Five Fascinating Secret Rooms

All around the world, secret rooms – old and new – draw peoples’ interest and attention. Here are ten secret rooms that are especially intriguing.

1. Mount Rushmore’s Secret Room

This first room, I am sure, reminds many of us of the finding of the City of Gold in the second Nation Treasure movie. Unlike Cíbola – the City of Gold – however, this hidden spot in Mount Rushmore is very real. In Keystone, South Dakota, lies the secret room, hidden in one of the most well-know monuments of the United States – Mount Rushmore. In fact, this secret room lies inside the carving of Lincoln.

The secret room is essentially a safe room for American history. It includes copies of the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, and US Constitution carved on porcelain enamel panels. Also kept there is a record of the reason that Lincoln, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Washington were carved on Mount Rushmore, as well as the biography of Gutzon Borglum, who was the sculptor of Mount Rushmore. (It was his idea to have the vault built to hold America’s history, but he died before he was able to see his plans through.) The room is quite formidable, as the vault is made of titanium, and is protected with a massive piece of granite that weighs more than a one thousand pounds!

2. The Amber Room

The Amber Room, sometimes called the “Eighth Wonder of the World”, was a fascinating room that was moved from place to place, until it finally disappeared in 1944. Building commenced in 1701, and the Amber Room was placed in the home of Freidrik the I of Prussia. That the construction of this room was expensive would be an understatement; it is estimated that the room would have been worth $142 million dollars by todays standards. The room was built with an impressive several tons of amber, hence the name the Amber Room. In 1716, the King of Prussia gifted the Amber room to Peter the Great. The room was installed in the Winter House in St. Petersburg. Later, in 1755, the room was moved to Catherine Palace in Pushkin. In 1941, the Amber Room was plundered by the Nazis, who quickly packed up the room, and sent it off to Germany where it was installed in Königsberg’s Castle. In 1943, it was decided that the room should be packed up and shipped to a new location once again, but when the castle was destroyed by bombs, the Amber room was lost, and to this day, no one is certain as to where it it.

3. Stalin’s Secret Room

In 1904, Stalin had a secret underground room, where he would print propaganda encouraging the removal of the Tsar. The old printing press that Stalin used was sneaked into Tbilisi by those who supported the Bolsheviks. Stalin even had an underground escape route so that he could get away should the Russians find his secret room. In 1906, however, the room was found, and the printing press was destroyed.

4. Napoleon’s Secret Staircase

Even though he did not actually seem to have a secret room, I thought that Napoleon’s secret staircase was worth mentioning. In his home, chateau de Malmaison, Napoleon had a secret staircase which led up to his rooms on the first level of the house. Unfortunately, I could not find a whole lot of information about Napoleon’s secret staircase, only that it existed, and led to his rooms on the first floor.

5. Singer Castle (The Castle of Secrets)

Singer Castle is full of tunnels and secret entrances. In fact, one particularly interesting hidden entrance is opened with a secret button in a bookshelf. Another interesting secret spot in this castle is a room that is presumed to be a sort of treasure room for the people who had previously lived in the castle to store their valuables in. The entrance to this secret room is a trap door in the floor of the maid’s living quarters. The castle also has grates and paintings that one can look through from the secret tunnels, and spy on those in other rooms. Supposedly, the servants of the castle used to do this.

These five secret rooms are just a fraction of the many secret rooms around the world and throughout history. I hope my writing about these five hidden rooms has inspired you to search out more secret and mysterious places!

Myths and Legends of the North

Sea monsters, the Valley of Headless Men, the waheela – these are just a few of Canada’s many myths and legends. Canada has an abundance of myths and legends about various creatures, but in this post, I am going to be focusing on sea monsters, as well as the legend of the waheela and the Valley of Headless Men.

To begin, we must journey to the Pacific coast of Canada, where legends and stories of Caddy, or the Cadborosaurus (A name derived from Cadboro Bay in British Columbia, where there have been many sightings of the creature.) are plentiful. In fact, since the 1800s, there have been more than three hundred eyewitness stories of this creature.

Imagine walking along the rocky shores of the the coast, when suddenly you see a giant snake-like creature, emerging from the water. Reaching an impressive twenty feet, the creature is enormous and terrifying. Its horse-like head can be seen slowly rising out of the water along with the eery-looking humps along its back. This is what many people have claimed to see for years.

Recently, a group of researchers, headed by Dr. Paul Leblond, PhD, decided to take the search for the creature to the next level. They called their search The Caddy Scan Project. Cameras were set up at regular sighting areas, but have not discovered any evidence of the Caddy.

