Natural phenomena are the root cause of the appearance of the ancient gods on earth. Seriously, when seeing lightning, a forest fire, northern lights, a solar eclipse for the first time, a person could not even think that these were the tricks of nature. Not otherwise, supernatural forces are having fun. It is interesting to study natural phenomena, but difficult (if they were simple, they would have been explained long ago). Most often, natural phenomena are understood to be relatively rare but beautiful events: rainbows, fireballs, inexplicable swamp lights, erupting volcanoes and earthquakes. Nature is harsh, hides mysteries and cruelly breaks everything that people have set up, but this does not stop us from trying to understand all natural phenomena without exception: atmospheric, in the bowels, in the depths, on other planets, outside the galaxy.

From the fires of St. Elmo to the ionospheric glow, a lot of outlandish luminous balls and other effects are formed in the Earth's atmosphere, some of which - for their long stay in the mythological consciousness - have not been explained to this day. Let's get acquainted with the anomalies of the atmosphere and weed out fiction from the truth.

Nature is not always as serene and beautiful as in the photo above these lines. Sometimes she shows us her dangerous manifestations. From violent volcanic eruptions to terrifying hurricanes, nature's fury is best seen from afar and from a distance. We often underestimate the amazing and destructive power of nature, and she reminds us of this from time to time. While all this looks spectacular in photographs, the consequences of such phenomena can be very scary. We must respect the authority of the planet we live on. For you, we have made this photo and video selection of frightening natural phenomena.

TORNADO AND OTHER TYPES OF TONNADO

All these types of atmospheric phenomena are dangerous vortex manifestations of the elements.

Tornado or tornado arises in a thundercloud and spreads down, often to the very surface of the earth, in the form of a cloud sleeve or trunk with a diameter of tens and hundreds of meters. Tornadoes can appear in many shapes and sizes. Most tornadoes appear as a narrow funnel (only a few hundred meters across), with a small cloud of debris close to the earth's surface. A tornado can be completely hidden by a wall of rain or dust. Such tornadoes are especially dangerous, as even experienced meteorologists may not recognize them.

Lightning tornado:

Tornado in Oklahoma, USA (May site 2010):

Supercell Thunderstorm in Montana, USA, formed by a huge rotating thundercloud 10-15 km high and d about 50 km in diameter. Such a thunderstorm creates tornadoes, heavy winds, large hail:

Thunderclouds:

View of a hurricane tornado from space:

There are other, outwardly similar, but different in nature vortex phenomena:

It is formed as a result of the rise of warmer air from the surface of the earth. Tornado-vortices, unlike tornadoes, develop from the bottom up, and the cloud above them, if formed, is a consequence of the vortex, and not its cause.

Dusty (sandy) whirlwind- this is a vortex movement of air that occurs near the surface of the earth during the day in slightly cloudy and usually hot weather when the earth's surface is strongly warmed by the sun's rays. The vortex lifts dust, sand, pebbles, small objects from the surface of the earth and sometimes transfers them to a site at a considerable distance (hundreds of meters). Whirlwinds pass in a narrow strip, so that in case of weak wind its speed inside the whirlwind reaches 8-10 m/s and more.

Sandstorm:

Or a firestorm is formed when a column of hot, rising air interacts with or causes a fire on the ground. It is a vertical whirlpool of fire in the air. The air above it heats up, its density decreases, and it rises. From below, cold air masses from the periphery enter in its place, which immediately heat up. Steady streams are formed, screwing in a spiral from the ground to a height of up to 5 km. There is a chimney effect. The pressure of hot air reaches hurricane speeds. The temperature rises to 1000˚С. Everything burns or melts. At the same time, everything that is nearby is “sucked” into the fire. And so on until everything that can burn is burned.

The site is a funnel-shaped air-water vortex, similar in nature to an ordinary tornado, which forms above the surface of a large reservoir and is connected to a cumulus cloud. A water tornado can form when a normal tornado passes over a water surface. Unlike a classic tornado, a water tornado exists for only 15-30 minutes, is much smaller in diameter, the speed of movement and rotation is two to three times lower, and is not always accompanied by a hurricane wind.

DUST OR SAND STORMS

Sand (dust) storm- is a dangerous atmospheric phenomenon, which manifests itself in the form of the transfer of a large amount of soil particles, dust or small grains of sand from the surface of the Earth by the wind. The height of the layer of such dust can be several meters, and horizontal visibility is noticeably worse. For example, at a level of 2 meters, visibility is 1-8 kilometers, but often visibility in a storm is reduced to several hundred or even tens of meters. Dust storms occur on the site mainly when the soil surface is dry and the wind speed is more than 10 meters per second.

