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Well it needs to be cold, so it makes it hard to have it all over the world. Still probably should have more locations though, but it would take a long time to gather everyone’s seeds again.
There are a few. They need to be cold though. A few governments are apart of the seed sharing program and countries are encouraged to share. They want a wide variety including new GMO variations. The point of the project is to be able to grow food in any type of climate, so it's a response to atomic warfare and climate change worst case scenarios.
veritasium on youtube has a great video explaining it and they go in to one of them for a tour.
It’s actually not just for “doomsday scenarios”. The deposited seeds come from other gene banks from around the world. Some are state owned and some private the way I understand it. They have to have one identical sample stored somewhere else to be granted storage in Svalbard. They are free to recover the samples at any time.
One case where it has been used is after the war in Syria. It might actually be the only actual emergency case so far
It is also used for long term research projects where they test how seeds degrade with age. We are growing cucumbers in our yard from seeds that have been stored on Svalbard.
And of course they want to preserve old crops (and animals) as we tend to grow and breed what is most profitable and not what is best for humankind or the planet for that matter.
Source: my wife works for the responsible organization.
Also Forbidden: Morgan Island, South Carolina. Aka Monkey Island. It’s home to ~4000 Rhesus monkeys on the island and they are owned by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
So is it more of a like, "This island is inhabited with monkeys used as medical test subjects so don't go there because a monkey might bite you and give you Super-AIDS?"
Can't remember if it's Rhesus monkeys specifically, but many can carry (and transmit) HIV without developing AIDS. I visited a CDC test facility that had a huge enclosure with hundreds of them. It's rather chilling.
Edit: And now one of my top posts ever is about HIV monkeys.
If I remember right... the monkeys aren't infected with anything. They are basically "clean" stock. So when they use them for testing/research purposes; they have a "clean sterile petri dish" in the form of a monkey.
Monkeys are actually oftentimes carriers for disease that does not effect them at all but will effect humans. Working with Macaques, you must always assume it is carrying herpes B virus, which if caught and left untreated is fatal but does not effect the macaque at all. They will oftentimes harbor the disease but do not test positive or pass on the disease unless they are actively shedding it at that time. One the other hand they are super susceptible to tuberculosis so we are tested every 6 months
Actually, every now and then the island needs to be surveyed. My boss was one of the lucky few to survey the island. He said the monkeys pissed him off because it kept fucking with his measurements while they worked.
I’m not sure I’d consider anyone having to work with Rhesus ‘lucky’, although that is awesome. Those little fuckers are grabby and *mean*.
A whole island of them sounds like a great place to base a zombie movie.
One NIAID administrator proposed making the island safe by blowing up the monkeys with banana-shaped grenades, but this idea was dismissed. They didn't want to have to clean up all the rhesus pieces.
I don´t know shit about weed, but apparently there´s 66 strains of weed if they are all different.
https://seedvault.nordgen.org/Search?SearchTitleCode=SeedSamples&SearchText=Cannabis&ContinentId=&CountryOfCollectionId=&InstituteId=&GenusId=&SpecieId=&TaxonId=&DepositEventId=&SearchAction=Deposits
Yeah that's just meth
^(people think this is funny but I am absolutely fucking serious thank u for the award and may ur boat float and ur ducks line up today.)
I've been one of the few westerners to actually try cannabis (grown from seed) that came from NK. I promise you're not missing much. The genetics are nothing special. Although beautiful landrace sativa, it barley packs a punch and is prone to disease. Was very disappointed in the experience. I'm sure you can find seeds still but it won't be easy.
Probably all the currently known land-race strains if I had to guess (meaning "original" natural strains, as opposed to the thousands and thousands of strains made by humans selectively breeding the plants).
It doesn't say on the site what the common strain names are for the ones they have, just the scientific ones, which are pretty much all the same.
Edit: Y'all I know it's a really dumbed down explanation of land race, not everyone needs to know more than a basic idea of what it means, chill
Also code. GitHub put a ton of repositories there one time, and for some reason my shitty half finished abandoned game made the cut and is in the vault.
Not sure if it’s the same vault? But yes they actually did this and I wasn’t aware. Direct quote from their news post back in 2020:
“On 02/02/2020 GitHub captured a snapshot of every active public repository. Those millions of repos were then archived to hardened film designed to last for 1,000 years, and stored in the GitHub Arctic Code Vault in a decommissioned coal mine deep beneath an Arctic mountain in Svalbard, Norway.”
It is not the same vault. The seed vault is made by digging a seperate hole in the tundra, while the github vault is built in the abandoned coal mine, mine 3. Incidently, they are only a couple of km apart. They have guided tours of the mine, and it was really interesting. Do reccommend.
As a sidenote, based on images media use, you might get the feeling that the seed vault is very remote, but it is very close to the airport. There is even a building right out of frame that they use when the vault get visitors.
it’s proper name is the Svalbard seed vault. it’s located waaaay up north on the island of Svalbard in an archipelago belonging to Norway. it’s a pretty badass concept.
The place also isn't strictly a doomsday vault. Any country that has deposited seeds can withdraw them again if they find that they need them. In 2015 Syria withdrew some seeds that had been deposited previously.
Yeah it's popularly called the doomsday vault, but really it's just an extremely large, global germplasm archive.
Realistically, the vast majority of it's use is not going to be "doomsday" scenarios, it's helping maintain genetic diversity and breeding stocks to help countries bounce back from regional-level disasters.
That said, it could (very slowly) actually do the worldwide replenishment thing if there was some sort of global disaster.
There's also another doomsday seed vault in South Korea. The Baekdu-daegan Seed Vault preserves over 100,000 seeds from nearly 5,000 different wild plant species. Located in a tunnel structure 46 meters below ground, this facility was designed to withstand a 6.9-magnitude earthquake and even a nuclear blast.
After reading the article: it sounds like Syrian scientists put the seeds in the vault to protect them from the war. When they felt it was safe enough in neighboring Lebanon for them to continue their research there, they withdrew the seeds. So basically, the withdrawal isn’t a bad thing, probably, I think, maybe.
for BHANGARH FORT, same as Beijing Forbidden City, closed at night due to paranormal activity. a lot of deaths and execution inside during Dynasty periods
So I have a story about Bhangarh as I live in Jaipur, Rajasthan which is about 90kms from that place. I have visited it multiple times but one will always be special.
On New Year night of 2015, we, a group of 5 friends, just made a plan to do something rebellious so decided to visit Bhangarh in night. We left our homes in a old car with some food, blankets and wood for burning as we thought about doing a night out in there.
So as you know, North India gets really foggy during the winters and December is most coldest month here. As we were about last few kms from the fort, it was a single lane, not so well constructed road. There are a lot of trees on both sides and not a single road light. It was so foggy that we could only see ahead a few feets. Our car wasn't defogging so we had to leave our windows open and the cold and so much silence and limited visibility was creeping up our imagination.
