TREES OF MYSTERY: KLAMATH, CALIFORNIA

 

If you are on the 700-mile road trip between Portland and San Francisco, Trees of Mystery in Klamath marks your half-way point. Located in northern California on Highway 101 between the Redwood National and State Parks, Trees of Mystery uses the phrase “A Place of Wonder” as its tagline. Considered a place of spirits by the Native Americans who once inhabited the area, visitors to this modern-day attraction may also feel a sense of wonder as they walk among the trees that were over 1100 years old by the time the pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock.

While anyone interested in spending a few hours at Trees of Mystery may notice the above sign, chances are Paul Bunyan and his trusty sidekick Babe the Blue Ox will pop into view much further down the road. Welcoming visitors and their dogs year-round, Paul encourages anyone to climb on his shoe and pose for a picture. He’ll answer any questions you may have and may even say “CHEEEEEZZZZZZEEEEE” the entire time you pose everyone for the shot. To my delight (and the kids’ horror), Babe is endowed with a larger-than-life anatomically correct pair of bovine testicles. Naturally, we went in for the under belly group nut shot (spoiler alert for any of you receiving our annual Christmas post card).Paul spent a few moments in the national spotlight in 2013; he was featured on the NPR podcast “This American Life,” episode 506 entitled Secret Identity. Truly, this podcast is worth a few minutes of your time, either before or after your trip. Admission to Trees of Mystery runs $15 for adults, $11 for seniors 60 and over, $8 for kids age 7-12, and free for anyone 6 and under. Plan for 1.5 to 2 hours to fully explore the trails and ride the Sky Trail, a six-passenger gondola journey through the redwoods to the top of Ted’s Ridge.

Approximately 0.8 miles in length, the Kingdom of Trees trial is dedicated to the majesty and awe of the redwood trees indigenous to the Pacific Northwest, including Sitka spruce and Douglas fir. Some trees have unique genetic formations, like the octopus tree, elephant tree, upside down tree, lightning tree, and candelabra tree, to name a few. A common place for weddings is the cathedral tree, a grouping of trees that encompass the pulpit, and bride and groom during the simple ceremony. Note that Trees of Mystery is taking advance reservations 600 years into the future for anyone interested in booking the baby cathedral tree.

A highlight of the Trees of Mystery experience is the ride on the Sky Trail gondola. Rides last 7- to 9-minutes each way, and leashed dogs are welcome to join their owners. Loading and unloading is straightforward, simply stand on the giant big foot stickers on the wooden platform. From the top of the ridge, look one way to see the ocean and the other way towards the mountains.

The gondola ride is super fun. Unless you have a paralyzing fear of heights, make sure not to miss this experience (it’s included in the price of your admission). Also, if the weather is cooler, you may want to have a sweatshirt handy for this portion of your visit.

Walking sticks are available for anyone interested in making the one mile journey down from the top of the ridge. We chose to skip this option, as many of us were wearing sandals and the kids had been each promised a souvenir from the gift shop. All in all, the lower-level trails are all well groomed and maintained (with a slight, but manageable, incline in some places). The park does offer a shuttle service for anyone with limited mobility (advance notice required).

Also worth mentioning is how hard it is to take a picture of monolithic trees unless you have the vantage point of an ant. If you have Pine Sol at home, take a whiff and then enlarge this photo.

On the way out, leave time to read the back stories behind the wooden carvings in the Trail of Tall Tales. If you are the knife- or sharpie carrying sort, make some initials in the wooden I Love You heart. We picked poor Digger’s nose instead. And as you make the transition between the woods and the gift shop, linger for a moment at the last exhibit—marked on a giant slice of wood are notable dates in world history that truly illustrate the span of time that passed between seedling and chainsaw.

At the back of the gift shop is the End of the Trail Native American Indian Museum, featuring one of the largest private North American Native American collections of artifacts in the world. Arranged in five rooms, admission to the museum is free and a perfect “full circle” reminder of the fragile and important connection between nature and humankind.