The fact that a storm is approaching can be understood in advance by the incredible silence that forms around, as if you suddenly fell into a vacuum. This silence is depressing, creating an inexplicable anxiety within you.

Sandstorm on the streets of the city of Onslow in the northwest of Australia, January 2013:

Sandstorm in Golmud Village, Qinghai Province, China, 2010:

Red sandstorm in Australia:

TSUNAMI

is a dangerous natural disaster, which is sea waves resulting from the shift of the seabed during underwater and coastal earthquakes. Having formed in any place, a tsunami can spread at high speed (up to 1000 km/h) for several thousand kilometers, while the height of the tsunami is initially from 0.1 to 5 meters. When reaching shallow water, the wave height increases sharply, reaching a height of 10 to 50 meters. Huge masses of water thrown ashore lead to flooding and destruction of the area, as well as to the death of people and animals. An air shock wave propagates in front of the water shaft. It acts similarly to a blast wave, destroying buildings and structures. The tsunami wave may not be the only one. Very often it is a series of waves rolling ashore with an interval of 1 hour or more.

Tsunami in Thailand, caused by an earthquake (9.3 points) in the Indian Ocean on December 26, 2004:

CATASTROPHIC FLOODS

Flood- flooding of the territory with water, which is a natural disaster. Floods are of different types and caused by different causes. Catastrophic floods lead to death of people, irreparable environmental damage, cause material damage, covering vast territories within one or more water systems. At the same time, the economic site and production activity are completely paralyzed, the lifestyle of the population is temporarily changed. The evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people, the inevitable humanitarian catastrophe requires the participation of the entire world community, the problem of one country becomes the problem of the whole world.

Flooding in Khabarovsk and the Khabarovsk Territory, caused by intense showers that covered the entire Amur River basin and lasted about two months (2013):

New Orleans flooding after a hurricane. New Orleans (USA) stands on damp ground, which is not able to support the city. Orleans sinks slowly into the ground, and the Gulf of Mexico gradually rises around it. Most of New Orleans is already 1.5 to 3 meters below sea level. This was greatly facilitated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005:

Flooding in Germany, in the Rhine river basin (2013):

Flood in Iowa, USA (2008):

THUNDER LIGHTNING

Lightning discharges (lightning) are a giant electrical spark discharge into the atmosphere, with a very long spark, usually occurs during a thunderstorm, manifested by a bright flash of light and accompanying thunder. The total length of the lightning channel reaches several kilometers (2.5 km on average), and a significant part of this channel is located inside the thundercloud. Some discharges extend in the atmosphere for a distance of up to 20 km. The current in a lightning discharge reaches 10-20 thousand amperes, so not all people survive after a lightning strike.

forest fire- this is a spontaneous, uncontrolled spread of fire in forest areas. The causes of fires in the forest can be natural (lightning, drought, etc.) and artificial, when people are the cause. Forest fires come in several forms.

Underground (soil) fires in the forest are most often associated with the ignition of peat, which becomes possible as a result of the drainage of swamps. They can be hardly noticeable and spread to a depth of several meters, as a result of which they represent an additional danger and are extremely difficult to extinguish. Like, for example, a peat fire in the Moscow region (2011):

At ground fire the forest floor, lichens, mosses, grasses, branches that have fallen to the ground, etc., burn down.

Riding forest fire covers leaves, needles, branches and the entire crown; it can cover (in the event of a general fire) the grass-moss cover of the soil and undergrowth. They usually develop in dry windy weather from a ground fire, in plantations with low crowns, in plantations of different ages, as well as in abundant coniferous undergrowth. This is usually the final stage of a fire.

VOLCANOES

Volcanoes- These are geological formations on the surface of the earth's crust, most often in the form of a mountain, where magma comes to the surface, forming lava, volcanic gases, stones and pyroclastic flows. When molten magma pours through cracks in the earth's crust, a volcano erupts, the site of the Roman god of fire and blacksmithing.