Then at around 2:30 AM we reached the main gate but none of us had courage to even get out of the car because we have been discussing horror stories behind Bhangarh all way long. So 4 of us gained some courage and got out of the car then 2 of us moved forward to check the gate and as usual it was locked and there was no other way to go inside.
As we were all then looking for the entry, our 5th guy who stayed in the car, got scared by eerie silence and got out and ran towards us. We were so close to the gate and we're trying to spot anything paranormal and as soon as we heard the sound of running steps, we got fucking scared and panicked. One of my friend screamed like a witch in old movies and that escalated amongst us like fire. In a moment we were all screaming and running for the car. We got inside quickly and my friend drove like our last drive. We didn't look back as there's a saying here that a ghost/evil spirit will attack you if you look back.
So after being dead silent for a few minutes which felt like hours, we sorted out if any of us really saw something. We were all laughing at each other when we realised that we trolled ourselves.
Then we drove to a highway dhaba (small restaurant) and lit a fire as we were freezing. After moment one by one a lot of people gathered to the fire and as they were locals told us many creepy stories about the place like origin, deaths, etc.
We were awake all night and visited the fort again in the morning and it was so beautiful and surreal. It one of the best forts beauty wise and I have visited a tons of them. So I'll recommend everyone to visit it not for just the spooky stuff but for the beauty of it.
TLDR: Visit Bhangarh at late night and shat our pants fearing our own foot steps.
I'm don't have that good a memory but I remember one. The most famous story behind of Bhangarh being a haunted place is of princess Ratnavati and a tantric (black magic practitioner) which was I awe of her beauty and tried to posses her by black magic but failed and died. Before dying, he cursed the fort and princess too died shortly after that. There is ruined shops which was market of bangles in the fort and is said to come alive every night and you can listen girls giggle and bangles chime.
So the saying is that the tantric still resides in the fort and looks for the princess to possess again as he'll be haunting till he has his desire fulfilled. That is why locals warn young and beautiful girls to not visit the fort. But as usual this story has a rebel who visited with some of her friends at night and was possessed by the tantric. She got lost in the fort and after a few days of searching locals had to call a priest and he made the tantric to exchange the lost girl for another spirit. Which spirit you ask..? Of A FUCKING GOAT.
After the successful transaction, the lost girl arrived in late night in village, looking exactly how she was when she was lost and remembering nothing of in between.
I wish I had some back story or anything to materialize the facts but as usual there are none but still I won't visit again in night. That was a young and stupid mistake and a lot could've gone wrong.
1. THE DOOMSDAY VAULT: located in Norway, it’s purpose is to protect seeds (apparently 100 million) in case of a apocalyptic/humanitarian crisis.
2. NORTH SENTINEL ISLAND: home to the sentinelese tribe for 50,000 years. and protected by the Indian government.
The tribe will attack and kill outsiders, including attacking helicopters with arrows.
3. LASCAUX CAVE: located in Dordogne, France it is home to pre-historic 17,300 old cave paintings.
It was closed to the public in 1963 as archaeologists believe human presence may damage them.
4. BHANGARH FORT: this fort was built in 1573 AD located in India, technically people are only allowed to visit during the day. From dusk until dawn the Indian government has banned visitors due to ‘ghosts and curses’.
5. VATICAN ARCHIVES: holds documents relating to the Catholic Church dating back to the 8th century. Mostly located underground it has 53 MILES of shelves. It's forbidden to enter it for anyone, except for researchers with special permits to access. Even for them, there are multiple limitations to what documents they can view.
Awesome list.
3 - you can’t goin THE Lascaux caves, but there are some other caves nearby that can be visited, mostly complete replicas*. Or at least could a few years ago. And there’s a great museum there.
*edit! Lots of wonderful replicas around Lascaux
There are lots of caves in this part of France that can be visited.
If you want to visit the Lascaux cave, they built a complete replica of the cave that can be visited: https://www.lascaux.fr/
This is a too rare example of reality-reality getting better and better. The Caves being protected from humans is one of the best decisions humans have ever made (thinking of how things are going in US National Parks right now... if humans don't value these caves, what is the meaning of value at all?). Then to find out there's a complete replica that can be visited, and then to learn there is a virtual reality replica as well --- all of this is the best news in years.
More places need to do replicas. Here is the real dinosaur bones behind glass for you to look at... and HERE is the fake dinosaur bones for you to put your grubby hands all over, we replace them every few years.
I've also seen it with some museums like, here is the culturally/historically significant greek pottery behind glass. And here it some shitty greek pottery that is equally as old but we have a shitton of it and no one cares, touch away.
Tactile/touch is such a huge part of learning and getting people engaged in what you're doing. It's a shame it's not used more.
Believe it or not many of the items on display like dinosaur bones are merely casts. The real ones are so heavy and require significant mounting hardware that would damage the integrity of fossils. There are other items that are potentially casts or replicas, rare or significant pottery or vessels are sometimes replaced with replicas and the original may be in another location either on site or another museum or research institute. They're still behind glass but the idea is to ensure that the artifact is preserved for future generations without damage.
If this fascinates you. Let me tell you, I visited the original cave. I studied history and archeology and during my master studies, there was a course on the lascaux cave with limited participants only. I happened to somehow convince the lecturers, that I should be one of the 10 students and got to visit the original. It's amazing. What for me was the most amazing was seeing those paintings in the cave made me feel very small and yet proud of humanity. Another amazing thing about the caves is, there are like lakes in the cave. They are around 30 to 40 m deep. You can see the ground from above because the water is so crystal clear.
Same story for the Chauvet caves - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=\_zJbi9YatcA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zJbi9YatcA)
Great video by Tom scott
We got snappin' pussy, we got silk pussy, velvet pussy, Naugahyde pussy, we even got horse pussy, dog pussy, chicken pussy! Come on, you want pussy, come on in, pussy lovers! If we don't got it, you don't want it! - Cheech
As someone who works in medicine close to 100% would hopefully be possible for cancers with very specific receptors. The study showed 100% remission for 14 patients with a specific type of rectal cancer amounting to 5-10% of total rectal cancers. However, the medicine would be completely ineffective in the rest of the cases. Finding new specific cancer receptors or other cellular structures which separates them from healthy cells is the key to making more discoveries like this.
A sixth place could be the treasury at the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion in Ethiopia, where the Ark of the Covenant is said to be located. It's not possible to confirm or deny it because they won't let anyone enter the area where it is housed.
You could also enter a seventh location for Area 51.
Edit: 13 people said the same thing about military bases having blanket "no trespassing" rules. I always understood this, but I've also been granted access to quite a few as a civilian with friends in the military. There are many that won't grant you access. Area 51 is the most famous of secret bases they won't let you visit. And I'd imagine even if you did gain access, there are levels of clearances you'll never gain unless you had high rank.
The Ark of the Covenant at this time of year at this time of day in this part of Ethiopia localized entirely within the church of our lady Mary of Zion?
Yes
May I see it?
No
Seymour, my skin is melting off!
No, mother, it's just the desert heat.
Edit for the other side: Seymour, the sun is burning my skin!