Leblond said of the creature, “The way its movements have been described would lead one to think it may be mammalian, perhaps an unknown, large, long-necked deep-sea seal of some kind … but we really don’t know. Until we have a specimen to examine, it’s just a mystery, and one that we’d love to solve.” (More information about Dr. Leblond and this expedition can be found at this sight: https://www.peninsulanewsreview.com/community/does-a-creature-lurk-beneath-cadboro-bay/)

To find our next sea monster, we must travel to the other end of Canada all the way to Muskrat Lake in Ontario. The Mussie, named for Muskrat Lake, is a mysterious creature. This is mainly due to the fact that its appearance has not been agreed on by anyone. Some descriptions say that it looks like a sturgeon, some say it looks like a great sea monster with three eyes, and the speculations go on.

Interestingly enough, there is a myth that Samuel de Champlain heard about the Mussie from those living in the area at the time.

Next up on the list of sea monsters is the most unconventional sea monster of the lot. It is called the Thetis Lake Monster or “Canadian Lizard Man”. Only allegedly sighted twice (and one of those times proved to be a hoax), this creature has the appearance of a man with silver-blue scales, and jagged fins running down his back. Although this specific creature has only one eyewitness report to substantiate its existence, there are legends of creatures like this one in many places around the world, such as in the Queen Charlotte Islands, Ohio, and North Carolina. To me, our Canadian Lizard Man sounds much like a metahuman from “The Flash”. Could Lizard Man be a relative of the infamous King Shark from Central City? Who knows? 😉

A very popular lake monster of Canada’s is the Ogopogo, which resides in British Columbia. Much like a snake, this creature is said to be green or black in colour, and over 120 feet long. (The length was estimated by Jim La Rocque, who allegedly caught the creature on camera. Use the link provided to see his intriguing video: https://globalnews.ca/video/5401099/alleged-ogopogo-sighting-caught-on-camera-2)

This creature is very important to the folk lore of British Columbia. Lisa Kadane, who wrote about this creature in BBC – Travel included a quote which stated that “Ogopogo is to Kelowna what Nessie is to Loch Ness”. In fact, sixteen percent of people in British Columbia believe that this creature exists. Yet, the Ogopogo is not a real creature as far as the First Nations peoples are concerned. They believed, and still believe that it is a spirit of the lake.

Finally, we come to the most chilling and mysterious of the legends in this post – the Waheela and the Valley of the Headless Men. The Waheela is a massive wolf which lives in the the Northwest Territories, or – more specifically – the Valley of the Headless Men. These great wolves have white fur, and are apparently four feet tall! Eerily enough, the wolves are know for biting peoples’ head off – hence the name of the valley that they allegedly inhabit. The Valley of Headless Men, or the Nahanni Valley, is a place full of mystery and legend. The park where this ominous valley is situated – Nahanni National Park Reserve – is full of names that will send chills through your bones. Names such as Headless Range, Funeral Range, Headless creak, and Dead Man’s Valley. To be honest, though, this area seems to deserve its ominous names, as – according to Chloe Berge, who wrote “The Haunting History of the Canadian National Park”, – it seems more like Mordor than Canada. In addition to its frightening appearance and names, at least four people have been murdered in the park, and many people have disappeared entirely while there.

It is the frightening details that surround these four deaths, that are the real cause of disturbance, however. The earliest deaths, occurring in 1910, were the deaths of Willie and Frank McLeod, who went to the park to find gold in 1908. They were found headless near the edge of the Nahanni River. There are different versions of this story, but some reports say that it looked as if one of the brothers had tried to leap out of his bed and grab his gun, but was killed in the attempt. Later, a man named Martin Jorgenson also went searching for gold. His charred remains were later found in his cabin, which had been burned down. His body was also headless. A miner, in 1945, was also found headless in his sleeping bag.

These eerie stories are just some of the many unnerving tales surrounding the legendary Nahanni Valley.

Canada is filled with many fun and mysterious myths and legends, as well as some chilling ones. I hope the stories that I have shared inspire you to explore some of the other Canadian myths and legends out there!

Sinking in – My Adventure in a Fen.

When I agreed to go with my brother and cousin to explore a bog – more specifically a fen – a fen is a type of wetland, similar to a swamp or a bog – I did not fully comprehend the kind of adventure that I was about to embark on. After eating some Kraft Dinner for lunch, we loaded up our inflatable boats in my cousin’s car, and headed off to explore!

When we arrived, we had to walk down a short pathway, from which a lightly worn trail ran down a steep slope, and straight towards the fen. When we reached the bottom, there was a little opening from which we could launch our boats. We then pumped up our inflatable boats, and set out on our adventure.