Karymsky volcano is one of the most active volcanoes in Kamchatka:

Underwater volcano - the coast of the Tonga archipelago (2009):

Underwater volcano and subsequent tsunami:

Volcanic eruption photographed from space:

Volcano Klyuchevskoy in Kamchatka (1994):

The eruption of Mount Sinabung in Sumatra was accompanied by several mini-tornadoes:

Puyehue volcano eruption in Chile:

Lightning in the ash cloud of the Chaiten volcano in Chile:

Volcanic Lightning:

EARTHQUAKE

Earthquake- these are tremors and vibrations of the Earth's surface caused by natural tectonic processes (movement of the earth's crust and displacements and ruptures occurring in it) or artificial processes (explosions, filling of reservoirs, collapse of underground cavities of mine workings). May cause volcanic eruptions and tsunamis.

Japan earthquake followed by tsunami (2011):

LANDSLIDE

Landslide- a detached mass of loose rocks, slowly and site gradually or abruptly creeping along an inclined plane of separation, while often retaining its coherence, solidity and not overturning its soil.

SEL

sel- a stream with a very high concentration of mineral particles, stones and rock fragments (something between a liquid and a solid mass), which suddenly appears in the basins of small mountain rivers and is usually caused by heavy rainfall or rapid snowmelt.

SNOW AVALANCHES

snow avalanches belong to landslides. This is a mass of snow falling or sliding off the slopes of mountains.

This is one of record avalanches 600 thousand cubic meters in size. The film crew was not harmed.

“This is the consequence of the avalanche - snow dust, it flew high, and everything disappeared as if in a fog. Everyone was doused with snow dust, which, by inertia, continued to move at the speed of a snowstorm. It became dark as night. Because of the fine-fine snow it was difficult to breathe on the site. Hands and feet instantly stiffened. I didn't see anyone around. Although there were people nearby, ”said Anton Voitsekhovsky, a member of the film crew.

Man is accustomed to consider himself the ruler of the earth, the king of the universe and the duke of the solar system. And if in ancient times someone could experience superstitious fear at the sight of lightning or start burning redheads at the stake because of another solar eclipse, then modern man is sure that he is above such remnants of the past. But such confidence remains only until the first meeting with some truly formidable natural phenomenon.

If you think that only a hurricane, a tsunami or a volcanic eruption can be classified as such, you are greatly mistaken. There are more rare, refined and unusual phenomena that may not kill, but will make you roll on the ground in superstitious horror, pretending to be a primitive monitor lizard. In order to save readers from having to re-read banal things, such as: “a lightning strike and an avalanche are dangerous to health”, we will place various natural phenomena in this rating not by the number of people killed, but by how frightening they look. Even if they are relatively safe... After all, what kind of safety can we talk about if nerve cells are not restored?

Terrible natural phenomena that can scare anyone

It's nice to be able to add to the rating something familiar and native in its own way, like Odessa. Moreover, there is a reason: in February 2012, severe frosts hit and the Black Sea off the coast of Odessa successfully froze. The news was full of messages like: “Well, wow! For the first time in 30 years! Sensation! Watch everyone!!!" - and although the Odessans themselves kept their poker face and assured that such nonsense happens regularly every 5 years, no one listened to them ... They did not listen to the Odessans, but they heard the sea - the undercurrent made the ice make incredible sounds.

From a discussion at the Odessa forum of those times

• Why should you be afraid. There are many reasons. Here are just some of the plausible versions that can be found in the comments under the video: it is quite possible that a UFO fell into the sea. Or Optimus Prime is underwater. Or someone is trying to call Cthulhu (maybe already called?). Be that as it may, this sea will not interfere with WD-40 (a contraption for lubricating squeaky parts) ... But jokes aside - this phenomenon is completely unsafe. Most likely, this is how dub step appeared. And music lovers even noticed the similarity between the creak of the Black Sea and the Darude track "Sandstorm".

9. Asperatus

Meet asperatus clouds (Undulatus asperatus), which means "wavy-hilly clouds", which in 2009 was identified as a separate species. This is a rather rare phenomenon, and therefore little studied. Wikipedia, as usual, pleases with information content and logic:

S - sequence

It is believed that in recent decades they began to appear more often than before. But what it is connected with is unknown. By the way, this is the first new type of cloud that has been discovered since 1951.

• Why should you be afraid. To begin with, no one really knows what asperatus is. Yes, it is insanely beautiful and exciting - as if a sea storm broke out overhead. At the same time, films about the Avengers have taught us one thing: such things always mark the appearance of Thor, the opening of a portal to other worlds and other phenomena associated with the destruction of New York. Or at least with a tropical downpour in Khabarovsk, which is also unpleasant.

