Certain places in the world may own morbid or dismal names, but many
of them do not have substantial or intriguing stories that accompany
their origin. These ten places (in no particular order) surely do, as
each one got its name for a reason. Whether these places have been this
way for hundreds of years, or time has changed them for better or
worse, I hope their tales will captivate you as they have me.
10. The Skeleton Coast
Namibia
The rusted, dilapidated remnants of hulking ships, recent and
ancient, litter this stretch of coast in this southwestern African
nation, which the Namibian Bushmen called, “The Land God Made in Anger”.
Many are covered by the sands of time – only their bows can be seen
jutting through sandbars, while others are completely unseen, buried in
their sandy graves. Punishing winds and currents, rocks, and fog have
resulted in the demise of many ocean vessels throughout time, as well as
multiple marine animals such as whales, whose bleached bones can be
found intermingled with decaying hulls, and for which the coast gets its
name.
Countless shipwrecked sailors came face to face with death here. If
they were “fortunate” enough to avoid drowning and make it to land, they
were greeted with an arid, salty wasteland of massive sand dunes that
extended for a hundred miles inland with no opportunity for finding
sustenance. Eventually, they would perish from thirst or exposure.
Although the area is slightly more accessible today, it is still very
remote and notorious, and ships go out of their way to stay farther out
to sea when passing by it.
9. Tombstone
Arizona
In the Southwest American desert, the town of Tombstone is a reminder
of the Old West’s violent, lawless past. It received its name when a
prospector looking for valuable rocks was told that all he would find
out in the harsh area would be his own tombstone. However, the
prospector stumbled upon silver, named his mine The Tombstone, and the
town sprung up from there.
Although the inception of the name of the town was a tongue-in-cheek
joke, it lived up to its name; perhaps it was a self-fulfilling
prophesy. A substantial part of the town consisted of saloons and
whorehouses which attracted various unsavory characters including many
outlaws. One of these brothels, The Bird Cage Café, was reported by the
New York Times as being “the wildest, wickedest night spot between
Basin Street and the Barbary Coast”. Violence and bloodshed became the
norm in Tombstone, with the Shootout at the OK Corral between Wyatt Earp
and his brothers and a gang of outlaw “cowboys” being the most famous
event. Not ironically, Tombstone is home to a number of cemeteries
which are tourist attractions today.
8. Dead Sea
Israel/Jordan
This body of water in Israel and Jordan certainly does not have a
shortage of bleak or depressing nicknames. Lake of Asphalt, Salt Sea,
Sea of the Devil, and Stinking Lake are a few, even though it holds some
biblical importance. Its high mineral content, which makes it ten
times saltier than the world’s oceans, allows nothing to live in its
waters except some bacteria. It lies at the lowest point of dry earth
on the planet, plunging 1,300 feet below sea level. Being so low, water
does not drain but can only evaporate leaving only the strong
concentration of minerals. An estimated 7 million tons of water
evaporates daily.
The mineral deposits are actually sought after and are used for
things such as medicines, fertilizers, and cosmetics. Health spas and
resorts were also commonplace on the sea because it was, and still is,
believed that the water has healing properties. However, scientists are
warning that the Dead Sea is in fact dying itself. In recent years, it
has been rapidly shrinking with the southern end disappearing
altogether. Over the past 50 years the water level has dropped 80 feet
and the sea has lost a third of its volume. To make matters worse, the
only thing that flows into the sea is raw sewage with virtually no fresh
water replenishing it. While officials are devising ways to keep the
Dead Sea as pristine as they possibly can, it is evident that it will
never be the same again and its destiny is that it will continue to
dwindle. Strict conservation efforts must be put into effect to at
least slow the inevitable.
7. Murder Island
Nova Scotia
The Tusket Islands lie off the coast of the Canadian province of Nova
Scotia. Although they are picturesque and beautiful, they are also
home to the mysterious and ominous Murder Island.
