While the Bermuda Triangle may be legendary in its status as one of the most intimidating places on the planet, it’s also become overrated as of late. Because of the Internet, people are able to upload pictures and videos of the places they visit more easily than before where the only evidence of someone’s travel experiences came from postcards and letters with photographs attached to them. This includes the Bermuda Triangle area, which plenty of people sail through either on cruise lines or personal boats and even fly over. Usually, though, nothing happens to them.
Sure, the place is still notorious for its rough waves and storms but that’s mainly due to its tropical location of being in the southern Atlantic Ocean and right next to the Caribbean Sea. Nevertheless, the Bermuda Triangle is a well-known phenomena in pop-culture that’s lasted for many decades up until the present day. But there are plenty of other places in the world that are just as intimidating, with some being arguably more scary than the Bermuda Triangle. So in this article, we’re going to highlight some of those other locations nobody wants to set foot in either because of how intense or creepy these places are and sometimes both.
25 Chernobyl - Dangerous Still
Resting in Ukraine near the border of Belarus, this ghost town is the home of a nuclear power plant of the same name that was the first of its kind in the country.
Then in 1986, the plant had a critical meltdown and exploded resulting in most of the city’s population immediately evacuating.
A few years later, the Soviet Union collapsed and the city was reclaimed by Ukraine despite the plant being commissioned by the Russians. Today, only a few people remain while the plant is closely monitored due to the heavy amount of radiation that still affects the area.
24 Atlantis - Lost Beneath the Waves
Mentioned in works written by the Ancient Greek philosopher Plato, Atlantis was a large city belonging to an advanced civilization that predated many other civilizations. But the story goes that a cataclysmic event caused the entire continent the city was on to sink into the ocean.
Since then, this story has given rise to numerous books and movies about the Lost City of Atlantis.
It also inspired some people to actually look for traces of this city, and recently a glitch happened on Google Earth causing a grid-like pattern to appear on the Atlantic Ocean’s floor which got deleted.
23 The Catacombs of Paris - An Underground Cemetery
Beneath the streets of Paris, France, lie a series of ossuaries for the millions of people that were buried in wake of a cemetery shortage that happened during the late 1700s.
Then for a century, the place remained forgotten until people started using it for parties leading to a series of renovations and becoming open to the public.
To this day, the place is still quite haunting to look at having gotten attention in the media through ghost-hunting reality shows and even two movies that were filmed in this location including the found footage thriller As Above, So Below.
22 The Great Barrier Reef - Shark-Infested Waters
Lying off the coast of Australia, the Great Barrier Reef is famous for having miles and miles of coral along a stretch of ocean that’s teeming with marine wildlife of all shapes and sizes.
This even includes large sharks and saltwater crocodiles according to National Geographic, making those who are too squeamish to dive not want to go anywhere near the Great Barrier Reef.
On top of that, environmental factors such as global warming have been causing lots of coral to bleach allowing plants like algae to thrive making the ocean waters not as pristine as they used to be.
21 Racetrack Playa - Stones that Move on Their Own
In the flat deserts of California, there is one place that is aptly named Racetrack Playa because the area is occupied by large stones that seem to steadily creep along the ground leaving distinct trails which show their movement.
Because there is no sign of human intervention, such as footprints or tire tracks, the apparent movement of these rocks has both puzzled and fascinated people.
Yet numerous theories have been posed to explain the stones’ movement according to WIRED, from something as simple as gravity to a combination of natural elements such as strong winds and the playa’s flat surface.
20 Cumbre Vieja - Rumbling Fires
Close to the Canary Islands off the coast of Spain, this dormant yet active volcano resides. Within its long history, it’s erupted several times with two major ones in 1949 and then 1971. While the former was the most destructive, the latter wasn’t as bad by comparison.
But what concerns some scientists more about the volcano is the seismic activity in the region which could cause parts of the island where the volcano’s situated on to collapse and potentially cause a “Mega-Tsunami”. However, there has been enough counter-evidence to suggest these fears are unfounded for the most part.
19 Poveglia - Plagued Hospital
While the city of Venice is known for its beauty and romantic setting, there are some places that aren’t so pretty. One of those is Poveglia Island, which is close to the famous Lido sandbar near Venice and considered to be one of the scariest places in the world because it’s reputedly haunted.
The main reason for this is during the Middle Ages when plagues were sweeping across Europe, the island was used to quarantine those who were infected which ranged in the thousands.
Then during the 1920s, the place was turned into an asylum before shutting down in 1968.
18 Marfa - Lights in the Sky
Outside this sleepy little town in Texas, witness reports going all the way back to the 1800s have claimed seeing a series of strange lights hovering in the sky along Route 90 that appear in ones and twos. Since then, multiple explanations for them have been brought up ranging from natural causes such as St. Elmo’s fire to fantastic notions like ghosts and UFOs.
Though according to a survey done by physics students from the University of Texas, the lights they saw came from the headlights of passing cars which would explain the current sightings but not the earlier ones.
17 Point Pleasant - The Mothman’s Hideout
In the state of West Virginia lies this little wooded town whose name has become ironic in wake of some creepy events that have supposedly happened here.
The most famous of these have to do with the Mothman, a strange creature that was supposedly seen by many people from 1966 to 1967.
Described as being seven-feet tall with glowing red eyes and ten-foot long wings, the Mothman has been connected with the collapse of the Silver Bridge in 1967 which led to 46 casualties as some witnesses claimed to have gained the gift of foresight after seeing him.