8. Fires of St. Elmo

St. Elmo's fire is a corona discharge that occurs when there is a large voltage of the electric field in the atmosphere. I understand that this does not mean anything, so let's do it again: under certain conditions, for example, during a thunderstorm or storm, a small electrical discharge occurs on the tops of tall objects (matches of ships, on the tops of trees and rocks) in the air. The sailors took this phenomenon as a good sign and were not far from the truth. After all, such lights are really not dangerous - at most, some kind of electrical appliance will be disabled (and there is nothing to leave electrical appliances at matches). But here's what happened in 1982.

I flew myself a Boeing 747 one evening over Java, did not touch anyone. Suddenly, the crew noticed the lights of St. Elmo on the windshield, although there was no thunderstorm. The pilots were so happy with such a good sign that they ordered the passengers to fasten their seat belts and turned on the de-icers. A few minutes later, the plane smelled of smoke and sulfur - it turned out that the plane had flown into a cloud of volcanic ash. 4 engines, one after another, stalled and the plane began to rapidly decline. Despite the almost zero visibility and the failure of some instruments, the crew was able to successfully land the plane in Jakarta and none of the passengers were injured.

• Why should you be afraid. If you are on a plane and notice the fires of St. Elmo, there are two options: either you are caught in a thunderstorm, or in a few minutes the plane's engines will stall and it will crash down. But in general, this, of course, is a very good sign.

7. Blood rush

Moses, stop

This phenomenon is actually called a red tide, but "bloody" sounds much more dangerous. Something similar happens to water during the flowering of a certain type of algae. Or during the release of a certain type of slaves from Egypt. Often a red tide is observed where coastal waters are polluted - they say, when there is nothing to lose ... Although in reality there are losses - water pigmentation leads to the death of various marine creatures and organisms (all according to the Bible).

In 2001, in India, this trouble took on a new look - in the state of Kerala, it rained "bloody" for 2 months. As studies have shown, there were spores of red algae in the raindrops. So the red tide may be taking on a more frightening shape - the locals were horrified when the heavens decided to arrange an unexpected "prank".

• Why should you be afraid. One of the pigments that turns water red is toxic - it releases a powerful paralytic poison, saxitoxin. It would seem that what is simpler: just do not drink blood-colored salty water - natural selection in action. But even if a person is smart enough not to drink the Red Sea, he is not immune from poisoning. Shellfish and other marine life, having picked up toxins, successfully poison people - there are real cases of fatal poisoning by such seafood. And one more thing: you can not step on the rake of history. The Egyptians know how the transformation of water into blood ends - beware, firstborn!

6. Whirlpool

As a result of the terrifying tsunami that hit the coast of Japan in 2011, a huge whirlpool appeared near the port of Oarai. A video of a funnel spinning a small yacht has spread around many media outlets - however, no one has been able to provide an ending to this story ... But this did not stop Rossiya 24 from reporting that it was a ship that disappeared during the tsunami, on which there were 100 people.

Searches for full versions of this video in other languages ​​did not give so much - the boat appears in many reports, but it is not shown anywhere whether the funnel is dragging it in or not. We can definitely say that 100 people definitely won’t fit on this yacht, and, apparently, he just drifted with the engine off. That is, most likely, there was no one on board. That's how the story, which was supposed to scare, turned into a myth debunking. But do not rush to mock whirlpools - they are not weaklings at all.

• Why should you be afraid. In addition to temporary funnels on the water after the tsunami, there are permanent whirlpools. One of the most famous is the Malsterm whirlpool in the Norwegian Sea, which was mentioned by Jules Verne in. Strong water eddies regularly occur in the Malsterm Strait, due to which ships are advised to bypass these waters. Although the speed of "pulling" water does not exceed 11 km / h, which is clearly less than the speed of modern ships, the danger is quite real. Whirlwinds on the water appear unpredictably and can throw the ship off course, sending it to the rocks. This, of course, is not as epic as pulling to the bottom, but no less effective.

5. Killer Waves

Among the dangerous and destructive phenomena one could mention the tsunami. But this choice is too obvious, and we are not looking for easy ways. Therefore, instead of a tsunami, our rating will include its close relative - a killer wave. Until 1995, few people suspected its existence - stories about hefty waves walking around the ocean were considered tales and urban legends. Until one such beauty came across the Dropner oil platform on January 1, this New Year will be remembered by the platform workers for a long time!

