Some truly strange and haunting places!

Greetings, the Earth is a beautiful and enchanting place and one has only to look up at the sky or at the trees on a sunny day to appreciate this simple fact but in the rush to live our lives and go about our daily routines, one can get used to not appreciating that beauty as we should and in doing so, we rob ourselves of the natural joy the Earth provides us every time we take a minute for ourselves and choose to enjoy the nature around us.

Here are three amazing places right here on mother Earth that are not only beautiful, but haunting and awe inspiring. I can't imagine our ancestors from long ago experiencing places like this without the benefit of science, truly, they must have thought them magical places of the Gods and who knows, maybe they were right.



THE GREAT BLUE HOLE - Belize

Found in Belize, this sinkhole is a sight to behold. Thought to have been dry in the ancient past, there are vast cave networks found underneath. The cave system would have come before the hole and as sea levels rose and collapsed parts of the network, the holes were formed. Although there are other similar "blue holes" in and around the Bahamas and in Belize, I think this one takes the cake. The Great Blue Hole is massive and over 400 feet deep, as it sits in the Light House Reef Atoll it is also home to a bustling and diverse community of plant and animal life, some of which is still new to science sources say. As the worlds largest Sea Hole (yes, I said Sea Hole) and situated within the reef, it's easy to see why this is one of the biggest attractions world wide for those lucky enough to be able to afford to travel and dive there. Read more here!









A quick MSNBC introduction to the Great Blue Hole.




HELL'S DOOR - Turkmenistan

Located in the Kara-Kum desert of Turkmenistan is a remarkable sink hole the locals have dubbed "The gate of hell". It would seem that Russian prospectors were drilling for natural gas supply back in 1971 and boy oh boy did they find it! The drilling rig collapsed exposing this massive sink hole that has a diameter of around 230 feet and a depth that is still being guessed at. Spewing from the mouth was methane, alot of it and the decision was made to ignite the gas in a burn off to avoid potential environmental distress and the fear of gas build up or human casualties. Menncingly beautiful, this gate of hell continues to burn 40 years later. Read more here!









Here are a couple of idiots who visited this amazing place with a video camera.




THE EYE OF AFRICA - Mauritania

Possibly the most mysterious and thought provoking of the three is the Eye of Africa, this mind boggling depression is thought to be a richat caused by dome shaped symmetrical uplifting of underlying geology and erosion. What is important to realize about this is that this may as well be a guess since that is far from being universal recognized as the cause, there are many who subscribe to a meteor impact or other theories regarding it's creation but then there are those who speculate that it is amazingly similar to an underground nuclear blast. As far as the nuke theory goes, it would have had to be around a gigaton to create this depression and it would have had to have happened ALONG time ago. As we don't have any weapons capable of that today, it's hard to imagine but hey, this is ATS and our minds need food! Read more here!









I couldn't find a youtube video for The Eye of Africa so you will have to make do with The Eye of the Tiger.. Enjoy.



I hope you enjoyed the thread and please always remember to take a minute out of every day no matter how busy you are to absorb a little bit of nature and appreciate Mother Earth, she won't let you down.

Cool pics, this has all been posted many times, some individually and somes threads with all the above. Still pretty amazing.

Originally posted by mileslong54
Cool pics, this has all been posted many times, some individually and somes threads with all the above. Still pretty amazing.

Umm, I am willing to bet that none of them had a survivor video in them which obviously makes me the winner by default! Also, have been on here since 09 and haven't run into any of these on ATS so maybe there buried a bit.

reply to post by Helious


Excellent thread! S&F
Thanks for sharing these wonders with us.
Re: Eye of the Tiger....ummmm....no comment.

I've never seen them before and appreciate your taking the time and effort to share. Great pics and stories. The Door to Hell is particularly creepy.

Originally posted by Maluhia
I've never seen them before and appreciate your taking the time and effort to share. Great pics and stories. The Door to Hell is particularly creepy.

I agree, I think there all a little creepy, too me that adds to the beauty but Ill tell you one thing, Id jump right into Hell's door before you would catch me swimming in the Blue hole lol but that's just me!