Friday, November 6, 2009

Discovering the World's Most Mysterious Places

In North Africa, there are 80 blocks of such pyramids scattered around the Egypt's Nile River, which have become one of the most miraculous places in the world. The highest pyramid called Cheops Pyramid and it was build by overlapping pile of boulders together. In the making of pyramids, Egyptians were not using any adhesive, glue or nails to attach the pile of boulders and one could even hardly find cracks or gaps among the rocks or stones from the overlapping plot. Nevertheless, the structure is extremely firm and strong that the sharp blades or swords could not even pass through. In addition, Egyptian Pyramids have experiencing 5,000 years of strong wind's erosions and yet these artifacts are remained not touch by the nature. They appeared to stand alone like warriors in the desert. These towering pyramids are such spectacular and superior buildings human had ever made on the Earth.
This is a mysterious place encountered in the Antarctic Island. People call it “a dry valley with no snow cover.” Antarctic is a place with fewer inhabitants and dwellers and thus some unexplainable phenomenon happenings in Antarctica remain mystery to the outsiders. Approximately 14 million square kilometers of the total area of the Antarctic continent have the snow cover. When viewing from the high sky, the central of the Antarctic is like a pot's lid plateau. Most of the areas vividly have their surfaces covered with snow with its thickness reaching 2000m and sometimes may attain the thickness up to 4,800m. In winter, the surrounding ice combines with the ice from the ocean to form up one smooth, large plateau to which people can hardly distinguish between the land and the sea.
Bermuda Triangle is located in Western North Atlantic, which comprises of seven major islands, 150 small islands, some islands composed of reefs group. Any high-tech devices or equipments will become malfunction when reaching this mysterious
place and thus the survivors may have encountered problems to communicate with the outside world. Because of its extremely mysterious characteristic, people have called this place as a devil triangle.

In China, people have named this desert as “Moguicheng” or a city of devil. “Moguicheng” is famous in Xinjiang, China. When someone is strolling towards the castle in a sunny day accompanying with a gentle blowing breeze, one may heard a nice rhythm coming from the distance. The melodies are just like 10 million shaking bells, and sometimes one may feel the music like gentle flicking of 10 million guitars' strings. However, when cyclones come, bulks of sands are rising up in the sky by the strong winds, the sky turns pitch dark suddenly like a hell, and the nice music no longer heard but turns into strange sounds. The sounds resemble the roaring of the tigers, trumpeting of the elephants, and sounds by pigs that are being slaughtered, babies' crying, shouting of the women who are going to die, and alternately the sounds change to shouting, mourning and quarreling. The storms are then swirling aggressively by shooting up to the sky accompanying by terrified wolf growling sounds in the cloudy nightfall. People are wandering who had built this city and where do the sounds come from?
This island is legendary full of Surreptitious and specter. Westerners prefer sailing by venturing many historically strange events occurred here in the history of seafaring. In 1707, the British captain of the Andean Julius had discovered this land; however, it was strange that he could hardly reach this land. He later affirmed that this was not an optical illusion, so he marked the “land” on the map. 200 years later, the admiral Makaluofu and his inspection team who were sailing to the North Pole on their icebreaker vessel called "Ye Ermake," accidentally came across this piece of land. In 1925, Navigator called Woershi, too, passed through this land and he memorized the outline of the land. Nevertheless, the investigation team comprising of scientists, who sailed to this land in 1928 never found any islands as claimed by the previous navigators.
This place is located in Henan, China, and local people called it “bingbing bei” or the back of the ice. When midsummer approaches, people tend to move to places that are cool and refreshing. Although the change of four seasons, namely summer, autumn, spring and winter is an unchangeable law, in certain parts of the world, this theory seems not to be applicable. They are some fortunate people live in “warm” zone. This phenomenon is applying to people dwelling in the eastern mountain areas of Liaoning Province, China. They are experiencing warm temperature while other areas of China are experiencing the changes of seasons. Thus, this area has named after this phenomenon as "temperature anomaly zone." This "geothermal anomaly zone" extends from 1.5m out of the town of the left riverbank of Hunjiang to the end part of the right riverbank of Hun River and to the foothills near Guandian Province. The entire length for this "temperature anomaly zone" is approximately 15km, occupying the areas of approximately 106,000 square meters. The advent of summer is always accompanying with a decline of temperature in the area of "temperature anomaly zone." When the temperature reaches as high as 30 degree Celsius during the summer, the temperature is minus 12 degree Celsius at one-meter deep into the underground of this area, and the ice froze underground. When someone dips a drop of water one-meter deep into the underground of this area, the water will immediately turn into ice.
Shennongjia is located at the intersection of Sichuan, in Hubei zone, with the meeting of two rivers, namely China's Yangtze River and Hanjiang River. This region comprises an area of 3,250 square kilometers, accounting for more than 85 % of woodland. The average elevation is 1,700m, with the highest point of 3,105 meters, and with the characteristic of various types of climate. When speaking of Shennongjia, people here will think of “savage.” Since ancient times, large numbers of documentations have revealed the existence of savage roaming around this area. Legendary, people could even hardly identify the authenticity of the savage. The effort of collecting evidence on the existence of savage was initiating by the relevant departments from 1977 to 1980. They had collected savage hairs, footprints and feces left by the savage. This proved to us that a kind of bizarre animal might have existed in Shennongjia not long ago.
This is the famous ancient city of Teotihuacan in America, which called “death to the road.” This region stretched from a so-called main road of “death to the road” to the north-south roadway. In the tenth century AD, Ards heroes who were the earliest team walking along this way leading to a castle found nobody in the city, and thus they believed that the buildings on either side of the road were gods' tomb lands. In 1974, a Mexican person called Dayton • Halisi said that he had found a suitable unit measurement for all these streets and buildings at this city at the International American meeting. This unit length is 1.059m using a calculation from a computer. For example, the units for the Teaodiwakan snake temple, the moon and the Sun Pyramid is the height of 21, 42, and 63 "units" respectively with the ratio of 1:2:3 based upon the ancient calculation.
People not allowed entering this Kunlun Mountains as its name suggested as "The Gates of Hell." This valley is a death valley, which further claims the Kunlun Mountains "The Gates of Hell." The remains found in this valley were the furs, bones, skeletons of wolves, bears and hunters and some scattered lonely tombs, rendering the world in the death of a ghastly terrifying atmosphere. The Xinjiang Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources of a geological team in China had recorded a true story in the year of 1983 on a group of hungry horse that was grazing the grass and disappeared suddenly in the "The Gates of Hell." A herdsman went into the prohibited area of "The Gates of Hell" to search for his horse. After few days, he was found missing but the horse emerged at the foothill of Kunlun Mountains. Later, the herdsman was found lying on a small hill with his clothes badly torn off, barely footed, eyes widely opened with an angry look, a shotgun gripping in one of his hands showing that he was reluctantly to die. The miraculous thing was that no wounds or signs found around his body to show that he had attacked.
Canada Niagara Falls is the world's most mysterious places in the world. Niagara Falls constitutes a part of Canada and the border of United States, the New York State and Ontario, Canada, separating from the Niagara River by flowing northward from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario with a total length of nearly 30 miles. Located in the north, covering an area of 250,000 square miles, Niagara Falls is a smooth exit to these lakes. Its maximum water flow reaches 250,000 cubic feet per second. Niagara Falls is indeed very awesome.
This Geysering is a magical spring found in the upper part of the Yarlung Zangbo River in Tibet, China. The spring bursts out in a short while and stops for a while before following by other bursts. The burst goes on, stops and goes on. In other words, its eruption cycle is continuous for a few minutes, auto stop after a few dozen minutes; and followed by another burst and so forth. It bursts like an eruption with a huge, shocked sound. It vents out some high temperature steam from the mouth of the spring. The spring then expands immediately into one to two meters in diameter, and rushes out as water column as high as 20m into the sky. In addition to China's Geysering, in the place near Reykjavik, capital of Iceland, the Geysering is renowned in the world with its diameter of 20m. When there is drizzling rain, this water column can even soar up as high as 70m into the sky.
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The 10 Most Amazing Unexplained Artifacts

