Places on Earth We Are Still Not Sure Really Exist

Bright Side

Don’t miss this deep dive into places on Earth that we’re still not sure really exist, including mysterious islands that appear on old maps and then vanish without a trace. From phantom islands reported by sailors to locations spotted on satellite images but never confirmed, these real-world mysteries blur the line between geography and legend. You’ll hear fascinating facts, historical records, and modern discoveries that explain why some places remain unverified even today. If you love unexplained phenomena, lost islands, strange maps, and true Earth mysteries, this video will keep you hooked from start to finish. 🌍🗺️  Animation is created by Bright Side.  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/   Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV  Subscribe to Bright Side: https://goo.gl/rQTJZz  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Our Social Media:  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brightplanet/  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightside.official  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.official?lang=en   Stock materials (photos, footages and other):  https://www.depositphotos.com  https://www.shutterstock.com  https://www.eastnews.ru  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.

Transcript

00:00There's a mysterious island that appears and disappears like magic.

00:05Just like Schroediger's cat, this Schroediger's island exists and doesn't exist at the same time.

00:11Officially, it's called Sandy Island, and it once appeared in maps, but it was never there in real life.

00:18Australian scientists decided to solve the mystery once and for all by embarking on an adventure to find this elusive archipelago.

00:25But when they reached the coordinates, all they found was endless blue waves.

00:31It's like the island was playing a game of hide-and-seek with them.

00:34This story goes back to 1876.

00:37A whaling ship was crossing the area and reported an island.

00:41Whoever saw it said it was over 15 miles long north to south and around 3 miles wide, about the size of Manhattan, so not so tiny at all.

00:51But every time researchers went to visit the area, they found nothing.

00:56So, in 1974, an official mission from New Caledonia declared that Sandy Island was simply not a thing and excluded it from all maps.

01:06People went on with their lives until they noticed that the island was appearing on Google Earth as a black blob.

01:13In 2012, another Australian expedition went out to check out the area to get some explanations.

01:19They had to write a eulogy for the long-lost island and explain what could have created this mess.

01:24For starters, mapping technology wasn't at its peak back in the 1900s.

01:30It was easy to get the coordinates wrong.

01:32Then there was the fact that the area is big on volcanic activities.

01:37It's likely that volcanic lava cooled down and created a raft of some kind.

01:42Let's say that the whaling ship went by, saw the volcanic raft, and thought it was land from a distance.

01:48But hey, it's just a guess.

01:51Humans have ventured far and wide across the globe, and it may have seemed at some point that we discovered each and every nook of our planet.

02:00But when Mount Liko popped up on Google Earth, scientists were overcome with excitement.

02:05This hidden gem in northern Mozambique is no ordinary rainforest.

02:10It's nestled inside a volcano.

02:13Determined to confirm the existence of this mysterious forest, experts assembled a team of top-notch scientists and specialists from around the world.

02:22The journey to Mount Liko was no walk in the park, with a daunting vertical rock climb standing between them and the forest.

02:29But after six years of planning and preparation, they were ready for the challenge.

02:35Once they got there, they saw it was even better than they imagined.

02:39The place was like a perfectly tended garden.

02:42The forest sounded unique and different from other rainforests.

02:46There were some insanely huge caterpillars that looked dangerous.

02:49And they even found ancient pots and evidence of an untouched human ecosystem.

02:54Terra incognita means unknown land.

03:00And one of the largest unknown territories being uncovered today is the land beneath Antarctica's ice sheets.

03:07Below the snowy surface, there is an entirely new world of canyons, waterways, and lakes, which are now being mapped.

03:14One can't help but wonder, is there really liquid water below Antarctica's frozen surface?

03:20Yep.

03:21Water can exist without freezing due to pressure.

03:23The liquid water is the result of Earth's warm interior.

03:27And that's how we get things such as Lake Vostok.

03:31Now, you can't see it, but Lake Vostok is right here.

03:34Located in East Antarctica, it lies beneath 2.5 miles of thick ice.

03:40This huge lake is about 4,800 square miles.

03:44Humans could only discover it with the help of some top-notch technologies like seismic soundings and ice-penetrating radars.

03:51According to these scientists, it's likely that the lake has been there for up to 15 million years.

