5 Places on Earth You've Probably Never Heard Of

The world. It's big, and bad, and good, and cool, and interesting. However the average person, even the intelligent person, knows only a tiny bit about the hidden mysteries and wondrous places on the Earth we live. Here are five places you probably haven't heard of, and will probably want to have heard about. They're damn weird. 

1. Socotra

The Isolated Island of Socotra, 200 miles from mainland Yemen. I'd heard of Yemen about once before discovering this, let alone of Socotra. The Island of Socotra is hot, harsh and windswept, and yet it is home to some of the most unique and wonderful animals and plants. How something as extraordinary as this can go unnoticed is beyond me, but there's the Media and Education System for you. Its like an alien realm, hidden away on earth.

2) Sedlec Ossuary, Czech Republic 

Okay.. so this is located in a cavern under a church in Prague, and is possibly the most disturbing thing I've ever seen. The Sedlec Ossuary boasts bones from between 40,000 - 70,000 people, and has been featured in a few films! 'House of 1,000 Corpses' used the fear inspiring Ossuary as inspiration for its 'Satans Lair'. I'd love to see an episode of Most Haunted filmed here, Yvette Fielding would probably break down into tears.

3) Hell's Door, Turkmenistan

This glowing crater is found in the Kara-Kum desert in Turkmenistan, and was allegedly created when Soviet prospectors drilled into a large chamber filled with natural gases. The story goes that the prospectors eventually decided to light the gas rather than to risk a build up of concentrated gas, and there you have it!  Some people even call it The Gate to Hell. The inside of the crater is black from carbon building up, and the heat is so intense that its impossible to stand by the edge for more than a few minutes.

4) Pamukkale, Turkey

The strange, yet beautiful pools of Pumakkale were discovered and first appreciated over 2,000 years ago, yet their are origin are still unknown. One theory is that, earthquakes created hot springs to bring water containing calcium carbonate to the surface. When this water evaporated, the chalky material was left behind and as a result slowly built layer upon layer, eventually creating this wonder of the natural world.

5) Bouvet Island

Not the most interesting of places, considering its only inhabitants are lichens, penguins and seals, and the most amazing thing on it is a ruined weather station, but nevertheless.. Bouvet Island is the worlds most remote island, probably why no one's heard of it. It also is a part of Norway officially, and actually has its own internet domain! (.bv). Most of the film Alien vs Predator was also filmed on the island, but other than that there's completely nothing of interest!

The world is an interesting and marvellous place, when making this post I realised this even more than before. I hope to have given you at least the slightest bit of interest when reading this post, as I myself got sidetracked for about a week looking at Socotra alone..