Every once in a while archaeologists (and sometimes regular Joes) make some remarkable discoveries. Stunned, they are often unable to explain what it is they’ve found, how it came into existence, or ascertain its value. This is a comprehensive list of such artifacts; artifacts that many believe should have never existed given the discerned age/period of their creation.


The London hammer - a tool older than history


In June 1936 (or 1934 according to some accounts), Max Hahn and his wife Emma were on a walk when they noticed a rock with wood protruding from its core. They decided to take the oddity home and later cracked it open with a hammer and a chisel. Ironically, what they found within seemed to be an archaic hammer of sorts. A team of archaeologists checked it, and as it turns out, the rock encasing the hammer was dated back more than 400 million year; the hammer itself turned out to be more than 500 million years old. Additionally, a section of the handle has begun the transformation to coal. Creationists, of course, were all over this. The hammer’s head, made of more than 96% iron, is far more pure than anything nature could have achieved without an assist from modern technology.

The Antikythera mechanism - a Greek ancient computer


The Antikythera mechanism has been labeled the first known mechanical computer. Found in a shipwreck off the Greek island of Antikythera, it was designed to calculate astronomical positions. Consisting of a box with dials on the outside and a very complex assembly of gear wheels mounted within, it’s about as complex as an 18th century top-notch clock. The level of sophistication utilized by the device has forced scientists to accept that their perceptions of ancient Greek engineering may be faulty. Nothing similar to this exists or is mentioned in any known writings from the period of its creation. Based on the knowledge we do have, this mechanism shouldn’t even exist. According to Professor Michael Edmunds of Cardiff University, who led the team studying the mechanism:

“This device is just extraordinary, the only thing of its kind. The design is beautiful, the astronomy is exactly right. The way the mechanics are designed just makes your jaw drop. Whoever has done this has done it extremely carefully.” He added: “…in terms of historic and scarcity value, I have to regard this mechanism as being more valuable than the Mona Lisa.”


The Dropa Stones


In 1938, an expedition led by archaeologist Dr. Chi Pu Tei into the Baian-Kara-Ula in China made an astonishing discovery. Nearby caves held traces of the ancient culture which once occupied them. Buried by the dusts of time, hundreds of stone disks lay scattered about the cave’s interior. Nothing too spectacular you may think, but the disks turned out to be eerily similar to phonograph records — nine inches in diameter, a circle cut into their centers and an obvious spiral groove.

