- 2 hours ago
It seems that modern science has an explanation for everything that happens around us. But as it turns out, nature has a lot of other tricks up its sleeve like dancing forest on the shores of the Baltic Sea, walking rocks, raining jellyfish, and other amazing things that are so impressive, people often try to provide explanations for them that are far from correct. By the way, some of these strange natural phenomena are really scary.
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00:00You feel some rumbling from below. No, it's not your tummy. It's low and ominous.
00:06You look up and see strange lights hanging above the ground.
00:10They look like shimmering balls of light hovering high up in the sky.
00:14Your throat goes dry and you gulp. That's what they call the earthquake lights.
00:19This phenomenon is poorly understood, but witnesses say they've seen it in different shapes and sizes.
00:25It could be in the form of light balls, sheet lightning, streamers, and a steady glow in the sky.
00:32Soon after, a strong earthquake follows.
00:35Scientists can't explain why those lights appear, and they don't always do either.
00:39Some believe that's a reaction of underground gases released into the atmosphere.
00:45Sure enough, an earthquake begins.
00:48But lucky you, it's not as strong as you expected.
00:51The ground is shaking, but you even manage to keep your balance.
00:55It stops as abruptly as it began, and you walk home.
00:59On the way home, you see a flash and hear a whip crack.
01:03Lightning has struck a lone tree near where you just stood.
01:06It's caught on fire, and there's a column of flames rising to the sky.
01:11Still no rain, and the pillar becomes taller and taller.
01:15Have you heard of such a thing as a fire tornado?
01:18These phenomena occur when the wind is caught in a circle close to the ground, because of the difference in
01:24air pressure.
01:25Such mini-tornadoes are usually easy to notice.
01:28Small rubble, dust, sand, and leaves rise into the air and start flying in rapid circles.
01:34But then, if there's a source of fire nearby, the funnel can catch it and blow it stronger, like bellows.
01:42The flames go round and round, reaching ever higher and eventually creating a swirling, blazing tower.
01:49Luckily, fire tornadoes are short-lived and don't normally cause much damage.
01:53But don't try to hide from the storm under that tree.
01:57You can find this unusual plant in Florida and in some parts of the Caribbean coast.
02:02Externally, it doesn't look special at all.
02:05A gray trunk, green leaves, and fruit similar to small apples.
02:09What you must remember is never to pluck these apples and never stand next to the tree, especially if it's
02:15raining.
02:16This is the mancha neal tree, which is considered the most dangerous in the world.
02:21Its trunk, bark, branches, and fruit contain poisonous juice.
02:27One drop of this corrosive acidic liquid can harm your skin a lot.
02:32The tree can secrete this juice, and if you accidentally touch it, you risk burning your hand.
02:38When it rains, water droplets fall on the tree and mix with the poison.
02:43Water can also bounce off the bark and get on your skin.
02:46That's why you shouldn't stand nearby either.
02:49There are almost no other shrubs or mushrooms growing around.
02:53Animals avoid these trees, and people don't chop them and don't pluck the fruit.
02:58You can't make a bonfire from their branches.
03:00Burning wood emits poisonous smoke that can damage your eyes.
03:05Locals know this tree well, but tourists and travelers might accidentally get harmed.
03:10That's why most mancha neal trees are marked with paint or have a warning sign.
03:16In western Venezuela, locals living close to the Catatumbo River aren't afraid of lightning,
03:22because they see it almost every single night.
03:24It starts at around 7 o'clock and doesn't stop until dawn.
03:29The everlasting Catatumbo lightning did one stop for a few months, from January to March 2010.
03:36It was probably due to drought, or maybe the charge ran out.
03:39In 1991, a scientist suggested that the phenomenon happens because of cold and warm air currents meeting in the area.
03:47Another theory is that the lightning could be due to the presence of uranium in the bedrock.
03:53Not all lightning happens inside clouds.
03:56There's a rare phenomenon called a dirty thunderstorm.
03:59The lightning happens above a volcano.
04:02The most famous is in Japan.
04:04It erupts almost every day and spits black clouds high into the air.