The height of the Dropner wave was about 25 meters - before that, there was an opinion that waves of more than 20 meters were not found on our planet, and any eyewitnesses who claim the opposite should drink less. Now they believed the eyewitnesses, and the newly-born giants began to be suspected of the death of ships, the cause of the crash of which could not be established before. Despite further study of this phenomenon, the reason for the appearance of such waves is not completely clear. But it is known that such a wave (or a group of waves) has a small width, up to 1 km, and can move regardless of the general disturbance of the sea surface - that is, it can appear from any direction.

• Why should you be afraid. If we put together all the mental conclusions of oceanologists, we get a deep, like the Mariana Trench, thought: these waves appear from time to time in different places. Extremely rare, but with a certain pattern. But you can’t predict it ... In general, if you find yourself on a ship in the open ocean, try to stay close to the boats - you never know.

4. Web in Pakistan

After another flood in Pakistan, which turned 1/5 of this country into a swamp, local spiders decided: “Oh, fuck it!” - abandoned their usual habitats and moved to the trees, capturing all the thickets in the area.

The largest web that has been recorded was 183 meters long - just imagine this nightmare of arachnophobes! Curiously, spiders are loners, seen in cannibalism and prefer not to connect their web with others. In the same case, experts found in the web 12 different types of spiders that lived in harmony with each other - you just won’t do anything to intimidate people.

Tell them that only girls are afraid of insects

That feeling when you choose to walk over a bike ride

• Why should you be afraid. To begin with, the flood version is a weak explanation of what is happening. Floods happen constantly and all over the world, but this is not a reason to capture human settlements. So we do not know the true spider motives. Perhaps they just wanted to do it - and no one could stop them. The photo above evokes persistent associations with the abode of the giant spider Shelob, who hunted Frodo and Sam - I think it’s not worth explaining why such places are dangerous?

3 Volcanic Ash Lake

Puehue - similar sounds are made by my drunk neighbor on payday. And this is also the name of a volcano in southern Chile, which in the summer of 2011 pleased the inhabitants of South America with a fresh eruption. True, not only Chile suffered, but also neighboring Argentina. More specifically, Lake Nahuel Huapi, which is the largest and deepest body of water with clean water in this country. And so, this lake was covered with volcanic ash to the very “do not indulge” ... Unlike ordinary ash, such ash does not dissolve in water.

• Why should you be afraid. If a diver is afraid to go waist-deep into water without an oxygen tank, then there is probably good reason. A volcanic eruption is always unpleasant, and if you imagine that such nonsense can suddenly fly in from abroad and cover a couch while relaxing on your favorite beach, it becomes terribly unpleasant.

2. Firestorm

A fire tornado is a rare and truly dangerous natural phenomenon. It appears as a result of the coincidence of several factors, the most important of which, obviously, is a large-scale fire. High temperatures, several fires and cold air currents can accompany the formation of a fiery whirlwind that sweeps away everything in its path. The fire tornado does not disappear until it burns everything around, because the flames are constantly fanned by a stream of air that acts like giant bellows.

A fiery tornado was observed in 1812, when Moscow burned, and a little earlier in Kyiv (1811, Podolsk fire). Other major cities of the world experienced a similar disaster: Chicago, London, Dresden and others.

• Why should you be afraid. In 1923, after a large-scale earthquake in Tokyo (the great Kanto earthquake), a fiery tornado rose from multiple fires. The flame reached a height of 60m. On one of the squares, surrounded by buildings, a crowd of frightened people were trapped - in just 15 minutes, about 38,000 people died in a fiery whirlwind.

1. Sandstorm

A sandstorm, whatever you say, looks more epic than any other natural phenomenon. Someone might think: there is nothing wrong with it - it will bring sand for free and only. However, the historian Herodotus describes how in 525 BC. A sandstorm in the Sahara buried 50,000 troops alive.

But someone naive will object again: the time was dense then, people died from absolutely everything - in the era of the Internet and video bloggers, sand does not scare us. Nothing like that: in 2008, a sandstorm in Mongolia claimed the lives of 46 people. A year earlier, in 2007, such a phenomenon ended even more tragically - about 200 people died.

