15 Strange Things Found In The Middle of Nowhere

from mysterious artwork to abandoned vessels burial sites and hideouts be ready to enter the world of the cool the strange and the bizarre here are 15 surprising things found in the middle of nowhere number 15 the desert breath the egyptian desert conceals countless untold treasures and mysteries from ancient civilizations but within the sands near the city of herghata on the coast of the red sea is a more modern marvel known as the desert breath it's a huge artwork that was completed in 1997 and covers an area of just over 25 acres it was conceived by an art collective from greece and was created by moving more than 10 000 cubic yards of sand it's made up of a series of 89 protruding cones that gradually increase in size in a spiral formation and a further series of 89 inverted cones that were dug into the sand originally at the center there was a large 98 foot wide pool of water but with no way to refill it it has long since evaporated there's nothing to protect the piece either which means that the sand structures are subjected to natural eroding forces and will one day completely vanish according to those behind it it's intended as a means to highlight the slow passage of time and is meant to raise questions of the infinite and transient nature of natural formations in so far in the middle of nowhere that it's entirely impractical to go visit in person but thanks to modern technology it's fully visible on google earth number 14 sigiriya deep within the jungle of sri lanka near the town of dambulla in the mathal district you can find the remains of an ancient city that was once the center of a powerful empire it's called sigiriya and was amazingly carved directly into a large column of rock that reaches a maximum height of 660 feet above the ground it's thought to have been constructed by king kashyapa at some point in the 5th century after he chose the site as the ideal place for his new capital city the main palace was built on top of the imposing rock and the sides were decorated with colorful frescoes an intricate network of pathways and staircases were cut into the rock face to lead up to the palace and one of the most impressive features is about halfway up and is a gateway in the shape of a giant lion the site didn't remain the capital city for long and was abandoned by his empire shortly after his death for almost 900 years it was used as a buddhist monastery and has now been declared a unesco world heritage site and is considered one of the greatest examples of ancient town planning number 13 metal monolith 2020 was undoubtedly a strange year for everyone but things started getting even more peculiar in november when biologists who were conducting an aerial survey of a sandstone slot canyon in san juan county utah noticed an unusual looking object stood on a rock upon closer inspection it appeared to be a metal structure made from sheets into the shape of a triangular prism that was approximately 9.8 feet tall order of the discovery spread around the world and a number of people figured out its location and traveled to see it for themselves one night however it vanished as mysteriously as it had appeared and it was only in subsequent weeks that an artist collective claimed responsibility for the structure amid suggestions that it was placed there by aliens or a nefarious group things got even stranger when similar monoliths began appearing elsewhere in the united states and all around the world surely one group of artists couldn't be responsible for all these so they were telling the truth when they said they had installed it and the others were built by copycats or was there a grander plan at work that has yet to be uncovered we may never know for sure but it was certainly a fun distraction from all the other events that took place during the year number 12 giant arrows hikers across america regularly report the discovery of mysterious shapes etched into the ground usually of arrows that seem to be pointing towards no particular place of importance and every time images of a new one circulate theories abound about who put them there and what their true purpose is while they may appear strange at first these giant concrete arrows some of which are up to 70 feet long were definitely put there on purpose and they were instrumental for navigation during the 20th century things like satellite navigation are of course a relatively recent invention and weren't available to the pilots of the first planes that flew across the continent the first air mail routes for example began flying in 1911 as they began to cover greater distances with an increasing number of drop-off points a system was developed to help guide pilots to their next destination the arrows began being placed from 1924 usually at intervals of around 10 miles at the time they were painted in a reflective yellow paint and had gas lights on top of them which meant that they could be seen from many miles away effectively pilots following the route could always see at least one of the arrows which by the end of the decade stretched across the entire width of the country it was an ingenious design that seemed somewhat archaic by today's standards but without these giant arrows air travel would have never been able to become what it is today number 11 rock art it's long been known that people have lived in the region of the amazon rainforest for thousands of years but the more research that's carried out the more surprising the results did you know for example that people lived there since before it was actually a rainforest and that evidence has been found beneath the thick jungle that proves large areas were once cultivated land one of the biggest discoveries that was made seemingly in the middle of nowhere was announced in november of 2020 and it's one of the most significant pieces of ancient art that's ever been found described as being the sistine chapel of the ancient world tens of thousands of paintings have been revealed on a cliff face in colombia and they are so vast that the area of interest stretches from more than eight miles among the images are representations of giant sloths horses that were only present in the region during the last ice age and a few other long extinct species which has allowed researchers to narrow down the time in which they believe the artworks were painted and it now looks very likely that they're at least 12 500 years old by studying them further they're expected to give an incredible insight into the lives of the first people to live in the region and could well lead to further significant discoveries along the way number 10 deserted ships if you ever visit uzbekistan and drive out of the cities you'll be confronted with huge open spaces of nothing but desert as far as the eye can see without assistance you could get lost for days on end without