The Bhangarh Fort: The Most Haunted Place In The World

The Bhangarh Fort is located at the edge of  Sariska forest in Alwar district of Rajasthan. Built in 1613, the Bhangarh fort is thought to be the most haunted place in India. It’s the only ‘Legally Haunted’ location recognized by the Indian Government. Entry to Bhangarh is legally prohibited between sunset and sunrise.

Bhangarh Fort

A signboard posted by ASI (Archaeological Survey of India) is written in Hindi

A signboard posted by ASI (Archaeological Survey of India) is written in Hindi says "Entering the borders of Bhangarh before sunrise and after sunset is strictly prohibited. Legal action would be taken against anybody who does not follow these instructions".

A number of legends regarding the lonely historical buildings exist, but two stand out above the rest.

One legend speaks the city of Bhangarh was cursed by the Guru Balu Nath. He had sanctioned the construction of the town on one condition, “The moment the shadows of your palaces touch me, the city shall be no more!” When a descendant prince raised the palace to a height that cast a shadow on Balu Nath’s forbidden retreat, he cursed the town. Balu Nath is said to be buried there to this day in a small samadhi.

In second prominent legend, Singhiya, the wizard who was adept in black magic fell in love with theRatnavati, the princess of Bhangarh who was very beautiful and had suitors to marry her from many royal families of the country. One day while the princess, 18 years of age, went shopping with her friends and was buying Ittar(scent). The wizard saw this and replaced the scent with some potion in order to ensnare the princess. He offered the potion to her so that she took a liking for him and marry him. However, the princess saw through the wizard's trickery and when he offered her the bowl of potion, she threw it on a big boulder nearby and as a result the boulder started rolling down towards the wizard and crushed him. Before he died he cursed that Bhangarh would be destroyed soon and no one will be able to live within its precincts. Subsequent to the curse Bhangarh Fort was invaded by theMughals from the north and the city was surrounded and sacked; 10,000 people lived in the fort city at that time. All the people in the fort including the princess were killed. The present state of the fort is attributed to the curse of the wizard and people believe the ghosts in the fort are that of the princess and the wizard. Since from that day at the night time there are some paranormal activities are said to take place, some people have reportedly died by these paranormal activities.

A group of investigators also visited the town from night to early morning, disappointed to know that no paranormal activity was accused of. They also stated: "We tried to communicate to any existing spirits and asked them to manifest for us or do anything which can make us believe that they existed. Nothing happened."

Source: en.wikipedia.org

The Borra Caves

Borra caves are located in the Ananthagiri hills of the Araku valley of the Visakhapatnam district in Andhra Pradesh, India. Caves are said to have originated from Gosthani river which flows through this caves. The caves were created due to flow of river over the limestone area.

Images Credit: bharatdiscovery.org

Image Credit: panoramio.com

The Caves, one of the largest in the country, at an elevation of about 705 m (2,313.0 ft), filled with impressive speleothems ranging from very small to big and irregularly shaped stalactites and stalagmites formations. Karstic limestone structures inside the cave extending to a depth of 80 m (262.5 ft) which is considered as the deepest cave in India.

The caves were discovered by William King George of the Geological Survey of India in 1807. The tribals who inhabit the villages around the caves narrate several legends. The popular legend is that a cow, grazing on the top of the caves, dropped 60 m (196.9 ft), through a hole in the roof. Thecowherd while searching for the cow came across the caves. He found a stone inside the cave that resembled a Lingam. The village folks believed that the Lord Shiva protected the cow. Since then they have built a small temple for Lord Shiva outside the cave. 

Sources : ecoindia.com, en.wikipedia.org

The Mysterious Naga Fireballs of Mekong River

Naga Fireballs are a natural phenomenon that appear only in the Mekong River, Thailand. Each year, hundreds of red glowing balls spontaneously rise up from the water into the air and disappear without noise. These mysterious sparkles are small, but sometimes they reach a size of a basketball.

Ghostly fireballs can be seen in different times of the year but most frequent they are in late October - early November, when the long period of rains has ended and Mekong is filled with lots of fast flowing, muddy water.

One science theory suggests that fermented sediment in the river, things such as decomposing remains and animal waste, release bubbles of self-immolating gas that rise to the surface and combust. Suspiciously absent from this theory is a reason why the phenomenon occurs around the same time every year. But locals believe the balls come from the breath of Naga, a mythical serpent that haunts the river.

credit:unbelievableinfo.com

The Three Color Lakes of Indonesia

Mount Kelimutu, an active volcano is located in central Flores Island of Indonesia. The volcano contains three lakes filled with water of different colors, respectively burgundy red, pale green and dark blue. It is the only place on earth where this amazing color variation takes place.

