Problems that are difficult for scientists to understand

Chapter 5 Geographic Mysteries (1)
creepy namibia

Between the Namib Desert in Namibia and the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean, there is one of the most terrifying coasts in the world. On the coast, people can only see broken ships and corpses on the coast.The coast stretches for 5000 meters, and Portuguese sailors called this coastline the "Hell Coast".

In 1933, a Swiss pilot, Knoll, was flying from Cape Town to London when his plane crashed near this coast.A reporter once said that Noel's skeleton could be found on the "Skeleton Coast", but it has not been whereabouts so far.

And this "Hell Coast" has become famous, and the name has become the creepy "Skeleton Coast".

The Skeleton Coast is full of dangers.The eight-level gale, the eerie sea of ​​fog, and the jagged reefs hidden in the deep sea often cause accidents to ships passing by.Legend has it that many survivors of the wrecked ship stumbled and climbed ashore, thankful that they were still alive, but no one thought that they would be slowly tortured to death by wind and sand.As a result, the Skeleton Coast is full of various shipwrecks and remains of crew members.Looking down from the air, the Skeleton Coast is a white sandy beach with golden light. There are countless flowing sand dunes on the Skeleton Coast. With the sound of the rumbling wind, it is like walking into a horrible hell.

In 1943, 12 headless skeletons were found lying together on this coastal beach, and there was also a child skeleton nearby; there was a weather-beaten stone slab not far away, with a passage on it: "I am walking north , go to a river at 96 kilometers. If anyone sees this passage, follow the direction I said, and God will help you." This passage was engraved in 1860.So far, no one knows who the victims were, why they died on the coast, and why they all lost their heads.

In the distance of the coastal sand dunes, due to the weathering of 7 million years, the rocks have been etched into strange shapes, like ghosts and ghosts, as if they will suddenly come out of the desert.

When the "Suupawa" wind (named by Namibian Bushman hunters) blows from the sea to the Skeleton Coast, the surface of the dunes will collapse downwards, and the sand grains will rub against each other violently, making a roaring sound, as if they were buried in the sand. The dreary dirges sung by the people here.

Some people say that the deserts on the Skeleton Coast are all flowing sand dunes, and once humans fall into it, it is difficult to get out.The 12 skeletons had no heads and were still lying together. Perhaps they were secretly executed on the Skeleton Coast.And has anyone really explored the language shown on that slate, what does "God will help you" mean, and is it a way to help the unfortunates of the Skeleton Coast escape?All of the above are conjectures and questions worth pondering.But people still die on the Skeleton Coast every year, and no one knows how many souls it has devoured.

The Mystery of Devil's Island

In the Atlantic Ocean, there is a small island that "likes" to travel and is very dangerous - Sable Island, which is vividly called "the graveyard of the Atlantic Ocean".

In 1898, the French ship La Burgo hit the sand and was killed on Sable Island. The rescuers thought that the surviving crew members of the "La Burgo" would land on the island, but they searched around it for several weeks. , and not a single survivor was found, not even the bones.Why is Sable Island so terrible?

Sable Island is located in the ocean about 3000 kilometers southeast of the Nova Scotia Peninsula in Canada. It is not only good at "travel", but also the most dangerous "wreck island" in the world.According to incomplete statistics, more than 500 ships sank on Sable Island, and more than 5000 people were killed.Therefore, this area of ​​the sea is known as the "Atlantic Graveyard", "The Butcher's Knife of Destroyed Ships", "The Ghost Island of Ghosts", "The Graveyard of Ships" and so on.

To this day, people still don't know why so many sea-going ships quietly disappeared here, dying.

Sable Island is not high above sea level, and its crescent-shaped figure above the water can only be seen when the weather is clear.It is formed by alluvial sand, and the whole island is full of fine sand without trees.

The island is surrounded by quicksand shoals with a water depth of 2-4 meters.As long as the ship touches the surrounding quicksand shoals, it will suffer the bad luck of capsizing.People have witnessed several ships with a displacement of 5000 tons and a length of about 120 meters sink silently in the sand within two months after entering the shoal by mistake.