03:59Bhutan is on the map for, among other things, being the happiest country in all of Asia.

04:04But it kept a hidden gem for all these years.

04:08One of the world's tallest unclimbed mountains.

04:10Bhutan is enmeshed in the glorious Himalayan mountains.

04:17That's why the climbing community was beyond excited when they discovered an untouched mountain.

04:22Imagine being the first person to climb an unexplored peak.

04:26That would probably guarantee you a spot in the Guinness World Records, for sure.

04:30The mountain has been untouched because of a Bhutanese law.

04:34For locals, the mountain peak is a sacred site, shrouded in mystery and legends.

04:40One of their beliefs is that the sacredness of climbing a mountain lies not in reaching its peak,

04:45but in truly communing with the mountain and enjoying the process.

04:49We gotta admit, that is a bit of a newsflash for Westerners.

04:52If you're ever in the state of New York, make sure you check out the Aglo General Store.

05:00You'll have to drive somewhere around the Catskills to find a beautiful, grand, big nothing.

05:06Aglo is one of America's most famous paper towns, a.k.a. a fake town.

05:12But this case is different from Sandy Island.

05:15Aglo town never existed, and it wasn't a mistake.

05:18You see, there's an old copyright practice amongst mapmakers.

05:21They add in paper towns, so they can know when someone is simply copy-pasting their work.

05:27What they didn't expect is that this would get completely out of hand.

05:32Some say that one day, a guy picked up a map at a gas station that had Aglo town marked in it.

05:38The person decided to open a store over there and named it Aglo General Store.

05:43Some say the guy who opened the store faced a lawsuit from the mapmakers.

05:47Anyways, it only lasted enough years to become a national joke.

05:51Americans drove from all over the U.S. to get a picture of the town's fake welcome sign.

05:57And then we've got Bermeja Island, located in the Gulf of Mexico.

06:02This funky island appeared on many maps of the 16th and 17th centuries.

06:07It was probably drawn by Spanish explorers.

06:10Sure, the exact location varied from map to map, and its name sometimes appeared as Bermeja.

06:17But its existence was certain enough.

06:20The Bermeja Island was last seen in a 1921 Mexican map, and then, poof, it dropped out of the horizon altogether.

06:28People started talking and wondering, did the island sink?

06:32Was it destroyed?

06:33In 2009, three official investigations happened to search for the island.

06:38They used high-tech technologies to scour the Mexican seabed.

06:42But Bermeja was nowhere.

06:45Researchers had multiple guesses on what it could be.

06:48Let's delve on one of these ideas.

06:50The idea was probably made up by old-day explorers to mislead their enemies in search of land and gold.

06:57Well, that seems plausible.

06:58Now, let's take a look at Rio de Janeiro.

07:01Once, the city was filled with informal territories.

07:05These places are known as slums or favelas.

07:08They're like mini-cities inside the big city.

07:11Some favelas are known to be underprivileged territories,

07:14where dwellers don't get the same urban perks as other citizens,

07:18such as the sewage system and garbage pickups.

07:21These slums grew so quickly that the government didn't have time to keep track of their developments.

07:26So today, it's usually the dwellers themselves that name the streets

07:31and make do with whatever they have at their disposal.

07:34One of the biggest slums in Brazil is located in Rio de Janeiro,

07:38the so-called Hacinia.

07:40And it was only recognized as a neighborhood by the local government in the 1990s.

07:46Our own ocean floor is less map than Venus, Mars, and the Moon.

07:51In fact, 95% of our oceans are unexplored.

07:55Strange, right?

07:55We do have the available technology, which is mainly sonar soundings,

08:00sending wave sounds to the ocean bed and registering what they hear back.

08:05One of the main advantages of mapping the seabed more thoroughly

08:08would be to get more insight to marine hazards,

08:11such as earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions.

08:15Plus, there are so many unidentified marine life.

08:19This could give us a great insight into preservation

08:21and discovering the true dynamics of our marine ecosystems.

08:27Sandy Island is a creepy landmass that appeared on world maps for nearly 200 years

08:32before vanishing into thin air.

08:35Located in the South Pacific, between Australia and New Caledonia,

08:39this phantom island was first documented by explorers in the 18th century

08:44and continued to pop up on maps and even scientific surveys.