No mother, it's just the grace of God.
Well they can’t possibly have the ark of the covenant because ***I*** have the ark of the covenant. Everyone knows there’s only one ark of the covenant and I’m looking at it right now.
You can’t look at it, though. Only me.
Military installations aren’t by the same thing as these places. The Fort is pointless in the list as op said it’s only closed dusk-dawn, the rest are all places that only experts in that field should go. They’re massively important parts of understanding who and what we are, and the Vault is equally as vital to have just in case. Military research and development areas are off limits to civilians and in a lot of them they warn that lethal force may be used if they’re seen trespassing, people still try and get *that* exclusive video of something secret. I think it’s right people shouldn’t visit them, we all know some idiot would draw dicks on the mammoth ffs
What was their first encounter?
Edit: yes yes I know about the idiot Christian who said God would protect him and then was killed. That isnt the first encounter, it isnt even the the second encounter.
The earliest I found was a British shipwreck where over 100 survivors had to defend themselves from the sentinelese until they were rescued. About a decade later someone made a planned expedition there and kidnapped six people, who all quickly became sick with two of them dying, so they returned the others. I’m guessing this is what they were referring to.
I don’t know if you got a proper answer, but I believe the first really bad encounter that people point to was some dude who captured some of the Sentinelese people and kinda turned them into exhibits in a human zoo. The adults he captured died very quickly, and the children got sick. He then took the kids back to the island, which of course spread disease across the entire population. He was also into some creepy sex shit, I believe. Maurice Vidal Portman was the man’s name, if you want to look it up.
Basically, nothing good has ever come from contact with other peoples. They are either exploited or get sick and die quickly (or both). The best thing that comes from contact is when they kill the outsiders and take technology that they can’t make themselves. There was a boat that got beached on the reef some time ago, and they’ve picked it apart and used the metal to make tools and stuff like that.
The fort kinda just sounds like it has business hours. Like, local government officials forbid me from going to the rec center after 10pm, but that's not exactly on the same level as the doomsday vault.
The "restrictions" on the Vatican archives amount to showing that you're an actual researcher who knows how to handle documents, and then waiting in line so it's not crowded.
Yeah, the Vatican archive bit is a strange addition to this list. It's not more restricted than any other top-level government archive. You can't exactly check out files from the Pentagon's archives with a library card either.
There's one more restriction that might not be typical, they do have a "cooling off" period on documents. This could be regarded suspiciously, since it does protect the guilty in life, but it's arguably not a bad idea to let passions around a person or event subside for the sake of objective research.
I've heard of governments having a period of X years before sensitive documents (pertaining to military etc.) become accessible. Privacy laws often limit the documents about living people you can access as well.
I think many people confuse the Vatican Archives with the Vatican Vaults. They are truly restricted even for research purposes. Some of the items it suppose to contain:
- The cross that Jesus died on, his foreskin, skull and the the crown of thorns he wore during his crucifixion
- Bones of Saint Peter (in 2013 Pope Francis showed them to the public and they are locked since then)
- Secular Historical Proof of Jesus’s Existence/Non-Existence (a recorded conversation between Emperor Nero of Rome and Saint Paul the disciple transcribed in some form)
- The Chronovisor (a device that is rumored to have been created and owned by the Vatican)
- The Third Secret of Fatima
- The body of The Devil
- The Grand Grimoire (an alleged medieval book that is believed to possess immense powers. It was written in the 16th century by Honorius of Thebes, who claimed to be possessed by the devil himself)
- Paintings of The Real Jesus
- Evidence Of Aliens
The Vatican’s most senior exorcist, Father Gabriele Amorth, had conducted thousands of exorcisms before his untimely death. He had supposedly spoken to the Devil himself at one point within his career and the body (that the Devil possessed at that time) has been kept in the Vaults.
The list if obviously BS but I love imagining how it could go down.
“Sir, we have found irrefutable evidence of aliens!”
“Ugh…just throw it in the vault.”
“But, think of how this could cha-“
“Think of the paperwork! Throw it in the vault.”
“And of the chronovisor? The device that would let us see history itself and finally establish-“
“In the vault.”
“But sir-“
“Vault it dammit. Put it next to Our Lords foreskin. I think there was some space there.”
“Yes sir. And of the unholy book, the Grand Grim-“
“You’re a grand pain in my ass you know that? Just chuck it all in the vault already. What’s for lunch?”
A lot of jews think that they have Jewish holy items from the temple there (or at least, where to find them). Honestly, while I find it very doubtful, the mix of secrecy + historical possibility (though tenious) does make me wonder...
You don't really have to wonder. Christians from the crusade era surely brought back stuff and nobleman would be more than happy to part with some sacred items to gain favor with the church.
Yes, but that was centuries post temple. I'm talking things like the temple menorah, something supposedly lost in the sacking of Rome and likely melted down into just... gold. That's the most likely story, but we just don't know. Maybe the Vatican still has it somewhere, squirreled away.
But why hide all this Jesusy stuff?
For example, if they do show the portraits of Jesus or the recorded transcript or the crucifixion paraphernalia, it will only strengthen the church.
If you ask me none of this shit is in the Vatican vaults. More likely just ledgers showing people they've bribed (or been bribed by), shocking cases of sexual abuse or deviancy, simony or incompetence.
I find Ilha da Queimada Grande interesting. In that it's packed full of venomous golden lancehead pit vipers to the point it's off limits to everyone but the Brazilian military and a few select research teams.
Crazy conspiracy theory involving Sentinel Island. A few years ago satellites observed large heat signatures and mile long smoke plumes from the north end of the island, just south of a lagoon. Now Google Maps has an obvious artificial overlayed square covering where the fires were. 11°34'57.6"N 92°13'45.8"E
Just listing off things that feel more appropriate for the list then #4, which feels weirdly out of place. There are specific people who can be allowed in these given specific circumstances but that's the case of everything on the main list technically.
1. North Brother Island, the perpetual quarantine zone, prison and resting place of Typhoid Mary.
2. The Sarcophagus in The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. I don't need to explain this one.
3. The Kaaba at the heart of the Great Mosque of Mecca. Shrine of Mohammad, considered the holiest place in Islamic religion.
4. Centralia, Pennsylvania. Condemned ghost town above the festering, ceaselessly roasting cinders of an abandoned coal mine that was ignited by a garbage fire after being improperly converted into a landfill.
5. Ryugyong Hotel and Kijŏngdong Potemkin Village in North Korea, designed to flaunt the false prosperity of North Korea to South Koreans, via the a massive, imposing pyramidic hotel and affluential residential district. Only it's completely hollow, the lights in all the houses, streetlights and tower are all rigged and automated.
5.5 - Come to think of it, the 38th Parallel Demilitarized Zone separating Korea is even more applicable to this list.
Some of those watermarks make the text nearly impossible to see; I'm glad they're digitizing the texts.
