Eternal Flames and Thousands of Jars: 9 of the Most Mysterious Places on Earth

The Earth a pretty wondrous place. Walked by animals that have evolved little over hundreds of millions of years, and populated by stunning forests, dreamlike lakes, and picturesque landscapes, this planet is a miracle in and of itself—even if we do have scientific explanations for most of the Earth’s most extraordinary phenomena. 

Yet some places and phenomena on Earth are so mysterious and strange that even science hasn’t been able to fully explain their existence…or even if it has, legends persist. From ghost stories to wild theories about ancient civilizations, these places have fueled countless explanations for their existence and have drawn countless people to their shores and depths, looking for answers. These are nine of our planet's most mysterious places.

1. The Bermuda Triangle
2. Crooked Forest
3. Nazca Lines
4. Blood Falls
5. Devil’s Kettle
6. Eternal Flame Falls (and other Eternal Flames)
7. The Plain of Jars
8. Magnetic Hill
9. The Yonaguni Monument

The Bermuda Triangle

Few places have inspired greater quantities of lore than the Bermuda Triangle. Generally said to be located between Florida’s Atlantic coast, Bermuda, and the Greater Antilles islands, this area occupies approximately 500,000 square miles, and has been the site of legends and fearful whispers since the mid-19th century. Over the years, numerous ships, airplanes, and even rescue missions are said to have disappeared there without a trace. 

In truth, there is no actual scientific documentation that disasters have occurred more frequently in the Bermuda Triangle than anywhere else on Earth’s vast, wild oceans. Still, the area will always be synonymous with mystery, intrigue, and imaginative conspiracy theories involving everything from undersea cities to wormholes leading to other dimensions.

Crooked Forest

Deep in a small portion of the Polish forest near the town of Nowe Czarnowo outside of Gryfino, West Pomerania lies a grove of pine trees that look like they’ve been 3D-printed incorrectly or twisted by the hand of a mysterious giant. This is the Crooked Forest, a collection of 400 trees that are strangely curved at their bases, and it is certainly one of the strangest and most ethereal forests in the world. 

Even more peculiarly, there is no precise scientific consensus on what caused these trees to grow so oddly, though some suggest that whoever originally planted them engineered them to grow as they have. Others suggest that they grew beneath Nazi or Soviet tanks, which may have caused their contorted appearances. Of course, many people are more than willing to blame aliens or other supernatural causes.

Nazca Lines

The Nazca Lines are a vast group of glyphs carved into the earth in southern Peru. Most were created by the Nazca people, though some predate this civilization, which existed between around 200 B.C. and 600 B.C. The majority of the lines depict plants and animals, from monkeys to killer whales, while others form more complex shapes that some say can only be understood if you actually walk through the paths or view them from the air.

Scientists do not know why, exactly, the lines were created, though some theories hold that they are calendars or maps of the stars or cosmos. Many researchers believe that they were used in religious ceremonies, likely held in honor of water and fertility.

Blood Falls

If you ever find yourself wandering through the McMurdo Dry Valleys, a vast icy desert in Antarctica, you might stumble upon an unusual glacier occasionally punctuated by spurts of scarlet liquid. 

This is the so-called Blood Falls, a natural phenomenon that was first documented by geologist Thomas Griffith Taylor on the Terra Nova expedition in 1911, and that has long been the subject of fascination, research, and speculation.

Studies have concluded that the water’s color is the result of iron and mineral-rich hypersaline water trapped beneath the ice. When exposed to the air, the iron particles oxidize, creating the red color. More recent research has discovered that the scarlet stream itself is the product of pressure changes beneath the glacier. 

Devil’s Kettle

The Devil’s Kettle is a waterfall located on the Brule River in Minnesota’s Judge C. R. Magney State Park that has mystified visitors and scientists for many years. At one point, the river forks off in two directions when it hits a rocky outcrop; the mystery is that one of the two waterfalls seems to completely disappear into nothingness, while the other clearly pours into Lake Superior.

However, in 2017, researchers from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources found that the waterfall that seems to immediately disappear actually simply rejoins the other waterfall underground almost instantly after the two split.

Eternal Flame Falls (and other Eternal Flames)

There is a light that almost never goes out in Orchard Park, New York. This is the Eternal Flame Falls, a natural phenomenon created by a hydrocarbon seep from ancient shale that results in a flame that keeps burning even when the waterfall that surrounds it freezes over. Occasionally, the light does flicker out, but it’s usually revived by helpful hikers.

This is actually one of a number of eternal flames that burn around the world. Another famous one is Turkmenistan’s so-called Door to Hell, a hole at a former drilling site that perpetually glows with flame due to poisonous methane gases that have continued to ignite over the years after engineers set the place on fire in 1971. While there is a scientific explanation for this phenomenon, the existence of fire that never stops burning is still pretty miraculous, no matter how you look at it. 

The Plain of Jars

If you ever visit the Xieng Khouang plateau in central Laos, you might stumble upon a strange sight: a sparsely forested area completely filled with gigantic empty stone jars. This is the Plain of Jars, a vast area consisting of over 2,500 gigantic jars and fragments believed to have been built between 500 and 200 A.D., though some archaeologists believe they might have originated as early as 200 B.C. The jars can be found in various places across an area consisting of hundreds of square kilometers.

A variety of theories exist regarding the purpose the jars served. Local legends tell stories of giants who celebrated victories by drinking out of gigantic stone jars, while other, more logical theories propose the jars may have been used to collect rainwater. A currently reigning and commonly accepted theory holds that the jars may have been used for funerary purposes. 

This area was heavily bombed by the U.S. in the Vietnam War and some unexploded bombs remain, but it is possible to visit certain specific areas and see this phenomenon for yourself.

Magnetic Hill

In the hills of India’s Ladakh, there is a place near Leh on the Leh–Kargil–Baltic highway where cars appear to roll uphill instead of downhill when parked. This is “Magnetic Hill,” an attraction that is actually the result of an optical illusion resulting from the area’s sloped terrain. 

Still, people have long devised their own explanations for the hill’s apparent gravitational anomalies through various myths and legends. One local story holds that the Magnetic Hill used to be a road to heaven, and other myths have proposed that a strong magnetic force, possibly supernatural in nature, might be causing the phenomenon. 

The Yonaguni Monument

Japan’s Yonaguni Island is the most remote of all of the country’s Okinawan Islands, and the waters around it contain a mysterious secret. Just off the island’s south coast rests a strange rock formation that is about 100 meters tall by 60 meters wide. 

The formation resembles steps on the side of a pyramid and appears to have been created by humans, but geological estimates place its age at around 10,000 years old.

Some scientists have proposed that the formation is merely an extraordinary-looking naturally made structure carved by the elements over time. Other unfounded theories propose that it might be evidence of a pre-glacial civilization that was wiped out entirely by rising sea levels or climate change. Regardless, this place remains a mystery.