Beyond magnets, coffee mugs, t-shirts, redwood seedlings, and giant metal sculptures of the one-and-only Sasquatch, visitors can enjoy free samples of homemade fudge. If you need something more substantial than chocolate, consider a trip just acro

ss Highway 101 to the Forest Cafe. Meals range from meatloaf to fish and chips; the dining room is fairly unique (see the cafe website for photos).

All in all, we were pleasantly surprised how much we enjoyed our time at Trees of Mystery. Paul’s shoe and Babe’s balls aside, this experience quickly fades from the makings of a tourist trap to a genuinely pleasant and educational journey through a beautiful corner of America’s Redwood Empire.

A special thanks to Trees of Mystery for providing us with complimentary general admission tickets. As always, we never recommend anything we wouldn’t take our own families too.

15 Unsolved Ocean Mysteries That'll Keep You Up At Night

 

1. The ghost ship Kaz II

The Kaz II was a boat that set sail in 2007 from Australia. It was manned by three sailors and was mysteriously found drifting with the motor still running, a powered-on laptop, and a table completely set with no sign of any foul play... oh, EXCEPT FOR THE MISSING CREW! Coroners have speculated what happened to the men but nothing has ever been proven.

2. The giant cannibal shark

In 2003, scientists decided to tag a 9-foot-long great white shark to study temperature changes in the ocean. Weirdly, several months later, the tag recording the information was found on shore. When researchers looked at the tags information, they were stunned. About four months after the tag was put on, the shark seemed to have dove around 1,900 feet, which suggests it was attacked and eaten by something. But what could eat a 9-foot great white? An even bigger shark, some scientists say.

 

3. Mariana Trench

The Mariana Trench is the deepest point in all of our oceans, coming in at 36,201 feet deep. That's right, you could stick Mt. Everest on the bottom and it would be COMPLETELY covered by water with an extra 7,000 feet of extra water on top. Because of the sheer size and pressure, only four expeditions have successfully descended. Who knows what's even down there? There's just too much of it!!

4. Baltic Sea anomaly

No, that's not the Millenium Falcon. It was discovered by two researchers using a sonar scan in 2011 some 300 feet deep on the ocean floor of the Baltic Sea. The strange shape led many to believe it was some kind of space craft that had crash landed or a weird natural formation. Even crazier, some now speculate it could be some kind of secret war technology.

5. Unexplained sounds

You know that feeling when you hear a strange noise in the middle of the night? Imagine that, but in the middle of the effing ocean. There are several unexplained noises that have been recorded over the years with two of the most popular being "The Bloop" and "Julia." These sounds have to have been made by very large objects (or possibly creatures), with most scientists believing the sounds are large icebergs scraping the ocean floor. BUT WHAT IF IT'S NOT???

6. The submarine disappearances in 1968

Four separate submarines went inexplicably missing in the SAME exact year. These were the USS Scorpion, a Soviet submarine K-129, a French submarine Minerve, and the INS Dakar. The last two subs disappeared only four days apart. The Minerve has still never been found, even though it only disappeared an hour away from its home port. Is it just coincidence that four giant machines would all have misfortunes the same year, or is it something more sinister?

7. The real Atlantis

Like Sebastian said, "The human world is a mess." So why not try life under the sea? Some say that the lost underwater city of Atlantis has been discovered right off of the island of Delos in Greece. An entire planned town was found with several buildings, courtyards, and so many pieces of pottery.

8. The HMS Daedalus' Sea Serpent

For over twenty minutes, the crew of the HMS Daedalus, a Royal Navy warship, watched what they claim to be a giant, 100-foot-long snake with a dragon's head swim near their boat. Don't trust the Daedalus crew? It was spotted a second time by the American brig Daphne, who even shot at the creature and tried to follow it, only to lose it at sea. Scientists today think they most likely saw a whale, but wouldn't a bunch of experienced sailors know the difference between a whale and a serpent?