08:48But when a research ship sailed through its supposed coordinates in 2012,

08:53they found nothing but open water.

08:55They even measured the ocean depth at this spot,

08:58and it was always more than 4,000 feet deep,

09:01so there was no chance of a big piece of land could be hiding under the water.

09:05To make things even weirder,

09:07when you look up its exact coordinates on Google Earth,

09:10you'll still see a faint outline of what looks like a long, thin island,

09:14but with no landmass in sight.

09:17Theories about its disappearance talk about possible cartography errors.

09:21But the mystery of how a whole island fooled the world for centuries is still unsolved.

09:28Now, speaking of mysterious islands,

09:30let's dive into the enigma of Hashima Island.

09:33Located off the coast of Nagasaki, Japan,

09:36this small island was once a bustling coal mining facility,

09:40thriving with workers and families.

09:43But as the demand for coal declined,

09:45the island was abandoned in the 1970s,

09:48leaving behind a haunting ghost town.

09:51Today, Hashima stands eerily silent,

09:53with crumbling concrete buildings and overgrown vegetation.

09:57And if you are brave enough,

09:59you can do a virtual tour using Google Earth.

10:03But there are other places where digital maps won't let you see much,

10:07like the Ward Islands in Australia.

10:10If you search for its coordinates,

10:12you'll notice a bunch of blackout spots near the coast.

10:15This has led to all sorts of wild speculation online,

10:19sparking curiosity about what might be hidden beneath the surface.

10:23I mean, is it just a glitch?

10:24Or could there really be some unusual wildlife down there?

10:28Well, we still don't have concrete answers for these obscured areas.

10:33But it is worth mentioning that this region is part of a wilderness protection area.

10:37This place is an important zone for the Australian sea lion

10:41and the New Zealand fur seal, for example.

10:43So, these blackout spots could be just part of a plan

10:47to keep everything private and protected out there.

10:50From creepy islands to abandoned places,

10:53if you ever find yourself driving through Rio de Janeiro,

10:57you might catch a glimpse of something unsettling.

11:00A group of creepy Santas, faded candy canes,

11:04and rusty slides surrounded by palm trees and dense greenery.

11:08This is Park Abba Noel,

11:10an eerie, abandoned, Christmas-themed amusement park in Brazil.

11:14The park's creator had big dreams,

11:17thinking it would become a massive, eclectic attraction

11:19with different themed areas.

11:22We're talking about a space the size of 460 football fields.

11:26Work started in 2000,

11:28but the place shut down a few years later

11:30after the creator tragically passed away in a car accident

11:34just meters from the park's entrance.

11:36Today, the attractions are slowly being taken over by rust.

11:40This totally feels like something out of a sci-fi movie,

11:45but those multicolored rings are actually right here on Earth,

11:50in Yellowstone National Park, to be exact.

11:53At 370 feet in diameter,

11:55it is the largest hot spring in the United States

11:57and the third largest in the world.

12:00When you see it from above,

12:01the different colors come from various types of bacteria

12:04that act like real-life thermographic filters.

12:07Each type of bacteria thrives at different temperatures,

12:11and their colors reflect the heat levels

12:13in different parts of the spring.

12:17Our next stop is in Italy,

12:19where you can find the Villa di Vecchi,

12:21also known as the Red House or the Ghost Mansion.

12:25For every ghost mansion,

12:26there's an urban legend behind it.

12:28Now, while nothing we're about to say is confirmed,

12:31the tale is still pretty interesting

12:33and downright bizarre.

12:35Built in the mid-19th century by Count Felix di Vecchi,

12:39this once grand summer residence

12:41quickly became the site of tragedy.

12:44The count's wife passed away under mysterious circumstances,

12:48and his daughter disappeared,

12:50never to be seen again.

12:52Devastated, the count is said

12:53to have spent his remaining days searching for answers.

12:57Over the years, the mansion fell into ruin,

12:59with local legends adding to its haunted reputation.

13:02Some claim to hear strange noises or see ghostly figures,

13:07while others whisper about unusual rituals

13:09that might have taken place there.

13:11Though crumbling and overgrown,

13:13Villa di Vecchi remains popular

13:15for those intrigued by its eerie history.