Stories surrounding the island are quite cryptic. One tale has the
origin of the name going back to 1735, when the brig “Baltimore” was
discovered on the shore with its interior splattered in blood and
deserted except for one mysterious woman. She told confusing stories of
a convict revolt and an Indian massacre which were never substantiated
or fully explained. Before a concrete conclusion could be reached, the
inscrutable woman disappeared along with the knowledge of what had
really happened.
Another story tells about a smallpox epidemic that ran rampant
through a French fleet stationed near the island sometime in the 1700s.
Hundreds of corpses were unloaded onto the diminutive island and buried
there. Reports of human bones popping up through the island’s beaches
continued through the 20th century. Whether or not these stories can be
proven, it is probable that Murder Island holds some checkered secrets.
6. Galgbacken (Gallows’ Slope)
Stockholm
Also known as Gibbets’ Slope, which is another name for gallows,
Gallows’ Slope was the largest and last place of execution in Sweden’s
capital city. The last execution took place in 1862 with the preferred
method of execution being, obviously, hanging. However, beheadings were
also quite popular. Criminals of all ilk were put to death here,
including murderers, rapists, embezzlers, and counterfeiters. A number
of those sentenced to die were also prominent figures of the day. In
the 1930s, construction workers found human skeletal remains while
beginning construction on residential housing on the site. No doubt,
bones of those unlucky enough to meet their death on the gallows still
lie buried at Gallows’ Slope.
5. Hell’s Kitchen
New York City
A neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, Hell’s Kitchen was infamous for
crime, sex, and violence. It is thought to have gotten its name from a
rough, dangerous hostel long since gone. Irish and German immigrants
first settled the neighborhood with most of them working on the docks as
longshoremen, or in slaughterhouses and factories. The influx led to a
filthy shantytown and the rise of multiple street gangs. After the
American Civil War, the population swelled even more, and tenements rose
above the streets resulting in further squalid conditions. More gangs
were formed, violence grew exponentially, and the neighborhood became
known as “the most dangerous area on the American continent”.
When Prohibition banned the production and sale of alcohol in America
in the 1920s, some of the gangs evolved into organized crime rackets
dealing in bootlegging, gambling, prostitution, and extortion. In the
1950s, Puerto Rican immigrants populated Hell’s Kitchen which resulted
in much racial tension and subsequent violence with the other ethnic
groups. This strife became the influence for the movie West Side Story.
A bit later, the Westies, an extremely violent and powerful
Irish-American gang, operated from their base in the neighborhood.
Today, Hell’s Kitchen has gone through a gentrification process and
real estate agents prefer to call the neighborhood Clinton. However,
there are still hints of the neighborhood’s tawdry past, as some
pornography shops and strip bars still sprinkle the area.
4. The Death Zone
This is not a specific location per se, but describes an altitude on
Earth exceeding 26,240 feet (8,000 m). Some mountaineers define it as
an altitude over 25,000 feet. Almost all of the peaks in the death zone
are located in the Himalaya and Karakoram ranges (which is technically
part of the Himalayas). It is at this particular height that oxygen is
so scarce that life simply cannot be sustained. Climbers cannot
acclimatize themselves to this height, cannot digest food, and without
oxygen tanks their bodily functions deteriorate at a rapid pace
resulting in unconsciousness, deliriousness, hallucinations, and
eventually death.
Although there are no definitive numbers, hundreds of climbers have
died climbing peaks in the death zone. On a macabre note, the bodies of
all who have succumbed on these mountains simply remain there since
removing them would be such a painstaking and dangerous, if not
impossible, task. Therefore, the death zone is essentially the world’s
highest graveyard.
3. Golgotha (Place of the Skull)
Jerusalem
A biblical entry, Golgotha was an ancient site located outside the
walls of 1st century Jerusalem. It is said that Jesus was crucified on
this site, as were many who were convicted of crimes by the Roman
Empire. There are a few theories about how the hill got its name. Some
believe the name refers to the number of abandoned skulls and bones
that were found there. Others say the craggy, rocky hill physically
resembled a skull. Still others claim that Golgotha loomed over a
cemetery so it naturally would be bestowed with a gruesome name.