Historical data show that since ancient times, various pirate ships, whaling ships, heavy ships and modern seagoing vessels from all over the world have been buried under the quicksand hundreds of meters thick on Sable Island.

Because the shallow sandy beach on the island often moves, people occasionally have the opportunity to find the wreck of a ship in the sandy beach. An American clipper ship went missing in the 19th century, and it wasn't until 40 years ago that the ship's wooden hull emerged from the ocean floor.However, three months later, another 30-meter-high sand dune was piled on the hull.

In 1800, many gold coins, jewelry, books and wooden objects bearing the Duke of York's family coat of arms were found in the Nova Scotia peninsula.And these items were exchanged by fishermen from Sable Island.This matter attracted the attention of the British government.Because the "Flyncis" bound for England that year, after setting sail from the Nova Scotia peninsula, there was no news of it.

The British Admiralty believes that after the shipwreck, the crew of the Flynn Heiss may have landed on Sable Island, where they were killed by local residents and the property on board was looted.Subsequent investigations finally revealed the truth: the crew and the ship were engulfed in the relentless sand.

A few months later, the British "Princess Amelia" sank in the quicksand around Sable Island, and the crew all survived.Another British ship heard the news and came to the rescue, only to suffer the same fate.The British government was shocked and immediately decided to build a lighthouse and set up a lifesaving station on the island.

In 1802, the first life-saving station appeared on Sable Island.The life-saving station consists of a shed in which a whaling cutter is kept, and near the shed is a stable with a herd of strong horses.Every day, four lifeguards on horseback patrol the island in groups of two, closely watching the movements of passing ships.

After the lifesaving station was established, it played a huge role. On July 1879, 7, the 15-ton U.S. passenger ship "Stat Virginia" carrying 2500 passengers sailed from New York to Glasgow, England, and unfortunately ran aground on the South Beach of Sable Island due to heavy fog. , but under the full rescue of the lifesaving station, all the crew escaped smoothly.

In January 1840, the British "Mirtle" was blown into the quicksand shoal of Sable Island by a storm. Because they were eager to survive, they jumped into the sea before the rescuers arrived, and all of them died.Two months later, the deserted Myrtle was only discovered when it was blown from the beach to the surface by a storm and ran aground again in the Azores.

Corresponding lifesaving stations, lighthouses, etc. have been established on Sable Island, as well as helicopters.The number of boat fatalities passing Sable Island has dropped dramatically.

However, why there is so much quicksand on Sable Island and where the quicksand came from has always been a mystery.However, the quicksand on Sable Island is only a shallow beach. There is no clear answer to why it can swallow so many giant ships, and why the shallow beach often changes positions.

Mysteries of Ur and the Windy City

There is a unique city in the Junggar Basin in Xinjiang with strange landforms.This place is known as the Devil's City, also known as Ur and the Windy City.

Devil City runs from northwest to east-west, with a length and width of more than 5 kilometers, a radius of about 10 square kilometers, and an altitude of about 350 meters.The rocks in Devil City are strange and mysterious, some seem to be pavilions, some seem to be a symbol of a cemetery.There are also "battlements" and "castles" in Devil City.There are collapsed broken walls, towering stone pillars, scattered streets and alleys, like a bottomless maze.The houses, steles, and dark castles painted in light reddish brown add a mysterious and confusing atmosphere to the castle.In the middle of the rock wall is a winding, bumpy passage.When the sky is clear and the breeze is blowing, people strolling in the castle can hear waves of wonderful music floating in their ears, as if they are in the ocean of music.But when the whirlwind blows, sand and rocks fly, the sky is dark, and the wonderful music suddenly turns into various strange sounds: like donkeys braying, tigers roaring...also like the cry of a baby around you, the shrill laugh of a woman; and then like being in a busy city ; Then there was a sudden gust of wind, black clouds overwhelming the top, howling ghosts and howling wolves, blurred everywhere... people can't help but wonder if they have walked into hell, as if this place is controlled by moody demons and ghosts.

Who built this mysterious ghost city?Are the ancients leading to the Silk Road?Or was there a civilization that once appeared here and gradually declined?Where did the countless strange voices come from?
The more popular saying now is the "wind theory", that is, the Devil City is a "wind-eroded landform", which is a masterpiece of the raging wind here.