9. The Bermuda Triangle

Named for the triangular shape of around 500,000 square miles of ocean between Miami, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico, the Bermuda Triangle is one of the most notorious sea legends. When Christopher Colombus first sailed the area he claimed to see a giant ball of light in the sky that crashed into the horizon and made it glow. Soon, all sorts of strange events began being claimed in the area, including several boats disappearing with no one radioing in a distress signal, and in one incident in 1945, an entire squadron of US torpedo bombers vanished into thin air.

10. The Gulf of Mexico's cursed shipwreck

Exxon Mobil was laying pipeline when they happened to stumble upon this shipwreck. That would be the last bit of good luck to happen near this site. A team was assembled to explore the wreckage but nothing ever seemed to go right. The exploration sub malfunctioned right as it was getting ready to go check out the wreck; everything from video monitors going out whenever they fired the thrusters, to sonar breaking, to hydraulics going haywire one after another. Next, the Navy sent a researcher sub that basically self destructed its own rover upon entering the water, and when it finally got to the wreck, its arms were too short to reach anything. These are only some of the many attempts and spectacular failures that this cursed ship seems to bestow on all ye who enter there.

11. The Stronsay Beast

Scotland seems to have the sea beasts on "loch." Not only do they have the now infamous tales of The Loch Ness Monster, but, back in 1808, a strange carcass washed up on the shores of Stronsay that many believe be another Plesiosaurus. Scientists speculate that it was a 36-foot-long decaying basking shark, but do basking sharks have paw-like fins with articulating joints, like the eyewitnesses reported seeing on the creature?

12. The Phantom Island of Bermeja

An island called Bermeja was found on several maps and charts throughout the 16th century to the present, however, when recent surveyors went out to explore the area in 2009, the island had mysteriously vanished. This occurrence is called "Phantom Islands" and has happened with many different marked map locations over the years. Did the islands never exist? Did the US government blow the island up to expand the US hold on the oil-rich Gulf like some conspiracy theorists believe? Is this Wonder Woman's home island, Themyscira? We may never know.

13. Devil’s Sea

Want to never go out on a boat again? Look no further than than the Devil's Sea. It is one of the twelve vile vortices (or vortexes) of the world right up there with the Bermuda Triangle. It's a place where planes drop from the sky like birds and large methane deposits cause gas explosions. It's also where the US lost over 20 submarines during WWII and ships that are twice as big as the Titanic go missing.

14. Yonaguni Monument

These giant stair-like structures were discovered in 1985 and have been causing controversy ever since. Many believe them to be man-made from some ancient civilization, but some believe them to just be rare natural formations. These stone giants are over 165-feet-long and 65-feet-wide. All I know is I definitely don't want to meet the thing that is large enough to use those steps.

15. The Kraken

Everyone picture a school bus. Now imagine a squid that size. It's not a great picture, huh? Well back in 1870, a giant squid washed up in New Zealand. The villagers of the area reported it was the same animal that had grabbed and sunk a canoe previously. The squid's mantle, that cone shaped thing at the top of its head, was more than 9 feet long. A scientist today has concluded that this means that giant squids could reach lengths between 19 to 90 feet long. He says that top number may be a little high, but that he can conservatively say 66-feet-long squids are not out of the question.

 

10 Biggest Historical Mysteries That Will Probably Never Be Solved

 

(Image credit: Photo by I. Vassil, released into public domain through Wikimedia)

There are some historical mysteries that may never be solved. Sometimes, that's because the relevant excavated material has been lost or an archaeological site has been destroyed. Other times, it's because new evidence is unlikely to come forward or the surviving evidence is too vague to lead scholars to a consensus.

The lack of answers only makes these enigmas more intriguing. Here, Live Science takes a look at 10 of these historical questions that may never have definitive explanations.

Who was Jack the Ripper?

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In 1888, Jack the Ripper killed at least five women in London, mutilating their bodies. A number of letters, supposedly from the Ripper, were sent to police taunting officers' efforts to find the Ripper. (Whether any of them were actually written by the Ripper is a matter of debate among scholars.) The name "Jack the Ripper" comes from these letters.

