15 Forbidden Places You're Not Allowed to Visit

while most places in the world can be visited for either free or a fee there are some spots that are nearly impossible to enter so today we're going to be giving you the inside scoop on the most secretive of them all by counting down the top 15 illegal places you're not allowed to visit number 15 the svalbard global seed vault of all the secured places on earth few are quite as important as the svalbard global seed vault located far up north on the norwegian island of svalbard the vault essentially holds nearly 1 million seed samples these seed samples contain thousands of seeds each and they can be withdrawn by their depositors in order to deal with the loss of crops that can come from events such as wars acts of terrorism or natural catastrophes interestingly enough this vault's operational costs are funded entirely by the norwegian government and its various donors and it's so secure that only a select group of people are allowed to enter it however given the importance of its activities this is probably for the best [Music] number 14 mount weather emergency operations center if you happen to be an american government official in the house of representatives or the senate and chances are that you've heard of the mount weather emergency operations center located in virginia's blue ridge mountains the facility is a major relocation site for the highest level of civilian and military officials in case of national disasters and terrorist attacks and while it's only reported use thus far was during 9 11 the site is still extremely important strategically as it's a strong base of operations for continued governance if washington dc were to ever fall so it should come as no surprise that regular people such as ourselves are not permitted to enter number 13 ise grand shrine if you're a believer in the shinto religion then chances are that you've heard of the ise grand shrine located in japan's miyet prefecture it's considered to be one of shintoism's most holy sites it's dedicated to the sun goddess amaterasu and is a rather expansive complex as it encompasses several smaller shrines however while we're sure the inside is beautiful no one except the japanese imperial family is allowed to enter in fact onlookers are only permitted to stand outside the ise grand shrines walls where they can venerate the sun goddess from a distance and while such an experience may seem underwhelming at first most believers of shintoism would likely disagree as the site is visited by millions every single year 12 north brother island while new york city is known to be somewhere that is hustling and bustling with people the city owns one piece of land that doesn't have a single permanent resident known as north brother island it's located in the bay just south of the bronx and despite being about eight square hectares is not home to a single housing development that's because after serving as a mental hospital from 1881 to 1943 a world war ii veterans housing from 46 to 51 and a youth drug rehabilitation center from 1952 to 64. the island was essentially left alone today it now stands as a bird sanctuary and is completely closed off to visitors during the shore bird mating season which lasts from march 21st to september 21st during the fall and winter months it allows a small number of permit holders on the island to conduct academic or scientific research regardless legally getting onto north brother island is still quite tricky number 11 the church of our lady mary of zion while the church of our lady mary of zion may not be one of the most well-known religious sites out there it is in fact the site of the most important artifacts in the ethiopian orthodox church that's because it supposedly contains the ark of the covenant which was reportedly brought to the country by emperor melanic the first after he visited his father king solomon the site is guarded by a monk who spends all of his days praying and offering incense to the covenant so access to the site is limited to just the monk and high-ranked clergymen in the ethiopian orthodox church yet this secrecy has actually been heavily criticized by many scholars as many believe that the ark of the covenant is in fact a forgery one of the most vocal of these is edward ullendorf who was former professor of ethiopian studies at the university of london that's because he reportedly got a chance to see the covenant during world war ii and determined that it was made during the middle ages rather than thousands of years ago regardless despite his efforts to disprove the covenant the church still remains off limits to the public to this day number 10 the mausoleum of the first chin emperor when the first chin emperor died he received an extremely cool burial that's because his burial complex was constructed over 38 years and was modeled on the qing capital of chanyang as such its circumference is not only a massive 6.3 kilometers long but it's filled with statues of his soldiers family members servants horses and staff all of which has been named the terracotta army now when this army was discovered in 1974 a massive amount of information was learned about the emperor that was buried within the crypt however at the same time a lot of valuable things were lost as when the open air reacted with the paint of the terracotta soldiers it quickly deteriorated therefore the actual crypt where the emperor lies remains untouched but this apparently being the case because the chinese government only wants to open it once it knows that it will be able to preserve everything inside of it properly as such there's absolutely no way for anyone to gain access to the mausoleum of the first chin emperor number nine the lasco caves while there are plenty of cool prehistoric paintings out there none quite match those found in the lasco caves located near the village of montanak in southwestern france the paintings within are estimated to be about 17 000 years old and depict many of the animals and people that were seen by prehistoric humans interestingly enough the caves were found by accident in 1940 when eighteen-year-old marcel ravidat's dog fell into a hole ravidoc came back to this hole with some friends shortly afterwards and discovered the vast expanse of cave paintings after reporting it to local authorities it didn't take long for it to be made into a tourist site as in 1948 it officially opened to the public however by 1955 carbon dioxide heat humidity and other contaminants produced by the cave's 1200 daily visitors and visibly damaged the paintings and as air conditions deteriorated fungi and lichen began to infest the walls consequently the cave is partially closed