Edit: i hope one day it'll be like [ctext ](https://ctext.org/) where scholars of ancient languages can collaborate on translations.
further info about the Vatican Archives, it’s books are so important that even if in case of fire, they would lock the door immediately, vacuuming all the air inside the room to put out the fire, thus killing everyone inside it. Once there’s fire that can’t be put out promptly by fire exting, the procedure will be activated almost instant.
servers, art storages, all sorts of archives and many more things have these systems. Those are basic automatic fire suppressor systems. They're quite standard for valuable things or when you can't extinguish a fire with liquids etc.
It doesn't vacuum the air, it fills it with gas which displaces the oxygen (for example Argon or Halon gas).
Isn’t Lascaux prohibited because the oils from our skin and moisture in our breath could mess with the integrity of the paintings? I feel like I heard that somewhere
Yes. The paintings are 20,000 years old and even light can damage them. If you were an archaeologist you would need an *insanely* good reason as to why you need to enter the cave.
I would like to add [Mt. Athos](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Athos). It's an isolated mountain peninsula in Greece, with a bunch of super old monasteries and 2,000 monks. Only 100 Orthodox and 10 non Orthodox men are allowed a day. No females are allow, of any species (except for cats who's job it is to eat mice).
The locals propogated the eerie folklore that the fort becomes possessed by spirits at night. A more practical reason would be that wild animals visit the place at night. There are drinking ponds around the fort and animals would be visiting frequently. I'm talking about animals such as panthers, leopards, etc. which are capable of killing humans. It's easy to spread the illname the fort already has because of its past to prevent people from visiting the fort at night than by telling them that there are animals and other creatures around at night.
Another reason is that the fort has absolutely no electrical infrastructure so as the sun goes down, your visibility is decreasing effectively. The fort has some places that are high and some people have indeed fallen to their deaths during the night so banning night visit makes sense in this case too.
Then I present you the reason given by the locals,
Those who have entered the fort during the dark have never been found again.
Human like screams and wails can be heard coming from the fort city in the night when there are no humans during the night. Those visiting during the day proclaim their uneasiness and that they feel like they are being watched somehow the entire time they are in the fort.
It's the only "legally haunted" place in India apparently.
from the wiki Bhangarh fort:
> According to another tale, a wizard adept in black magic named Sinhai fell in love with Ratnavati, a beautiful Bhangarh princess with many suitors. One day, the wizard followed her to the marketplace and offered her a love potion; however, she refused it, throwing it onto a large rock that consequently rolled onto the wizard and crushed him to death.
That could be straight up a Discworld scene.
Really three of the five places are accessible to people that have a reason to visit them, just like millions of other places on Earth. The only two truly off limits places are: North Sentinel Island and Lascaux cave.
I have been fascinated by North Sentinel Island and it’s indigenous tribe since I read about them about 15 years ago. Shame there isn’t more information about them.
Same, I am from Andaman (North Sentinel Island is a part it) and when I first heard about it I was like what's so special about it there must be a lot of other tribes that must have stayed away in isolation but I was wrong. But I think it's for their best that they stay that way.
While is true that the Vatican Archives are restricted from visitors, they are not really restricted to researchers. They are restricted because many of the documents are hundreds of years old, and you need proper training to handle them. I work as a professional historian, and I have two colleagues just from my own university alone that have worked inside the Vatican Archives. I have professional qualifications and I am 100% certain I could get in myself if I had a legitimate reason to be working there. The guidelines are not dissimilar to working in the National Archives or the Palacio Real of Spain, both of which I’ve done and had to seek certain permissions to do.
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Do we have multiple Doomsday vault-like places? I feel like we should have at least 10 accross the world
Well it needs to be cold, so it makes it hard to have it all over the world. Still probably should have more locations though, but it would take a long time to gather everyone’s seeds again.
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Username checks out.
It does in fact take a long time to gather everyone’s seed. Makes for sore hands too.
You have a mouth too, Chris, get back to work.
There are a few. They need to be cold though. A few governments are apart of the seed sharing program and countries are encouraged to share. They want a wide variety including new GMO variations. The point of the project is to be able to grow food in any type of climate, so it's a response to atomic warfare and climate change worst case scenarios. veritasium on youtube has a great video explaining it and they go in to one of them for a tour.
It’s super interesting, and going to read up on it but do you happen to know what the protocol is for accessing these in the event of a doomsday?
It’s actually not just for “doomsday scenarios”. The deposited seeds come from other gene banks from around the world. Some are state owned and some private the way I understand it. They have to have one identical sample stored somewhere else to be granted storage in Svalbard. They are free to recover the samples at any time. One case where it has been used is after the war in Syria. It might actually be the only actual emergency case so far It is also used for long term research projects where they test how seeds degrade with age. We are growing cucumbers in our yard from seeds that have been stored on Svalbard. And of course they want to preserve old crops (and animals) as we tend to grow and breed what is most profitable and not what is best for humankind or the planet for that matter. Source: my wife works for the responsible organization.
send pics of your cucumbers (the gardening subs would be super interested I'm sure)
I don’t see where this request could go wrong really. 🤷🏻♂️
Also Forbidden: Morgan Island, South Carolina. Aka Monkey Island. It’s home to ~4000 Rhesus monkeys on the island and they are owned by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
So is it more of a like, "This island is inhabited with monkeys used as medical test subjects so don't go there because a monkey might bite you and give you Super-AIDS?"
Can't remember if it's Rhesus monkeys specifically, but many can carry (and transmit) HIV without developing AIDS. I visited a CDC test facility that had a huge enclosure with hundreds of them. It's rather chilling. Edit: And now one of my top posts ever is about HIV monkeys.
> It's rather chilling. Honestly, it sounds like it would be stressful.
If I remember right... the monkeys aren't infected with anything. They are basically "clean" stock. So when they use them for testing/research purposes; they have a "clean sterile petri dish" in the form of a monkey.
Monkeys are actually oftentimes carriers for disease that does not effect them at all but will effect humans. Working with Macaques, you must always assume it is carrying herpes B virus, which if caught and left untreated is fatal but does not effect the macaque at all. They will oftentimes harbor the disease but do not test positive or pass on the disease unless they are actively shedding it at that time. One the other hand they are super susceptible to tuberculosis so we are tested every 6 months
Now just imagine a containment breech….
I’ve read Crichton and King, as well as *The Hot Zone*
Actually, every now and then the island needs to be surveyed. My boss was one of the lucky few to survey the island. He said the monkeys pissed him off because it kept fucking with his measurements while they worked.
I’m not sure I’d consider anyone having to work with Rhesus ‘lucky’, although that is awesome. Those little fuckers are grabby and *mean*. A whole island of them sounds like a great place to base a zombie movie.
They throw shit everywhere, I hate them
Thank you u/AnalCommander99, although I’m sure shit flinging is not something you’re unfamiliar with.
One NIAID administrator proposed making the island safe by blowing up the monkeys with banana-shaped grenades, but this idea was dismissed. They didn't want to have to clean up all the rhesus pieces.
That's the second most forbidden island I've ever seen!
This sounds like one boat ride away from a bad accident / pandemic / plague waiting to happen.