They are believed to be more than 10,000 years old. But the spiral, as it turns out, is composed of tiny hieroglyphics. When studied and translated, it was revealed that the discs tell the amazing story of spaceships that crashed into the mountains, piloted by people who called themselves the Dropa.
The Saqqara bird - an Egyptian plane

Discovered during the 1898 excavation of the Pa-di-Imen tomb in Saqqara, Egypt, the Saqqara bird is (as you could have guessed) a bird shaped artifact made from the wood of a sycamore tree. Weighing in at just under 40 grams and with a wingspan of more than 7 inches, it’s been dated back to approximately 200 BC. Lack of documentation and other data has led to some speculation. In fact, the ancient egyptians were well aware of the principles of aviation. Was it simply the toy of an affluent Egyptian child? Did it serve some kind of ceremonial purpose? Regardless, the object has few realistic bird traits. With its vertical tail, resembling that of an airplane or glider, it resembles no known bird. Scientists came to the conclusion that it couldn’t be effective as an aircraft due to lack of technology, but it could have in fact been a glider.
The Baghdad battery - a 2000 year old battery

This device consists of a 5-1/2-inch high clay vessel, inside of which was a copper cylinder held in place by asphalt. Within the cylinder, archaeologists found an oxidized iron rod. In 1940, Wilhelm König (the German director of the National Museum of Iraq) suggested that these could be galvanic cells, perhaps used for electroplating gold onto silver objects. Nobody has been able to prove him wrong, especially since it only needed to be filled with an acid or alkaline substance to produce an electric charge.
Unexplainable fossils and metal objects

Geology is a relatively “new” science. The progress and developments made through experimentation are absolutely remarkable and have helped in many other fields. Still, there are some things yet to be explained. Though the honeycomb pattern of paleodictyon is already well known, we remain stumped as to the creation of such and more questions are being raised.


For example, a fossil of a human handprint was found in limestone estimated to be more than 110 million years, a fossilized human finger with just as much, and the aparent discovery of a human footprint that possibly sported a sandal which dates to more than 300 million years ago. These amazing fossilized imprints/remains have left the scientific community scratching their collective heads. Not to mention the 65 million year old semi-ovoid metallic tubes being dug out of France, the unusual block of coal discovered 124 years ago which contained a metal cube that couldn’t have formed naturally within the lump, and many more such things
The Piri Reis map

In 1929, a group of historians made what can only be described as an amazing discovery, written on the skin of a gazelle. After study and research, they found that it is a genuine map drawn in 1513 by Piri Reis, a well documented admiral of the Turkish navy. He depicts Europe and North Africa, the coast of Brazil, several islands (Azores, Canary Islands, and the mythical island of Antilia), and even Antarctica, which was thought to be discovered more than 300 years later. The most puzzling thing is not that it shows we need to rethink the chronology for a number of exploratory discoveries, but that it describes Antarctica’s topography as not being masked by ice and in great detail. The last time that occured was more than 6000 years ago. Tell me then. How did a Turkish admiral from half a millenium ago map a continent that’s been covered by ice for the last 6000 years?
The Nazca drawings

The Nazca drawings (or lines) definitely have something otherworldly about them. Discovered in 1930 — when the US inaugurated two new commercial lines — they cover 450 square km and some measure more than 200m in length. They depict lines, geometrical figures, animals and figures that we haven’t entirely figured out yet (many believe them to be constellations). Whether made for the gods or for some other reason, it’s obvious that they were meant to be seen from the sky. Scientists have had trouble trying to figure out how they could have been designed and created without somebody directing the work from above. We can only marvel at these amazing figures and continue to wonder how and why they were created by a people called the Nasca.



The mysterious city of Nan Madol - a city built on corals

The city of Nan Madol was built between 200 B.C. - 800 A.D., on a coral reef near Micronesia. It consisted of about 100 artificial islands made from huge basalt blocks and connected with viaducts. From the start, it dazzles us with a mix of the bizarre and grandeur. From the start it seems incongruous; 250 million tons of offshore basalt in the middle of nowhere. How were these huge blocks quarried, transported, and placed in the perfect spot? Even by today’s standards, it would an impressive engineering feat. Additionally, the reasoning behind its development remains a mystery. Archaelogists have few clues as to what happened to the civilization responsibile for its creation.

The Sacsayhuaman walls


Near the city of Cuzco, more than 3500 meters above sea level, these amazing walls first fascinated the Spanish conquistadores. They were astonished to discover how these people who, according to them, were ignorant and lacked the ability of logical reasoning required to have built such wonders. They are in fact 3 concentric walls, the average being roughly 360 meters in length and 6 meters in height, made from limestone blocks that weigh about 300 tons each. They didn’t use mortar or any other kind of cement to bind the walls, but they are carved and placed in such a way packed so closely that even a sharp knife can’t be wedged between 2 blocks. Scientists have tried to achieve this at a much smaller scale and have failed in their efforts to replicate the tight joints of the Sacsayhuaman walls.
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Thursday, November 5, 2009

The 31 Wildest Conspiracy Theories

1 Crazy Conspiracy Theories ... or Are They?

Hidden assassins and witless patsies. Shadowy cabals. Secretive meetings in smoky rooms. According to conspiracy theorists, the truth is out there -- it's just being kept from the public by secret societies out to control the world (or save it). Call it apophenia (humans' tendency to see patterns in random data), or call it realities too awful for the rest of us to acknowledge -- for whatever reason, conspiracy theories have been a part of human culture since Cain suspected God and Abel had a racket going. Here are some of the more common conspiracy theories still in play today. We'd give you the real story behind them all, of course, but then we'd have to kill you.

2 The Moon Landings Were Faked

In 1969, millions of people watched as men walked on the moon for the first time in human history. Or did they? According to one remarkably enduring conspiracy theory, the U.S. government faked the moon landings with the use of movie sets and props.

3 The Freemasons Were Jack the Ripper

With their secret rituals, highly symbolic art and architecture, and long history with some of the world's most powerful and controversial figures, the Freemasons have had been at the center of countless conspiracy theories, including some blaming them for the Jack the Ripper killings. Pictured: A museum worker displays hairbrushes that belonged to Edward VII inside the Grand Temple of Freemason's Hall in London. Edward VII was the Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England from 1874 to 1901, when he was still Prince of Wales.