04:09So, it's super scary volcano clouds, plus lightning.
04:13Whoa!
04:14Regular lightning happens during a storm, when ice crystals bump into each other.
04:19In a dirty thunderstorm, bits of volcanic ash collide, create friction, and spark up the sky.
04:26In the hottest and one of the driest places on Earth, Africa's Danakil Desert, temperatures often rise above 120 degrees
04:34Fahrenheit.
04:35The out-of-this-world landscape has many active volcanoes and geysers that spit out toxic gases like chlorine and
04:42sulfur.
04:43The vibrantly green, electric blue, and yellow waters are all rain and seawater warmed up by magma.
04:50One wrong step here, and you'd be gone for good.
04:54This happened in June 2009.
04:57People in certain areas in Japan left their homes after a heavy downpour, only to find fish, frogs, and tadpoles
05:05everywhere.
05:06Fields, roads, lawns, and rooftops were littered with these aquatic creatures.
05:11One man was shocked to see 13 carp on and around his truck.
05:15Apparently, he stopped to count them.
05:17No one knows for sure where the bizarre rain came from, but the most popular theory claims that a powerful
05:23water spout picked up all these creatures.
05:26Then it carried them through the upper atmosphere and dropped the animals on the unsuspecting people below.
05:32And now, welcome to Abraham Lake in Canada.
05:36It's completely frozen.
05:37You step onto the transparent ice and look down at what lies beneath.
05:41No fish, just some mysterious frozen bubbles.
05:45They look like small clouds frozen in ice, or jellyfish who forgot to pack a winter jacket.
05:51There are thousands of these little bubbles made up of methane.
05:54But don't try to dig a hole in the ice to touch it.
05:58Methane is highly flammable.
05:59It's created by methane-producing bacteria that eats leaves, grass, insects, or any other organic stuff that gets into the
06:07lake.
06:08When the methane touches the frozen water, it turns into tens of thousands of frozen little balls.
06:13When the ice melts, they burst open and sizzle.
06:17Similar lakes can be found near some shores of the Arctic Ocean.
06:21There, the size of the bubbles can reach several times the size of hot air balloons.
06:26Beautiful for sure, but not exactly safe.
06:29The next shocking lake is in Indonesia, the island of Java.
06:34You come to a majestic volcano, overgrown with grass and trees.
06:39The volcano seems to be asleep, but smoke is pouring out of it.
06:43You climb to the summit.
06:45Exhausted, tired, sweaty, you're ready to cool off.
06:49Nice work, you made it to the top.
06:51You look into the mouth of the volcano.
06:53Hmm, no boiling lava.
06:55Just a beautiful, bright, turquoise lake down there.
06:58It looks like an oasis.
07:00Perfect time for a refreshing dip.
07:02You run down and get ready to jump in.
07:04But that's not water, that's acid!
07:07Sulfurous gases get into the lake from under the volcano.
07:11The lake itself is full of metals.
07:13When the gases touch them, they form that beautiful turquoise water.
07:17I mean, acid.
07:19Better head back to the nearest village, rest, and come back at night when it's cooler.
07:24In the dark, the lake seems to glow.
07:27Right above it, you see light-filled, exploding little clouds.
07:31The sulfurous gases rise out of the lake, combined with the air, and flash bright blue.
07:37Still, don't get too close.
07:39The sea turns sinister red, and no living being can survive in it.
07:44Must be some dark magic.
07:46In fact, it's tiny algae that spread uncontrollably, giving the water this specific tint called the red tide.
07:54They have toxins that destroy sea mammals, birds, and turtles, as well as creatures that feed on them.
08:00For humans, contact with it ends in breathing problems or seafood poisoning.
08:06Sometimes even huge ships sink in the open seas for no visible reason.
08:11That reason is often the pockets of bubbles that underwater volcanoes produce even while they're sleeping.
08:17Those productive magma factories are hidden under 8,500 feet of water.
08:22When they wake up, they act just like land volcanoes, and they can cause destructive tsunamis.
08:29This tree looks like a bottle.
08:31No wonder it's called the bottle tree.