to the public in 1963 with only a few dozen visitors per week allowed inside however even this proved to be too great a toll on the site as by early 2000s infestations of mold have become commonplace unfortunately this mold has remained a problem to this day and as a result many of the caves are now completely closed off to the public we are constantly adding more people to the top fives production team to bring you all the best content be sure to subscribe with notifications on and hit the like button number eight nihao island while there are several reasons why a place would be close to the public nihao island is the only one that remains closed due to a promise made to a diseased hawaiian king you see the island was first purchased for ten thousand dollars in gold by elizabeth sinclair in 1864. however the man who it was purchased from was the hawaiian king kamehameha v and the king's only request was that the sinclair family protect the island and its residents from outside influences as such current owners keith and bruce robinson have kept true to this promise and have made a provision that neither they have to invite you onto their island or that you have to be a permanent nia resident in order to enter and while there are a couple of minor exceptions to this rule for the most part this is ensured that the island's 70 or so residents have been able to maintain their language culture and traditions uninterrupted yet despite these protections the robinsons have also imposed quite a few restrictions with these including a ban on alcohol and gun ownership and a requirement that everyone attends church on sundays however up until this point there have been no major complaints voiced by the islanders number seven the vatican's appallistic archives while st peter's basilica is visited by upwards of five million visitors every single year the vatican's appallistic archives are near impossible to gain access to the archive has been around for about a thousand years and contains scholarly works of practically every pope along with several other important catholic documents for most of its history only the pope himself had access to the repository yet that all changed in 1881 when pope leo the 13th officially opened a reading room for researchers this proved to be an important step for catholic scholarship as it contained tens of kilometers of shelving and now allows up to 60 researchers per day inside in order to gain access qualified scholars from institutions of higher education must apply for an entry card with these being given on the basis of an applicant's introductory letter personal data and the purpose of their research however even after being let in scholars are still somewhat limited in their research as most documents written in the year 1959 or later are not accessible regardless it's still a world-class resource and thus entry cards are heavily sought after by academics from around the globe number 6. bohemian grove while there are countless old boys clubs to be found around the world none are quite as secretive or exclusive as the bohemian club located at 20601 bohemian avenue in monterrio california the aptly named bohemian grove that the club uses is essentially an 1100 acre compound membership to the club is granted only to high-profile men such as former presidents businessmen and media stars or senior membership to the old guard of the club can only be earned after 40 years of service when you further consider that guests can only attend the encampment by invite it becomes clear that bohemian grove is extremely secretive in order to keep their activities guarded the bohemian club employs some extremely high grade security more specifically they hire ex-military men to patrol the grounds and they give them high-end security equipment such as night vision cameras motion detectors and vibrating sensor alarm systems in order to detect intruders if despite these security attempts a few people have been able to infiltrate the site with these intruders doing everything from reporting the group's activities to setting fires on site however as you might imagine those who are caught are quickly arrested and charged with trespassing [Music] number five poveglia while the islands of venice have captured the hearts of people from around the world poveglia is one of venice's few that are completely off limits located between venice and lido and the venetian lagoon it has quite a storied history between 1421 and 1579 it was a bustling town although after being evacuated during a war it remained mostly empty until 1645 at this point a large fortress was built on the island to protect venice from attack and this fort remained as the island's prime center for employment until 1793 that's because it was in this year that the city of venice began to store weapons and quarantine newcomers in poveglia and this was continued until 1814. poveglia then had another stint where it was practically empty yet all this changed in 1922 when many of its buildings were converted into a mental asylum this asylum was the place of several gruesome deaths and it eventually closed down in 1968 ever since poveglia has remained mostly abandoned perhaps unsurprisingly poveglia is widely considered to be haunted as the ghosts of both its quarantined and mentally ill victims still roam the island thus it's currently the property of the state and is strictly off limits however the city of venice has occasionally sanctioned film crews to produce media pieces about the island and recently there have been discussions to convert poveglia's mental asylum into a luxury hotel and to this day the island is still abandoned number four snake island snakes are easily one of the most feared creatures in the animal kingdom and their large fangs and venomous bites are a strong deterrent to most humans and while most governments don't ban their citizens from interacting with snakes ilha de guamara grande is so chock full of them that most people are not allowed to visit it better known as snake island it's located off the coast of sao paulo and is by most accounts home to between one to five snakes per square meter now if these were your regular little garter snakes this wouldn't be too big of a problem however the species of snake that happens to populate the island is none other than the golden lance head lance heads in general are responsible for about 90 percent of all snake bite deaths in brazil but the golden lance head is by all accounts known to be especially dangerous that's because that's incredibly venomous bite is strong enough to induce terrible symptoms such as blood and the vomit and urine intestinal bleeding kidney failure hemorrhage in the brain and