4 The Freemasons Have Orchestrated History

Among the more popular conspiracy theories about the Freemasons: They secretly control the world's governments; they worship a divine entity known as the Great Architect of the Universe and seek the world's destruction so it can be rebuilt more perfectly; they have long infiltrated nearly aspects of American society, from the layout of Washington, D.C., to the mysterious symbols on the dollar bill. Pictured: the Grand Temple inside of Freemason's Hall in London.

5 The Bilderberg Group Rules the World

Since 1954, a small group of the world's most powerful and influential people have met every year in various place for what's called the Bilderberg Group (it now numbers around 130 invitees), with the aim of fostering understanding between the U.S. and Western Europe. It's a secretive event, and conspiracy theorists claim the leaders are meeting to further any of various plots for world domination, including the spread of communism. Here: World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz (not exactly a communist) leaves the Bilderberg Group meeting in 2007.


6 JFK Was Killed by a Conspiracy

The official reason for the death of President John F. Kennedy was shots fired by a lone gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald. But a vast number of people believe Kennedy was really killed by a shadowy conspiracy, usually involving the CIA, the Mafia, and survivors from the Bay of Pigs.


7 LBJ Killed JFK

Any number of people are fingered by conspiracy theorists as having plotted JFK's death, from his successor, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, to Republican rival Richard Nixon, to Fidel Castro.

8 Oswald Was a Patsy

A wide number of conspiracy theories say that Kennedy's official killer, Lee Harvey Oswald, was either not working alone in Dallas that day, or that he wasn't anywhere near the site of the shooting. Many posit that he was set up to be the fall guy, and that an Oswald lookalike (possibly arranged by Soviet Premier Nikita Khruschev) was the actual killer. Such speculation even led to Oswald's body being exhumed in 1981 -- when it was definitively proven that the man buried in his grave really is Lee Harvey Oswald.



9 Jack Ruby Was Framed

Only two days after he was arrested, Lee Harvey Oswald was himself killed by nightclub owner Jack Ruby. There aren't too many conspiracy theories that Ruby wasn't the killer -- after all, the photograph of him shooting Oswald is one of the most famous pictures of all time. But Ruby claimed he was being set up by people "in high positions" who wanted to overthrow the government. Plenty of people took him at his word. He himself died of cancer less than four year after JFK's assassination -- and you can bet there are conspiracy theories about that, too.


10 The United Nations Is Engineering a One-World Government

Various New World Order theories exist, sharing the idea that a cabal of powerful individuals is slowly but surely arranging to destroy the sovereignty of all nations and replace them with a single totalitarian government to rule the entire world. The United Nations often figures in these conspiracy suppositions. (Pictured: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice speaks to the United Nations General Assembly in New York in 2005.)



11 Marilyn Monroe Was Killed by the Kennedys

The iconic blonde bombshell, Marilyn Monroe, died of a drug overdose (listed as "probable suicide") on Aug. 5, 1962, at the age of 36. But ever since author Norman Mailer wrote in 1973 that he suspected a cover-up, theories have swirled that she was killed at the behest of President John Kennedy or his brother Attorney General Robert Kennedy, both of whom conspiracy theorists have linked her to romantically. Pictured: Monroe just days before her death.


12 Aliens Crash Landed in Roswell

In 1947, a mysterious crash that the U.S. military says was a surveillance balloon sparked the most enduring alien conspiracy of all -- that it was in fact an alien spacecraft that was wrecked in Roswell, N.M., and that the government has kept the alien corpses, their technology, and the certain knowledge of life on other planets among its most highly guarded secrets. Pictured: conspiracy theorists dressed as aliens in Roswell, N.M.


13 The U.S. Government Keeps Alien Technology at Area 51

The high-security military base in Nevada known variously as Dreamland, Groom Lake, and Area 51, is believed by conspiracy theorists to hold more secrets than the spy planes tested there. It's conjectured that Area 51 is where government scientists reverse-engineered alien technology, possibly including the Roswell debris. Their research supposedly gave rise to everything from stealth technology to time travel. It's also spawned conspiracy-theorist hunting grounds like the nearby Alien Research Center (pictured).


14 Paul Is Dead

Conspiracy theorists say that Ringo Starr (second from right) is the sole surviving Beatle, and that Paul McCartney (far left) died decades ago, killed in a car accident and replaced by a lookalike. Supposedly, various Beatles songs, played either backward or forward, give hints to the conspiracy. Yet another conspiracy theory states that Paul isn't dead, but that the Beatles started the rumor themselves as a prank that they've been perpetuating ever since.



15 The Skull and Bones Society Controls the U.S.

A secret club at Yale University, the Skull and Bones is, according to most mainstream accounts, more of a fraternity than a sinister league, but it often shows up in the allegations of conspiracy theorists, who point out that its members include the most powerful men in the country (such as former Presidents George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush, and U.S. Sen. John Kerry), and accuse it of everything from controlling the government to starting wars.



16 The One-Dollar Bill Is Full of Occult Symbols

Yank out your wallet, pull out a single, and gawk at all the symbols you don't understand plastered all over the place (for example, if you look very closely near the front, top right corner, you'll see an owl peeking back out at you). Well, conspiracy theorists have plenty of explanations for you, many of the most popular being that they're occult symbols placed there to hint at the mystical -- and malevolent -- origins of the United States. The pyramid on the back, for example, has 13 steps, and is hovered over by what they say is the Egyptian Eye of Horus, as well as the words "Novus Ordo Seclorum," which conspiracy theorists mistranslate as "New World Order."


