Who is Krampus and Frau Perchta?

You all know about Santa Claus but you have hardly heard the name of Krampus and Frau Perchta before. Just like Saint Nicholas (Santa Claus) on Christmas gives good children their favorite gifts, on the contrary, some legendary monsters punish bad children. Although all these stories have been narrated and they are not much related to reality, but it will be very interesting to know about these monsters. So let's first talk about Krampus.

Krampus

Image Credit - Pixabay

Krampus's name is derived from the German word krampen, meaning claw. Krampus is known by many people as Evil Santa and is believed to be a horned figure described as half-goat and half-demon. Just as Santa Claus gives gifts to good children on the day of Christmas, in the same way, Krampus punishes Naughty Children for misbehaving, and stuff them in a sack, and take them away to his lair. In Norse mythology, Krampus is said to be the son of Hel, a Norse goddess of the underworld. Hel is a being who presides over a realm of the same name (Hel), where she receives a portion of the dead. Hel (location) is a world of dead people and it is believed that the body of Hel (being) is half dead and half alive. People even believe that Hel (being) is the daughter of the god Loki and Jotunn Angrboda.

In several regions including Bavaria, Croatia, Hungary, Austria, and, Northern Italy, Krampus is one of the companions of Saint Nicholas. St. Nicholas visits children to reward them on 6 December in parts of Europe and on the preceding evening of 5 December, Krampus Night is celebrated. In Alpine Austria and some parts of Germany, this day was known as Krampusnacht. On this night, adults visit children's homes to frighten and punish them by wearing Krampus costumes. In many parts of Croatia, when a child receives a gift from St. Nicholas, he is given a golden branch to represent his good acts throughout the year. However, if the child has misbehaved, Krampus would take the gift for himself and leave only a silver branch to represent the child's bad behavior. In more modern tradition, adults often run in the streets, including some drunken people dressed as devils by wearing Krampus costumes, and chasing and frightening children and others on the way. This event became so popular that people are following this culture in many countries. The costumes of Krampus are sold at a very high cost and normally share certain primary elements such as a fursuit, horns, demon mask, and hooves, as Krampus is half-goat and half-demon. But more often they are made of modern and low-cost materials. Krampus is the enemy of Santa Claus and many folklore also depict the fight of these two. If we talk about the origin of Krampus, he was also in the folklore before the establishment of the Christianity religion and was first practiced in the 11th century in Germany and also called Horned God. Krampus is also an expert in witchcraft in addition to demonic powers and many people believe that those who worship him are priests of Satan. Even today, if you go to European countries, then you will find many people who not only celebrate Krampus day but also worship him.

Frau Perchta

The story of Frau Perchta is quite prevalent in Germany and Austria and it is believed that she enters homes during the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany, especially Twelfth Night, January 6th. Frau Perchta is a witch who rewards or punishes people for their good or bad deeds. But she was once known as a goddess in Alpine paganism in the Upper German and Austrian regions of the Alps. It is believed that Frau Perchta is very ugly in appearance but she is good for good people and also brings gifts for them and her enmity is only with those who are either too lazy or too bad. She is a rewarder of the generous, and the punisher of the bad, particularly lying children. According to some traditional stories, she punishes children and young servants according to their deeds whether they have behaved well and worked hard all year. If they had, they might find a small silver coin the next day, in a shoe or somewhere else, but if they had not, she slits their bellies open, remove their stomach and guts and fill the hole with straw and pebbles. It is also said that if someone ate something other than the traditional meal of fish and gruel on the night of her feast day, then she slits people's bellies open and stuff them with straw. In recent times, Krampus and Perchten have been introduced increasingly in a single event, resulting in a loss of distinction between these two.

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Who was Mara and why did he challenge Gautama Buddha?

Ever since God created the universe, there are two types of forces working behind the entire universe, positive and negative, positive power is from God and negative is of the devil, i.e. Satan. Actually, Satan is a fallen angel who rebelled against God and was expelled from Heaven and sent to Earth. In Christianity, the devil is often identified as the serpent in the Garden of Eden (also known as Paradise). In every religion, the devil is known by different forms and different names. In the Jewish religion, they are seen as agents of God. In Islam, there are many creatures such as jinn, shaytan, afarit, and ruh which are supernatural creatures equally comparable to demons or devils, and Iblis is the leader of evil spirits who is responsible for tempting humans into sin by following their lower desires. Lower desires do not allow the individual to aim for higher desires. Higher desires help to know the purpose of this life and keep the ego aside to seek the universal truth. Actually. it is an attitude of giving not wanting. In Christianity, another popular name for the devil is "Lucifer". The Lucifer was interpreted as a reference to the moment when Satan was thrown from Heaven and was actually the name of Satan before the fall.

Who was Mara?

In Buddhist cosmology, a demon also has a different name, identity, and explanation. According to Buddhism, a demon can either suffer in the realm of hell or it can be an illusion. The Buddhist devil carries the name Mara, a name that literally signifies “death”. The identity of demon Mara is associated with death, rebirth, and desire and also described as the embodiment of the forces antagonistic to enlightenment. He is believed to be the king of the heaven of sensual delight and reigns in the highest domain of the pleasure heaven, surrounded by musicians and dancing girls. Once, Siddhartha was challenged by Mara before becoming Gautama Buddha but he defeated him very easily. Mara tried to prevent Prince Siddhartha from attaining liberation from the cycle of rebirth by trying to seduce him with the vision of beautiful women. But in various legends, these beautiful women are often said to be Mara's daughters. Mara's three daughters are identified as Arati (Aversion, Discontentment), Raga (Attachment, Desire, Greed, Passion) and Tanha (Thirst). According to a Buddhist scripture Samyutta Nikaya, those three daughters were stripping in front of Buddha but completely failed to tempt the Buddha.

