap metal, and absolutely no experience, he decided to build one right in his backyard.

Despite the ride lasting only 24 seconds, the Blue Flash, as it came to be called, has many of the features prized by coaster enthusiasts: an initial hill followed by a steep drop (up and over the work shed John used to build it), plenty of twists and curves, and even a loop. Why did he do it? John explained, “You know, there are a lot of good engineers who design roller coasters, big coasters, but not in their backyard, you know.” Fair enough.

Beginning the project with his grandchildren in mind, John apparently finished work on the coaster in a white heat before realizing that his grandchildren were still toddlers at the time and would fall right out of the cars while navigating the loop. Deciding that this would not do, he built a second coaster—Blue Too—a kinder, gentler coaster that’s just right for small kids.

Visitors from around the world have come to ride the Flash, which frankly seems like a lot of trouble for a 24-second ride in the middle of nowhere.

4 Toronto’s Neighborhood Watch Signs

One day, Canadian artist Andrew Lamb (not his real name) decided that his Toronto suburb’s neighborhood watch signs were lacking in aesthetic value. A comic book fan, Lamb used a laser printer to produce a comic book splash page featuring a bunch of superheroes. He affixed it to one of the signs, stepped back, and saw that it was good. But Lamb was far from satisfied.

Despite his actions being, well, illegal (hence the use of a pseudonym), Lamb has gone on to creatively deface, by his count, a total of 68 neighborhood watch signs throughout Toronto with only a handful of duplicates. He does not try to hide his activities and says that only a couple of residents have offered complaints of any kind. Most offer positive feedback while he works. He also says that he has been contacted with requests for modification of certain signs and suggestions for new characters to use.

Although potential criminals may not necessarily be deterred by the suggestion that the Incredible Hulk or RoboCop is watching over their target neighborhoods, officials don’t seem terribly concerned. Lamb began his project after noticing that the lettering on the signs faded in the sun but the black border did not, leaving the perfect canvas for his outsider art. His personal favorites: Ellen Ripley from the Alien film series and bumbling detective Frank Drebin from The Naked Gun.

3 The Cave Of Kelpius

In the middle of Philadelphia along the Wissahickon Creek on Hermit Lane lies a secret cave that is stumbled upon by few. Although this is not the beginning of our modern fantasy novel, it may as well be. The plaque standing by the cave notes that it was built by “The Original Rosicrucian” Johannes Kelpius, a German mystic who arrived in Philadelphia shortly after its founding.

Claiming to draw on the wisdom of the ancient Egyptians, the Rosicrucians were a not-so-secret society that began in 17th-century Germany. Kelpius and his followers, known as the “Hermits of Wissahickon,” lived in seclusion in this area, engaging in deep meditation and assisting city residents when called upon.

This was going fine until the group’s apparent transformation into what must be one of the original doomsday cults. Based on his interpretation of the biblical book of Revelation, Kelpius announced that he had determined that the world would come to an end in 1694. When the target date came and went with no global annihilation, the date was revised to 1700.

This went on until 1708 when Kelpius died and his remaining followers disbanded. All that is left of their settlement is this dark, dry cave which was used for intensive meditation and awaiting the end of the world. Cyclists and hikers who find themselves far off the beaten path can stumble across this eerie, near-forgotten relic of Philadelphia’s history.

2 The Seven Noses Of Soho

Strolling through the streets of London’s Soho neighborhood, one might notice that several of the buildings have some rather unique features. Neither architectural nor decorative features, no, we actually mean human features. Noses, to be specific. There are seven of them cast in metal and affixed to random buildings throughout the area.

The honkers are the work of artist Rick Buckley, who in 1996 created the seven sculptures from a cast of his own proboscis. Somehow, the legend spread that anyone who is able to find all seven will gain infinite wealth, which sounds like a video game side quest if we have ever heard of one.

While some of the noses are as plain as the nose on the side of a building (sorry, we couldn’t resist), others are quite difficult to find, which is to be expected if infinite wealth is the prize. Local tour groups have organized walking tours of the seven noses, a combination of words we never expect to see again, let alone type. So perhaps the infinite wealth deal was only good for the first person to discover all seven. We can think of a few good candidates, but none of the Kardashians are talking.

1 The World’s Biggest Ghost Town

The historically politically tumultuous country of Myanmar (aka Burma) has one of the largest capital cities in the world. Unveiled to the world in 2005, Naypyidaw is six times the size of New York City, and estimates of its construction cost run upward of $4 billion. The city has all of the most modern amenities—malls, hotels, brand-new restaurants with free Wi-Fi, and a 20-lane superhighway running right through the middle. The only thing it doesn’t have is residents.

Although the military regime that undertook the city’s construction was ousted from power in 2011, the current government insists that its capital city is a bustling metropolis of over one million residents, an assertion whose absurdity is apparent simply by looking around. Road maintenance and construction workers are often the only signs of life on the city’s wide, clean, empty streets (yes, construction is still ongoing), and traffic is such that the BBC television show Top Gear was able to stage a drag race down its main road during its alleged rush hour.

While the motivation for moving the country’s capital to the middle of nowhere where no residents will ever venture remains unclear, rumors are that the country’s officials were wary of an amphibious US invasion because the old capital of Rangoon was close to the sea. If this seems a little paranoid, it may help to know that Myanmar is one of the only countries on Earth that is friendly with North Korea.