17 FDR Knew About the Impending Attack on Pearl Harbor

Many conspiracy theorists don't include President Franklin D. Roosevelt among America's "Greatest Generation." According to them, the U.S. military knew well ahead of time that the Japanese were going to attack Pearl Harbor, but that FDR allowed some 2,400 people to be killed so that he'd have popular support for entering World War II. Pictured: FDR signing the declaration of war against Japan the day after Pearl Harbor was bombed.

18 NASA Is Covering Up an Alien Civilization on Mars

In 1976, the Viking 1 space probe took a photograph of the Cydonia region of Mars that included what appeared to be a huge human face gazing up at the sky (bottom). The images created a furor among those believed that it was proof of an ancient Martian civilization. In 1998, the Mars Global Surveyor (top photos) took better-resolution photos that seemed to prove that the Face on Mars was simply an optical illusion -- but some diehard conspiracy theorists insist it's a NASA cover-up.



19 Jews Are Bent on Dominating the World

For centuries, Jews have been the target of a wide range of conspiracy theories, typically accusing them of manipulating the world financial system, the media, and political leaders at the expense of those of other religions. Possibly the first modern conspiracy theory was that of the 19th century "Protocols of the Elders of Zion," a forged book that supposedly detailed the plans of Jews to take over the world. Throughout history, hate mongers used such suspicions about the minority group to justify stripping Jews of rights, property, and their lives -- culminating in the horrors of the Holocaust. Pictured: a poster for a Nazi anti-Semitic propaganda film.



20 Martin Luther King Was Killed by the Government

Conspiracy theorists say the civil-rights leader wasn't killed by lone gunman James Earl Ray but by government agencies who thought he was a communist or a destabilizing force for America.

21 James Earl Ray Didn't Pull the Trigger on Martin Luther King

James Earl Ray, King's convicted killer, said that he was drawn into a conspiracy with his brother and a mysterious man named Raoul. He claimed he didn't actually shoot the civil-rights leader himself, and that he pleaded guilty only to avoid the death sentence.


22 The Council on Foreign Relations Wants to Install a World Dictatorship

A bipartisan and well-respected Washington, D.C., think tank that focuses on world diplomatic affairs, you'd think the CFR would get a little slack from conspiracy theorists. But many, including the John Birch Society, believe that its ultimate goal is to create a single government to rule the entire world. Pictured: President Bill Clinton addresses the CFR in 1998

23 The Trilateral Commission Is Taking Over the World

Much like its counterpart the CFR, the Trilateral Commission -- founded in 1973 to foster better relations between the U.S., Europe, and Japan -- is seen as yet another group trying to create a one-world government. Pictured: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (second from the left) welcomes the members of Trilateral Commission -- the former British ambassador to Russia Roderick Lyne (second from right), Brooklyn Institute president Strobe Talbot (left) and former Japanese ambassador to Russia Koji Watanabe --- during their 2006 meeting in Moscow.



24 Big Business Wants Marijuana Outlawed

Conspiracy theorists say that the real reason marijuana is against the law is because the hemp plant is so useful that it threatens the paper, rope, pharmaceutical, and cloth industries.



25 Black Helicopters Watch Our Every Move

According to militia groups' conspiracy theorists, there's a shadow government already in power in the U.S. (and possibly the rest of the world), and it exercises its power with ubiquitous black helicopters that act as the eyes and ears of the people secretly in power.



26 The Vatican Secretly Governs the World

It's been around for a long, long, long time, so it's no wonder that the Vatican has plenty of conspiracy theories surrounding it -- mostly that the Catholic Church's inner circle is the world's puppeteers. In the U.S., many Americans feared that the Vatican was trying to take control of the White House when Catholic candidates like Al Smith and John Kennedy ran for the highest office. Pictured: Pope Benedict XVI leaves St. Peters's square at the Vatican on June 24, 2009.


27 The Royal Family Had Princess Diana Killed

When investigators concluded that the 1997 death of Princess Diana and her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, was caused by a drunk driver and reckless driving, conspiracy theorists -- including Fayed's powerful father -- begged to differ. They said they knew that it was in fact the British royal family who had MI6 kill Di because she was pregnant with a Muslim man's baby.


28 'The Da Vinci Code' Conspiracy Is True

Dan Brown's bestselling novel "The Da Vinci Code" posits that the Mona Lisa was part of a centuries-long conspiracy to cover up the fact that Jesus Christ fathered a child with Mary Magdalene. It's technically a work of fiction, but there are conspiracy theorists who believe some of the ideas in the book are perfectly valid.


29 The Jesuits Are a Rogue Organization Bent on World Domination

The first conspiracy theories about the Jesuit order actually began with the Catholic Church itself -- the Inquisition was particularly irked by the clannish but well-funded group. Modern conspiracy theories claim that the Jesuits have imposed their philosophies on the Church and various governments from within, started wars throughout the Western hemisphere to gain power, and -- yep, you guessed it -- form a one-world government. Pictured: Jesuits attend the general congregation of the Society of Jesus in Rome.


30 The Sept. 11 Attacks Were an Inside Job

A distressing number of people around the world believe that the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 were the work of the George W. Bush administration. The motive: an excuse to clamp down on civil liberties inside the United States and launch wars around the world.

31 Airplane Contrails Are Actually Chemicals Being Sprayed

It's perfectly normal for aircraft to have contrails -- trails of water vapor that follow the hot exhaust of the engine. For conspiracy theorists, though, some contrails are actually chemtrails -- the secret spraying of various chemicals onto populations and crops to further the purposes of government scientists or various evil organizations.
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Drop Dead Gorgeous:Ten Types Of Tombstones To Die For


Death may be the ultimate end but the persistence of memory demands its reward from the living. These ten drop dead gorgeous tombstones illustrate exquisitely detail the strength of the spirit to move the living once the dearly departed have themselves moved on.