Image Credit - Flickr

There are four metaphorical forms of Mara in traditional Buddhism:-

• Mrtyu-mara:- The Mara that is the lord of death
• Klesa-mara:- The Mara that is in the form of greed, hate, and delusion
• Devaputra-mara:- The Mara that is the child of the gods, the deva of the sensuous realm
• Skandha-mara:-  The Mara of the aggregates, the entirety of conditioned existence (forms, thoughts, sensations, consciousness, and perceptions)

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Dashrath Manjhi - A man who is responsible for making a way through an entire mountain using only a hammer

Dashrath Manjhi is a man who is a great example of hard work and dedication. He is the man who single-handedly dug a road right through a mountain using only a hammer and chisel. He decided to make this impossible task possible when his love for his wife turned into stubbornness after the tragic death of his wife and did not sit quietly until a path was made through an entire mountain. For this incredible achievement, he was also named Mountain Man. Dashrath Manjhi came from a very backward area and belonged to the Dalit group, a member of the lowest caste of India's caste system. In early life, he struggled to ask for his minor rights. He left his home at a young age and worked in the coal mines at Dhanbad. But he later returned to the village of Gehlaur, near Gaya in Bihar where he became an agricultural laborer and married Falguni Devi.

Dashrath Manjhi's journey to becoming a mountain man is incomplete without mentioning his wife. In 1959, due to the steeply ascending quartzite ridge standing between Gehlaur and the hospital, his wife Falguni Devi could not get treatment at the right time when she was badly injured and passed away. Some reports say that she was walking along a narrow path across the rocky ridge to bring her husband some water or lunch when she was seriously injured. The nearest medical facility was about 40 miles away and she died shortly after the accident. Hurt by the grief of his wife's death, he decided to give all his strength and resolved to cut a road across the ridge to make his village more accessible so that such a tragedy would never happen again. But according to Manjhi, it was not easy when he started hammering the hill, initially, he was called lunatic by the people but that steeled his resolve. Over time, the locals began to honor his work, as he saw him keeping his promise and many of them began to provide food and tools for the "Mountain Man". Manjhi worked continuously on the road day after day, slowly but one day he was able to make way from the hill. He completed the work in 22 years, from 1960 to 1982 and carved a path 110 m long, 9.1 m wide and 7.6 m deep through a ridge of rocks, and reduced the distance between the Atri and Wazirganj sectors of the Gaya district from 55 km to 15 km.

At the age of 73, the mountain man was diagnosed with cancer in his gallbladder and was admitted to AIIMS, leading to his death in 2007. On his death, he was given a state funeral by the Government of Bihar. After he left the world, his inspiring story of how he had become a mountain man was left behind, which will continue to teach a lesson to many generations to come.

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Icehotel, Sweden - The Coolest Hotel In The World

There are many hotels in the world, some of which are very luxurious and expensive, and some others offer a different way of living that we all want to try. But today we will talk about a hotel in Sweden that rebuilt every year and turns into a river after five months. Yes, the name of this beautiful hotel is Icehotel, located in the village of Jukkasjarvi in northern Sweden, which is rebuilt each year with snow and ice from December to April. It is the world's first ice and the coolest hotel, which is located 200 km north of the Arctic Circle and is counted among the world's most stunning hotels. Spanning over some 6,000 square meters, it is known to be the biggest hotel of ice and snow in the world and has been recognized as one of the Seven Wonders of Sweden.

Image Credit - Flickr

The hotel has been rebuilt every year since 1990 when it first emerged beside the Torne River in the village of Jukkasjarvi. Everything in the hotel, including the rooms, chairs, and beds, is constructed from snow and ice blocks that were taken from the nearby Torne River. Artists from all over the world are specially invited to make this Dream Hotel a reality by creating different rooms with a different architect for every room, and decorations made by ice. In addition to the bedrooms, there is a bar, which has ice glasses and an ice chapel which is popular with marrying couples. With an interior temperature kept at a constant -5°C or 23 °F, it really gives you an amazing experience that really does take your breath away. Icehotel harvests tons of ice from the frozen Torne River and stores it in a nearby production hall with room for over 900 t of ice and 27,000 t of snow. The ice is used for creating Icebar designs and ice glasses, and snow is used for building a strong structure for the building. After the completion of the entire hotel structure, it includes the main hall, bar, church, reception area, and about 100 rooms for guests. But in late April, this beautiful seasonal building simply melts back into the river.

Ice Hotel church, Jukkasjarvi, Sweden

Image Credit - Flickr

The idea of ​​constructing an ice hotel here came in mind when some Japanese ice artists visited the area in 1989 and created an exhibition of ice art here. Then in spring 1990, French artist Jannot Derid held an exhibition in the same area in a cylinder-shaped igloo. But one night a worst situation came up when there were no rooms available in the city, so some visitors asked permission to spend the night in the igloo at the exhibition hall. Then they slept in the igloo after being allowed and became the first guests of the "hotel".

Icebar in Jukkasjarvi, Sweden

Image Credit - Flickr

Image Credit - Flickr

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Balanced Rock, Colorado Springs - One of the Most Popular Features of Garden of the Gods

Garden of the Gods is a public park located in Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States, a 1971's registered National Natural Landmark. The Garden of Gods in Colorado Springs has several gorgeous red rock formations which were formed millions of years ago due to upheavals in the earth's surface and erosion, but one of the most popular features of this beautiful park is Balanced Rock - it looks like it could fall down at any time. A balancing rock is a naturally occurring geological formation, featuring a large rock resting on other rocks that only appear to be balancing. These amazing rock formations showing its beauty in the Garden Of The Gods are silent witnesses of unique geological development and are a true wonder of nature. The area is now known as Garden of the Gods but was formerly called Red Rock Corral by the Europeans.