08:33It grows in Namibia and attracts many tourists.
08:36But don't get too close to the tree, because it's one of the most dangerous on Earth.
08:41Milky juice flows inside the trunk.
08:44It's highly toxic to the human body.
08:46On the bright side, though, the trees have beautiful pink-white leaves with a red core.
08:51There's a tree growing in Western Australia that was once used as a prison.
08:56A cell for criminals existed inside the Boab prison tree for a long time.
09:01People were usually kept there temporarily, just for one night.
09:05After that, they were taken to their final destination.
09:08The prison was built more than 1,500 years ago, and has been perfectly preserved to this day.
09:14Tourists visiting this place can sneak a peek inside.
09:46We've all been afraid of the dark at some point in our lives, haven't we?
09:47But it was too dark out there.
09:49Wouldn't it be great to have some source of light that would come from within your body?
09:53You could always use it whenever you get surrounded by darkness.
09:59Unfortunately, as humans, we aren't able to do that.
10:02But there are a bunch of creatures out there that can, in fact, light themselves up.
10:07That's thanks to a little something scientists call bioluminescence.
10:11Animals and fish living in the ocean tend to have this talent more often than others.
10:16And you can find these creatures anywhere.
10:19Close to the surface or deep down at the bottom.
10:222.5 miles deep if you have a knack for numbers.
10:26These creatures use their light for a lot of things, like communicating with other members of their species,
10:32luring in prey, and even scaring away enemies.
10:35Bioluminescence is basically an organism's ability to emit its own light.
10:40Chemistry has a lot to do with it.
10:44Such animals use two chemicals, one called luciferin and the other called luciferase.
10:50Add a bit of oxygen and BAM! Light!
10:55Should you ever wonder if you actually observe bioluminescence or if someone just dropped a glow stick in the ocean,
11:01be on the lookout for neon blue, green, or even red sparkles in the sea.
11:06They're usually spread over a large area.
11:09This can even make the water look like glitter or a starry sky.
11:13You can thank squid, tiny crustaceans, and algae for this romantic atmosphere.
11:20Now, I've got another unusual phenomenon for you.
11:23How about a golden waterfall?
11:25I'm not kidding. It actually exists, and it's a natural phenomenon.
11:29To see it, you have to drive to Yosemite National Park to the Horsetail Fall.
11:34Make sure to plan your trip in winter or early spring.
11:37That's the only time during the year when you can see this awesome phenomenon.
11:42It doesn't need any scientific explanation.
11:45It's nothing more than sunlight at dusk, hitting the waterfall in such a unique way that it makes it look
11:50like a river of lava.
11:51Or gold. Your choice.
11:55That's the reason why during this time of year, the Horsetail Fall is also named the Firefall.
12:01Unfortunately, this phenomenon is becoming less and less visible within the years,
12:05mostly because of drought and other issues connecting with the melting of snow.
12:10So, should you ever decide to visit, keep an eye on the waterfall, since the effect is very brief.
12:17Ever heard of a dirty thunderstorm?
12:20It's also called volcanic lightning.
12:22Apparently, specialists looking into the phenomenon have yet to fully grasp what it is.
12:28When a regular thunderstorm happens, particles with positive and negative charges collide,
12:34hence the giant spark we call lightning.
12:36It also makes a lot of noise, which you can recognize as thunder.
12:42But, when a volcano is erupting, some of the volcanic ash particles get electrically charged,
12:48and while getting projected into the air with a huge force, they collide and cause electrical discharges.
12:55This whole process makes it look like there's lightning coming from the volcano itself.
13:00Imagine all that ash, gas, and smoke coming from the crater,
13:05and then add some electricity to the mix.
13:08It'll make the whole picture look really bizarre.
13:11No wonder this phenomenon is called the dirty thunderstorm.
13:16Now, how about clouds that look like waves?
13:20Those are called asperitus clouds, and they're actually quite close to the ground,
13:25unlike your regular day-to-day clouds.
13:28The name comes from the word aspero, which in Latin translates to rough or uneven.