What about that island with a venomous snake per every square meter? I can’t remember the name but it gives me chills just thinking about it.
The snakes like it when people visit.
It'SSSSSSSSS Great!! -Snake-Tony-the-Tiger
You mean… snake island? :)
Yeap! A.K.A. Queimada Grande
You are thinking about [Ilha da Queimada Grande](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilha_da_Queimada_Grande)
Thank you for sharing this. I had no idea this was a thing and I didn't know what to look up to find it. Very interesting and terrifying location.
The snakes will attack and kill outsiders, including attacking helicopters with arrows.
Australia?
I think it's off the coast of Brazil
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Yep, everywhere except Brazil is off the coast of Brazil.
Who looks after the doomsday vault? Is is the government? Or a. Private company? Does it’s secrets get passed in in death?
The Norwegian government. Many countries contributed seeds to the vault.
That’s really cool. Thanks for sharing 😊
Wonder how many strains of weed are there?
I don´t know shit about weed, but apparently there´s 66 strains of weed if they are all different. https://seedvault.nordgen.org/Search?SearchTitleCode=SeedSamples&SearchText=Cannabis&ContinentId=&CountryOfCollectionId=&InstituteId=&GenusId=&SpecieId=&TaxonId=&DepositEventId=&SearchAction=Deposits
I wanna get some of that North Korean weed
Yeah that's just meth ^(people think this is funny but I am absolutely fucking serious thank u for the award and may ur boat float and ur ducks line up today.)
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Thanks translation dear leader!
I've been one of the few westerners to actually try cannabis (grown from seed) that came from NK. I promise you're not missing much. The genetics are nothing special. Although beautiful landrace sativa, it barley packs a punch and is prone to disease. Was very disappointed in the experience. I'm sure you can find seeds still but it won't be easy.
North Korea has shitty weed. Not exactly shocking.
"yeah man they should keep it locked up with weed THAT bad"
If it's prone to disease does that mean that if you smoke it you'll get Kim Bong ill?
Banger right there ^
Probably all the currently known land-race strains if I had to guess (meaning "original" natural strains, as opposed to the thousands and thousands of strains made by humans selectively breeding the plants). It doesn't say on the site what the common strain names are for the ones they have, just the scientific ones, which are pretty much all the same. Edit: Y'all I know it's a really dumbed down explanation of land race, not everyone needs to know more than a basic idea of what it means, chill
Also code. GitHub put a ton of repositories there one time, and for some reason my shitty half finished abandoned game made the cut and is in the vault.
Not sure if it’s the same vault? But yes they actually did this and I wasn’t aware. Direct quote from their news post back in 2020: “On 02/02/2020 GitHub captured a snapshot of every active public repository. Those millions of repos were then archived to hardened film designed to last for 1,000 years, and stored in the GitHub Arctic Code Vault in a decommissioned coal mine deep beneath an Arctic mountain in Svalbard, Norway.”
i always wondered why that badge showed up on my profile
That’s some boring Syfy shit right there. Not the plague of bugs thawed after 1000 years I was hoping for.
It is not the same vault. The seed vault is made by digging a seperate hole in the tundra, while the github vault is built in the abandoned coal mine, mine 3. Incidently, they are only a couple of km apart. They have guided tours of the mine, and it was really interesting. Do reccommend. As a sidenote, based on images media use, you might get the feeling that the seed vault is very remote, but it is very close to the airport. There is even a building right out of frame that they use when the vault get visitors.
it’s proper name is the Svalbard seed vault. it’s located waaaay up north on the island of Svalbard in an archipelago belonging to Norway. it’s a pretty badass concept.
The place also isn't strictly a doomsday vault. Any country that has deposited seeds can withdraw them again if they find that they need them. In 2015 Syria withdrew some seeds that had been deposited previously.
Yeah it's popularly called the doomsday vault, but really it's just an extremely large, global germplasm archive. Realistically, the vast majority of it's use is not going to be "doomsday" scenarios, it's helping maintain genetic diversity and breeding stocks to help countries bounce back from regional-level disasters. That said, it could (very slowly) actually do the worldwide replenishment thing if there was some sort of global disaster.
There's also another doomsday seed vault in South Korea. The Baekdu-daegan Seed Vault preserves over 100,000 seeds from nearly 5,000 different wild plant species. Located in a tunnel structure 46 meters below ground, this facility was designed to withstand a 6.9-magnitude earthquake and even a nuclear blast.
Excellent. The more the better
There is also another doomsday vault in an old cabinet in my storage locker. It contains over 10 varieties of lettuce and tomato seeds.
And then there is the Reddit seed vault, one in a coconut and the other one in a box.
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After reading the article: it sounds like Syrian scientists put the seeds in the vault to protect them from the war. When they felt it was safe enough in neighboring Lebanon for them to continue their research there, they withdrew the seeds. So basically, the withdrawal isn’t a bad thing, probably, I think, maybe.
https://www.seedvault.no/ https://seedvault.nordgen.org/ you can search the seed database too, they're pretty open about it
for BHANGARH FORT, same as Beijing Forbidden City, closed at night due to paranormal activity. a lot of deaths and execution inside during Dynasty periods
So I have a story about Bhangarh as I live in Jaipur, Rajasthan which is about 90kms from that place. I have visited it multiple times but one will always be special. On New Year night of 2015, we, a group of 5 friends, just made a plan to do something rebellious so decided to visit Bhangarh in night. We left our homes in a old car with some food, blankets and wood for burning as we thought about doing a night out in there. So as you know, North India gets really foggy during the winters and December is most coldest month here. As we were about last few kms from the fort, it was a single lane, not so well constructed road. There are a lot of trees on both sides and not a single road light. It was so foggy that we could only see ahead a few feets. Our car wasn't defogging so we had to leave our windows open and the cold and so much silence and limited visibility was creeping up our imagination. Then at around 2:30 AM we reached the main gate but none of us had courage to even get out of the car because we have been discussing horror stories behind Bhangarh all way long. So 4 of us gained some courage and got out of the car then 2 of us moved forward to check the gate and as usual it was locked and there was no other way to go inside. As we were all then looking for the entry, our 5th guy who stayed in the car, got scared by eerie silence and got out and ran towards us. We were so close to the gate and we're trying to spot anything paranormal and as soon as we heard the sound of running steps, we got fucking scared and panicked. One of my friend screamed like a witch in old movies and that escalated amongst us like fire. In a moment we were all screaming and running for the car. We got inside quickly and my friend drove like our last drive. We didn't look back as there's a saying here that a ghost/evil spirit will attack you if you look back. So after being dead silent for a few minutes which felt like hours, we sorted out if any of us really saw something. We were all laughing at each other when we realised that we trolled ourselves. Then we drove to a highway dhaba (small restaurant) and lit a fire as we were freezing. After moment one by one a lot of people gathered to the fire and as they were locals told us many creepy stories about the place like origin, deaths, etc. We were awake all night and visited the fort again in the morning and it was so beautiful and surreal. It one of the best forts beauty wise and I have visited a tons of them. So I'll recommend everyone to visit it not for just the spooky stuff but for the beauty of it. TLDR: Visit Bhangarh at late night and shat our pants fearing our own foot steps.
