The Most Mysterious Places In America

People often think that everything on Earth has been discovered and that there are no new places to explore. But they rarely ask themselves the question of how a certain location came to be. The world is teeming with such unsolved mysteries. Scientists have been studying them for decades to little or no avail.

This site of mysterious paranormal activities and voices is not far from Ballard. Some have even dubbed the ranch "the strangest place on earth." Claims about the property have been around for decades. They were about a family that moved there but soon after experienced a series of bizarre events, such as crop circles, strange lights and poltergeist activity. The National Institute for Discovery Science studied the claims but won't say if they found evidence.

You have to be very careful if you choose to drive to the bottom of this iconic hill. Stories about what happens there have been around since the early 1900's. As impossible as it sounds, your car will roll uphill. "And it doesn't just work on cars – vans, trucks and even tour buses roll upward in total defiance of natural law," according to Tourism New Brunswick.

If you go to the waterfalls of Shale Creek in the southeast corner of Chestnut Ridge Park, you will notice a strange orange-red light behind the water and believe it to be an optical illusion. How is it that something is burning under water? You'll actually smell the golden flame because it's fired by methane gas escaping through the cracks. The water sometimes extinguishes the flame, but you can easily start it up again with a lighter.

The mystery is how a whole colony of people simply vanished just a few years after setting on the island in the late 1500's. The word "Croatoan" had been carved on a post and the letters "CRO" scratched into a tree trunk – these were the only clues anyone had been there at all. New evidence suggests the people may have split into groups and assimilated into the Native American community.

The Devil's Tower is an astonishing geologic feature that protrudes out of the rolling prairie surrounding the Black Hills. It is the first national monument in the country, established in 1906. This site is considered Sacred to the Lakota and many other tribes that have a connection to the area, according to the NPS. Hundreds of parallel cracks make it one of the finest traditional rock climbing areas in North America. Scientists agree that the giant rock formed as a result of the intrusion of igneous material, but how that happened is not clear.

People have been going to the mysterious site since the 1930's. The circular area of naturally occurring visual and perceptual phenomena is famous for creating strong feelings of vertigo. Nowhere in the circle do you normally stand straight; a person assumes a posture that inclines toward magnetic north. People appear in different sizes. Back in the day, horses of Native Americans, who referred to the area as the "Forbidden Ground" refused to go into it.

This place is an everlasting mystery. What is still not understood is how a single man, Latvian immigrant named Edward Leedskalnin built the Coral Castle, which is made of many limestone boulders, some of which weighed about 15 tons. It took him more than 25 years. Ed would only say that he knew how the Great Pyramids in Egypt were built, but the secret died with him.  

The park's hydrothermal systems are an enigma. The iconic geyser erupts every 90 minutes, on average, like clockwork and lasts for up to five minutes. Scientists still don't understand how and why Old Faithful erupts at varying intervals. Research has shown that a large egg-shaped chamber is connected to the mouth of Old Faithful by something like a pipe. Water levels rise after every eruption and send steam bubbles into the conduit—which creates a "bubble trap" that leads to the eventual steam explosion.

The pictographs found there are thought to be more than 2,000 years old, according to the National Geographic. They are part of an ancient Anasazi rock art panel called the Great Gallery, the largest site in the canyon. The handprints are an art motif among ancient cultures from Australia to Patagonia. Getting to the place requires driving on a dirt road for miles and then hiking.  

Located in a remote valley between the Cottonwood and Last Chance Ranges, the Racetrack is a place of spectacular beauty and mystery. The Racetrack is a playa, a dry lakebed, best known for its strange moving rocks. It looks like they "sailed" through the valley. "Although no one has actually seen the rocks move, the long meandering tracks left behind in the mud surface of the playa attest to their activity," according to the NPS. The most logical explanation so far is that ice forms covering the stones, causing them to move.

People looking for a psychic boost come to this place in the beautiful town of Sedona. The "vortexes" are mysterious areas of concentrated energy to which seekers of enlightenment are drawn, according to Arizona Leisure. Some believe that the energy produced as a result, encourages healing and feelings of well-being. The stronger the energy, the more the trees react by twisting. Popular vortex sites are Cathedral Rock, Bell Rock, Airport Mesa, and Boynton Canyon.

No written record to their purpose has been found. Two learning theories are that the wheels contain significant stellar and cosmological alignments, and/or the performance of specific rituals and ceremonies have been long forgotten. The Medicine Wheels represents harmony in Native American spirituality. The site is among the most well-preserved ancient Native American sacred locations.

The enigmatic six-piece granite monument atop a deserted hill in Elberton is about 16 feet tall and is located not too far from Atlanta. The site is often referred to as "America's Stonehenge." UFO fans and spiritualists are drawn to the site the most. Each granite is inscribed in a different language.  The message is: "Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts. Balance personal rights with social duties."

Area 51 is the most famous mystery in modern American history. A UFO is supposed to have crashed in Roswell in 1947. Rancher W.W. "Mack" Brazel said he found debris. The pieces seemed to be metal. He said he saw a shallow trench several hundred feet long had been gouged into the ground. The remains of aliens are supposed to have been found there. Area 51 nearby only fuels rumors of a secret government operations and cover-up.  Roswell hosts an annual UFO festival in the summer.