Machimoodus is historically well-known as the literal “place of bad noises” based on native legends that were subsequently both promoted and twisted by colonists in New England. Today, the Moodus noises of East Haddam, Connecticut are still a popular tale as people interested in natural anomalies hope to hear them when they visit.
Category: Paranormal Places
The Curse of the Souvenir Rock
Popular lore warns that if you take a rock or object from a sacred land, a curse will fall upon you until you return the object. Find out the origin and purpose of the curse legends. Video presentation.
Islands of the Dead are eroding
Coastal erosion reveals human remains on spooky islands that served as mass graves long ago. The natural disinterment is happening in New York City and in the UK.
Paranormal Vortex Areas
It’s a common claim by paranormalists that there are special places on earth where “energy” whirls are responsible for strange phenomena reported at those locations. They are called paranormal or energy “vortex” areas. The crystallization of the “vortex” idea in this context began with a popular proponent of mysterious subjects who identified twelve equidistant areas around the globe with peculiar characteristics. Since then, the idea of a paranormal vortex has evolved.
Devils Hole
Many sites have been given the creepy name of “Devils Hole”. The most famous Hole is in Death Valley, Nevada where a notch in the rock reveals an oasis of ancient groundwater in the otherwise brutally dry desert landscape. The cave opening is unusual, the water level responds to seismic events around the world, the underground passageways are complex and its depth is unknown. The opening in the desert sparked strange thoughts from one of the most disturbed criminal minds of our time, claimed lives, and hosts a rare species.
Oracle of Delphi: Snake Death Gas or God’s Breath
The colorful and dramatic accounts of the Oracle of Delphi in Greece spanning many centuries appear to be strongly related to the geological setting and seismic activity of the locale. The cultural and geologic history is long and complex. Over time, people have speculated on the explanation as being supernatural, psychic, geological, or a hoax. It took a multidisciplinary effort to reach the most probable proposed explanation we have so far, but there are still many details we’ll never know.
Legends and science of bottomless holes
There are countless holes in the ground. Some have water. Some are just open void and darkness. When we can’t readily discern the depth, the hole begets additional legendary characteristics, including that of being bottomless. Let’s check out the legends of bottomless holes.
Ringing rocks and sonorous stones
Ringing rocks, rocks that make a bell-like sound when hit with a hammer, are rare but occur across the world. They are seen as magical, mysterious, and scientifically curious.
Pic de Bugarach: The mysterious mountain
Pic de Bugarach in Aude, France, is a place that effortlessly combines natural wonder and legends. Add to its history a heaping portion of serious scientific misunderstandings, flavor with rumors and imaginative speculation, then bake for centuries, and the result is a bizarre mashup of fact and fiction that satisfies in our modern spooky times.
Gravity Roads, Magnetic Hills, and Mystery Spots
Mystery spots, magnetic hills, or gravity hills are local places named for their unusual characteristic of making the observer confused or unbalanced. Exploited as tourist spots, they have been explained as mysteries of nature. But they have a more complex and interesting cause.
Devil’s Punchbowl
All around the world are remnants of a party of epic proportions – Devil’s punchbowls. Or maybe the punch was more literal. Let’s explore the interesting geology of these legendary cauldrons.
Devil’s Gate
Several sinister and infamous places around the world have been named the Devil’s Gate and come with legends of murder, magic, and monsters. Let’s take a brief tour.
Devil’s Kitchen
Something evil may be cooking up in places given the name of the “Devil’s Kitchen”. In this piece, I examine some of the most famous locations that have earned this […]
Devil’s Den
Devil’s Den is an infamous collection of large diabase boulders within the Gettysburg National Battlefield. The location has accrued spooky legends. But the truth about this diabolical place, and others with the same name, is connected to geology.
Devil Places
There are countless places in the world named after the Devil. Devil-named places sometimes owe their moniker to the geology. The features of these places may create a spooky and foreboding feeling that reinforces the local legends of the places being cursed, evil or enchanted. Let’s explore Satan’s Kingdom on earth.
Strange lights and levitating rocks at Arkansas crystal mine
Examining the claims from the owners of a crystal mine tourist site in Arkansas who say that strange anomalies, including balls of light and levitation, occur on the site.
Devils Tower: UFO Bulls-eye
Devils Tower, a landmark of the Black Hills, isn’t just another chunk of volcanic rock. It is a native sacred place, an icon of cinema and UFO lore, and focus of other ridiculous alt-geo ideas.
Haunted rocks: The Stone Tape theory
The “stone tape theory” is frequently used as a sciencey-sounding explanation to explain residual hauntings – appearances of images, sounds, and apparitions that do not interact directly with people. The premise is that the rock or building materials somehow record the event and play it back like a film. But they never asked a geologist about it.
Darvaza: Gate to Hell
The Darvaza crater in Turkmenistan is a pit formed after a mistake by exploratory drillers. Fueled by natural gas, it’s been impossible to extinguish and has been called a “gate to hell”. More appropriately, it’s been a gateway to tourist dollars.
A Trip to Hell: Mysterious tunnel system and underground river at Baiae, Italy
The ancient village of Baiae in Italy has secrets. A recent discovery suggests that an underground tunnel system may have served as a Oracle of the Dead and simulated a trip to Hell (Hades), including crossing an underground “river”.