Image Credit - Flickr

The Park's outstanding geologic features are sedimentary beds of sandstones, limestone, and conglomerates that were deposited horizontally but now have been tilted vertically by the mountain building forces caused by the uplift of the Rocky Mountains. The huge red sandstone rock formations rise to a height of up to a hundred and fifty meters. The park contains rock formations that have different shapes: toppled, overturned, stood-up, pushed around and slanted. Balanced Rock that presents a popular photo opportunity today and is one of the most impressive features of the park was actually formed as erosive processes removed softer layers near its base, eventually leaving the precarious-looking formation seen today. It is a combination of coarse sand, gravel, silica, and hematite. It is the hematite that gives the large balanced rock its red hue. Three Graces, Gateway Rocks, and other outcroppings are sedimentary layers that had been pushed up vertically. The two Gateway Rocks which are the largest outcroppings in the park, "North Gateway and South Gateway", form a natural entrance to the Garden of the Gods, and are composed primarily of Lyons Formation, a stone made of fine sand from ancient sand dunes. Gray Rock", and "Sleeping Giant" are also composed of Lyons Formation. Steamboat Rock and Balanced Rock are the two beautiful rock formations that are popular spots for tourist photography.

Image Credit - Flickr

The Garden of the Gods Park is a rich ecological resource. A combination of three ecological systems, indigenous wildlife and vegetation provided a good source of nourishment. The sandstone is filled with fossils of marine life, plants, and dinosaurs. The skull of a dinosaur was found in the park in 1878 and was identified as Theiophytalia kerri, a unique species, the only fossil of the genus yet to be discovered. The park is also home to more than 130 species of birds including white-throated swifts, canyon wrens, and swallows. Bighorn sheep, Fox, and Mule deer live in the Park and are very common in the park. The park is also popular for technical rock climbing, hiking, horseback riding, and road and mountain biking. Due to the unusual and steep rock formations in the park, it is an attractive destination for rock climbers. The beautiful Garden of the Gods Park attracts more than two million visitors a year, making it the city’s most visited park. The park has a great gift of nature in the form of balanced rock that must be seen before it falls down and becomes just an ordinary rock.

Image credit - Flickr

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Medusa - A beautiful woman who turned into a snake monster

Medusa is a character that has been mentioned in many movies, games, and stories but her origins actually originated from Greek mythology. Many hunters wanted to fetch Medusa's head but every man who looked in her eyes became a stone. Medusa was one of the three Gorgon sisters - Medusa, Stheno, and Euryale. These three sisters have incredible powers and have living venomous snakes in place of their hair. But Medusa was not like this from the beginning and the special thing was that among these three sisters Medusa was the only one who was born mortal and very beautiful. Both the other sisters were monsters in appearance and immortal too. Medusa is said to be the daughter of the Phorcys and Ceto, but in many places, she is also said to be the daughter of Gorgon and Ceto. The history of Medusa is much more complicated and it is very difficult for us to confirm what is right and what is wrong.

If we see the meaning of Medusa, it means guardian or protectress and as we said earlier, Medusa was very beautiful and especially her hair. So now let's talk about the story of Medusa being a monster, Medusa was not always like this, she had to face the anger of Athena, an ancient Greek Goddess, due to which Medusa was in the condition of misery, but the person who was most guilty is Poseidon, who became obsessed with Medusa's beauty and raped her. Whatever happened to Medusa reflects the cruelty of the greek gods because Medusa was not a monster from the beginning, and where did the snakes come from in place of her hair and from where did she get such a curse that any man who would gaze upon her face would turn into a stone. So these were the atrocities of the greek gods that Medusa suffered. But later Perseus beheaded Medusa and with her head, Perseus fought and won many battles, and in the end, he gave this head of Medusa back to Athena greek goddess.


Medusa had great faith in Athena goddess from the very beginning and she always used to worship her. Medusa wanted to spend her entire life in Athena's temple, but one of the conditions was that the girl should be a virgin because here comes the point of purity. Therefore, Medusa became a priestess and started spending her time in Athena's temple. Now the stories of Medusa's beauty began to spread far and wide, so people started coming to see Medusa in the temple of Athena. Now Athena slowly began to realize this and she became jealous of Medusa as to why people consider her so beautiful. On the other hand, Poseidon was also becoming obsessed with Medusa's love or beauty, he expressed his love to Medusa several times but Medusa was engaged in devotion to Athena due to which she repeatedly refused Poseidon's proposal. Now Poseidon argued with Athena many times to get Medusa, but Athena refused to give Medusa to Poseidon. After the refusal of Poseidon's proposal, he was very angry and now he decided to get Medusa forcefully. Medusa ran to Athena's temple to save her life and requested Athena to save her life, but Athena did not listen to her call, therefore Poseidon raped Medusa in Athena's temple. Now after doing all this Poseidon went away from there and Medusa was there in the temple, weak and helpless. Now Medusa pleaded for help to Athena but in those days it was considered a sin to lose virginity without marriage, that is why Athena cursed Medusa that the beauty she is proud of and for cheating her goddess whenever she will see a man or a man will see her, he will become a stone on his own. Even, if Medusa sees her face in mirror or something shiny, she herself will become a stone. The enraged Athena transformed Medusa's beautiful hair to serpents and made her face so terrible to behold that the mere sight of it would turn onlookers to stone. Medusa was now looking like a monster like the rest of her sisters, a winged human female with living venomous snakes in place of hair.