Chichicastenango Cemetery, Guatemala



If this isn’t the happiest cemetery in the world, then what is? Chichicastenango Cemetery in Guatemala’s western highlands is ablaze with bright colors and whimsical tomb “architecture” more worthy of Disneyland than Zombieland. One imagines visitors to the grave of a lost loved one would have a tough time staying in a somber mood… which perhaps is, in some small way, the intent.


Cathedral Tombstones of the Knights of Malta


The Sovereign Military and Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta were a tough bunch, and from 1539 to 1798 they lived, loved, fought and died on that storied Mediterranean island due east of Tunisia. Having withstood a Turkish siege in the 1560s – occasionally using the heads of their prisoners when cannonballs ran short – the Knights Hospitaller’s final wish was to be buried beneath the floor of one of their order’s most holy cathedrals (such as the Co-Cathedral of St. John in Valletta) and memorialized with an inlaid marble tombstone. Often macabre yet undeniably beautiful, hundreds of departed knights await the clarion call of Gabriel’s trumpet on Judgment Day.


Charles Cook’s Tombstone, St Mary’s Church, Walberton, UK


Charles Cook is remembered not for the way he lived, but for the way he died – thanks to his eerily macabre illustrated tombstone. The stone, marked with the date 1767, depicts the unfortunate Cook at the time of his death, killed by a falling tree. Evidently village life in Walberton was a lot slower then it is today; either that or the trees fell alarmingly fast. In any case, Cook’s pictorial gravestone is one of several in the graveyard at St Mary’s Church in Walberton, and one of the more recent stones at that: though modified over the centuries, the church is around 1,000 years old and was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086.


“Ancientest Cemetery”, New London, Connecticut, USA


Americans were no slouches when it came to tombstone art either, though the “KISS” (Keep It Simple, Stupid) principle seems to apply. Some of the oldest graves in the nation are in New London’s “Ancientest Cemetery”, and their simple yet expressive carved tombstones have withstood the test of time.


Scrabble Mosaic Tombstone, Portland, Oregon, USA


One thing you can say about Paul G Lind, he was never at a loss for words. Even in the afterlife. Lind’s finely detailed tombstone stands in Lone Fir Cemetery and commemorates the short life of the dedicated son, brother, fiance and Scrabble fan. We also know Lind was into computers, poker, football and Lost. Scrabble tops the list though – the stone’s designer even went so far as using the two blank pieces.


Tomb of Gerard Barthelemy, Paris, France

You’d expect to see some strange, odd, even bizarre tombstones at Paris’ Cemetiere de Montparnasse, final resting place for artists and other creative types over the years. You don’t expect to see a large, reddish bird frozen in stone atop the grave of Gerard Barthelemy, 1938 – 2002. The creature appears to be a Roseate Spoonbill… its connection to Barthelemy is a mystery.


Mafia Tombstones, Russia & Ukraine



Eastern mobsters live, well, somewhat ostentatiously so why should the afterlife be any different? These photo-realistic tombstones are available at select cemeteries in Russia and the Ukraine for between $8,000 and – wait for it – $250,000. It’s interesting to note how many of the gravestones feature Mercedes-Benz automobiles, a dubious form of advertising if there ever was. Also noteworthy is the extreme cleanliness of the markers – no bird wants to swim with the fishes.


Above is another Russian tombstone of the photo-realistic type. Though it’s not plainly stated whether the person memorialized is a mafioso, one thing’s for certain: he was a real heart-breaker while he lived.


Tree Trunk Tombstones


Tree trunk tombstones: the other petrified wood. Tombstones shaped like tree trunks shorn of their branches may be unusual but they weren’t all that uncommon in the 19th century. An allusion to the Tree of Life perhaps? Regardless of their symbolism, tree trunk tombstones truly stand out from the ordinary and considering the craftsmanship involved in their production, must have been quite expensive to procure in their day.


Tombstone’s Tombstones


Tombstone, Arizona may have been “the town too tough to die” but that epithet didn’t extend to the Wild West denizens who ended up in Boot Hill Cemetery. Life was hard in those frontier days and death, all too easy. From outlaws to in-laws, anyone who spent enough time in Tombstone ended up spending, well, even more.



One prominent figure in Old West lore whose greatest fame is in connection with Tombstone, Wyatt Earp, is NOT buried at Boot Hill. Instead, the lawman forever associated with the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral is buried in the Jewish section of the Hills of Eternity Cemetery in Colma, California, alongside his wife of nearly 50 years, Josie Marcus Earp (who was Jewish).


Name That Tomb


Last but not least, we salute not only those who can laugh at death, but those who can stifle their laughter at inappropriate moments – such as funerals. Just remember: ashes to ashes, dust to dust, you may giggle there now but soon join us you must!
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5 World’s Most Memorable Ghosts

The Flying Dutchman

The Flying Dutchman, the world's best-known non-human ghost, is a seventeenth-century merchant ship said to haunt the high seas. According to sea lore, the ship, which often appears as a hazy image or a strange light, is said to be a portent of bad luck and doom. The ship and its crew became eternally cursed when its Dutch captain refused to take safe harbor during a storm despite pleas from the crew and passengers. Instead the impudent Dutchman challenged God to take them down. The "ghost ship" has been reported on the ocean from time to time, including appearing off the coast of South Africa in 1923. Though never seen on land, The Flying Dutchman most recently appeared in movie theaters across the country in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" films.