Our old, but already a little frightened naive friend will not calm down on this - he will begin to console himself that away from the desert, you can relax and not be afraid of dust. No matter how: in 1928 a dust storm swept through Ukraine, giving 15 million tons of Ukrainian black soil for long-term use to the nearest western neighbors. And on May 9, 2016, the residents of Irkutsk were able to enjoy a festive dust storm - Happy Victory Day, th…

• Why should you be afraid. Sandstorm kills. In addition, it can appear almost anywhere on our planet - the sands of the Sahara regularly travel across the Atlantic to please the inhabitants of the States with an unexpected visit. So no one is immune from this joy.

The Earth is fraught with many unusual and sometimes inexplicable phenomena, and from time to time all sorts of phenomena and even cataclysms occur throughout the globe, most of which can hardly be called ordinary and familiar to humans. Some cases have quite understandable reasons, but there are also those that even experienced scientists cannot explain for many decades in a row. True, natural disasters of this kind do not happen often, only a few times during the year, but, nevertheless, the fear of them in mankind does not disappear, but, on the contrary, grows.

The most dangerous natural phenomena

These include the following types of disasters:

earthquakes

This is a dangerous natural phenomenon in the ranking of the most dangerous natural anomalies. Ground tremors of the earth's surface, arising in places of ruptures of the earth's crust, provoke vibrations that turn into seismic waves of considerable power. They are transmitted over considerable distances, but they become strongest near the immediate focus of shocks and provoke large-scale destruction of houses and buildings. Since there are a lot of buildings on the planet, the number of victims goes into the millions. For all time, much more people in the world have suffered from earthquakes than from other cataclysms. In the last ten years alone, more than seven hundred thousand people have died from them in different countries of the world. Sometimes the tremors reached such force that entire settlements were destroyed in an instant.

Tsunami waves

Tsunamis are natural disasters that cause a lot of destruction and death. Waves of great height and strength that arise in the ocean, or in other words, tsunamis, are the result of earthquakes. These giant waves usually occur in areas where seismic activity is significantly increased. A tsunami moves very fast, and as soon as it gets aground, it begins to grow rapidly in length. As soon as this huge fast wave reaches the shore, in a matter of minutes it is able to demolish everything in its path. The destruction caused by a tsunami is usually large-scale, and people who are taken by surprise by the cataclysm often do not have time to escape.

Ball lightning

Lightning and thunder are familiar things, but such a type as ball lightning is one of the most terrible phenomena of nature. Ball lightning is a powerful electric discharge of current, and it can take on absolutely any shape. Usually this type of lightning looks like luminous balls, most often reddish or yellow. It is curious that these lightnings completely defy all the laws of mechanics, appearing out of nowhere, usually before a thunderstorm, inside houses, on the street, or even in the cockpit of an aircraft that is making a flight. Ball-shaped lightning hovers in the air, and does it very unpredictably: for a few moments, then it becomes smaller, and then completely disappears. It is strictly forbidden to touch ball lightning, it is also undesirable to move when meeting with it.

Tornadoes

This natural anomaly also belongs to the most terrible natural phenomena. Usually a tornado is called an air stream that twists into a kind of funnel. Outwardly, it looks like a columnar cloud of a conical shape, inside which air moves in a circle. All objects that fall into the tornado zone also begin to move. The speed of the air flow inside this funnel is so huge that it can easily lift into the air very heavy objects weighing several tons and even houses.

sandstorms

This type of storm occurs in deserts due to strong winds. Dust and sand, and sometimes particles of soil carried by the wind, can reach several meters in height, and in the area where the storm has broken out, there will be a sharp deterioration in visibility. Travelers, caught in such a storm, risk dying, because the sand gets into the lungs and eyes.

Blood rains

This unusual natural phenomenon owes its threatening name to a strong water tornado that sucked red algae spores out of the water in reservoirs. When they mix with the water masses of the tornado, the rain takes on a terrible red hue, very reminiscent of blood. This anomaly was observed by the inhabitants of India for several weeks in a row, the rain of the color of human blood caused fear and panic in people.

fire tornadoes

Natural phenomena and natural disasters are most often unpredictable. These include one of the most terrible - a fiery tornado. This type of tornado is already dangerous, but , if it occurs in a fire zone, it should be feared even more. Near several fires, when a strong wind occurs, the air above the fires begins to heat up, its density becomes less, and it begins to rise along with the fire. At the same time, the air flows twist into a kind of spiral, and the air pressure acquires tremendous speed.