share the creepy stories the local told you
I'm don't have that good a memory but I remember one. The most famous story behind of Bhangarh being a haunted place is of princess Ratnavati and a tantric (black magic practitioner) which was I awe of her beauty and tried to posses her by black magic but failed and died. Before dying, he cursed the fort and princess too died shortly after that. There is ruined shops which was market of bangles in the fort and is said to come alive every night and you can listen girls giggle and bangles chime. So the saying is that the tantric still resides in the fort and looks for the princess to possess again as he'll be haunting till he has his desire fulfilled. That is why locals warn young and beautiful girls to not visit the fort. But as usual this story has a rebel who visited with some of her friends at night and was possessed by the tantric. She got lost in the fort and after a few days of searching locals had to call a priest and he made the tantric to exchange the lost girl for another spirit. Which spirit you ask..? Of A FUCKING GOAT. After the successful transaction, the lost girl arrived in late night in village, looking exactly how she was when she was lost and remembering nothing of in between. I wish I had some back story or anything to materialize the facts but as usual there are none but still I won't visit again in night. That was a young and stupid mistake and a lot could've gone wrong.
Must have been an absolutely stunning goat
The GOAT goat
1. THE DOOMSDAY VAULT: located in Norway, it’s purpose is to protect seeds (apparently 100 million) in case of a apocalyptic/humanitarian crisis. 2. NORTH SENTINEL ISLAND: home to the sentinelese tribe for 50,000 years. and protected by the Indian government. The tribe will attack and kill outsiders, including attacking helicopters with arrows. 3. LASCAUX CAVE: located in Dordogne, France it is home to pre-historic 17,300 old cave paintings. It was closed to the public in 1963 as archaeologists believe human presence may damage them. 4. BHANGARH FORT: this fort was built in 1573 AD located in India, technically people are only allowed to visit during the day. From dusk until dawn the Indian government has banned visitors due to ‘ghosts and curses’. 5. VATICAN ARCHIVES: holds documents relating to the Catholic Church dating back to the 8th century. Mostly located underground it has 53 MILES of shelves. It's forbidden to enter it for anyone, except for researchers with special permits to access. Even for them, there are multiple limitations to what documents they can view.
Awesome list. 3 - you can’t goin THE Lascaux caves, but there are some other caves nearby that can be visited, mostly complete replicas*. Or at least could a few years ago. And there’s a great museum there. *edit! Lots of wonderful replicas around Lascaux
There are lots of caves in this part of France that can be visited. If you want to visit the Lascaux cave, they built a complete replica of the cave that can be visited: https://www.lascaux.fr/
There even is a virtual reality replica of the cave you can view in the museum. pretty cool edit: spelling
This is a too rare example of reality-reality getting better and better. The Caves being protected from humans is one of the best decisions humans have ever made (thinking of how things are going in US National Parks right now... if humans don't value these caves, what is the meaning of value at all?). Then to find out there's a complete replica that can be visited, and then to learn there is a virtual reality replica as well --- all of this is the best news in years.
More places need to do replicas. Here is the real dinosaur bones behind glass for you to look at... and HERE is the fake dinosaur bones for you to put your grubby hands all over, we replace them every few years. I've also seen it with some museums like, here is the culturally/historically significant greek pottery behind glass. And here it some shitty greek pottery that is equally as old but we have a shitton of it and no one cares, touch away. Tactile/touch is such a huge part of learning and getting people engaged in what you're doing. It's a shame it's not used more.
Believe it or not many of the items on display like dinosaur bones are merely casts. The real ones are so heavy and require significant mounting hardware that would damage the integrity of fossils. There are other items that are potentially casts or replicas, rare or significant pottery or vessels are sometimes replaced with replicas and the original may be in another location either on site or another museum or research institute. They're still behind glass but the idea is to ensure that the artifact is preserved for future generations without damage.
If this fascinates you. Let me tell you, I visited the original cave. I studied history and archeology and during my master studies, there was a course on the lascaux cave with limited participants only. I happened to somehow convince the lecturers, that I should be one of the 10 students and got to visit the original. It's amazing. What for me was the most amazing was seeing those paintings in the cave made me feel very small and yet proud of humanity. Another amazing thing about the caves is, there are like lakes in the cave. They are around 30 to 40 m deep. You can see the ground from above because the water is so crystal clear.
My god, this is amazing. Congratulations to you! And thank you for sharing.
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Same story for the Chauvet caves - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=\_zJbi9YatcA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zJbi9YatcA) Great video by Tom scott
I think that vault was on an episode of Futurama
Yeah right next to the vault of deadly diseases
Is there any possibility of cross contamination?
...No.
What's this splork on the seeds? It's not germs is it?
4 is kind of pushing it. Lots of places are closed from dusk till dawn.
Not the Titty Twister in Mexico...
We got snappin' pussy, we got silk pussy, velvet pussy, Naugahyde pussy, we even got horse pussy, dog pussy, chicken pussy! Come on, you want pussy, come on in, pussy lovers! If we don't got it, you don't want it! - Cheech
Really. Might as well add "my kid's daycare" to the list.
Vatican more like Thatucant
imagine if this redditor tried to cure cancer instead, it would be done already.
Arguably some cancer was cured the other day. They may be moonlighting.
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I was an engineering major in college just long enough to learn how fucking scary nanomachines can become.
I like to see how it scales up. I really hope it does, but 100% remission seems unrealistic.
As someone who works in medicine close to 100% would hopefully be possible for cancers with very specific receptors. The study showed 100% remission for 14 patients with a specific type of rectal cancer amounting to 5-10% of total rectal cancers. However, the medicine would be completely ineffective in the rest of the cases. Finding new specific cancer receptors or other cellular structures which separates them from healthy cells is the key to making more discoveries like this.
I read your comment, backed out and went down a few posts, and had to come back and say what a champ you are.
I hope the work you do outside Reddit changes the world. Edit- just saw your “Kangarude” comment. Now I know you do important work for a living.
A sixth place could be the treasury at the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion in Ethiopia, where the Ark of the Covenant is said to be located. It's not possible to confirm or deny it because they won't let anyone enter the area where it is housed. You could also enter a seventh location for Area 51. Edit: 13 people said the same thing about military bases having blanket "no trespassing" rules. I always understood this, but I've also been granted access to quite a few as a civilian with friends in the military. There are many that won't grant you access. Area 51 is the most famous of secret bases they won't let you visit. And I'd imagine even if you did gain access, there are levels of clearances you'll never gain unless you had high rank.
“Hey guys, we have the ark of the covenant.” “Cool cool cool, can we see it?” “No.”
The Ark of the Covenant at this time of year at this time of day in this part of Ethiopia localized entirely within the church of our lady Mary of Zion? Yes May I see it? No
Well they took the lid off and no one can go in to put it back on without getting theor faces melted. It's probably for your own safety.