Medusa was now very angry with all the Greek gods because they had done very bad to her. Previously, the beauty of Medusa was the topic of discussion but now it was completely opposite to that, now a reward was set to cut off her head, such news began to spread everywhere. So many hunters went to cut off her head but everyone had the same condition that all of them turned into stone until Perseus defeated her. Perseus was the son of Zeus and the mortal Danae. He was cleverly sent by King Polydectes of Seriphus to fetch Medusa's head because Polydectes wanted to marry Perseus's mother. Perseus was very protective of his mother and would not allow Polydectes near her. Therefore, Polydectes hatched a plot to get him out of the way. He felt that the Perseus would never return and that his mother would be of Polydectes. Now for bringing the head of Medusa, the Greek Gods had decided that Perseus would do it, so that's why Gods helped him because they were well aware of Polydecte's plan. Perseus received a mirrored shield from Athena, gold, winged sandals from Hermes, a sword from Hephaestus and Hades's helm of invisibility. As we know that Medusa was the only one of the three Gorgons who was mortal and did not become immortal even after Athena's curse. Perseus was able to slay her while looking at the reflection from the mirrored shield he received from Athena. But Medusa was pregnant by Poseidon before becoming a dangerous monster and when Perseus beheaded her, Pegasus, a winged horse, and Chrysaor, a giant wielding a golden sword, sprang from her body. After this Perseus used Medusa's head in many places to win the battles. Before his return to Seriphos, once Perseus met the titan Altas, he attacked Perseus but upon seeing Medusa's head, he too became stone. Now there is another anecdote that the Red Sea corals were formed due to Medusa's blood spilled onto seaweed when Perseus laid down the petrifying head beside the shore during his short stay in Ethiopia where he saved and wed his future wife, the beautiful princess Andromeda. Now finally Perseus went to Seriphos, where Polydectes was about to forcibly marry his mother, but with the help of Medusa's head, he also turned into stone. Perseus then gave Medusa's head to Athena, who placed it on her shield, the Aegis.

There are many myths in Greek mythology about Medusa, the biggest of which is that she was a monster from the beginning and the other was that she was proud of her beauty but it is completely wrong. Here Medusa seems a victim more than evil who put her faith in Goddess Athena but she did not protect her from Poseidon. Medusa undoubtedly became a monster, but it was an unexpected fate she faced.

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The Mysterious Stone Spheres of Costa Rica

Have you ever heard about the Stone Spheres of Costa Rica? In the 1930s, while clearing the jungle for banana plantations, the United Fruit Company discovered the hundreds of huge ancient nearly perfectly round stone spheres in the southern portion of Costa Rica, the area is known as the Diquis Delta. The most amazing thing about these stone balls was that many of them appeared perfectly spherical but they were never given much importance at that time. In fact, bulldozers and heavy equipment were used to get them out of the way, causing some stones to be damaged, and even the workmen began to drill holes into the spheres and blow them open with sticks of dynamite. Ranging in size from a few centimeters to over two meters in diameter and weighing around 16 tons, these stone balls are sometimes referred to as the Diquis Spheres that are usually attributed to the extinct Diquis culture that existed in the area between 700 CE and 1530 CE. These rounded stones are mysterious artifacts that were created centuries ago and are one of the strangest mysteries in archaeology. This discovery surprised archaeologists very much because no one is sure exactly when or how these huge stone balls were made, or for what reason.

Image Credit - Flickr

To date, more than 300 stone spheres have been found at archeological sites across the region. Some experts believe that these mysterious stone balls could be 96% perfectly spherical because a perfectly spherical round ball is hard to make. And in fact, where these balls were found is a primitive area, so the stone balls we see at Costa Rica would have been very difficult to make. These huge round balls seem to have been made by hammering natural boulders with other rocks, then polishing with sand. Most of these stone balls are sculpted from gabbro, a coarse-grained intrusive igneous rock which is usually black or dark green in color. There are many more that appear to be made from shell-rich limestone, and several others that are made from sandstone. But now most of the stones are no longer in their original locations because virtually they have been taken away from their original locations to serve as landscape decoration.

Image Credit - Flickr

The sites around Costa Rica have been evaluated by very few over the years but as of 2010, the site has been evaluated as a UNESCO protected World Heritage site of major importance. The archeological site is not only a major interest, but it is also a complete mystery, why these stones exist is the subject to much speculation, we don't know why they exist, how old they are and we don't even know which civilization these things belong to, they are simply a mystery. Some believe that these stones came from Atlantis and were polished smooth by the water or that they were made as such by nature. And others believe that there was involvement of aliens in it. Some local legends state that the native inhabitants had access to a potion able to soften the rock. Indigenous people of the Bribri culture believed that Tara, the god of thunder, used a giant blowpipe to shoot the balls at the Serkes, gods of winds and hurricanes, in order to drive them out of these lands. Could there really have been a secret civilization that existed in Costa Rica thousands of years ago? what are those huge stones really representing and what are they really made for? It still remains a mystery.

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Mel's Hole - One of the most mysterious alleged paranormal holes in the earth

We've all heard about pits, some of which may be slightly deeper or some may be very deep, but have you ever heard about a hole that has no bottom or which is bottomless? If you do not know about bottomless pits, let us tell you about it. Bottomless Pits are holes in the ground or "pits" that are incredibly deep and appear to be bottomless. Mel's Hole is an allegedly "bottomless pit" near Ellensburg in Washington and is one of the most mysterious alleged paranormal holes in the earth. The mystery of Mel's Hole all started on February 21, 1997, with an interview on Coast to Coast AM with Art Bell when a man identifying himself as Mel Waters claimed that he found a real-life bottomless pit on his property. Art Bell was the founder and the original host of the paranormal-themed radio program Coast to Coast AM, an American late-night radio talk show that deals with the topics related to either the paranormal or conspiracy theories. But of all the cases, this was the only case that shocked all the mystery lovers.