13:34On rare occasion, you may spot such clouds when the weather is calm,
13:38but they're mostly associated with thunderstorms.
13:42These clouds appear during unstable atmospheric conditions,
13:45and surprisingly, they don't produce rain.
13:48Even though they do resemble dark, storm-like clouds,
13:51they also create random patterns,
13:53tricking your eyes into thinking you're looking at the surface of the sea from under the water.
13:58Another impressive kind of cloud is called mammatus clouds.
14:01What makes them so special is a series of bulges emerging from the base of each cloud.
14:08One such cloud enters a level in the atmosphere where the wind direction changes.
14:12You can see these wave-like patterns in the sky.
14:17Australia is the place for you if you like surfing,
14:20but not all the waves you can catch there are made of water.
14:24Near a town called Hyden, there's a mysterious wave made out of rocks.
14:29This granite formation supposedly dates back to 2.63 billion years ago.
14:35That's way before dinosaurs started hanging around the planet.
14:40Standing at 49 feet high and 360 feet long,
14:46the wave was formed as a result of two processes,
14:50weathering and erosion.
14:52There's softer sediment at the base of the wave rock,
14:55which was chemically weathered by groundwater.
14:58Winds and rain did the rest of the job,
15:01causing the erosion of the rest of the formation.
15:04Its red, yellow, and gray stripes are made of iron hydroxide,
15:09carbonates, and other chemical compounds that were washed down by the rain.
15:15You've made it to Australia, so stick around a bit more.
15:18There's one more location here that seems unreal.
15:21You'll need to fly over this one, however, if you want the best picture.
15:26In the western part of the country, surrounded by green woodlands,
15:30there's a series of lakes.
15:31They're all a staggering shade of bright pink.
15:35Out of them all, the most famous is Lake Hillier,
15:39a 2,000-foot-long reservoir.
15:41It's surrounded by both sand and a forest of eucalyptus trees.
15:45This makes the cartoon-like hue of the lake stand out even more.
15:51One of the many theories explaining the color of these mysterious lakes
15:55is connected with algae.
15:57These algae appear to gather high levels of a substance called beta-carotene,
16:02which has a red-orange pigment in it.
16:05Another explanation involves haloarchaea.
16:08Those are microorganisms that sometimes look red.
16:14Even if you don't enjoy flying, the lakes are great for taking a swim.
16:18They're not toxic, even though they have loads of salt in them.
16:21This means you'll be able to stay afloat easily,
16:23and the water won't damage your swimsuit.
16:27During winter up north in Canada,
16:29a bizarre phenomenon happens at Lake Abraham in Alberta.
16:33Underneath the frozen surface,
16:35you can spot some weird objects that look like frozen jellyfish.
16:41It's definitely not the case,
16:43as these creepy formations are just frozen methane bubbles.
16:46Those are pockets of gas that were trapped underwater
16:49and got stuck there after the lake had frozen.
16:53They appear when leaves and grass fall into the water
16:57and bacteria digest them.
16:58This process transforms them into methane.
17:02This phenomenon is as beautiful and strange as it is dangerous.
17:06The pockets of methane can easily become highly flammable.
17:09When the temperatures rise during the spring,
17:11the ice melts and these bubbles start popping and fizzing.
17:15It's a spectacular sight to observe.
17:18Picture a lake filled with soda.
17:21Remember not to bring any source of fire.
17:23It can be very dangerous for visitors.
17:26You can check out these types of lakes all across Canada's Banff National Park.
17:34Nature often tends to make its own music.
17:37Just listen to the sound of crickets at night
17:39or the soothing noise of a waterfall.
17:41But in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, there's a strange geological phenomenon
17:46which takes nature's soundtracks to a completely different level.
17:51These are called the ringing rocks and scientists still can't explain their unusual behavior.
17:57If you strike these rocks with a heavy object like a hammer or another rock,
18:02the stones will make a ringing sound as if they were hollow.
18:08What makes the ringing rocks even more bizarre, apart from the mysterious sound they make,
18:13is that no animal wants to hang around there.
