Hidden Unseen

Extreme Railway of Hanoi

This railway line passes through the residential neighborhood and commercial area of Hanoi, Vietnam. Twice a day, the trains pass through the downtown, merely inches away from the doorsteps of buildings.

Recently Adam Armstrong traveled to Vietnam and observed the train in action.

He describes the unusual sight:

“The people here know the schedule well,” said Adam. “At just about 4 pm and 7 pm every day, you suddenly notice people start to file into their homes and in the front yard where kids were playing and women were cutting vegetables is suddenly replaced by rushing steel and noise.”

A local newspaper claims that more than US$2.2 billion would be needed to improve conditions of Vietnam’s railways. The number of people dying in railway accidents accounts for about 2 per cent of all deaths in Vietnam.

“A majority of railway accidents reportedly happen at crossings, especially at illegally-built crossings. At present, Viet Nam has nearly 3,200 kilometres of railway with about 6,000 railroad crossings. However, just 1,000 were built legally while the rest were built illegally as shortcuts by households who live along railways,” said the Chairman of Traffic Safety.

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The Star Sand Beach

Hoshizuna no Hama is a small beach located on the northern tip of the remote Iriomote Island in Okinawa Prefecture, in Japan. Hoshizuna no Hama means “star sand beach”, and is so named because the grains of sand found here are shaped like tiny stars. These are not really sand but the exoskeletons of tiny one-celled organism, barely a millimeter across, called Baclogypsina sphaerulata that live among the sea grass.

Baclogypsina sphaerulata is a protozoa belonging to the family Calcalinidae. Their exoskeleton (or shell) is shaped like a star with 5 or 6 pointed spines or arms that help them move from place to place and also store some of the diatoms that they feed upon. The outer shell is made of calcium carbonate, and when they die, they leave their star shaped exoskeleton behind to be washed up on the beaches in enormous numbers.

The best time to find these creatures, or rather their skeletons, is after a typhoon when the raging ocean looses them up from the sea bed and washes them on the beach along with fresh sand. In Iriomote Island, it can be found at every beach, if you look for it carefully. It is abundant at Hoshizuna no Hama. One reason they are so plenty on beaches in the Indo Pacific Ocean is that they prefer shallow waters, often using sea algae to anchor themselves.

The locals have a different story. According to them, the star shells are the tiny offspring of the Southern Cross and the North Star. These children of the stars were born in the ocean just of Okinawa, but were killed by a giant serpent. Their tiny skeletons are all that remains.

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Mysterious Stone Spheres in Costa Rica

In the 1930s while clearing the Costa Rican jungle for banana plantations, employees of the United Fruit Company began uncovering large stone spheres buried in the forest floor. Almost immediately, the mysterious spheres became prized lawn ornaments, ending up on the front yards of government buildings, homes of wealthy buyers and fruit company executives throughout Costa Rica. Many spheres were broken in transit, and others were purposely dynamited by treasure hunters in search of hidden gold. By the time authorities intervened, dozens of stones were destroyed. Over the next several decades around 300 stones were unearthed mostly in the Diquis Delta region. The spheres range in size from a few centimeters to over 2 meters in diameter, and weigh up to 15 tons. Some remain pristine in the original places of discovery, but many others have been relocated or damaged due to erosion, fires and vandalism.

The stones are believed to have been carved around 600 A.D., with most dating to after 1,000 A.D. but before the Spanish conquest. However, its very difficult to estimate the age of the stones. The spheres were dated by pottery styles and radiocarbon dates associated with archeological deposits found with the stone spheres. The problems with this methodology is that it tells you when the sphere were used last and not when it was made. Dating has been further complicated because it is not unusual for the stone spheres to be discovered with the remains of several different cultures artifacts. Furthermore, most of these spheres are no longer in their original location.

It’s possible the sphere are linked to the Diquis culture that flourished between 700 CE and 1530 CE in what is now Costa Rica, but this can’t be verified. Whoever created these spheres had craftsmen experienced enough to create polished surfaces.

As for the purpose of the spheres, archaeologists remain equally stumped, although there are abundant speculation and pseudoscience surrounding these spheres. Some people have linked them to the lost continent of Atlantis, while others believe the stones are related to Stonehenge and the giant heads on Easter Island. And there is always the alien connection.

The stones are now protected under the United Nations, UNESCO, which declared them the heritage of humanity.

Stone sphere at the National Museum of Costa Rica.

Large Stone Sphere on the Grounds of the Embassy of the Republic of Costa Rica in Washington DC.

Stone spheres at the National Museum of Costa Rica

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Skull Chapel in Czermna, Polandia

Standing outside the Kaplica Czaszek, you’d be forgiven for thinking you were at another quaint chapel in Poland.