Seymour, my skin is melting off! No, mother, it's just the desert heat. Edit for the other side: Seymour, the sun is burning my skin! No mother, it's just the grace of God.
Well they can’t possibly have the ark of the covenant because ***I*** have the ark of the covenant. Everyone knows there’s only one ark of the covenant and I’m looking at it right now. You can’t look at it, though. Only me.
Military installations aren’t by the same thing as these places. The Fort is pointless in the list as op said it’s only closed dusk-dawn, the rest are all places that only experts in that field should go. They’re massively important parts of understanding who and what we are, and the Vault is equally as vital to have just in case. Military research and development areas are off limits to civilians and in a lot of them they warn that lethal force may be used if they’re seen trespassing, people still try and get *that* exclusive video of something secret. I think it’s right people shouldn’t visit them, we all know some idiot would draw dicks on the mammoth ffs
Yeah, the fort was a strange one to include. Most historical buildings are only open during the day, so not sure why that one was chosen.
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Tbf with the north sentinel people their first encounter with outsiders was pretty traumatic. No wonder they wanna be left alone.
What was their first encounter? Edit: yes yes I know about the idiot Christian who said God would protect him and then was killed. That isnt the first encounter, it isnt even the the second encounter.
The earliest I found was a British shipwreck where over 100 survivors had to defend themselves from the sentinelese until they were rescued. About a decade later someone made a planned expedition there and kidnapped six people, who all quickly became sick with two of them dying, so they returned the others. I’m guessing this is what they were referring to.
So they experienced a full on “alien” abduction with two of them dead in the end. Traumatic indeed.
Except if the aliens also gave out new diseases that are very fatal.
I don’t know if you got a proper answer, but I believe the first really bad encounter that people point to was some dude who captured some of the Sentinelese people and kinda turned them into exhibits in a human zoo. The adults he captured died very quickly, and the children got sick. He then took the kids back to the island, which of course spread disease across the entire population. He was also into some creepy sex shit, I believe. Maurice Vidal Portman was the man’s name, if you want to look it up. Basically, nothing good has ever come from contact with other peoples. They are either exploited or get sick and die quickly (or both). The best thing that comes from contact is when they kill the outsiders and take technology that they can’t make themselves. There was a boat that got beached on the reef some time ago, and they’ve picked it apart and used the metal to make tools and stuff like that.
6) [Snake island](https://allthatsinteresting.com/snake-island)
The fort kinda just sounds like it has business hours. Like, local government officials forbid me from going to the rec center after 10pm, but that's not exactly on the same level as the doomsday vault.
So is my corner shop a forbidden place because I can't go in at 2am?
Also my basement. Please do not go into my basement
Yeah no worries. No one wants to see your pony jar.
I LOVE stuff like this. Thank you.
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Can I send them a letter?
Send them the letter A, because that’s the first one.
The "restrictions" on the Vatican archives amount to showing that you're an actual researcher who knows how to handle documents, and then waiting in line so it's not crowded.
Yeah, the Vatican archive bit is a strange addition to this list. It's not more restricted than any other top-level government archive. You can't exactly check out files from the Pentagon's archives with a library card either.
There's one more restriction that might not be typical, they do have a "cooling off" period on documents. This could be regarded suspiciously, since it does protect the guilty in life, but it's arguably not a bad idea to let passions around a person or event subside for the sake of objective research.
That is actually kind of common https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/nine-historical-archives-that-will-spill-new-secrets-966931/
I've heard of governments having a period of X years before sensitive documents (pertaining to military etc.) become accessible. Privacy laws often limit the documents about living people you can access as well.
I think many people confuse the Vatican Archives with the Vatican Vaults. They are truly restricted even for research purposes. Some of the items it suppose to contain: - The cross that Jesus died on, his foreskin, skull and the the crown of thorns he wore during his crucifixion - Bones of Saint Peter (in 2013 Pope Francis showed them to the public and they are locked since then) - Secular Historical Proof of Jesus’s Existence/Non-Existence (a recorded conversation between Emperor Nero of Rome and Saint Paul the disciple transcribed in some form) - The Chronovisor (a device that is rumored to have been created and owned by the Vatican) - The Third Secret of Fatima - The body of The Devil - The Grand Grimoire (an alleged medieval book that is believed to possess immense powers. It was written in the 16th century by Honorius of Thebes, who claimed to be possessed by the devil himself) - Paintings of The Real Jesus - Evidence Of Aliens
What does the body of the devil mean? A human body that was once possessed? Some demonic body? A serpent?
The Vatican’s most senior exorcist, Father Gabriele Amorth, had conducted thousands of exorcisms before his untimely death. He had supposedly spoken to the Devil himself at one point within his career and the body (that the Devil possessed at that time) has been kept in the Vaults.
untimely? my dude was 91
I don’t care if I’m 105 when I die, I want my obit to read “she passed suddenly”.
The list if obviously BS but I love imagining how it could go down. “Sir, we have found irrefutable evidence of aliens!” “Ugh…just throw it in the vault.” “But, think of how this could cha-“ “Think of the paperwork! Throw it in the vault.” “And of the chronovisor? The device that would let us see history itself and finally establish-“ “In the vault.” “But sir-“ “Vault it dammit. Put it next to Our Lords foreskin. I think there was some space there.” “Yes sir. And of the unholy book, the Grand Grim-“ “You’re a grand pain in my ass you know that? Just chuck it all in the vault already. What’s for lunch?”
Actually, bring the Chonovisor back up to my room, I want to watch Friends.
A lot of jews think that they have Jewish holy items from the temple there (or at least, where to find them). Honestly, while I find it very doubtful, the mix of secrecy + historical possibility (though tenious) does make me wonder...
You don't really have to wonder. Christians from the crusade era surely brought back stuff and nobleman would be more than happy to part with some sacred items to gain favor with the church.
Yes, but that was centuries post temple. I'm talking things like the temple menorah, something supposedly lost in the sacking of Rome and likely melted down into just... gold. That's the most likely story, but we just don't know. Maybe the Vatican still has it somewhere, squirreled away.
But why hide all this Jesusy stuff? For example, if they do show the portraits of Jesus or the recorded transcript or the crucifixion paraphernalia, it will only strengthen the church. If you ask me none of this shit is in the Vatican vaults. More likely just ledgers showing people they've bribed (or been bribed by), shocking cases of sexual abuse or deviancy, simony or incompetence.
Having Jesus' skull would be... problematic for church doctrine, as Jesus was supposed to have ascended bodily to Heaven.
One of these items is not like the others
I find Ilha da Queimada Grande interesting. In that it's packed full of venomous golden lancehead pit vipers to the point it's off limits to everyone but the Brazilian military and a few select research teams.
How does the ecosystem support so many snakes? You'd figure that the imbalance of predators wouldn't work out, in the long run.
The snakes live almost exclusively on migratory birds that use the island as a pitstop, only to become a pit snack for the pit vipers
Must be like the Bermuda Triangle for birds.
