Hello everyone, and welcome to week 4 of Summer Reading Club! It is so hard to believe that the summer is already half over- time flies when you’re having fun!
This week our theme is Travel and Exploration! With that, we have some very interesting activities for everyone to complete!
- First, have a look at the summaries of some of the world’s most mysterious places. What do you think could be a possible explanation for the events at each place? Let us know at summerreading@tnrd.ca!
- Complete the Connect-the-Landmarks activity, and see if you can match each monument with its country!
The Most Mysterious Places in the World
1. Stonehenge, England
Stonehenge has long been one of the United Kingdom’s most mysterious locations. To this day, the logistics of just how these enormous and heavy monoliths were moved and stacked over 5,000 years remains a mystery. How do you think it was created?
2. Marfa Lights, Texas, USA
On clear evenings, many “orbs” can be seen twinkling on the horizon on the outskirts of the Texan town of Marfa, and they have been confusing both residents and visitors for over 135 years. Over the years, some have even claimed to have seen them moving! Though many speculations exist, no true or conclusive explanation has ever been reached. What do you think these mysterious lights could be?
3. Winchester Mystery House, California, USA
Sarah Winchester (whose late husband invented the Winchester rifle) purchased this enormous home in 1886. Over the following 30 years, she became consumed with creating an expansive indoor labyrinthe out of the house’s floor plan. By the end of its renovation, it contained 2 basements, 160 rooms, 10,000 windows and 2,000 doors. Many doors lead to sudden drop-offs and staircases throughout the house were known to lead straight into ceilings/dead ends.
Some speculate that the intricate layout of the home was intended to ward off the evil spirits of people killed by her husband’s invention, but this was never confirmed. Why do you think Mrs. Winchester decided to renovate her house this way, and so expansively?
4. Nazca Lines, Peru
Over 300 images appear in the sand in the southern Peruvian desert, depicting many different figures from spiders to hummingbirds, and even people! These illustrations are so massive that some lines alone span over 3.2km. Speculation continues regarding what their purpose was, some examples include that they represented a giant calendar, had celestial associations, and more. However, much confusion also exists surrounding how they were created in the absence of modern technology, given their sheer size and the fact that no vantage view would have been available to view the drawings in their entirety. What do you think the purpose of these images was, and how were they created?
5. Hoia-Baciu Forest, Romania
The crooked trees and eerie mist have always added to the Hoia-Baciu Forest’s creep-factor, but legends of people vanishing in the woods and strange occurrences definitely seal the deal! Coined “the Bermuda Triangle of Romania”, the forest certainly keeps people puzzled. Even more captivating is The Clearing in the center of the woods, which is an open space where nothing seems to grow. To this day, nobody has been able to accurately document why. What do you think is going on in these suspicious woods?
Mysterious location information sourced from https://www.loveexploring.com/galleries/89068/the-most-mysterious-places-on-earth?page=3, accessed June 26th, 2021.
Connect-The-Landmark
Draw a line between each of the famous monuments and the country in which they are located. The first one is already completed as an example!
Christ the Redeemer (Statue) – Brazil
Statue of Liberty (Statue) – United States
Eiffel Tower – France
Taj Mahal (Mausoleum) – India
Easter Island (Statues) – Chile
Sydney Opera House – Australia
Great Pyramid of Giza – Egypt
Mysterious Locations In Your Community!
The Thompson-Nicola Regional Library (TNRL) is located in Kamloops, which is also home to the location that housed the Tranquille Sanitorium/Padova. Since its closure as a sanitorium, and then also as a facility for people with mental disabilities/illnesses, rumors of its hauntedness have never ceased. Many reports have arisen over the years of suspicious or mysterious activity at the location, but nothing has ever been confirmed or documented.
We want to know about supposedly haunted locations in your areas! What were they used for? What are their stories? Let us know at summerreading@tnrd.ca!