The fact that the most terrible natural phenomena are poorly predicted. Often they come suddenly, catching people and authorities by surprise. Scientists are working to create advanced technologies that can predict upcoming events. Today, the only guaranteed way to avoid the "whims" of the weather is only to move to areas where such phenomena are observed as rarely as possible or have not been recorded before.

The world is full of mysteries, crimes and creepy stories. Some phenomena are quite real, while others may have become a figment of someone's imagination. However, they have received a separate article on Wikipedia, where you can learn more about these stories. The following stories are not for impressionable people. If you don't like horror stories at night, it's better not to know.

The scariest stories

This phrase turned out to be from the last page of the Rubaiyat collection by Omar Khayyam. A copy of Khayyam's collection, which was later found, contained a cipher believed to have been left by the dead man.

3. Skafism

Skafism is considered one of the worst methods of execution. The victim was tied between two boats, forcibly fed with milk and honey, and then the body was covered with this mixture, and left in the Sun to be eaten by insects.

4 Rat King

A phenomenon in which several rats have fused or intertwined tails, mixed together with blood, dirt and excrement.

Rats grow up with joined tails that are often broken. Historically, finding the Rat King was considered a bad omen, associated with epidemics.

5. Cotard's syndrome

Cotard's syndrome is a very rare disorder in which a person is convinced they are dead or do not exist.

6. The death of the Dyatlov group

In February 1959, nine tourists disappeared at the Dyatlov Pass in the Northern Urals. A cut open tent and bodies without shoes and visible signs of violence were found at the camp site.

The investigation found that the group left the tent suddenly and simultaneously, but there were no signs of a stampede. Among the versions of this event are paranormal activity, a test of a secret weapon and an avalanche.

7 Burial Alive

Burial alive occurs by accident or intentionally. The victim may be buried, mistakenly believing that she is dead.

Deliberate burial alive can be a form of torture, murder, or execution. The fear of being buried alive is one of the most common human phobias.

8 Silent Twins

Inseparable twins June and Jennifer Gibbons from Wales, also known as the "silent twins", have lived almost their entire lives talking only to each other and to their younger sister. They wrote books that they never sold.

In the end, the twins decided that in order for one of them to lead a normal life, the other must sacrifice herself. In 1993, Jennifer died suddenly due to acute myocarditis, although doctors did not find any poison or any drugs in her body. The death of the girl remained a mystery, and June, as promised, began to talk and lead a normal life.
Strange phenomena

9. Children with black eyes

Black eyed children are supposedly paranormal beings that resemble children between the ages of 6 and 16 with pale white skin and black eyes.

People said that the children asked for a ride, let them into the house, or tried to beg.

10. Tarrare

Tarrare is an 18th-century Frenchman with an insatiable appetite. He could eat food intended for 15 people, live cats, dolls in one sitting, and once, without chewing, he swallowed a whole eel.

Despite his gluttony, he was quite thin (45 kg), but when he ate, his stomach swelled like a huge ball.

The reason for this gluttony has not been established. After an autopsy, surgeons found that his esophagus was greatly enlarged, his liver and gallbladder were greatly enlarged, and his body was filled with pus.

11. UVB-76

A shortwave radio station, also known as the "buzzer", located in the village of Povarovo near Moscow, broadcasts "short, monotonous" sounds at a frequency of 4625 kHz all day long, and occasionally these sounds are replaced by voice messages of strange letters and numbers in Russian.

12 Locked-In Syndrome

A state in which a person is aware of everything, but cannot move or communicate verbally due to complete paralysis of almost all voluntary muscles with the exception of the eyes. In fact, a person is locked in his own body.

13. Shadow People

Shadow people are the perception of shadow silhouettes as living figures of a humanoid form. A number of religions, legends, and other belief systems describe shadow beings or supernatural entities, such as the shadows of the underworld.

Those who have observed or studied shadow people most often talk about seeing them out of the corner of their eye for a moment.

14. Childbirth in a coffin

This phenomenon occurs when gases accumulating inside a deceased pregnant woman cause a post-mortem birth of a child, pushing it from the inside out.
The scariest slides

15. Roller coaster euthanasia

This rollercoaster was designed by Julijonas Urbonas as a machine that kills a person "with elegance and euphoria".

The three-minute slide ride includes a slow ascent to a height of about 500 meters and a descent through seven spirals. The descent itself takes only a minute, during which you move at a speed of about 100 meters per second. The last minute on this slide is deadly.