Needless to say, the Ripper was never found, and over the years, dozens of people have been brought up as possible candidates. A recent book suggested that a woman named Lizzie Williams was the Ripper, although other Ripper experts cast doubt on it. It appears unlikely that the true identity of the Ripper will ever be known for sure. 

Where is Jimmy Hoffa?

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The teamster union leader known for his involvement in organized crime disappeared in Oakland County, Michigan, on July 30, 1975, and is now presumed to be dead. The identity of his killer(s) and the location of his body are ongoing mysteries. Police and forensic anthropologists have searched a number of sites in Detroit and Oakland County to no avail.

One popular theory was that Hoffa's body was buried beneath Giants Stadium in New Jersey. However, this theory has been debunked. The identity of his killer is also unclear. Before his death in 2006, Richard "The Iceman" Kuklinski, a hit man, claimed to have killed Hoffa and dumped his body in a scrap yard. An author named Philip Carlo visited Kuklinski in prison before he died and wrote a book on Kuklinski's confessions. After the book came out a number of police officers cast doubt on the confession in media interviews. As the years go by, it appears increasingly unlikely that Hoffa's remains will ever be found.  

Where is Cleopatra's tomb?

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Ancient writers claim that Cleopatra VIIand her lover, Mark Antony, were buried together in a tomb after their deaths in 30 B.C. The writer Plutarch (A.D. 45-120) wrote that the tomb was located near a temple of Isis, an Egyptian goddess, and was a "lofty and beautiful" monument containing treasures made of gold, silver, emeralds, pearls, ebony and ivory.

The location of the tomb remains a mystery. In 2010, Zahi Hawass, Egypt's former antiquities minister, conducted excavations at a site near Alexandria now called Taposiris Magna, which contains a number of tombs dating to the era when Cleopatra VII ruled Egypt. While many interesting archaeological discoveries were made, Cleopatra VII's tomb was not among them Hawass reported in a series of news releases. Archaeologists have noted that even if Cleopatra's tomb does survive to this day, it may be heavily plundered and unidentifiable. 

Who killed JFK?

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This is probably the biggest mystery in American history that will never be resolved to everyone's satisfaction. On Nov. 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was shot in Dallas by Lee Harvey Oswald (although some speculate that he wasn't the only one shooting). On Nov. 24, 1963, before Oswald could stand trial, Oswald was fatally shot by nightclub owner Jack Ruby. Ruby died of lung cancer on Jan. 3, 1967. [10 Persistent Kennedy Assassination Theories]

The most widely accepted explanation is that Oswald killed JFK on his own and Ruby killed Oswald, on his own volition. Ruby's stated motivation was to spare Jacqueline Kennedy "the discomfiture of [Oswald] coming back to trial." However there are still a significant number of professional historians, along with many amateurs, who do not agree with this explanation and since JFK's death, numerous alternative explanations have been brought forward by historians and amateurs. Given that significant new evidence is unlikely to appear, a firm consensus will probably never be reached.  

Is there a money pit on Oak Island?

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For more than two centuries, stories have circulated that Oak Island, located off Nova Scotia, Canada, held a money pit of buried treasure — supposedly left by the pirate Capt. William Kidd(1645-1701). Over that time, numerous expeditions costing millions of dollars have traveled to the island searching for the lost treasure, to no avail. [The 10 Most Notorious Pirates Ever]

Despite centuries of searching no treasure has been found on Oak Island. Nevertheless that doesn't stop people from trying to find it. A History Channel show called the "Curse of Oak Island" follows a modern-day expedition; the show was just renewed for a fourth season in 2016. 

Is the Copper Scroll treasure real?