It was a Jewish religious requirement that all executions take place
outside of the city of Jerusalem and the Romans were believed to have
honored this tradition. Therefore, the site of Golgotha was established
just outside of the walled city. Due to many parts of Jerusalem being
destroyed and rebuilt throughout history, the exact site of the hill is
disputed. However, many scholars agree that the site lies within the
Church of the Holy Sepulcher which was built by the emperor Constantine.
According to tradition, this is also the site where Adam (the first
man) was buried. Wherever the current-day location of Golgotha may be,
it is a historically documented site where grisly executions actually
took place.
2. Devil’s Island
French Guiana
Located off the coast of French Guiana, Devil’s Island was a
notorious penal colony. The main prisons were actually located on the
mainland, but the whole complex collectively became known as Devil’s
Island. Originally a leper colony, it operated as a penal colony from
1884 to 1952. Conditions were probably worse than any modern-day prison
in any country today. While wearing nothing but pairs of shoes and
straw hats, and being barraged by malaria-carrying mosquitoes, prisoners
would work waist deep in water while their skin baked in the
unrelenting sun. If they didn’t meet their daily quota of work, such as
chopping enough wood, they would only be fed a paltry piece of dry
bread for the day.
In Kourou, which was the deadliest camp on Devil’s Island, 4,000
prisoners died within the span of three years. All throughout the penal
colony, thousands of men died from exhaustion, thirst, hunger, heat
stroke, dysentery, malaria, and murder. The only hope many of the
convicts had was escape.
Most escapees fled through the dense jungle where they had to compete
with hostile natives, piranhas, flesh-shredding brush, and the same
mosquitoes and oppressive heat they faced in the colony. If they were
lucky enough, they made it to Dutch Guiana where they would find
sanctuary. Some attempted to escape by sea on makeshift rafts; some
were successful, others died a watery death. Those who were caught and
brought back to Devil’s Island were labeled as “incorrigible”. They
were put into solitary confinement, made to work like animals all day,
then shackled in irons overnight until it was time for them to go to
work again.
Prisoners stopped being sent to Devil’s Island in 1938, and in 1952
the prison was closed. When accounts of the horrors were revealed to
the general public, people were appalled that a civilized country such
as France would propagate such atrocities. Today, Devil’s Island is a
museum and tourist attraction.
1. Death Valley
Nevada/California
Lying in America’s Mojave Desert, Death Valley is one of the hottest,
driest, inhospitable places on Earth. It is 3.3 million acres of
barren wilderness consisting of towering mountains, canyons, rifts, salt
flats, and sand. The lowest point in North America is here at the
Badwater Basin, where the elevation sinks to 282 feet below sea level.
Temperatures commonly reach over 100 degrees F, with the highest
temperature recorded being 134 degrees F, two degrees short of the
highest ever recorded on Earth.
The hardships early pioneers, as well as intrepid individuals
following them, faced in the various regions of Death Valley gave rise
to equally morbid names. Some of them include: the Funeral Mountains,
Dante’s View, Furnace Creek, Devil’s Golf Course, Desolation Canyon,
Devil’s Cornfield, Black Mountains, Stovepipe Wells, Hell’s Gate, and
the aforementioned Badwater Basin. People first attempted to traverse
the burning sands of the area during the California gold rush of 1849.
They were known as the Death Valley 49ers and many of them never got to
lay their eyes on gold since they became victims of the hellish
conditions. In 1933, Death Valley was established as a national park.
Many people visit each year, but if you are to go off the established
and official roads and trails it is crucial that you are with an
experienced guide; rescue operations are an all too common occurrence in
this unforgiving place.
source : http://listverse.com/2010/01/19/10-places-with-morbid-names/
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