Local people have for centuries believed that the lakes are the spiritual resting place of their ancestors. It is said the lakes change color according to the mood of the spirit – and if that is the case then the souls’ moods are constantly restless.

Tiwu Ata Mbupu (The Lake of Old People)

Tiwu Ata Mbupu (The Lake of Old People) at the western point of the volcano is typically blue. This is where it is said the spirits of the old who have led righteous lives go to rest. Tiwu Nuwa Muri Koo Fai (The Lake of Young Men and Maidens) is characteristically green. The third, Tiwu Ata Polo (the Enchanted Lake) is in dark blood red color. Flores indigenous people believe the souls of the dead people reside in the lakes.

Tiwu Ata Polo (the Enchanted Lake)

Tiwu Nuwa Muri Koo Fai (The Lake of Young Men and Maidens)

In the last three to five years, the lakes of Kelimutu have changed in color, a phenomenon caused by the geological and chemical processes in the bottom and walls of the lakes. It could also have resulted from changes in the bacteria and microorganism populations due to changes in temperature.

Sea of Salt- The Dead Sea

The Dead Sea is also known as the Sea of Salt. This massive salt lake is spread between Israel and the West Bank to the west and Jordan on the east. The Dead Sea is 1,385 feet below sea level. Dead Sea has a salinity level of of 33.7%, which is 8.6 times saltier than the ocean.

The Dead  Sea water contains more than 35 different types of minerals including magnesium, calcium, potassium, bromine, sulfur, and iodine. The odd chemistry results in the appearance of some striking, but transient, salt crystal formations. In shallow lagoons at periodic intervals, these formations are natural works of art: billions of charged atoms in intricate geometrical formations shaped by nature into unique works of crystalline art.

The Dead Sea is 1,240 feet deep, which makes it the deepest hyper saline lake in the world. The total salinity content is 33.7 percent. Because of its high salinity content, fish and vegetation does not thrive, it does not exist at all, thus its name. The Dead sea is eight times saltier than the other oceans and it is 67 kilometer long and 18 kilometer wide. The main tributary of the sea is the Jordan River as it lies in the Jordan Rift Valley.

Visitors from all over the world come to the Dead Sea, especially those who come from the Mediterranean basin. Over thousands of years, visitors have been visiting this grand sea. Historically speaking, the place was a refugee camp for King David. The Dead Sea is also considered to be the first health resort in the world as it supplies a variety of products likes potash for fertilizers and balms. Moreover, the salt from the sea is used to create cosmetic and herbal packets.

The Mystery of Bermuda Triangle Finally Solved!

The Bermuda Triangle is a place where Hundreds of ships have been disappeared, leading to strange rumours of paranormal activity and alien invasions. The Bermuda Triangle is a region in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean in which a huge number of aircraft and surface vessels were disappeared in a Mysterious manner that cannot be explained by human error, piracy, equipment failure, or natural disasters.

But the ships disappearances could simply been caused by methane bubbles escaping from the sea bed, according to a new report by Scientists. The principle phenomenon is - if you mix enough bubbles into water, it lowers the density of the water so that anything floating on its surface will sink. A group of American scientists came up with a simple way of putting this theory to the test.

They made bubbles in a beaker of water by feeding air into the bottom of it. Then they dropped in balls of different weights, to see which would float. Balls that floated in still water, sank when the bubbles were switched on. The same mechanism could explain why ships sink in the Bermuda Triangle. Michael Denardo, who led the team, said "If a phenomenon can be made to occur in a lab, it probably happens somewhere in the natural universe."

The Bermuda Triangle is a region in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean in which a huge number of aircraft and surface vessels were disappeared in a Mysterious manner that cannot be explained by human error, piracy, equipment failure, or natural disasters.

The mysterious Devil's triangle covers boundary between the Straits of Florida, the Bahamas and the entire Caribbean island area and the Atlantic east to the Azores.The most of the accidents occurred along the southern boundary around the Bahamas and the Florida Straits.

The area is one of the most heavily-sailed shipping lanes in the world, with ships crossing through it daily for ports in the Americas, Europe, and the Caribbean Islands. Cruise ships are also plentiful, and pleasure craft regularly go back and forth between Florida and the islands. It is also a heavily flown route for commercial and private aircraft heading towards Florida, the Caribbean, and South America from points north.