According to investigations, about 1 million years ago, Devil City was a huge freshwater lake. Later, after two major crustal changes, the lake became land, and the strata of Devil City are therefore Paleozoic sedimentary rocks.After long years of accumulation, these sedimentary rocks have been stacked layer by layer, with different thicknesses, forming loose and solid rock formations exposed on the surface.The Devil City, which has been transformed into land, is located in a dry and rainless desert climate zone. After being scorched by the sun, the earth is scorching hot during the day.And it drops suddenly at night, and the change of cold and heat is very drastic.Under the action of thermal expansion and contraction, those rocks will be broken into many cracks and channels.

The wind in the desert area faces the old outlet of the Junggar Basin, and is affected by the northwest wind blowing from the desert area of ​​Central Asia all the year round. The maximum wind force of these winds can reach 10-12, and the wind force is extremely strong.The strong wind with a large amount of sand hits the rocks, eroding all kinds of rocks of different hardness and softness for many years, so that those rocks are carved very exquisitely and magically, forming castles, streets, towers and other shapes.

As for those strange sounds, some people explained that the rocks remembered the sounds of things that happened here or not far away. For example, the area around or near the Devil City may have been a trade center or market in the past. Rock remembers.So when the wind blows, those sounds will be played by the rocks like a tape recorder, and these sounds will be different according to the wind direction and wind speed, so there will be a huge contrast in the sound.It is also because the sound of Devil City Rock has been recorded too much, so many sounds are emitted at the same time.But there are also objections, there are so many castles built with rocks in the world, why don't they have this phenomenon?In short, there is no clear statement so far.

Why Haunted Houses Cause Trouble to Humans
"Haunted house" is gloomy and gloomy in the eyes of ancient people and modern people, often haunted and abandoned by people.People who have lived in the "haunted house" will describe their terrible experiences, there are horrible voices, doors and windows will suddenly open by themselves, and people who have lived there for a long time will either face catastrophe, get seriously ill, or even die suddenly.

When it comes to the haunted house, I believe everyone is uncomfortable, but they feel that the haunted house is full of mystery.

Ancient books usually say that living in a "haunted house" is either a catastrophe or a serious illness or even sudden death.This kind of phenomenon has always been explained by "haunted house" in European and American countries, but in ancient China it was explained by "feng shui" and "retribution".In the Qing Dynasty, it was said that there were ten "haunted houses" in the ancient city of Beijing. They were generally deep houses with overlapping courtyards, eerie and often haunted, so they were often abandoned and uninhabited.

There are four famous "Haunted Houses" in the world.

One is that near a tall pharaoh's tomb in Egypt, there is a barracks built by the British army during World War I.When the British soldiers stayed in for 3 months, some people experienced symptoms of body trembling, slurred speech, and tooth loss one after another, until they developed blindness in both eyes, and finally twisted into a ball with their whole body, making a tragic hiss in strong convulsions and then die in agony.The local people believe that the "culprit" is that the occupants offended the noble pharaoh who had been sleeping underground for thousands of years.

The second is in Miami, the United States, where the early white colonists used a kind of clay to "dry the base" to build houses.But the original owners quickly abandoned the building.Because they lived here for two months, symptoms such as coughing and chest pain would gradually worsen. At night, they seemed to be pressed down on their chest by a pair of claws, almost suffocating to death.After leaving here, the symptoms will disappear quickly.

The third is that there is a residential complex called "Haunted House" in India.It is said that when the people who lived there died, they would tear their clothes, scratch their flesh, and call the name of someone they didn't know vaguely and hoarsely.The locals believed that the person the dead man was referring to was an ancient god and that the area was the domain of the god.

The fourth is a modern villa in the outskirts of Brussels, Belgium.Soon after the completion of the building, the owner suffered from headaches and trances of varying degrees, and the hostess even suffered from severe insanity, and eventually committed suicide by jumping off a cliff because of her insanity.Others recovered from their mental illness after they moved out of the villa.

Why Death Highway Kills People

There are many mysterious places on earth, even the roads we build are mysterious.In many countries, there are death highways.

