A – Z Cities with Mysteries – Real & Fictional

 

Xi’an, China

Xi’an Confronts an Unusual Challenge: a Surfeit of Ancient Tombs

China wants to protect its historical relics from new urban development projects. But that’s no simple task in Xi’an — a city where imperial tombs are seemingly everywhere.

In 2013, archaeologists in the city of Xi’an made an incredible discovery while conducting surveys for a new road-building project: a 1,300-year-old tomb belonging to one of the most powerful female politicians in Chinese history, Shangguan Wan’er.

Shangguan had served as the de facto prime minister to Wu Zetian, China’s sole female emperor. But after Wu’s death, she was killed in a bloody coup, and her final resting place had remained a mystery for centuries.

Despite decades of research, archaeologists in Xi’an still haven’t located the tombs of several emperors, let alone those of many other historical figures who lived in the city.

 

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A – Z Cities with Mysteries – Real & Fictional

 

Wiltshire, England

The home of Stonehenge. Archaeologists believe it was constructed from around 3000 BC to 2000 BC. One of the most famous landmarks in the United Kingdom, it is owned by the Crown.

 

This prehistoric monument was built by a culture that left no written records.

Several scholars’ theories about its function:

A burial site

A ceremonial site

A religious pilgrimage destination

An astronomical calculator to mark the seasons

A place of healing

A final resting place for royalty

 

 There is no absolute evidence revealing the construction techniques used by the Stonehenge builders.

A – Z Cities with Mysteries – Real & Fictional

 Venice, Italy

 

Mysterious Curse?

The painter Giovanni Bragolin is known for his Crying Boys series of oils. Rumor has it the painting is cursed. (And rumor also has it that there is no such Italian painter.)

 

 

This painting of a young boy was set on the walls of multiple homes throughout Europe. People in many of the homes ended up being victims of fires or explosions. The painting, itself, was always found to be intact in the aftermath.

The painter was told by a priest that the wandering orphan’s parents had died in a house fire. When the painter took the boy into his studio to paint him, the studio caught fire and burned down.

A – Z Cities with Mysteries – Real & Fictional

 Ukhta, Russia

Fossils of a 372-million-year-old, early tetrapod called Parmastega aelidae, with a crocodile-like skull and eyes positioned high on its head, were discovered near Ukhta, Russia, suggesting an aquatic, surface-cruising lifestyle.

These fossils come from the Sosnogorsk Formation, a limestone formed in a tropical coastal lagoon, which is now exposed on the banks of the Izhma River.

These fossils aren’t mere fragments—when the limestone was dissolved with acetic acid, perfectly preserved bones from the head and shoulder girdle were revealed, piecing together into a three-dimensional reconstruction of the animal (by far the earliest for any tetrapod).

Tetrapods are the group of animals which made the evolutionary transition from water to land, ultimately becoming the ancestors of amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals.

 

A – Z Cities with Mysteries – Real & Fictional

 

Toronto, Canada

Leslieville is a quiet neighborhood. Most of the single family homes have well-tended gardens in front, but there is one particular garden that’s tended a little differently.

It’s known as the Doll House, and the owner collected stuffed and plastic critters for over twenty years since her husband passed away.

The Doll House is not just dolls—there are toys, stuffed animals, plaques, and signs, some hung from the fence, some mounted on wooden stakes, and some lining the porch and eaves. Together they create a landscape cacophony that attracts Toronto tourists and shutterbugs alike.

 

 

 

Update:

The Leslieville dollhouse has been sold to a new owner and the dolls have been removed.

A – Z Cities with Mysteries – Real & Fictional

 

San Jose, CA

Winchester Mystery House

 

San Jose is the home of the Winchester Mystery House which is a Victorian mansion crafted by Sarah Winchester over a span of 36 years from 1886 to 1922.

Sarah Winchester, heiress to the Winchester Repeating Arms fortune, moved to San Jose after the deaths of her husband and infant daughter.

 

Sarah Winchester

A medium, Adam Coons, told her that she and her family were being haunted by the ghosts of those killed by Winchester rifles, and that she had to build a house for these ghosts and must never stop contruction.

The house became known for its odd architectural features, including staircases leading to nowhere, doors that opened onto walls, and rooms with mismatched windows and doors.

  

The Winchester Mystery House has 160 rooms including 40 bedrooms, 47 staircases, 13 bathrooms, 6 kitchens, 10,000 window panes, 2,000 doors, 52 skylights, 47 fireplaces, three elevators, two basements and just one shower.

Some of the staircases in this home are truly peculiar. Instead of taking you to another floor, they lead right into the ceiling.

 There is a vast network of secret passages twisting throughout the property. One cabinet door opens to a hive of 30 additional rooms.

 

A – Z Cities with Mysteries – Real & Fictional

 

Rachel, NV

Rachel, Nevada considers itself “The UFO Capital of the World”. The delightfully oddball town is the nearest town to the secret aircraft testing facility at Groom Lake which is about 25 miles south of Rachel better known as “Area 51”. In 1976, the Governor renamed Nevada’s Route 375 to The Extraterrestrial Highway.

The military built their facility there and in the 1950s it was the perfect place to test experimental spy planes which some locals mistook for alien spacecraft—or so they say.