Thursday, February 23, 2012

Greatest mysteries in the world


1. The great Inca Empire in South America

The great Inca Empire was at its peak in the period between the years 1200 and 1535. They built a developed system of canals for the irrigation of their crops and a stone town on the top of a steep mountain - Machu Picchu. It is interesting that the Incas built all that and did not even know what the wheel is! Despite the great achievements, they didn’t manage to withhold the attack by the Spanish conquistadors who had much more advanced weapons.

2. Pyramids of Giza, Egypt
Pyramid of Khufu and the Pyramid of Cheops are two of the three ancient pyramids at Giza in Egypt. Cheops is the largest. It was built out of more than 2 million stone blocks, and some of the blocks weigh up to 9 tons. The pyramids were built as tombs for the Gods in 2550 BC. Modern Egyptologists believe that the pyramids were built out of stones which were taken from a quarry, unlike the Ancient Greeks, who believed that they were built by trained masters and not slaves.

3. Mayan Temple
Judging by the ancient Mayan calendar, December 2012 is marked as the end of the world as we know it. This information has been a mystery for a long time. Some believe that the Mayas knew about the apocalypse and that it will come in December 2012, while others claim that this is just a mathematical error.

4. The legend of El Dorado
The legend of El Dorado comes from the tribe Muisca, who lived in the territory of present-day Colombia in the period between the years 1000 and 1538. In the ritual ceremony, the tribal chief would cover himself with gold dust and jump into the lake and thus sacrificing himself to the Gods. This started the legend of the golden city, which the Spanish conquistadors never found.

5. Easter Island
Easter Island, also known as Rapa Nui, is very isolated; it is located about 2,000 miles off the coast of Tahiti. The original settlers of this island were Polynesians who settled there between 400 and 600 BC. They built many temples and statues, which they called Moai. They carved them from stones that they brought from other islands. Researchers and archaeologists are still wondering how they transported the rocks.

6. Bermuda Triangle
Bermuda Triangle is an area in the Atlantic Ocean between Bermuda Islands, Florida and Puerto Rico. Its characteristic is that planes and ships disappear there without a trace. Sergeant Howell Thompson gave it the name. He disappeared without a trace along with 27 other airmen during a routine flight in 1945. Many rumors say that this is caused by some supernatural powers, but scientists blame the hurricanes, the dangerous Gulf Stream and the human errors.

7. Nasca lines
Nasca lines cover more than 300 square miles of a desert in southern Peru. Many pieces are 2,000 years old. Not much is known about the drawings in the sand. While some think that they are alien origin, others argue that the shape of a figure indicates a place where water was found.

8. Aliens
Area 51, located on Lake Groome in Southern Nevada, was founded in 1955 by the U.S. Air Force. It is a center for research of new types of aircraft. The very nature of military bases in combination with the aircraft research and secret technology has helped conspiracy theorists in their claims that experiments are conducted in this place. Those experiments supposedly include time travel, cover-ups of UFOs and alien autopsies.

9. Sphinx in Giza, Egypt
Sphinx of Egypt is another wonder. It has a lion’s body and the head of the Pharaoh Khufu. It is carved from limestone and it slowly decays. A popular theory about the disappearance of Sphinx nose says that Napoleon's soldiers fired their guns at it; however, recently discovered sketches confirm that is not true and that the nose disappeared long before Napoleon.

10. Monster of Lake Loch Ness
According to Scottish folklore and popular belief, the monster (Nessie) is a mystical creature that drags young children into the water. It lures them in by offering them a ride on its back. The Loch Ness monster has become popular when one of the witnesses appeared on the news. However there is no hard evidence that the monster exists. However, there is one photo where can not quite determine whether it is real or a fake.

11. Fountain of Youth
Don Juan Ponce de Leon became governor of Puerto Rico in 1509. Six years later, led by Indian rumors, he went north to find the fountain of youth which was supposedly near the island of Bimini. It later turned out that the Bimini is in fact the Florida peninsula. The fountain remained hidden and unknown until July 2006, when the famous magician David Copperfield said that the water on his private island, Musha Cay, is quite healthy.

12. Chupacabra
Phyllis Canion holds a head of the animal called Chupacabra at her home in Kueru, Texas. It was first seen in Puerto Rico in 1995 and it was said that it loves chicken and goat blood. Although there are many pictures like this one, the biologists firmly reject the claims that this animal exists.

13. Ark of the Covenant
The Ark of the Covenant is described as a wooden coffin in the Bible. It is covered with gold and it was designed to carry the Ten Commandments. Coffin was apparently carried through the desert and it reached a temple in Israel where it was destroyed by the Babylonian Empire. Where is it now and does it really exist, remains an unknown fact.

14. Stonehenge
Stonehenge, which stands on the Salisbury plain in England, is now a popular tourist attraction. However, it is said that more than 5,000 years ago, this place was used for various pagan rituals, or perhaps as a cemetery.

15. The Iron Pillar of Delhi
The Iron Pillar of Delhi is 1,600 years old, 23 feet tall, and located in the Qutb complex in India. The pillar, which is 98% made of wrought iron, impresses scientists because it is still resisting corrosion.

16. Stone Spheres of Costa Rica
They were discovered in early 1940s during the excavations undertaken by the Fruit United Company. These perfectly shaped stone spheres are from the period 600 – 1500 AD. Their purpose is still unknown, but many believe that they had a religious significance and they are associated with the God of the Sun.

17. Mothman
The creature which is shaped like a human, with wings like an insect and red eyes, known as Mothman, terrorized the residents of Point Pleasant in the U.S. during the late 1960's. There is no hard evidence of its existence, apart from a few statements of alleged witnesses documented, in the book of journalist John Kila - Mothman prophecy.

18. Devil of Jersey
According to a legend, 250 years ago, a woman from Jersey was sobbing in despair when she was in her 13th pregnancy: "Let there be a devil." After the birth, it turned out that the baby is actually a creature that looks like a kangaroo with wings.

19. Tunguska explosion, Russia
Tunguska explosion occurred at 7:14 AM on 30th June 1908 in Russia. Even today, the cause of the explosion is unknown he explosion knocked over an estimated 80 million trees covering 2,150 square kilometers. It is mostly believed that the cause of the explosion is a meteorite, or just a part of it. Others claim that black holes and aliens caused the explosion.

20. The lost city of Atlantis
The lost city of Atlantis was first described 2,400 years ago by Plato, who said that the island is a home to an advanced civilization. Legend says that the city was sunk due to an earthquake, while the later interpretation says that Atlantis is an underwater kingdom that is guarded by the sirens. The location of the island where Atlantis was built is still a mystery, of course, if it ever existed. Some recent evidence suggests that it was somewhere in the vicinity of Cyprus in the Mediterranean.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Twitter Bird Gadget