Bloody Mary

"Bloody Mary...Bloody Mary...Bloody Mary..." With those words, many schoolchildren had their first experience with a ghost. According to folklore, Bloody Mary is a ghost of a woman who murdered her children long ago. If you want to see her, go into a bathroom (usually at school), turn the lights off, stand in front of a mirror, and repeat her name three times. While countless children (and surely more than a few adults) have tried to summon Bloody Mary using the prescribed method, to date few if any have actually succeeded. Most either stare at their scared reflection in the dark mirror or lose their nerve after saying the second "Bloody Mary" and run screaming from the bathroom in girlish giggles. An updated version of the Bloody Mary legend was made into a horror film series "Candyman."



The Ghost of Christmas Past


In Charles Dickens's famous novel "A Christmas Carol," cold-hearted miser Ebenezer Scrooge has a change of heart after being visited by several ghosts representing different eras of his life's Christmases (Past, Present, and Yet to Come). Ghosts are often associated with life lessons and morality tales, and these spooks are no exception. The ghosts aren't wasting time rattling chains or scaring kids; instead the Ghost of Christmas Past rehabilitates Scrooge by showing him visions of his past Christmases. Scrooge comes to appreciate the true meaning of Christmas-no, not holiday commercialism but friendship and goodwill.



The Vanishing Hitchhiker

"This didn't happen to me, but my friend, she heard it from her hairdresser, it happened to her parents. It seems that they were driving along a lonely country road one night'¦ it was really cold, maybe up in Minnesota, or Montana. Anyway, it was snowing and as they turned a corner they saw a barefoot young girl wearing a dress and a green shawl. Of course they stopped to help her, and she got in the back seat. She didn't say much, and when they asked her where she lived, she pointed to a farmhouse in the distance. A few minutes later, when they pulled into the driveway, she was gone! The couple were puzzled but got out of the car and knocked on the farmhouse door. A somber, grey-haired woman answered, and the couple explained that their mysterious passenger had said this was her house. 'That's impossible,' the woman replied. 'My daughter died near here twenty years ago, on this very night.' Just inside the door, on an old wooden peg, hung her daughter's green shawl!"



Slimer

Slimer is the grotesque green ghost featured in the "Ghostbuster" films and cartoons. He's green, he's obnoxious, and he can spew slime... what's not to love? In fact, Slimer proved to be so popular with kids that he got a starring role in the spin-off series "The Real Ghostbusters." A reformed evil ghost that joined the Ghostbusters team, Slimer's voracious appetite and guttural burps make him among the most memorable cartoon ghosts.
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5 Mysterious Places Around The World

The Door to Hell



This place in Uzbekistan is called by locals “The Door to Hell”. It is situated near the small town of Darvaz
The story of this place lasts already for 35 years. Once the geologists were drilling for gas. Then suddenly during the drilling they have found an underground cavern, it was so big that all the drilling site with all the equipment and camps got deep deep under the ground. None dared to go down there because the cavern was filled with gas. So they ignited it so that no poisonous gas could come out of the hole, and since then, it’s burning, already for 35 years without any pause. Nobody knows how many tons of excellent gas has been burned for all those years but it just seems to be infinite there.

Mysterious Holes of Russia



From the end of 1980s a strange phenomena is happening in some Russian forests. People find strange, deep holes.
They appear in the dense forest, in the places you can’t get on the car or truck to bring any device to drill the ground. There is no any soil that should be taken from such deep holes is found.
People go down to one of such holes but it just finishes with nothing. There are no any reasonable ideas on how these holes appear and what they are being used for.

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The mouth of Hell



In 1962, a little fire in Centralia (Pennsylvania) migrated into an exposed vein of anthracite coal under the town. The flames on the surface were successfully extinguished, but the coal continued to burn underground for many years, so that in 1984 the fire was completely out of control and the city had to be evacuated.
Nowadays, Centralia is an abandoned and ghostly place. The fire still burns beneath the town and there is enough coal to feed the fire for up to 250 years.



Hill of Crosses in Lithuania



It has more than 50,000 crosses on it, and no it is not a cemetery.
The reasons for the crosses to be there is that there is a story that each one who would put his own cross on this mountain would become a lucky guy, so thousands come here and install their custom crosses.
They say this tradition appeared before the Christianity came to Lithuania and Russia and is of pagan origin.



The ghost town buried in the sand



Kolmanskop is a ghost town in southern Namibia, a few kilometres inland from the port of Lüderitz. In 1908, Luederitz was plunged into diamond fever and people rushed into the Namib desert hoping to make an easy fortune. Within two years, a town, complete with a casino, school, hospital and exclusive residential buildings, was established in the barren sandy desert.
But shortly after the drop in diamond sales after the First World War, the beginning of the end started. During the 1950’s the town was deserted and the dunes began to reclaim what was always theirs.
Soon the metal screens collapsed and the pretty gardens and tidy streets were buried under the sand. Doors and windows creaked on their hinges, cracked window panes stared sightlessly across the desert. A new ghost town had been born.
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10 shipwrecks that capture our imaginations

Introduction

The Titanic, the 46,000-ton "unsinkable" ocean liner that struck an iceberg on its maiden voyage in 1912 and sank within hours to the bottom of the North Atlantic, is the world's most famous shipwreck. To this day, the voyage, its passengers, even the mysterious Cold War details surrounding its 1985 discovery continue to capture the public's fascination. But the Titanic is not the only wrecked ship steeped in history - if not treasure - discovered on the bottom of the sea. Click the "Next" arrow above to learn about nine more shipwrecks that have enriched our imaginations.