But a step inside reveals a chilling site. Thousands of human bones, ravaged by war and disease, are stacked on top in a macabre pattern.

Located in the old town of Czermna, the chapel's walls and ceilings are made from the bones which are intended to be a reminder of mortality and human salvation in the face of death.

A step inside Kaplica Czasze in south-western Poland reveals a chilling site. Thousands of human bones, ravaged by war and disease, are stacked on top of each to construct the building's walls and ceilings

The skulls and leg bones of over 3,000 victims are meticulously arranged over the ceilings and walls, while over 21,000 additional remains are hidden behind a trap door in a crypt below the church.

The interior reveals a repetitive design of human bones laid out a thousand times as ‘a celebration of oneness’, according to design news site Beautiful Decay.

The chapel was created after a local priest, named Vaclav Tomasek, visited shallow grave sites commemorating the fallen soldiers and civilians killed in the Silesian Wars and the Thirty Years’ War as well as those devastated by plagues and cholera.

The interior reveals a repetitive pattern repeated a thousand times. It is designed to be 'a celebration of oneness' as well as a reminder of mortality

The chapel was created after a local priest, named Vaclav Tomasek, visited shallow grave sites commemorating the fallen soldiers and civilians killed in the Silesian Wars and the Thirty Years' War as well as those devastated by plagues and cholera

The Thirty Years' War, which took place in 1618–1648, was a series of wars fought mainly in Central Europe and one of the most destructive conflicts in European history.

It was followed by the Silesian Wars in 18th-century which saw Austria and Prussia battle possession of Silesia, a historical region that is now in south-western Poland.

After seeing the poignant reminder of those who had fallen, Mr Tomasek collected and cleaned skeletal remains, embedding them in the chapel walls between 1776 and 1804.

On the church’s altar, Mr Tomasek placed the bones of important figures as well as more unusual bones disfigured by disease to elevate those who suffered in death.

These included the skull of the local mayor, bullet-ridden skeletons, a skull deformed by syphilis and the bones of a rumoured giant.

Mr Tomasek’s own skull was placed at the altar when he passed away in 1804.

After seeing the poignant reminder of those who had fallen, Mr Tomasek collected and cleaned skeletal remains, embedding them in the chapel walls between 1776 and 1804

Located in the old town of Czermna, Poland, the skeletons were placed in the walls and ceilings of the chapel between 1776 and 1804

On the church's altar, Mr Tomasek placed the bones of important figures as well as more unusual bones disfigured by disease to elevate those who suffered in death

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Underground Waterfalls in Tennessee

Approximately 1,120 feet below ground within the heart of Lookout Mountain near Chattanooga, Tennessee, lies the United States’ tallest and deepest waterfall. Named Ruby Falls, after the founder’s wife, the waterfall is located at the end of the main passage of Ruby Falls Cave, in a large vertical shaft that was eroded out of limestone rock by salt water millions of years ago. The stream, fed by rainwater and natural springs, falls 145 feet and collects into a pool in the cave floor and then continues through the mountain until finally joining the Tennessee River at the base of Lookout Mountain. Ruby Falls is believed to be 30 million years old.

Ruby Falls Cave, unlike Lookout Mountain Cave, had no natural openings and could not be entered until the 20th Century. In 1905, the natural entrance to Lookout Mountain Cave had to be closed during the construction of a railway tunnel. Leo Lambert, a local cave enthusiast who knew of Lookout Mountain Cave, decided to reopen it to the public and formed a company to do so. Shortly after drilling started in the fall of 1928, the team discovered a passageway 260 foot underground and still 160 feet above the Lookout Mountain Cave.

Lambert, along with a small crew, entered this opening to explore the new found cave. While exploring they discovered a number of unusual and beautiful rock formations, flowing passages and several stream beds. Pushing their way deeper and deeper into the cave, they finally reached its marvelous jewel, the waterfall. Mr. Lambert and his exploration party were awestruck by it magnificence and beauty, and quickly returned to the surface to share the news. On his next exploration into the cave, Lambert took several people including his wife Ruby to see the many wonders they had discovered. It was then Lambert decided to call the waterfall “Ruby Falls.”

Lambert planned to open both the Lookout Mountain Cave and the new found Ruby Falls Cave to the public and offered tours to both caves. Ruby Falls proved to be the most popular with its many unusual formations and of course the waterfall itself. Lack of public enthusiasm finally lead to the closure of the Lookout Mountain Cave in 1935. Development of the Ruby Falls Cave continued. Electric lights were installed in the cave, making it one of the first caves in the world to be electrified. Later elevators were added to provide hundreds of thousands of visitors easy access to the caves each year.

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