In this radio show, Mel told the story of a mysterious pit, he told that around 1980 everyone used to throw garbage in this pit, it was just a pit which contained only garbage, and people believed that this hole was bottomless, that is, the hole that never ends. Because normally if you throw something in a hole, that thing will sound when it hits the bottom, but when something was thrown in this pit, there was no sound. Therefore, for this reason, people started calling it Gateway to Hell. Then in 1993, Mel Waters and his wife bought this property to know the mystery of this hole and even though the hole was not so popular at that time. Mel and his family also started using this pit like a garbage bin, slowly they also started wondering if this pit is really bottomless. The first task Mel did was that he lowered a fishing line over the hole with a one-pound weight attached and lower it until it hit the bottom to see how deep it really was. No matter how much he lowered the fishing line into the hole, but the end of the hole never came. He claimed to have measured the hole's depth to be more than 80,000 feet without it touching bottom. After this Mel tried another experiment. He yelled into the hole. However, he got another shock of his life when he did not hear any echo of his voice. After performing these experiments, Mel Waters also started to feel that this hole was not an ordinary pit, but rather he was totally convinced that it was a never-ending supernatural pit. He also noticed that his dog was very afraid of this hole, dogs are usually afraid of the holes, but even if that dog saw this hole from ten meters away, he absolutely refuses to go anywhere near it. Dogs actually have more senses to detect paranormal things according to paranormal investigators.

After this, Mel started asking the people of the surrounding villages and cities that the property I bought has a hole in it, but that hole brings a strange vibe. Do you know anything about it? People told very disturbing stories about this hole, a local man said that once his dog ​​was dead and he threw his deceased dog down into the hole, but a few days later he saw his dead dog walking in the nearby woods, alive and well. He identified the dog because it was wearing the same collar that it wore during its death. Hearing all this, Mel Waters started wondering if there was such power in this hole that revives animals from the dead.

But when Mel told the world about this pit through that radio show, a lot of strange things started to happen after that. One morning Mel went near to his Hole to do a little more research, but then he was stopped by a man wearing a suit. He was accompanied by a few people who were wearing biohazard suits and said that now you never go near that Hole, it is a Government Property, but when Mel asked Why can't I go? This is my property, I can do whatever I want. Then they told him that the area had been closed off due to a plane crash and that's why we are inspecting the whole area. They told Mel to shift his house and to move away from this land for some unknown reasons. But Mel had some idea that they had come here for this hole and perhaps they came to know about the hole through that radio show. But when Mel demanded to be let in, he was apparently told in no uncertain terms that he would face serious repercussions if he should try and do so. Soon, the government leased the land from him and paid him an amount of $250,000 to leave the property. But there was one condition: If he accepted the deal, he would have to leave the country. After that, he moved to Australia and didn't return for several years. But after a few years in Australia, he started having homesickness and therefore, in 2000, he returned to the United States with his family. Actually, Mel wanted to see his property, especially that hole. But when he went there, he saw that his old house is no longer exist there and the workers there told that this place has now been ceased and is now government property. Locals then informed Waters that the area around the pit had been guarded by black vans and helicopters since he left. Mel got very angry after seeing all this and he wanted to take revenge, so he decided to give a second interview on the radio show Coast to Coast AM and told all the things that happened to him. After that Mel went in search of more similar holes and luckily found a similar hole, but this time in the badlands of Nevada. After going near to the pit, he did the first thing, that was, a loud shout, he yelled into the hole and got no echo of his voice. It was exactly the similar hole he had in his property. In that first hole, the government was interfering, but in this hole, he was free to experiment whatever he wanted. The world did not know about this second hole, so he started experimenting and the results were amazing.

In one of his experiments, Mel lowered a bucket of ice into the hole, holding it at a depth of around 1,500 feet, after which it had been brought up to the surface to find out what happened to the ice but the results were very shocking. The ice was warm to touch, yet not had melted, it seemed to have transformed into a flammable substance.

But Mel Waters did not stop even after the ice bucket experiment. He decided to test the effects of the hole on an alive sheep. Initially, the sheep struggled very hard not to go near the hole. But with the help of other people who also wanted to know the mystery of this hole, he placed the sheep inside a wooden crate and lowered it into the hole. The sheep was lowered down to 1,500 feet just like the bucket of ice. It continued shrieking, screaming and kicking the whole way until it abruptly went silent. But when they hoisted the sheep back up, it was found to have been gruesomely cooked on the inside by some unknown force. In addition, a weird tumor-like object was found on the sheep, which seemed to be moving. Mel and his crew decided to cut open the tumor to see what was going on. As soon as the tumor was cut open, something quite horrifying stared back at them through the tumor with human-like eyes before popping out of the carcass of the sheep and jumping back into the murky depths of the hole. The creature was described as looking like a "fetal seal". Mel has also said that he saw a mysterious thick black beam of light being emitted by the hole, which he described as looking like “if you had a flashlight, and it was capable of throwing up a solid black. No one knows whether this hole has any connection with aliens.

It is believed that both these holes have been kept hidden by the government and secret agencies and its exact location has been removed from the maps and also in real life. Mel Waters made guest appearances on Bell's show in 1997, 2000, and 2002. Since his last interview with Bell in 2002, there was no other forthcoming information on the holes. Mel Waters refused to give out the exact location of Mel’s Hole, but there were people who claimed to have seen the hole. One such person was Gerald Osborne, also known as Red Elk, who told reporters in 2012 he visited the hole many times since 1961. He claimed that the US government had a top-secret base at Mel’s Pit where the scientists were carrying out their research on "alien activity". But he was unable to find the hole when the investigators asked him to take them to Mel’s Hole.

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Kibber - The Highest Motorable Village in the World

Everyone is crazy about the relaxed and natural beauty of the villages. You too must have visited many villages till now but we are telling you about such a village which is the highest village in the world. The beautiful village of Kibber is believed to be the highest motorable village in the world. This scenic village is situated in Spiti Valley of Himachal Pardesh at 4270 meters above sea level, in which all the houses are made of stone instead of mud or adobe brick used extensively elsewhere in the Spiti Valley. Apart from this, Tabo Gompa, which is more than 1000 years old, is also made of stone. Even today, if people build houses in this village, they are also of stone. All the houses in the village have been made so beautiful that it seems as if someone has settled in another world. All the houses are of white color and their uniformity fascinates everyone when viewed from a distance. About 400 people live here and the local residents say that the secret behind building stone houses in the village is that these houses remain cool in summer and warm in winter. They say that these houses are so strong that to date the people of the village have not seen any house collapsing.