18:16Even though the rocks are surrounded by a thick forest,
18:20scientists haven't managed to trace any animal activity in the area yet.
18:25Even more striking is the fact that despite all the trees around the rocks,
18:29you won't find any leaves lying on the boulders.
18:33What makes these rocks so unappealing for both animals and vegetation is still up for debate.
18:40In Russia, on the shores of the Baltic Sea, there's an enigmatic national park.
18:46The Dancing Forest is a place that no scientist has managed to explain so far.
18:51The pine trees of the forest are all crooked and twisted into loops and spirals.
18:55The forest didn't appear until the early 60s,
18:58when the pines were planted in order to make the sand dune in that area more stable.
19:03One theory is that it's the unstable sand that made the trees twist in such a way.
19:08Other theories for the crooked trees are strong winds or even supernatural powers.
19:14Some people say the forest is a place where positive and negative energies meet, twisting the trees.
19:19Local legend says that if a person climbs through one of the rings of a tree,
19:24it'll add an extra year to this person's life or they'll be granted a wish.
19:29I like that one.
19:30Speaking of bizarre trees, and I was, one grows in the region of Piedmont, Italy.
19:36There, a cherry tree grows on the top of a mulberry tree.
19:40The strange thing is that both trees are perfectly healthy.
19:45A continuous storm at Saturn's North Pole has an odd shape, a hexagon.
19:51This is probably because of the gradient of the winds.
19:54The total length of this cloud pattern is 9,000 miles,
19:58which is about 1,200 miles longer than the Earth's diameter.
20:02The hexagon has been observed for many years,
20:04but it gets even more mysterious because it changes color too.
20:09It used to be turquoise, but it has recently shifted to a golden color.
20:13The reason for the color change is that the pole gets exposed to sunlight as the seasons change.
20:20Now, rain isn't unusual for Oakville, Washington.
20:24However, this one still doesn't have any solid scientific explanation.
20:29Instead of common raindrops,
20:31people watched translucent jelly-like blobs fall from the skies.
20:35These blobs covered about 20 square miles.
20:38Those who got really close to the rain experienced flu-like symptoms.
20:43What were the blobs?
20:44Researchers claimed that the blobs contain human white blood cells.
20:49Later tests showed no presence of nuclei.
20:52Some people claimed the blobs might have been evaporated jellyfish resulting in rain,
20:56or maybe even waste from a commercial plane.
21:01Walking rocks, also known as sailing rocks,
21:04move across the Death Valley National Park in California without any external intervention,
21:10leaving long trails in the dirt and sand along their way.
21:14Various time-lap footages of the moving rocks have been taken.
21:18Scientists even installed GPS navigators on some of the rocks,
21:22and it showed that the rocks move at a considerable speed.
21:25Some researchers believe that the movement is due to thin sheets of ice
21:30that form overnight at freezing temperatures in the valley,
21:33letting the rocks move until it melts during the day.
21:37Or there was a Rolling Stones concert.
21:39Nah.
21:42The Batageka Crater in Siberia looks like a doorway to the underworld.
21:47It's about a half-mile long and over 280 feet deep,
21:51but it never stops growing.
21:53As it gets deeper, it exposes more underground layers.
21:56The layers show what our planet looked like thousands of years ago,
22:00as the slumps reveal the used-to-be climates.
22:03The crater appeared back in the 60s,
22:06and it all started with rapid deforestation.
22:09Trees no longer cast shade on the ground, and it got hotter.
22:12The permafrost melted, resulting in the crater formation.
22:17The throbbing hum in Taos, New Mexico, has driven locals wild since the 1990s.
22:27Different variations of the hum have also been heard in the UK, Australia, Canada,
22:32and other areas of the U.S.
22:34Luckily, only about 2% of the world's population can hear it.
22:38The hums have been blamed on mechanical devices, multiple disturbances of auditory systems, and even animals.
22:45The West Seattle hum, for example, was blamed on toadfish.
22:51Fairy rings, also known as elf rings or pixie rings,
22:55are mysterious rings of mushrooms that appear in grasslands and forested areas.
23:00There's a lot of debate about why these fungi form a nearly perfect circle.