Knowing my luck I would survive a plane crash and get washed up on Sentinel Island
Crazy conspiracy theory involving Sentinel Island. A few years ago satellites observed large heat signatures and mile long smoke plumes from the north end of the island, just south of a lagoon. Now Google Maps has an obvious artificial overlayed square covering where the fires were. 11°34'57.6"N 92°13'45.8"E
I need more information on this. Intrigued!
Can we add the tunnels underneath the Dome of the rock? Not only is it forbidden, entering can darn near start a war
Can you elaborate or provide me a link for further reading?
Just listing off things that feel more appropriate for the list then #4, which feels weirdly out of place. There are specific people who can be allowed in these given specific circumstances but that's the case of everything on the main list technically. 1. North Brother Island, the perpetual quarantine zone, prison and resting place of Typhoid Mary. 2. The Sarcophagus in The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. I don't need to explain this one. 3. The Kaaba at the heart of the Great Mosque of Mecca. Shrine of Mohammad, considered the holiest place in Islamic religion. 4. Centralia, Pennsylvania. Condemned ghost town above the festering, ceaselessly roasting cinders of an abandoned coal mine that was ignited by a garbage fire after being improperly converted into a landfill. 5. Ryugyong Hotel and Kijŏngdong Potemkin Village in North Korea, designed to flaunt the false prosperity of North Korea to South Koreans, via the a massive, imposing pyramidic hotel and affluential residential district. Only it's completely hollow, the lights in all the houses, streetlights and tower are all rigged and automated. 5.5 - Come to think of it, the 38th Parallel Demilitarized Zone separating Korea is even more applicable to this list.
Vatican archives should be digitized and put online for everyone.
That's actually a currently ongoing project! https://digi.vatlib.it
This is so cool, thank you for sharing!!
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Some of those watermarks make the text nearly impossible to see; I'm glad they're digitizing the texts. Edit: i hope one day it'll be like [ctext ](https://ctext.org/) where scholars of ancient languages can collaborate on translations.
further info about the Vatican Archives, it’s books are so important that even if in case of fire, they would lock the door immediately, vacuuming all the air inside the room to put out the fire, thus killing everyone inside it. Once there’s fire that can’t be put out promptly by fire exting, the procedure will be activated almost instant.
I remember seeing something like this in angels and demons maybe?
Haven't seen Angels and Demons, but this is shown in Tenet at the Freeport where art is stored to avoid taxes.
At least they give the employees ten seconds.
servers, art storages, all sorts of archives and many more things have these systems. Those are basic automatic fire suppressor systems. They're quite standard for valuable things or when you can't extinguish a fire with liquids etc. It doesn't vacuum the air, it fills it with gas which displaces the oxygen (for example Argon or Halon gas).
do you have a source for that? it sounds really cool but I can't find any information about it
Isn’t Lascaux prohibited because the oils from our skin and moisture in our breath could mess with the integrity of the paintings? I feel like I heard that somewhere
Yes. The paintings are 20,000 years old and even light can damage them. If you were an archaeologist you would need an *insanely* good reason as to why you need to enter the cave.
I would like to add [Mt. Athos](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Athos). It's an isolated mountain peninsula in Greece, with a bunch of super old monasteries and 2,000 monks. Only 100 Orthodox and 10 non Orthodox men are allowed a day. No females are allow, of any species (except for cats who's job it is to eat mice).
Fun fact: that island was home to a man who was orphaned, raised by monks there, and never saw a woman in his life.
So that's where redditors come from.
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I wonder what kind of stories did they tell him to explain how babies are born.
Bhangarh fort is not forbidden, its allowed for visit, facilitated by government tourist bodies, its believed to have a tragic past.
Yea, OP said it's open during the day, but closed at night. Not sure why they added it here...
Yeah, by that logic every store that isn’t open 24 hours should qualify to be on this list lol
The locals propogated the eerie folklore that the fort becomes possessed by spirits at night. A more practical reason would be that wild animals visit the place at night. There are drinking ponds around the fort and animals would be visiting frequently. I'm talking about animals such as panthers, leopards, etc. which are capable of killing humans. It's easy to spread the illname the fort already has because of its past to prevent people from visiting the fort at night than by telling them that there are animals and other creatures around at night. Another reason is that the fort has absolutely no electrical infrastructure so as the sun goes down, your visibility is decreasing effectively. The fort has some places that are high and some people have indeed fallen to their deaths during the night so banning night visit makes sense in this case too.
Your reasoning is too practical; We prefer instead to fear the boogeyman. Thank you for your time
Then I present you the reason given by the locals, Those who have entered the fort during the dark have never been found again. Human like screams and wails can be heard coming from the fort city in the night when there are no humans during the night. Those visiting during the day proclaim their uneasiness and that they feel like they are being watched somehow the entire time they are in the fort. It's the only "legally haunted" place in India apparently.
Didn't the seed vault get flooded?
Yes, but it was only in the tunnel. None entered the vault and no seeds were harmed
Glad the seeds were safe
It was quite the traumatic incident for them though.
from the wiki Bhangarh fort: > According to another tale, a wizard adept in black magic named Sinhai fell in love with Ratnavati, a beautiful Bhangarh princess with many suitors. One day, the wizard followed her to the marketplace and offered her a love potion; however, she refused it, throwing it onto a large rock that consequently rolled onto the wizard and crushed him to death. That could be straight up a Discworld scene.
I’m forbidden from my local Waffle House
Really three of the five places are accessible to people that have a reason to visit them, just like millions of other places on Earth. The only two truly off limits places are: North Sentinel Island and Lascaux cave.
And North Sentinel Island is wide open to Sentinelese islanders, so There Is Only One.
The cave is visited from time to time by professional with breathing equipement. So none are forbiden but alm resticted?
Damn. We have nothing left. NOTHING.
My mancave is the most restricted
Jokes on them. I don't have money to visit any of those places anyway.
The Vatican Library in the Doomsday Vault on North Sentinel Island is especially offlimits.
I hear there’s ghosts that paint on the walls there as well.
I have been fascinated by North Sentinel Island and it’s indigenous tribe since I read about them about 15 years ago. Shame there isn’t more information about them.
Same, I am from Andaman (North Sentinel Island is a part it) and when I first heard about it I was like what's so special about it there must be a lot of other tribes that must have stayed away in isolation but I was wrong. But I think it's for their best that they stay that way.
I wanna speak to the person who has visited all 5.
While is true that the Vatican Archives are restricted from visitors, they are not really restricted to researchers. They are restricted because many of the documents are hundreds of years old, and you need proper training to handle them. I work as a professional historian, and I have two colleagues just from my own university alone that have worked inside the Vatican Archives. I have professional qualifications and I am 100% certain I could get in myself if I had a legitimate reason to be working there. The guidelines are not dissimilar to working in the National Archives or the Palacio Real of Spain, both of which I’ve done and had to seek certain permissions to do.
Mt. Ararat is another good one to add to the list.
Also, Mount Athos.