seeing any sign of human life but if you happen to go in the right direction you might just come across something truly surprising a series of ships that are half buried in the sand and are rusting away under the desert sun the place is called the moynak ship graveyard and if you're thinking it's strange to see so many wrecks so far away from any obvious source of water then you'd be completely right of course not all is as it seems here and the region was actually once a vast lake called the rlc which was originally one of the four largest lakes in the world and covered an area of 23 000 square miles now though the nearest shore is more than 100 miles away and the region serves as a warning of the effects of human mismanagement the soviets embarked on a large irrigation campaign in the 1960s which diverted water away from rivers that fed into the aral sea the lake began to shrink and in subsequent years has become less than a tenth of its original size countless ports have been left ruined because not only did the water recede but that which remained was left with increasing salinity levels so that all the fish died out too the ship graveyard itself may be a spectacular sight in the desert but it's one that could have been completely avoided and instead this place would still be a thriving coastal community number nine prada store designer clothes outlets are a regular site at shopping malls around the world but due to their high prices they always have to be placed somewhere that sees a high footfall to ensure they'll receive enough customers well that's the usual thinking at least but there's one that is very very different amazingly in 2005 a prada store opened in texas but rather than being on a busy street it's in the middle of nowhere and it's one and a half miles away from the small town of valentine and 26 miles away from the nearest city there are no other stores anywhere nearby so how could any of this make sense the answer is that it's not owned or operated by prada at all and is in fact an art installation it was built by two american architects at a cost of about 120 000 and their original intent was that it wouldn't be repaired so it would gradually be consumed by nature unfortunately for them it was vandalized on the night of its opening and everything from inside was stolen contrary to their plans they were forced to repair it and install a hidden security system but even this wasn't enough to allow the installation to play out as they had planned it was vandalized again in 2014 this time by a local artist who painted it blue and fixed different signs onto the front little did he know that it was being recorded on camera however and he was soon arrested and fined almost twelve thousand dollars to fix the damage he had caused 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 the boiling river the amazon rainforest is covered in such dense jungle that there's simply no way that the whole region has been explored and there's one place that was only discovered by outsiders relatively recently which is a fairly ominous vibe about it there had long been tales told by local villagers of a deadly river that was haunted by departed souls and could kill a man the moment he entered the water but for a long time these were thought to be superstitions a research party tasked with mapping the juanuko high forest in peru however came across a tributary of the amazon that appeared to live up to this myth officially called chennai timpiska it's four miles long and originates from a source on a hilly outcrop the water appears to bubble up through cracks in the bedrock as it does it's heated to extremely high temperatures and absorbs large quantities of minerals and it remains that way while it travels through the valley the temperatures in the river range between 113 and just under 212 degrees fahrenheit so it's no surprise that it's also known as the boiling river it would almost certainly kill any person who enters in the wrong place as evidenced by a large number of dead animals that regularly float through and there's one last surprise that the river has to offer the presence of the minerals means that they collect and harden around organic matter in the river and essentially means that they turn to stone number seven missing woman in october of 2020 two fishermen were working around one and a quarter miles off the coast of columbia when they saw in the distance what looked to be a large log or plank of wood that would be unusual so far out at sea so they steered towards it to take a closer look to their absolute astonishment it wasn't a log at all but was instead a woman floating in the water fearing the worst they tried to recover the body but this wasn't a dead person she was very much alive the woman whose eyes had been closed right up until the moment she was pulled into the boat began to cry as she realized she had been rescued but in many ways this was just the beginning of the mystery she had no recollection of how she managed to get there and once her family were tracked down they were equally as stunned that's because she had gone missing two years earlier and had seemed to vanish without a trace they've been searching for her all that time and it's now thought that after having been subjected to terrible home conditions and being rejected for a place in a shelter she had become so upset that she threw herself into the ocean we'll probably never know the full truth behind her story but thankfully she was rescued and reunited with her family and hopefully she can now put this chapter behind her number six the chicken church there are so many different religions and beliefs around the world that it comes as no surprise that places of worship are equally as varied but there's one structure in central java indonesia that surely has to be the most unusual of all called geresha ayam which translates to mean the chicken church it looks as if the designer intentionally made it into the image of a chicken although the original tent was for it to be a dove it was built in the 1990s by a man who said he had a dream the previous year in which god told him to build the church despite being christian himself it's a place that welcomes people of all beliefs and offers various spaces for worship prayer and peaceful contemplation unfortunately due to rapidly dwindling funds the church was never fully finished and works came to a halt in the year 2000 it was left to fall into a state of disrepair but as news of it began to spread around the world people came from far and wide to see it it now attracts tourists worshipers runs rehabilitation programs and even has been featured in several movies and it's now become a famous landmark in its own right number five the cavern of lost souls as you travel through the country of wales you can't help but notice the glorious countryside as you pass hills