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Another treasure tale that will probably never be resolved is more ancient. In 1952 a copper scroll was found by archaeologists in a cave, along with other Dead Sea Scrolls, at the site of Qumran. As its name suggests, the writing was engraved onto a copper scroll. The scroll records a vast amount of hidden gold and silver treasure — so much, in fact, that some scholars believe that it is impossible for it to exist. [Gallery of Dead Sea Scrolls: A Glimpse of the Past]

The scroll dates back more than 1,900 years to a time when the Roman Empire controlled the Qumran area. There were a number of revolts against Roman rule at the time the scroll was written, and scientists have hypothesized that the treasure was hidden to prevent its capture by Roman forces. Whether the treasure is real, where exactly it was hidden, whether it was ever found and whether it could still exist today are all mysteries that will likely never be solved. 

What's the fate of the Ark of the Covenant?

(Image credit: Photo by I. Vassil, released into public domain through Wikimedia)

In 587 B.C., a Babylonian army, under King Nebuchadnezzar II, conquered Jerusalem, sacking the city and destroying the First Temple, a building used by the Jewish people to worship god. The First Temple contained the Ark of the Covenant, which carried tablets recording the 10 Commandments.

The fate of the Ark is unclear. Ancient sources indicate that the ark was either carried back to Babylonor hidden before the city was captured. It's also possible that the ark was destroyed during the city's sacking. In any event, the ark's location is unknown. Since the disappearance, a number of stories and legends about the ark's fate have been told. One story suggests the ark eventually made its way to Ethiopia, where it is kept today. Another story says the ark was divinely hidden and will not appear until a messiah arrives. 

Were the Hanging Gardens of Babylon real?

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Ancient writers describe a fantastic series of gardens constructed at the ancient city of Babylonin modern-day Iraq. It's not clear when these gardens were built, but some ancient writers were so impressed by the gardens that they called them a "wonder of the world." Around 250 B.C., Philo of Byzantium wrote that the Hanging Gardens had "plants cultivated at a height above ground level, and the roots of the trees are embedded in an upper terrace rather than in the earth."

So far, archaeologists who have excavated Babylon have been unable to find the remains of a garden that meets this description. This has left archaeologists with a question: Did the hanging gardens really exist? In ­2013, Stephanie Dalley, a researcher at the University of Oxford, proposed in a book that the gardens were actually located at the Assyrian city of Nineveh. Over the past two decades, both Babylon and Nineveh have suffered damage from wars and looting, and it seems unlikely that this mystery will ever be fully solved. 

Is there a City of Atlantis?

Writing in the fourth century B.C., the Greek philosopher Plato told a story of a land named Atlantisthat existed in the Atlantic Ocean and supposedly conquered much of Europe and Africa in prehistoric times. In the story, the prehistoric Athenians strike back against Atlantis in a conflict that ends with Atlantis vanishing beneath the waves.

While no serious scholar believes that this story is literally true, some have speculated that the legend could have been inspired, in part, by real events that happened in Greek history. One possibility is that the Minoan civilization(as it's now called), which flourished on the island of Crete until about 1400 B.C., could have inspired the story of Atlantis. Although Crete is in the Mediterranean, and not the Atlantic, Minoan settlements suffered considerable damageduring the eruption of Thera, a volcano in Greece.

Additionally, archaeologists found that the Minoans were eventually overcome (or forced to join with) a group of people called the Mycenaeans, who were based on mainland Greece. It's unlikely that this debate will ever be fully settled. 

What was Jesus really like?

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The earliest surviving gospels date to the second century, almost 100 years after the life of Jesus (although recently, it was announced that a possible first-century fragmenthad been found).

The lack of surviving first-century texts about Jesus leave biblical scholars with a number of questions. When were the gospels written? How many of the stories actually took place? What was Jesus like in real life? Archaeological investigations of Nazareth, Jesus' hometown, reveal more about the environment where he grew up. More recently, scientists discovered a first-century housethat, centuries after Jesus' time, was venerated as being the house that Jesus grew up in, but whether it was actually Jesus' house is unknown.

Although new research will provide more insight, scholars think it's unlikely they will ever fully know what Jesus was really like. [Who Was Jesus, the Man?]