An ancient Greek oil ship

An ancient Greek cargo ship, described by one researcher as a UPS truck of its day, sank with what appears to be a load of oregano-flavored olive oil. At least, that's the result of a genetic analysis of residue in one of the ship's earthenware jars that were hauled up from the 200-foot depths of the Aegean Sea where the ship sank around 350 B.C. The wrecked ship, which was discovered by an underwater robot, contained several hundred of the jars, called amphorae. More than two-thirds were of the style of the one containing the olive oil. Other containers likely held wine, a well-known export from the island of Chios.


Diamond geologists find sunken treasure

Geologists hunting for diamonds off the coast of Namibia stumbled upon a different sort of riches when they hit upon a shipwreck full of copper ingots, elephant tusks and gold coins. The discovery was reported by Namdeb Diamond Corp, a joint venture between diamond giant De Beers and the government of Namibia. Preliminary analysis indicates the well-worn Spanish or Portuguese ship likely went down in stormy weather in the late 1400s or early 1500s. Judging from the cargo, researchers said the ship was likely looking for material to build cannons or was perhaps trading in ivory. This image shows coins and a brass divider recovered in the wreckage.


Santa Margarita loot a long trail of discovery

In 1622, a fleet of 28 Spain-bound ships laden with gold, silver, copper and other riches reaped from the New World was snared by a violent hurricane in the Florida Strait. At least six of the boats sank, their loot no longer bound for the crown. Modern day explorers, however, have scoured the waters for the sunken treasure. Riches from the heavily armed Nuestra Señora de Atocha started coming to light in the 1970s and the scattered fortunes of a second ship, the Santa Margarita, were hit upon in 1980. In more recent years, divers from Blue Water Ventures Key West have been hot on the Santa Margarita's trail, recovering millions worth of treasure including the pearls shown here.


Captain Kidd's ship discovered in Dominican Republic

The wreckage of the Quedagh Merchant, a ship abandoned by Scottish privateer William Kidd in the 17th century, has been discovered in shallow waters off a tiny island in the Dominican Republic and turned into an underwater preserve. Captain Kidd spent much of his life as a privateer – and captured the Indian-owned Quedagh Merchant which was laden with satin, silks, silver, gold, and other riches. But he abandoned the ship in 1699 to address charges in New York that he was a pirate, not a privateer. According to historians, the men entrusted with the ship looted it, burned it, and set it adrift. It was found just 70 feet off the coast of Catalina Island at a depth of only 10 feet.


Blackbeard's Queen Anne's Revenge Found?

Archaeologists believe the cannon shown here being hauled up off the coast of North Carolina was part of the notorious pirate Blackbeard's flagship. According to legend, Blackbeard, whose real name was thought to be Edward Teach or Thatch, commandeered the French slave ship La Concorde in 1717 and renamed it the Queen Anne's Revenge. Blackbeard abandoned the ship when it ran aground off the North Carolina coast. Several artifacts recovered from the wreck appear to support the belief that it was Blackbeard's flagship, though the findings have been questioned by some scholars. Ongoing excavations may one day solve the mystery.


HMS Victory, famous British warship

A famous British warship sunk by a violent storm in 1744 was discovered 330 feet deep in the English Channel, more than 50 miles from a group of rocky islets long implicated in the vessel's demise. The discovery exonerates the HMS Victory's commander, Sir John Balchin, and a lighthouse keeper near the rocks who was prosecuted for failing to keep the lights on, according to researchers with Odyssey Marine Exploration who found the sunken vessel that carried at least 900 men. What's more, the 110-gun ship is thought to contain 4 tons of gold coins. This image shows one of the ship's bronze cannons with the royal crest of King George I.


Court battles over $500 million shipwreck loot

The governments of Peru and Spain are caught up in court battles with a Florida-based exploration firm that recovered an estimated $500 million worth of silver coins from a Spanish frigate sunk by a British warship in 1804. Marine Odyssey Exploration announced the discovery of the treasure in 2007, though tried to keep the ship's origins and exact Atlantic Ocean location a secret. The details began to leak in 2008 as the Spanish government laid claim to the treasure if it indeed was from the sunken Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes. Peru has since weighed in with a court challenge of its own, saying the coins were made with Peruvian silver and minted in Lima. In this file photo, Odyssey Marine Exploration co-founder, Greg Stemm, left, examines the loot with a co-worker at an undisclosed location.


Ore ship found, mystery endures

The discovery of an ore carrier some 460 feet beneath the surface of Lake Superior has only raised the intrigue over why the vessel sank on just its second voyage. The Cyprus was hauling iron ore from Superior, Wisconsin to Buffalo, New York, when it encountered a moderate gale on October 11, 1907. But the storm was insufficient to bother other ships that day. At the time, some mariners suspected water entered through the ships newly designed hatch covers, though a labor riot at the time of the vessels construction could have created other flaws. While this remains unsolved, shipwreck researchers have another mystery to resolve: The Cyprus was found 10 miles north of where its sole survivor said it went down. The ship on her maiden voyage is shown in this image.



Graf Zeppelin, unused Nazi Germany carrier

The Polish Navy is almost certain they've located the remains of Nazi Germany's only aircraft carrier, the Graf Zeppelin. The ship was launched in 1938, though it never saw action as Adolf Hitler's interest in the navy waned during World War II. The Soviet Union took control of the ship after Germany's defeat and used it for target practice in 1947, according to historical accounts. The carrier eventually sank but its exact whereabouts were unknown until the Polish Navy found remains with an underwater robot. In this image, Polish Navy Commander Daniel Beczek holds up a photo with three views of the ship: the top is a drawing, the middle is a sonar image made by the navy, and the bottom is a 1930s construction photo
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