veils and endless expanses of green fields but it's a country that has had a long history of mining an industry that's virtually collapsed in recent decades and there are countless underground cavities that you'd have no idea exist from the surface while most of these are abandoned and impossible to access there's one in the gwyneth area that's become somewhat of a local legend and has become known as the cavern of lost souls with an entrance shaft submerged in water it's not easy to find your way into the mines tunnels but in a shaft towards the rear there's something completely unexpected a mound of twisted metal which appears to have become the final resting place for hundreds of vehicles and other objects it was once used with a local council as a dumping ground which explains the remains of refrigerators tvs and other household items but there's no record of the huge number of cars that can be found down there so the question is where did they come from has the site been used by locals to illegally dispose of unwanted vehicles is a road that passes by a ground level entrance particularly treacherous or has something else happen that's long been forgotten one thing's for sure the mount only appears to keep on growing and it's become such a concern that plans are underway to try to seal it up so no further junk can find its way down the 100 foot deep cavern number four humpback whale sadly it's quite common to find sea creatures that have found themselves in difficulty and end up stuck in the shallow waters of beaches around the world despite the best efforts of volunteers very few of them are successfully held back into the deep whales of all species often meet this fate and it's thought to be the result of the sound of boat engines and sometimes the unfortunate result of losing their sense of direction in 2019 however the remains of a humpback whale were found in far more surprising locations deep within the amazon rainforest locals couldn't believe what they were looking at because it's definitely not the type of animal they're used to seeing amongst the trees it was more than 50 feet inland far beyond where anything from the ocean is washed up and to begin with experts have no idea how the 26 foot long creature came to be there after several days of study and interviews with villagers the surprising truth was finally revealed few days before there had been a violent storm that saw tides swelling more than 23 feet and it's more than possible that if the whale had become stranded and lost it could have been lifted by one of these swells and left in the forest with nowhere to go number three german hideout during the fall of the nazis at the end of the second world war there were a number of theories that some groups were able to escape germany and establish themselves elsewhere in the world whether this was an attempt to reignite the atrocities that they had been responsible for or simply to avoid being held to account for their crimes it was generally believed that these were little more than stories made up by people who were fearful that the nazis would one day return what is known though is that some individuals managed to make their way to south america who were subsequently captured and charged for their involvement in the war and some german citizens who were unaffiliated with the nazis also relocated there recently though a startling discovery was made in the province of missiones in northern argentina in the ruins of te ukware more than 2 000 nazi artifacts have been found including coins that were minted in germany between 1938 and 1941. could this be proof that the country was in fact used as a hideaway for top ranking nazi officials and if so where did they go next we'll likely never know for certain and it's reassuring to know that even if a large contingent of nazis did manage to escape without being found they're likely long dead by now anyway number two costa rican petrospheres costa rica in central america is regarded as one of the most biodiverse countries in the world and was first inhabited by humans many thousands of years ago records of many of those ancient cultures have long been lost and the jungle has consumed virtually all physical evidence of their existence but there remain a series of unusual structures throughout the region that as of yet no one has been able to explain they are known as petrospheres and are ancient spherical carvings positioned in seemingly random places more than 300 of them have been found ranging in sizes between just an inch or two across to 6.6 feet in diameter with some weighing as much as 15 tons it's believed they were made by hammering rocks with other rocks and then polishing them with sand to give them a smooth surface most experts believe they're the last remnants of the dequee culture who thrived between the 8th and 16th centuries and that the stones may have been used to line the paths that led to the homes of important people quite why this was done however and whether there was any further significance to them is completely unknown and with so little else remaining from that time in costa rican history it's unlikely we'll ever be able to know for certain number one video game burial site for people who have grown up playing video games it's not unusual to have boxes of old cartridges and discs in the formats that can't even be played anymore that are stored in the house somewhere but in 2014 the world found out what happens when a manufacturer finds themselves with large quantities of unwanted products and one of the longest running gaming mysteries was finally solved in 1983 atari buried a huge number of unsold game cartridges in a landfill site in the middle of nowhere in new mexico it was long rumored that the majority of these were copies of e.t which has become renowned as being the biggest commercial failure of a game in history along with copies of other games that were also deemed to be flops stories told of how millions of copies were buried there but no one was sure whether this was an urban legend or whether there was an element of truth to it and atari was later forced to admit that almost three-quarters of a million cartridges had in fact been buried somewhere it was only in 2014 that the full truth was revealed went for a documentary on atari several companies worked together to gain permission to dig up the burial site only 1300 cartridges were removed in the end even though there was clearly far more still there they were sold off to help raise money for an atari museum watch our binge watching playlist if you'd like to watch all of our most popular top 15 videos grab a drink grab a snack and get ready to binge you

Channel: Top Fives

Views: 507,423

Keywords: Strangest Things Found In The Middle Of Nowhere

Id: BL6FpA409h0

Length: 19min 32sec (1172 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 28 2020