16 Mexico City - Collective UFO Sightings
Originally built by the Aztec Empire before the Spaniards conquered them, Mexico City has an interesting history and is one of Mexico’s most popular places for tourists. However, this city has also become famous due to the number of reported UFO sightings in the area starting in 1991 when multiple residents claimed they saw one during a total solar eclipse.
Then eight years later, another major sighting occurred and since then there have been lots of YouTube videos posted that supposedly document the UFOs that appear over Mexico City’s skyline though their authenticity is up for debate like many others.
15 Amityville - Long Island’s Cursed Town
Following the publication of The Amityville Horror book in 1977, and the release of the 1979 movie, this seemingly ordinary village on Long Island near New York City became sensationally famous.
This was largely in part due to the account of the Lutz family, which the book and movie focus on, who experienced some disturbing things after they bought a house in Amityville after the last resident was driven to taking the lives of his own family (which really did happen).
While it isn’t clear whether the Lutz family’s account is true or not, that hasn’t affected the house’s notoriety.
14 Area 51 - Conspiracies Abound!
Since its inception, this restricted military base in Nevada has been the subject of as many conspiracy theories as the Bermuda Triangle. Though what they typically revolve around is aliens, since the base is officially known for testing new types of aircraft for the Air Force but is not open to the public.
This has led many people to speculate that the place is secretly housing extraterrestrial beings and ships that have been captured by the government over the years, such as the one that seemingly appeared in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947 which was the first official UFO sighting.
13 Nazca Lines - Mysterious Drawings
Within the southern part of Peru lies the Nazca Desert, which is known for the geoglyphs (images made on the ground) that dominate the landscape. Dating back as early as 500 B.C., these "Nazca Lines" as they’ve come to be known as can be seen from the air with images ranging from animals to humanoids.
The image in the above picture, for example, has been dubbed “Astronaut” due to its round head and boot-like feet.
While many archeologists believe these lines served a religious purpose in the Nazca people’s culture, some people think they were made by extraterrestrials.
12 Easter Island - Heads of Stone
A remote island in the Oceania region that is part of the Republic of Chile, this place is where famous monolithic statues referred to as the Easter Island heads (or Moai natively) stand.
While most resemble large heads sticking out of the ground, there are some that are fully unearthed resembling stout human beings.
Created by the native Rapa Nui people long ago, they’ve been the subject of mystery for many years as no one knew how these gigantic statues made from solid volcanic ash were moved to their present locations. Some theories, though, have been posed in recent years.
11 Lake Toplitz - Buried Treasure
In the mountains of Austria lies a very pristine-looking lake that’s unique for not only having a salty floor but also for containing something that adventurers and treasure hunters have been seeking for decades.
This, in fact, was loot that was supposedly dumped into the lake by the Third Reich who used Lake Toplitz as a testing site for missiles.
However, the only thing that’s been found is counterfeit British pounds according to CBS News and the Austrian government has banned people from exploring the lake further so we may never know if the treasure was real or not.
10 Thilafushi - The Biggest Garbage Dump
Located in the Maldives, which are a series of tropical islands in the Indian Ocean, Thilafushi is an artificial island that was created for one purpose: to pile all the trash coming from the other islands though in particular the capital city of Malé which lies west of it.
However, the islands tend to get 800,000 annual visitors (aka tourists) who produce more trash than Thilafushi’s area can contain even with the frequent amount of burnings that occur.
Because of this, there is a strong environmental concern about the island of Thilafushi which has grown deplorable with each passing year.
9 Zapadnaya Litsa - Radioactive Subs
Along the coast of Murmansk Oblast, Russia, lies this infamous naval base. The reason for its infamy has to do with the submarines that are docked there which contain loads of radioactive material as they were originally designed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War and kept a close secret for a long time.
Nowadays, they are being constantly monitored by the current Russian government due to how environmentally hazardous they might become.
In fact, anyone who tries visiting the area has to get permission from the Russian government several months in advance if they hope to get there.
8 Cité Soleil - Shantytown of the Modern Age
Considered to be the poorest suburb in the country of Haiti near the capital city of Port-au-Prince, this place is densely populated with impoverished people living under the most miserable conditions possible.
This includes not having a proper sewage system, no formal businesses, and poor infrastructure.
On top of that, the area gets constantly wracked by hurricanes that pass through the Caribbean Sea every year and even earthquakes including a bad one which happened in 2010. Then there is a lot of crime committed in this neighborhood, which isn’t helped by the various armed gangs that are present.
7 Beirut - Underlying Tension
Being Lebanon’s capital, the city of Beirut has become popular among tourists in recent years due to its rich history favorable climate and great food. It’s also become economically viable because of its tight relation with several banks around the world making it a strong financial center in the region but also internationally.
Yet despite this city’s apparent beauty, there is also a darker side to it as the region’s been fraught with multiple civil wars after the fall of the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of WWI and there are armed militia groups and soldiers everywhere.
6 Gaza Strip - A Center of Conflict
When the news talks about the intense stuff happening in the Middle Eastern region, Gaza Strip (or Gaza) is usually the first to be mentioned. Located in the country of Israel, this particular territory is controlled by the neighboring State of Palestine though that wasn’t always the case. 2,000 years prior, Gaza was a region that was very prosperous and rich in terms of culture with arguably more influence than Jerusalem.
But due to complicated ethnic and religious tensions, which were heightened by the creation of Israel after WWII, the area has become ground zero for numerous conflicts.