See Also:-Nubra Valley, India - A Beautiful Natural Scenery

Image Credit - Flickr

High altitude and pollution-free surroundings make Kibber a great destination for nature and adventure lovers. The village is located 20 kilometers from Kaza and it also contains a monastery and the Kibber Wildlife Sanctuary. Kibber Wildlife Sanctuary is home to the red fox, ibex, blue sheep, Tibetan woolly hare, Himalayan wolf, lynx, pika, the snow leopard, and Tibetan wild ass. There are many other nearby villages such as Komic, Hikkim, and Langza which look similar and can be reached easily from Kibber. During the snowfall, the temperature drops below freezing point in winter, so most of the people of these villages shifts to warmer locations.

Kibber village, about 430 kilometers from Shimla, is known for its scenic landscape and numerous Buddhist Monasteries. The monastery built in Kibber stands on the highest point in the village. Key Monastery, which is the most important Buddhist pilgrimage in Spiti Valley, is located close to Kibber. On the way here, you will find snow frozen in different places, the tourists find themselves in a new world amidst the amazing natural landscapes, unique culture, unique traditions, and Buddhist monasteries. Various forms of nature are also seen in this village of Gompas and monasteries. Sometimes the sunshine sliding in the valleys and the crops swinging in the fields refresh your soul and mind. Somewhere in the valley, there is a snowy desert, and somewhere there are glittering lakes in the snowy peaks.

Also See:- Solang Valley, Manali - One of the Best Places to See Snowfall in India

Image Credit - Flickr

Standing in the village of Kibber at such a height from the sea level, it seems as if the sky is not far away, just rise a little higher in the air and touch the sky. By standing here, one can get acquainted with the beautiful rocks, sand dunes and natural artifacts built on these mounds. It seems that someone unnamed artist must have come to this earth who, with his artistic hands, gave these rocks the form of artifacts and then departed from here by putting life in these artifacts. Staying at night in the village is a different experience, here the stars seem so close at night that you feel like you can touch these stars with your hands at a certain height.

People here are very fond of dancing and singing, the traditional dance here has its unique charm. When the women here dance in their unique attire, the dance watcher gets mesmerized. Ladarcha fair is the most awaited and main festival of the year, in which Kibber folk dance, as well as the unique culture, can be seen here. It is probably the biggest festival of Spiti Valley, celebrated in the month of July in Kaza. The region receives very little rainfall, but snowfall is very high, passing through the roads between the snow-capped mountains is a very attractive sight for tourists. People come from all over the world to see Kibber, which is considered to be the highest village in the world.

Also See:- Moving Stones of Death Valley, California

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Hollow Moon Theory - Some Amazing Facts About Moon

The Moon is very beautiful which revolves around the Earth as its only permanent natural satellite and has been with the Earth since its beginning. We did not know anything about the moon before, but Apollo 11 was the first mission that helped humans to step on the moon for the first time, after which many theories have been formulated which try to explain many mysteries of the moon. Among the many theories about the moon, there is a theory called the Hollow Moon Theory or the Hollow Moon hypothesis which proposes that Earth's Moon is either wholly hollow or otherwise contains a substantial interior space. Between 1972 and 1977, seismometers (an instrument that responds to ground motions) installed on the Moon by the Apollo missions recorded moonquakes, and during those few quakes the moon was described as "ringing like a bell". But this topic was brought to popular attention when Apollo 12 deliberately crashed the ascent stage of its Lunar Module onto the Moon's surface and claimed that the Moon rang like a bell for an hour, arguing that it would be hollow like a bell. These experiments have shown that the lunar body has shallow moonquakes that act differently from quakes on Earth.

See Also:-Project A119 - A top-secret plan by the US to detonate a nuclear bomb on the Moon

Now you know about the moon being hollow, but many years have passed, how the moon came into existence, no scientist has fully explained it. There are three theories have been proposed for the formation of the Moon. The first theory proposes that the Moon was once part of the Earth and somehow separated from the Earth by a fission process early in the history of the solar system. The second theory was that the moon was formed at the same time as the earth as a sort of twin planet. However, if the moon formed in the vicinity of the earth it should have nearly the same composition, but it does not, the composition of the moon and the earth is very different, the surface of the moon and its inner part is very different from the earth. The third theory proposes that once a round solid body was passing close to the earth in the space, then it was captured by earth’s gravity and since then it started moving around the earth. But the moon is just four times smaller than the Earth, and if we talk about the size of the moon, it is practically impossible for the Earth to pull a passing body towards itself that is much larger than any type of asteroid. Scientifically, Earth will comfortably pull the asteroid towards itself, but cannot pull the moon. Therefore, many scientists also believe that the Moon is a natural satellite that is not completely true. They believe that maybe aliens are responsible for the creation of the moon.