A place near Warsaw, Poland's capital, is a terrifying place for drivers to experience headaches.

Drivers who come here usually take a detour, because drivers who drive here often feel dizzy, as if they have not woken up, which leads to a large number of traffic accidents.Small animals such as cats, snakes, and birds live well here, but large animals such as cattle, dogs, and pigs do not want to stay here, and even cattle do not eat the grass here.Some plants cannot grow here, such as apple trees, jujube trees, rhododendrons, etc., while some plants grow well, such as maple trees, willow trees, peach trees, etc.The production of honey here is 30% higher than in nearby places.

On the 430-kilometer road in Lanzhou, Xinjiang, China, not only the accidents of vehicle rollovers occur frequently, but also the reasons for the rollovers are also mysterious.A good-looking, functioning car drove here, and suddenly and inexplicably overturned the car.Such major vicious accidents involving car crashes and fatalities occur at least a dozen to as many as 430 or 430 cases every year.Despite the vigilance of drivers, such accidents continue to occur. At 430 kilometers, the road is flat and the line of sight is very wide.So, what is the reason for so many vehicles overturning one after another within a distance of less than 430 meters?At first, some people analyzed that there might be a problem with the road design.For this reason, the traffic department has rebuilt this section of road many times, but rollover accidents still continue to occur.Later, some people also speculated that there may be a large magnetic field north of [-] kilometers based on the fact that the direction of each rollover is all north.Although there is some truth to this statement, it has no scientific basis.Therefore, for the drivers, the [-] kilometers has become a devil's triangle in China, which is covered with a layer of mystery. The rollover phenomenon at [-] kilometers is still a mystery.

Taike Highway: The highway from Taiyuan to Ningwu in China. At 31.7 kilometers of this highway, there is a sharp and steep "U" bend.For passing vehicles, it is as terrible as the Bermuda Triangle. From October 1997 to now, almost every week, a car has an accident on this black "U" curve.

Luohandongpo: China National Highway 310 (Baoji, Shaanxi to Tianshui, Gansu). From October 2000 to the end of 10, 2003 traffic accidents occurred, 15 people were killed, and 83 people were injured. people, the direct economic loss amounted to 32 million yuan.

Who Lighted the "Buddha Lamp" in Lushan
The beautiful scenery of the valley brings us endless spiritual enjoyment. One of the famous mountains, Mount Lu is a place that has been praised in China since ancient times.Not only in Lushan Mountain, but also in Mount Emei and Qingcheng, there is a spectacle of Buddha lamp or Buddha light. The time of its appearance is uncertain. When it appears, it is like the legendary Buddha light in the world.

Around the fifteenth day of the lunar calendar, standing on the Manjusri Terrace on the west side of the Datian Lake in Lushan Mountain, you can see the spectacle of "Lushan Manjusri Terrace Buddha Lamp".

When the bright moon hangs in the sky and the stars shine brightly in the sky, sometimes dozens of flickering lights will suddenly appear in the mist floating in the black valley at the foot of Datianchi Mountain.These bright lights are sometimes big and sometimes small, sometimes gather and sometimes disperse, sometimes bright and sometimes go out, sometimes east and west, like countless colorful lights that are set off and flickering in the mist.

Jiang Chao of the Qing Dynasty once recorded the sight of the Buddha lamp he witnessed with his own eyes: "At first glance, I saw one or two Yingying places... soon, like a thousand lotus flowers, shining in front of the rock, some came out of the forest, some came out of the cloud, and some approached from far away. , those who come slowly, are almost innumerable."

As for the formation of Lushan Buddha lamp, there are different opinions since ancient times.

Fan Chengda, a poet of the Southern Song Dynasty, recorded in "A Journey to Qingcheng": "There are lights coming out of the four mountains at night, and there are thousands of them, which are called holy lights. Wherever the holy lights come, there are many people who talk about them, but they can't be firm. Or as the ancients said The light of Tibetan elixir, or it is said that the spirits of plants and trees have light, or it is said that it is made by dragon gods and mountain ghosts, and those who believe in it believe that it was created by immortals and saints." Some ancients also believed that it was caused by the condensation of thousands of years of snow on Lushan Mountain. .

(End of this chapter)