13:18While we've explored eerie and abandoned human-made structures,

13:24let's take a look at a place where nature's forces

13:26left their own massive mark,

13:28the Meteor Crater in Arizona.

13:31The site was formed in an instant about 50,000 years ago,

13:34when a large iron-nickel meteorite slammed into Earth.

13:38Measuring just under a mile wide,

13:40and 560 feet deep,

13:42The crater is one of the best-preserved impact sites in the world.

13:47Standing at its edge,

13:48you can almost picture the incredible force of the impact,

13:52wiping out everything around it.

13:54Today, the Meteor Crater is a fascinating geological landmark,

13:58drawing in scientists and curious visitors.

14:02From a Google Earth point of view,

14:05this area in Niger looks creepy,

14:07and what seems to be clusters of glass domes

14:10dotting the landscape,

14:11almost like an interplanetary colony.

14:14But in reality,

14:15it's kind of an illusion.

14:17Those domes are actually small,

14:19semicircular pits,

14:20and they're part of the Just Dig It project.

14:23Can you dig it?

14:24These pits,

14:26known as water buns or Earth smiles,

14:28are dug to capture rainwater

14:30and restore dry, degraded land.

14:33It's a simple but genius method

14:34that helps bring life back to areas

14:36suffering from desertification.

14:38By trapping water,

14:40these buns allow vegetation to grow again,

14:43cooling the land and reviving ecosystems.

14:47Now, you have probably heard of the famous

14:49Nazca lines in Peru, right?

14:52We're talking about those massive ancient geoglyphs

14:54carved into the desert,

14:56which have shapes like a spider,

14:58a monkey,

14:59and a hummingbird.

15:00Well, recently,

15:01something similar popped up,

15:03and it's got the internet buzzing.

15:05This new figure,

15:06located at the top of a mountain,

15:08looks a lot like a wild boar.

15:10While it's super cool

15:12to find a potential new geoglyph,

15:14the lack of solid info

15:15and the not-so-sharp edges

15:17make us think

15:18it's just a natural formation.

15:20It's still pretty intriguing, though.

15:23But if you head down south to Chile,

15:25that's where you'll actually find

15:27a real geoglyph.

15:28We're talking about the Atacama Giant,

15:31which is around 390 feet tall.

15:34What looks like a funny drawing

15:35seems to represent

15:37some sort of spiritual figure or deity.

15:40There's no solid proof

15:41of what it actually means,

15:43but experts believe

15:44this design might have worked

15:45as an early astronomical calendar.

15:48The points on the top

15:49and sides of the head

15:50are said to indicate the seasons

15:52based on how they align with the moon.

15:56Meanwhile,

15:57you might also find

15:58some mysterious shipwrecks

15:59while exploring Google Earth,

16:01like the MV Plassey in Ireland.

16:04This ship met its tragic fate

16:06back in 1960,

16:07when a heavy storm

16:08and strong winds

16:09blew it ashore at Finnis Rock,

16:11tearing a hole

16:12in the vessel's bottom.

16:14Water started rushing in

16:15from underneath.

16:16After some shouting

16:17and running in all directions,

16:19the crew managed

16:20to get out of the ship.

16:21Today, the vessel's remains

16:23are still at Finnis Rock

16:24and have become

16:25a popular attraction.

16:27You can still see its hull,

16:28which keeps falling apart over time,

16:30making the whole scene

16:31even creepier.

16:35And we've also got

16:36something interesting

16:37involving the Titanic.

16:39Now, it's true

16:40that the ship is really

16:4113,000 feet underwater,

16:43so you actually

16:44can't see it

16:45with satellite cameras.

16:46But if you type

16:47these coordinates

16:48into Google Earth,

16:49you'll find the spot

16:51of the Titanic accident.

16:52It's not that creepy

16:53of a place.

16:54I mean, it's really

16:55just a huge expanse of blue.

16:57But still,

16:58it's pretty interesting

16:59to get the big picture

17:00of how they seem

17:01so far from everything

17:03on that tragic night

17:04when the ship went down.

17:10That's it for today.

17:11So hey,

17:11if you pacified

17:12your curiosity,

17:13then give the video a like

17:14and share it with your friends.

17:16Or if you want more,

17:17just click on these videos

17:18and stay on the bright side.

17:20Let's get started.

17:20Let's take a look at this.

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