See Also:-Some Amazing Facts about Uranus

We have received very little information about the moon from all the missions done on the Moon. The gravitational force of the moon acts in a very strange way, many missions have been done to understand its gravitational force, but till date no one knows its full details or truth. The size of the moon of earth is also a big secret, the moon of any planet is smaller than that, that is true, but actually the moon should be very small according to the size of its planet. This means that the moon is not much smaller than the Earth, the moon is one-fourth of the Earth, which means that four moons can fit in one earth. It is the fifth-largest satellite in the Solar System, and the largest among planetary satellites relative to the size of the planet that it orbits. But if you compare it with other planets, let's take Jupiter, Jupiter has 79 known moons, but all its moons are very smaller than that. There is a huge difference between the size of Jupiter's moons and its size, which means that its moons are much smaller than it and scientifically.that should be so. But if you see, the moon of the Earth is much larger as compare to the moons of other planets. There are planets that are approximately equal in size to the earth, such as Mercury and Venus, they have no moon, but look at the earth and see its moon, which is only four times smaller than the Earth, this is such a mysterious fact. This means that the size of the moon should be even smaller, otherwise it should not exist at all. Robin Brett, a NASA scientist, said that it seems much easier to explain the nonexistence of the moon than its existence. And because of all these things, the suspicion of scientists increases even more whether the moon is a natural satellite or an artificial body created by someone else in this large universe.

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The 2012 Kermadec Islands pumice raft - A floating island that suddenly appeared in the ocean

Humans have been living on the earth for so many years and we have explored almost every place on the earth, except a few, and during this time we came to know a lot of facts. One fact is confirmed that the land in the middle of the ocean never moves which means the island never moves, this is true and it is also true that the island does not suddenly come into existence overnight. But there was an island that broke all these rules. Now just for a second, assume that you are a pilot and you are going over the sea. You have flown over this place many times before and you already have an idea of ​​the map where everything exists in this area and you also have navigation systems to guide you. But then you suddenly see an island there, but according to the map, there is only water far and wide. But in a very mysterious way, you see an island that has suddenly appeared there and that too is not so small. Then what would be going on in your mind at that time?

Now think that what we have assumed above, if it has really happened? Yes, a similar incident happened near New Zealand on 31 July 2012, when Maggie de Grauw, a kiwi passenger was flying home from a holiday in Samoa when she saw it through the airplane window. She was stunned to see a large island appeared on the ocean. She took some pictures of it and emailed to the scientists. First, they looked at the satellite images of NASA and in it, they saw that there is no island there till a day before. This island was not just suddenly appeared but it was also floating. After this, the scientists did not stop for even an hour and walked towards the island to see it from the front, to find out what exactly it is. When they went there, they saw that this island is not an island at all, it is not the land like it normally is on the island but it is a very big stone floating on the water. Scientists started testing this stone sample in the lab and they came to know that this floating stone was actually a group of many stones which had formed a large stone together, it is also called pumice. Pumice is created when super-heated, highly pressurized rock is violently ejected from a submarine volcano. When the hot lava of the volcano mixes with water, a strange eruption occurs and due to this, the parts of the rock of that volcano are shattered and their property is such that they can float in water. A pumice raft is a floating raft of pumice created by some eruptions of submarine volcanoes. This mystery was solved, but strangely, all the rocks came together to create such a coincidence that it started to look like an island and that too of the size of the whole country. The pumice raft measured approximately 480 kilometers in length and more than 48 kilometers in width, making the floating island larger in surface area than Israel. Biologists suggest that animals and plants have migrated from island to island on pumice rafts. This strange incident was produced by a submarine volcano called the Havre Seamount in the Kermadec Islands north of New Zealand, which was not initially noticed by scientists. They were not aware that any eruption had occurred until a huge pumice raft was sighted and photographed.

Kermadec Islands pumice raft on 12 August 2012

Image Credit - Wikipedia

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Socotra Island - The most alien-looking place on Earth

There are many amazing places to see in this world, some of them are very beautiful and some are full of mysteries, which are hard to believe. Stepping onto Socotra Island is like setting foot on an alien landscape. This place is one of the most isolated landforms on earth, located between the Guardafui Channel and the Arabian Sea. It is considered the jewel of biodiversity in the Arabian Sea. This island is 132 kilometers in length and 49.7 kilometers in width and officially a part of Yemen. Hearing the facts of this island, you will feel as if it is an island of another planet. This island, popularly known as Lost Island, was not known before, but nowadays it remains a center of tourist attraction.

Image Credit - Flickr

Due to its isolation biological diversity, some believe that it is the original Garden of Eden that is mentioned in the books. About 800 rare species of plants are found in this island, here you will find such amazing trees that are not found anywhere else on the earth. This gorgeous island is so isolated that a third of its plant life is found nowhere else on the planet. One of the most striking of Socotra's plants is the dragon's blood tree, which is a strange-looking, umbrella-shaped tree. There are also some trees known as Adenium socotranum that look like elephant legs with pink flowers on top. Along with various plant species, you will find here all the colors of the world like desert, lush green mountains, barren land, and sea waves. There are many broken wrecks of ships have also been found around this island. In 2010 a Russian archaeological team discovered the ruins of a city on Socotra dating to the second century. The island is home to a collection of caves and has almost no roads. It has been described as "the most alien-looking place on Earth. In 2008, Socotra was recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

Image Credit - Flickr

The island includes several endemic species of birds, such as the Socotra starling, the Socotra sunbird, Socotra bunting, Socotra cisticola, Socotra sparrow and Socotra grosbeak. Bats are the island’s only native mammal.

Image Credit - Flickr

People living here mostly believe in ancient magic rituals and they also perform a variety of rituals to cure diseases and to keep away ghosts. There are about 44 thousand people living on this island.

Image Credit - Flickr

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Project A119 - A top-secret plan by the US to detonate a nuclear bomb on the Moon

The United States, the world's most powerful country, had ever planned to blow up the moon with a nuclear bomb. This may sound strange, but it is true. The project was named Project A119, which was a top-secret plan developed by the United States Air Force in 1958. The main purpose of Project A119 was to detonate a nuclear bomb on the moon, which would help in answering some of the mysteries in planetary astronomy. However, this highly confidential mission was canceled primarily and never carried out. The Air Force believed that if this mission failed, its consequences would be very bad for the people of Earth. This project was also known as "A Study of Lunar Research Flights", which was prepared under a highly confidential mission. According to the plan, the gases present there, including dust and soil, were to be tested by exploding on the moon. This task was assigned to a young astronomer, Carl Sagan, who was part of the team responsible for predicting the effects of nuclear explosions in vacuum and low gravity and in evaluating the scientific value of the project. The existence of this American project was revealed in 2000 by Leonard Reiffel, a former NASA executive who led the project in 1958.