23:05Some superstitions claim that fairy dances would burn the ground, causing mushrooms to rapidly grow.
23:12In Costa Rica, there's an assortment of about 300 spherical stone balls.
23:18Locals call them las bolas, which is simply the balls in English.
23:22These stones have an almost perfect round shape.
23:25Some of them are huge, weighing up to 16 tons each.
23:29They're also made of different materials, gabbro, limestone, and sandstone.
23:34They're considered to have been put in straight lines in front of the chief's houses.
23:38But there's no precise information of their origin.
23:41Some myths claim that these stones originated in Atlantis.
23:48If you ever travel to the Mekong River in late October,
23:51you have a chance of seeing glowing balls rising from the water and beelining up into the air.
23:57Locals call these glowing balls the Naga fireballs.
24:01The size of the lights vary.
24:03The reddish balls can be as tiny as a spark and as large as a basketball.
24:07There can be dozens to thousands of balls a night.
24:11Scientists don't have any solid explanation for why it happens.
24:14But it could be due to flammable gases released by the marshy environment.
24:18Some superstitious locals are sure it's all because of a giant serpent living in the Mekong.
24:25Great balls of fire!
24:29In Minnesota, on the north shore of Lake Superior,
24:32there's a park known for the Devil's Kettle.
24:35This is a waterfall that splits in two.
24:37One part of the river continues,
24:39while the other part disappears into a hole in the ground.
24:43Whatever object you throw into the Devil's Kettle won't reappear.
24:46Scientists still haven't fully explained where the water that drops into the hole goes.
24:52Devil's Kettle is considered to be unsafe for people
24:55because it's nearly impossible to trace the flow.
24:58Yeah, not a place to go tubing.
25:02Grunions are fish known for their bizarre mating ritual.
25:05The females climb out of the water and onto the shore.
25:08They dig their tails into the sand in order to lay eggs.
25:12The legs stay hidden in the sand, waiting.
25:14Ten days later, the high tide comes,
25:17washing the newly hatched young to the sea.
25:20Scientists still can't give any solid explanation for this way of breeding.
25:26People who live in rural central Norway over the Hestalen Valley
25:30can often witness floating lights of white, yellow, and red across the sky.
25:35The lights appear both at day and night,
25:38and once back in the 80s, they were spotted 15 to 20 times in a single week.
25:43The Hestalen lights can last just a few seconds,
25:46but sometimes they can last more than an hour.
25:49The lights move, seeming to float or even sway around.
25:53Some scientists believe that the reason for these lights is due to ionized iron dust.
25:58Others say it's combustion that includes sodium, oxygen, and hydrogen.
26:03Many people claim they're just misidentified aircrafts.
26:08Yellowstone Park has a famous boiling lake,
26:11but it's not the world's only place of boiling water.
26:15Deep in the Amazon, there's the four-mile Chanae-Tempishka River that's always hot.
26:20The name means boiled by the sun.
26:23Well, it's not exactly boiling, but it can reach 196 degrees Fahrenheit.
26:28Enough to cook pasta.
26:30Ooh, let's try that.
26:32The lowest temperature in these waters is about 113 degrees.
26:36This river still can't be scientifically explained
26:39because it would require close proximity to a volcano
26:42for the water to reach such temperatures.
26:44However, the closest volcano is 400 miles away.
26:48But there could be a fault between the Earth that could explain this phenomenon.
26:54In western Venezuela, locals living close to the Catatumbo River
26:59aren't afraid of lightning because they see it almost every single night.
27:03It starts at around 7 o'clock and doesn't stop until dawn.
27:07The everlasting Catatumbo lightning did one stop for a few months,
27:12from January to March 2010.
27:14It was probably due to drought.
27:16Or maybe the charge ran out.
27:18In 1991, a scientist suggested that the phenomenon happens
27:22because of cold and warm air currents meeting in the area.
27:26Another theory is that the lightning could be due
27:28to the presence of uranium in the bedrock.
27:31Speaking of lightning, I got a bolt.
27:34Bye!
27:34Bye!