In pursuit of beautiful views and unforgettable photographs, people sometimes go “to distant lands”. But fabulous landscapes are often fraught with dangers that a person may not even be aware of. Even in regions of the Earth that are popular with tourists, one should be careful so that the adventure does not end in tragedy.
"Suicide Forest" at the foot of Fuji
The Japanese adore Mount Fuji, considering it the ancestral home of legendary ancestors. The image of the cone-shaped top has repeatedly adorned banknotes of the Land of the Rising Sun. But not many people know that the Aokigahara forest (or Dziukai, "sea of trees") located at its foot is popularly called the "forest of suicides". Stories about the ghosts and demons that inhabit it have been known since the early Middle Ages. And every year more than a hundred people commit suicide there.
Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania
There is also an anomalous forest in Romania. This is Hoya Bachu in the heart of Transylvania. According to the researchers, a huge number of paranormal phenomena take place in it. Those who find themselves in Khoya-Bachu experience anxiety and even fear, people often disappear in the thickets, there you can meet ghosts and even aliens. And on certain sections of forest roads, fatal accidents regularly occur. They are associated with the appearance of the ghost of a girl in a wedding dress. Abandoned by the groom, she seemed to be hanged from a tree, and as a suicide, they could not bury her according to Christian tradition.
In 2006, Fiji's five dollar gold coin was dedicated to Transylvania. However, already in connection with another Romanian celebrity - Dracula! The collectible banknote artist took as a basis the plot from the novel of the same name by Bram Stoker: a young British solicitor Jonathan Harker arrives at the vampire count.
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Mysterious Baikal
One of the many mystical corners of Russia is undoubtedly Lake Baikal. It is not for nothing that it is also called the last stronghold of shamanism. Shrouded in legends, this reservoir is a storehouse of mysteries. Here there are geopathogenic zones, UFO flights are observed, unexpected encounters with mysterious inhabitants of the lake depths occur. In the world of money, the deepest lake on Earth is still represented only by coins. But what kind!
Issyk-Kul mysteries
Lake Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyzstan is also considered anomalous places. There are many legends about the cities and treasures flooded in it. And one of the legends says that in the very center of Issyk-Kul lies a coffin with the body of Genghis Khan. However, amazing finds were actually raised from the bottom of the lake at different times. As for anomalies and phenomena, UFOs, for example, are frequent guests in the water area of the lake. There is also evidence of encounters with striking underwater inhabitants - ichthyanders and mermaids. Issyk-Kul Lake is immortalized on Kyrgyz 200 som banknotes.
True, a much more interesting image of this water reservoir can be seen on one of the trial versions of the 20 som banknote, developed for the first issue of the national currency of Kyrgyzstan.
Mountain of Blood
It seems that the Khan-Tengri Mountain (Tien Shan, 7010 m) belongs to the "difficult" natural attractions. Many climbers found their death on its slopes. Khan Tengri is a place with special energy. This can be judged by the names alone, given to the peak at different times: for example, the Lord of the sky or the mountain of Blood. The legendary peak is immortalized on the Kyrgyz som bills of 2002, 2000 soms in 2017 and on a commemorative coin of 1 som in 2011.
There is something cautionary about these images. And it may well be that such a feeling is associated with an angry face that immediately catches the eye. It is known from reliable sources that when the first hundredth bills fell into the hands of the employees of the National Bank, nervous excitement reigned in the collective. And the image of the "spirit of the mountain" was almost the main theme of the day.
Portal to another dimension
The natural park "Wonderful Bridges" in Bulgaria with its monumental rocky arcades belongs to the mysterious places of our planet. In 1949 it was declared a natural landmark of national importance! Spread out in the western part of the Rhodope Mountains, at the foot of the Golyam-Persenk mountain, this geological monument attracts thousands of nature lovers from all over the world to the country. And in 2012, the Wonderful Bridges were awarded their own commemorative coin.
By the way, they say that the stone arch depicted on the coin is a kind of portal to another dimension. After all, people often disappeared there. Moreover, near the cliff, we often met shaggy creatures unknown to science.
Secrets of Colored Lakes
A chain of three colored lakes in the crater of Kelimutu volcano is the main attraction of Flores Island in Indonesia. Two of them are painted in different shades of green, and the third is black and red. They all have romantic names. Tivoe Ata Polo means "Lake of the enchanted people". According to legend, the souls of sorcerers are hiding here. It used to have a bright red color, but today it is almost black. The name of the second - Tivoe Noea Moeri Koo Fay is translated as "Lake of boys and girls". In its blue-green waters, according to legend, the souls of immaculate young people are hiding. And in the third - Tivoe Ata Mboepoe ("The Lake of Drowned Hopes") - supposedly the souls of the islanders' ancestors live. It has a rich, bright green color.
An Indonesian 5000 rupee note was once dedicated to the amazing colored lakes.
Nature itself has worked on the color unusual for reservoirs. Formed in different craters, they are rich in various minerals.
The surroundings of the volcanic lakes also hold many secrets. Among the inhabitants of the island of Flores, legends about mysterious undersized and hairy creatures have been circulating for hundreds of years. In the myths recorded by the first Danish travelers, they were called Ebu Gogo. And the islanders believe that their mysterious neighbors still live here.
"Bad" lands of the Canadian province
The hilly area in Alberta, Canada is intriguingly called badlands. That is, "bad" or "bad" lands. A distinctive feature of the local landscapes is the hoodoo - rock formations in the form of huge mushrooms. They appeared as a result of centuries of erosion, in which the softer rocks of the bases of the "mushrooms" were weathered and washed out, but the "caps" of hard rock were not. The Canadian Mint dedicated a 25-cent coin to a legally protected hoodoo in 2005. The geological formations in Turkish Cappadocia, in the Goreme National Park, look like hoodoo. Their image was decorated with Turkish paper fifty dollars in the same 2005. The similarity of the sandy cliffs of Canada and the tuff cliffs in Turkey, as they say, is obvious.
At the end of the 20th century, the "anomalous serial" was popular, which was filmed in Canada. And it was about a certain mysterious area where people grew old very quickly. In this case, the scenario is allegedly based on real events.
The charm of many pristine natural landscapes is difficult to describe. And the desire of a person to see these beauties with his own eyes is quite understandable. However, you should remember about safety. And that the nature around us is mysterious, and she never forgives anyone's mistakes.
Magazine: Secrets of the 20th century №46. Author: Rolf Meisinge