the severe necrosis of muscular tissue and as such it's widely considered to be one of the world's most venomous snakes yet despite these defense mechanisms the golden lance head is considered to be critically endangered that's because it's only found on snake island where it survives by preying on the migratory birds that stopped there to rest ever since the island's one lighthouse was automated in the 1920s no humans have lived on the island in a bid to protect the species nowadays snake islands surrounding waters are patrolled by the brazilian navy and only small groups of scientists are permitted onto the islands for research purposes given the fact that many of those who have ventured onto the island in the past are fabled to have died within its dense forests thanks to its many snakes this lack of access is probably for the best number three north sentinel island well there are about 100 uncontacted or near uncontacted tribes in the world none are quite as infamous as the centaulinese located on north sentinel island in the bay of bengal they stand apart due to the fact that they have actively killed many of the people who have tried to enter the island north sentinel island was first documented all the way back in 1771 when the british hydrographic survey vessel diligent passed by the island from then on out a few british colonial administrators made limited contact with the islanders bringing them gifts on sporadic occasions however these efforts were typically met with hostile responses and thus visits did not continue until after indian independence at this point the indian government allowed an indian anthropologist by the name of triniknov pandit to make limited contact with the tribe pandit did this by consistently giving them gifts of coconuts pots and pans and over time the islanders went from meeting pandit with trained arrows and spears to meeting him without any weapons in 1996 the indian government suspended the visits and from then on the islanders have become more hostile and be at the wreckage of a fishing boat in 2006 or the attempted entry of a missionary in 2018 in both cases all who stepped foot on the island were promptly killed by the villagers as a result today it's illegal to enter within 9.3 kilometers of north sentinel island and this rule is actively enforced by the indian navy this is largely to prevent foreigners from disrupting the islanders way of life or spreading disease to them and interestingly enough the islanders have never received any charges by indian courts when they kill intruders thus while north sentinel is nominally administrated by the south andaman administrative district the island is now largely left alone number two the queen of england's bedroom generally speaking most of buckingham palace is off limits after all it's the estate of the queen of england and her family and as such they certainly don't want too many visitors nosing around however in 1982 this bedroom got a special visitor in the way of michael fagan for reference michael fagan was just your everyday guy as he worked as a painter and decorator for most of his life yet on july 9th of 1982 he made history by deciding to take a trip into the queen's bedroom now he did so by first climbing over a 4.3 meter tall fence that was topped with revolving spikes and barbed wire and from there he climbed up a drainpipe and wandered into the queen's bedroom interestingly an alarm sensor had detected his movements yet rather than do anything the police simply thought the alarm was faulty and turned it off when the queen saw him she reportedly got up and rushed over to the palace switchboard and called the police however after two tries the police didn't answer yet fagin was soon arrested anyways when the on-duty footman who was walking the queen's corgis appeared with two policemen what's crazy about this incident was that fagin's actions were civil rather than criminal offenses thus while he was charged with trespassing and stealing a wine bottle he was let off the hook after agreeing to spend three months in a psychiatric hospital since this punishment was incredibly light the government eventually realized that they had to tighten the laws around this unlawful entry and so in 2007 entering the queen's bedroom was made a criminal offense as an amendment to the serious organized crime and police act of 2005. unsurprisingly no one else has attempted to enter the queen's bedroom ever since number one surtsey while most islands on earth have been around for millions if not billions of years surtsey stands apart for being younger than some of the people watching this video that's because this small island located off the coast of iceland is just 57 years old its story began in november of 1963 when an underwater volcanic eruption about 130 meters below sea level began to form it from there it grew to a maximum size of about two and a half square kilometers however thanks to erosion its surface area is now closer to 1.3 square kilometers now while such a small island theoretically shouldn't be all that hard to explore the icelandic government has made sure it's nearly impossible to enter it by making it strictly off limits to the public this is because the island is essentially a massive science experiment to see how its ecosystem has and will form from scratch thus any human interference could easily mess with this process as a result only scientists are currently allowed on the island their impact has been limited to one small research station and the base of an unconstructed lighthouse these protections have allowed the island to thrive naturally and as such it has organically developed its very own ecosystem consisting of plants birds and insects and seals yet that doesn't mean that the island hasn't been the recipient of some biological accidents see the scientists on the island pose a very real threat to the island's pristine ecosystem due to the fact that they could accidentally carry seeds onto the island as a result the island's few researchers are screened for seeds before entering the island however this didn't stop a scientist from depositing some seeds from inside of his body that's because after eating tomatoes he defecated yet because these feces were improperly handled a tomato plant sprung up on the island and while it was promptly destroyed it really rattled the scientists working on surtsey watch our obscure playlist for more top 15 videos about the more obscure 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Channel: Top Fives

Views: 1,643,956

Keywords: Forbidden Places You're Not Allowed to Visit

Id: yk9M9I3qYqI

Length: 19min 23sec (1163 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 27 2021