It was the height of the Cold War, the Soviet Union took an early lead in the Space Race with the launch of Sputnik 1 on 4 October 1957, which was the inspiration for the beginning of the Space Race. The US was losing after the Soviets launched their first satellite. To avoid losing the space race, the US went into scramble mode and launched a satellite of its own, Explorer 1. Then it assembled a team of the best to figure out how to blow up the Moon. To implement this plan, the US supposed to send a missile from Earth to the moon, which would travel about 238,000 miles and detonate the nuclear bomb on the moon. For this, Scientists initially considered using a hydrogen bomb for the project but they had chosen the atom bomb instead of the hydrogen bomb because of the weight of the hydrogen bomb, as it would be too heavy to be propelled by the missile. But this mission of scientists was completely rejected by the US Air Force. According to them if this mission was not successful, it would affect the earth badly.

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The Most Mysterious Books in the World

We are all familiar with books and we must have read all kinds of books in our life, but there are many books that exist in this world but their connection is from another dimension of life such as some evil world or negative energy. It is never wrong to read books, but there are many mysterious books that are beyond logic and should not exist. That's why you have to give up your limiting beliefs and think beyond logic, only then you will be able to understand the secrets of these books.

1. Codex Gigas (The Devil's Bible)

Image Credit - Kungl. biblioteket

This book is also known as the Devil's Bible because of a very unusual full-page portrait of the devil, and the legend surrounding its creation. In the year 1648, the Thirty Years War was about to end, the Swedish army looted the city of Prague and went back to Sweden after plunder and in the same war booty, they found a book, a very big and heavy book weighing around 74.8 kg and the name of that book was Codex Gigas. This book originally used to have 320 pages before, but now where this book is kept, only 310 pages are left in it. The book is now preserved at Sweden's National Library in Stockholm, where it is on display to the general public. The man who wrote this book was a monk who broke his monastic vows. After breaking his monastic vows, the monk was sentenced to death by being walled up alive. To avoid this harsh punishment and attempting to save his own life, he promised that he would write a book complete with all of the world’s human knowledge in exchange for his freedom. The catch was that he only had one night to complete it. Around midnight, he was sure that he could not complete this task alone, so he offered a special prayer that was for the devil, not for God. He called on the Devil to help complete the book in exchange for his soul. The monk added the devil's picture in the middle of the book out of gratitude for his aid. Many people believe that the book was completed by Devil, especially those last ten pages were written by Devil himself. Later, it happened that someone removed and stole those ten pages written by the devil and now who has that secret knowledge, no one knows if he is using it in the right way or wrong way.

2. The Grand Grimoire

The Grand Grimoire is a black magic grimoire which is one of the Creepiest manuscripts in the world. This book is also called the book with incredible power, but to get that power, a huge price has to be paid. Different editions date the book to 1521, 1522 or 1421, but it was probably written in the early 19th century. The person who wrote this book, people believe that he was in the possession of the Devil and this book is so dangerous that it has been locked away deep in the Vatican’s archives by performing rituals. The book describes several demons as well as the rituals to summon them in order to make a pact with them. How to contact Demon, such things have been written in this book and it is also believed that if someone reads this book, then it means that you will have to sell your soul to the Devil, that is why it is secretly locked in the Vatican Secret Archives.

3. The Book of Abramelin

The Book of Abramelin is a 15th-century book that was translated into the English language in the 1900s and is considered cursed ever since. This book was written by a man named Abraham. The book tells the interesting story of an Egyptian mage named Abramelin, who teaches a system of magic to a man called Abraham of Worms. Abraham went to Egypt and found a magician there who taught him many secrets methods of magic, about the demonic powers beyond this world. Abraham wrote all that magical and Kabbalistic secrets at one place that emerged in the form of a book that we are talking about. In this book, you will find many strange topics, such as how to make dead people alive, the way to connect with spirits, the ability to find buried treasure, the magical ability of magical flight and even the secret of invisibility.

4. The Book of Soyga

The Book of Soyga also known as Aldaraia sive Soyga vocor or Soyga: the book that kills. This is a book that is a 16th-century Latin treatise on magic and for years it was believed that the book had been lost, but in 1994 it was suddenly found in a corner of the British Library. There was a famous scholar named John Dee, who is believed to be the first person who tried to decode the book. This book contains a total of 197 pages and the language of this book is very strange which contains 36 large squares of letters that Dee was unable to decipher. According to legends and stories, he even had consultations through a medium with the Archangel Uriel in order to get hints for his project. But the angel replied that it can be decoded only by the man who is worth it, the common man cannot know the secrets of this book. John Dee had a collection of many books and there was nothing mysterious in any of them, but especially this book was very enigmatic. After John Dee's death in 1608, the book apparently lost until it was found at the British Library in 1994 and as previously stated, this book suddenly appeared in the British Library in 1994 and the strange thing is that it is not just appeared in one place but in two places simultaneously. First in the British Library and second in the Bodleian Library of the University of Oxford, and even today this book exists in both these places.

5. Necronomicon

Necronomicon is a book that leads to madness and death. It is also believed to contain spells and rituals of incredible power. The exact way of how to contact the dead people is given in this book and you will see strange creatures on every page of this book. This Necronomicon book has appeared in the Friday the 13th series, the Evil Dead film series, and in several horror films. The original copy of this book is kept locked at Miskatonic University in Massachusetts. It is considered one of the most haunted books ever.

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