World mysteries
Friday 21 November 2008
There are some mysteries that have kept people across the world puzzled for centuries. n2k attempts to make some sense out of them.
The world unseen
The Lost City of Atlantis
Atlantis is the legendary city of an advanced group of people. It was first spoken of by the Greek philosopher Plato, who said that it conquered many places in Europe and Africa. However, after a failed attempt at invading Athens, Plato says that it sank into the ocean.
Others think that Atlantis sunk to the seabed after a massive earthquake or tsunami.
To this day, Atlantis has never been found – but most people believe it to be somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean or the Mediterranean Sea.
The story of Atlantis is so popular that it’s crossed over to popular culture. It has been mentioned in Disney’s ‘Atlantis: The Lost Empire’ and the first Tomb Rader video game.
Bermuda Triangle
Also known as the Devil’s Triangle, it is located around the borders of sunny Florida, Bermuda and Puerto Rico. It’s the place most feared by travellers because of the number of boats and aircraft that go missing whilst passing through it.
Heard of Christopher Columbus? Well he was the first person to ever mention something strange going on. When he was in the area, he noticed strange lights and red flames in the sky. At one point he even said his compass failed to work.
Some believe that the strange activity of the environment around the Bermuda Triangle is down to the wreckage from the Lost City of Atlantis. Spooky!
Loch Ness
The Loch Ness Monster, also known by its cuter name ‘Nessie’, is the creature reportedly living in Loch Ness in Scotland.
The story first came about in 1933 when a black and white picture emerged of what looked like a creature with an extremely long neck. To this day, Nessie remains one of the most talked about creatures of Cryptozoology – the study of strange and unknown animals.
There have been many claims of sightings but most turn out to be hoaxes. One man claimed he had pictures of Nessie’s footprints – but they actually turned out to be hippopotamus prints. Students have even had a go at fooling the world. A pair claimed to have found Nessie’s tooth on the loch shore but scientists found that it was only a broken piece of a deer’s antler.
Strange but true
Here are some unbelievably true world mysteries. Let's start off in Egypt…
The Egyptian Pyramids
There are over 100 pyramids located in Egypt, most of which were built as tombs for pharaohs. The Great Pyramid of Giza is probably the most famous and is one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
These famous structures were man-made, with no use of technology to help. More than two million blocks of limestone were used to create The Great Pyramid, with each block weighing around 2.5 tons.
Most people believe that it took around 20 years to make. If this is true, than hundreds of tonnes of limestone had to be carried a day!
Imhotep, an architect of ancient times, is believed to be the person who designed the very first Egyptian pyramid. You may have heard his name mentioned in The Mummy films, which are loosely based on his life.
Here you can also find The Great Sphinx of Giza – a half human, half lion structure.
Stonehenge
Our contribution to world mysteries is Stonehenge in Salisbury which is made of 30 large standing stones that form a circle.
It wasn’t created all at once though, and historians say it took around 1,500 years. Legendary wizard Merlin is believed to have played a part in its creation too.
Another strange factor is that the stones didn’t come from Salisbury, but from a quarry over 40 kilometres away. What was used to carry them?
Some people believe that the brains behind Stonehenge were ahead of their time and created it to predict when eclipses were due to happen. Others believe that the stones arrived in Salisbury through a massive tidal wave that threw them from the quarry to Salisbury.
Have you been to any of these places and seen or noticed anything strange? Tell us about it.
