There are 7 world-famous wonders of the world that inspire admiration for their beauty and the titanic work of people behind each masterpiece. But in addition to these wonders, there are dark counterparts. They are visible proof that frightening and cruel events have taken place during the existence of mankind.
However, these notorious landmarks should not be forgotten, as they remind us of the difficulties our ancestors endured and the mistakes that representatives of Homo sapiens make.
Introducing you top 7 most terrible wonders of the world... Some of them were created by human hands. And some are natural phenomena.
7. "Black hole" in Guatemala City
A huge crater with a diameter of 20 meters and a depth of 30 meters appeared in Guatemala in 2010 after the tropical storm Agata. This cavity presumably formed due to the fact that the city and its underground infrastructure were built in a region where the first few hundred meters of land are mostly made of pumice. This material was formed by a volcanic eruption.
“The pumice stone appears as a stream (of loose, gravelly particles), and because of the heat and weight, it turns into solid rock,” explained geologist Sam Bonis. In Guatemala, pumice has not yet formed into such a rock, so it is easy to destroy it, especially with a strong pressure of water.
Previously, on the site of the hole, which resembles a bottomless pit leading straight to hell, there was an intersection and an empty building of a garment factory. Now the bottom of the "Black Hole" is not visible even from a helicopter.
Many people mistake the giant funnel for Photoshop processing, due to its regular round shape. However, scientists believe that the round edges of this natural "well" indicate the presence of a karst cavity underneath.
6. Prison "Alcatraz"
An ultra-secure containment location for such underworld legends as Al Capone and Robert Stroud (aka "The Birdman of Alcatraz"). This facility, located on its own island off San Francisco, is known as the "virtual prison Titanic". Some prisoners have succeeded escapebut officially none of them were successful. The fugitives were either killed while trying to escape, or captured, or drowned in the sea.
Now "Alcatraz" has become a museum. And on the island where the prison is located, the famous action movie "The Rock" was filmed with Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage. During the filming of the hostage scene, the actors found themselves locked in cameras, as their sliding doors for some reason did not open. They had to spend several hours in captivity until help arrived from the mainland. Now real tourists are not locked in cells to avoid such situations.
5. Pompeii - an open city museum
The ancient Roman city is almost hidden under a layer of volcanic ash. His excavations allowed researchers to recreate a picture of the daily life of local residents. The furnishings of houses, buildings, streets, even graffiti on the walls - all this has survived to this day, becoming a sad but priceless testimony of ancient Roman life, culture and architecture.
They also found the corpses of people and animals who could not escape from the 19-hour eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.Here and there there were voids in the ashes, and the Italian archaeologist Giuseppe Fiorelli filled them with plaster of Paris and recreated the figures of the dead townspeople. Small and large plaster statues lying in various positions show how cruel Mother Nature can be to her children.
Most of the victims did not die of suffocation, as previously believed, but from streams consisting of a mixture of stones, ash and volcanic gases. They were speeding up to 700 kilometers per hour.
4. Shadows of Hiroshima
On the fourth line in the selection of the most eerie sights, there is evidence of the first atomic bombing in human history. They were named "Shadows of Hiroshima".
The essence of the phenomenon is as follows: the shadow, which during the nuclear explosion was partially protected by the body of the "host", receives less radiation than what surrounds it. Therefore, the place where the shadow was located remains unburnt.
Or, to put it more simply: some memories are so terrible that they simply cannot be erased.
3. Ground Zero
The World Trade Center was located at Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan until September 11, 2001. Those associated with this tragic event annually come to the site of the tragedy to honor the memory of the victims.
Every year on September 11, 88 spotlights are lit on the site of Ground Zero. They form two parallel rays to each other, directed upward, and this ceremony is called "Initiation in the light."
2. Chernobyl
In second place in the list of the most terrible wonders of the world is an entire city located on the Pripyat River, Ukraine. Abandoned Chernobyl is a reminder that humanity should look for safer, more environmentally friendly forms of energy production (windmills, water turbines, etc.).
In 1986, Ukraine was hit by the worst radioactive disaster in the world. The accident in the fourth power unit led to the release of a huge amount of radioactive products, such as cesium-137 and strontium-90, into the environment. More than 115 thousand people had to be evacuated from the 30-kilometer zone, and according to various estimates, from 600 to 900 thousand people took part in the liquidation of the consequences of the accident. And the city of Pripyat is now considered one of the the most terrible places on the planet.
Currently, according to the IAEA regulations, one can live in Chernobyl on a rotational basis - 2-3 months for six months. And the levels of radiation that can cause radiation sickness remained inside the Sarcophagus, behind the thick walls of which the exploded reactor is hidden.
Chernobyl gave rise to a whole series of myths and speculations, many books have been published about it and the popular S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
1. Auschwitz (Auschwitz)
The Auschwitz-Birkenau Historical Museum is located in the Polish city of Auschwitz (the Germans renamed it Auschwitz). It takes its visitors back to not too distant times, when people who committed genocide roamed the earth freely.
It is the largest of all the Nazi death camps and is now one of the symbols of the Holocaust. In Auschwitz, an estimated 1.4 million people were killed, with 1.1 million of them Jewish. The Great Soviet Encyclopedia gives an even larger figure of the dead - 4 million.
Despite all the evil that was happening on the territory of this death camp, it is good that it was restored and turned into a museum. In this way, future generations will be able to learn what the human race is capable of.