Trouble hit immediately. I took a couple steps into the swampy water to launch my boat, but quickly sunk into the slimy filth halfway to my knee. Great – I thought – wet and muddy from the start. Thankfully, I got into my boat with relative ease, but unfortunately, that is when things got worse for me and my ill-fated boat. In the fen, there were many fallen sticks, branches, and trees. To navigate, I quickly found out that I had to precariously make my way over them while trying not to puncture my little boat. Sadly, this was easier said than done. When I had only gone several yards out, I heard a tearing sound as I was passing over one of the fallen branches, and felt the air quickly escape from the bottom of my boat! Thankfully, the boats we use have two sections of air. After a few moments, I determined that it was only the small bottom section of my boat that was punctured, so for now, I was still afloat.

We paddled on for a while, until we came near some land. I was excited to explore this section of land, as it was full of giant reeds, and all kinds of plants. When I came near enough, I climbed out of my boat onto a small tree stump. I looked around while I waited for the others to join me. There were many interesting things to see, my favourite of which was some bright green moss growing near the tree stump that I had climbed up on. When the others had climbed up onto the land, we left our boats to go explore the little area of land that we had found. We trekked through the swampy land, finding all sorts of amazing mosses, mushrooms, and bushes. We even found some edible leaves, called Labrador tea, which we tasted. The leaves were fuzzy and very strange looking – the top being green, and the bottom a whitish brown. While I enjoyed the adventure of trying the leaf, I did not like the taste – it was bitter, and the leaves were tough.

When we finally returned to our boats, we made our way towards a little dam past which was a larger body of water that we wanted to explore. Exploring this area brought more difficulties. At first, we tried to break apart the dam, as it was uninhabited and very small, but this proved ineffective, and we decided to portage across instead.

On the other side of the dam, there was so much to discover! We made our way through reeds and over logs, until we came to a narrow channel through which we paddled. When we reached the end of the channel, we found ourselves in a beautiful lake surrounded by trees. As we paddled towards the center of the lake, I happened to look back, and saw something hiding behind the reeds. Curious, I began to paddle towards it. It looked like a boat, but I did not think that it was likely that there would be an abandoned boat just sitting there. As I got closer, however, I realized that it was, in fact, a partially sunken boat. I was very excited, and called out my discovery to the others! I paddled closer to get a better look at it, but just as I was nearing the boat, I noticed a flash of bright colour to my left. I paddled towards the colour peeping up from a tuft of earth and grass in the water. To my amazement and excitement, I found myself looking down at some brightly coloured pitcher plants. (Pitcher plants are carnivorous plants that have a trap containing liquid to digest insects that get trapped in their “pitcher”.) Part of the fun of exploring fens, bogs, swamps, and the like are the amazing plants that can be found in them. I am often amazed at the types of plants that are indigenous to Canada. One can find carnivorous plants such as pitcher plants and sundew plants in Canada, as well as many other fascinating plants!

After we looked over those exciting finds, it was time to head home. We slowly made our way back towards the place where we had first launched our boats. By the time we had hiked up the steep slope on which we had first descended, we were very wet and dirty, but happy! We drove back home, discussing aspirations and plans for future adventuring.

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Many people, including myself, are fascinated by the Seven Wonders of the World. I am going to explore what the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World were and dig up some exciting facts about each one!

Here is a list of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World:

  • The Great Pyramid of Giza, Egypt
  • The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
  • The Statue of Zeus in Olympia, Greece
  • The Temple of Artemis in Ephesus
  • The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
  • The Colossus of Rhodes
  • The Lighthouse of Alexandria, Egypt.

The Great Pyramid of Giza

“From the heights of these pyramids, forty centuries looks down on us.” – Napoleon on the pyramids in Egypt

The Great Pyramid of Giza is the last standing ancient wonder of the world, and resides in Giza, Egypt. Built during the time of Cheops (King Khufu), the pyramid took twenty years to build, and stands 479 feet high, and is 754 feet wide. One of the most interesting things that I discovered about the Great Pyramid of Giza, is that it held the record – for more than three thousand years! – for the highest structure in the world to be created by human hands. I also found out that Napoleon supposedly went inside the King’s Chamber where King Khufu was buried. Apparently, Napoleon was in the tomb alone for hours. It was said that this adventure changed his life.

See the following sources for more information:

Great Pyramid of Giza – Ancient History Encyclopedia https://www.ancient.eu/Great_Pyramid_of_Giza/

What’s Inside the Great Pyramid? – Britannica https://www.britannica.com/story/whats-inside-the-great-pyramid

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, said to have been built by Nebuchadnezzar II, is the only wonder of the ancient world whose existence is argued among historical professionals. Despite this, many have speculated what the hanging gardens were like. Some thought that they were gardens made on top of roofs, or on ziggurats with terraces. More recently, however, people have speculated that perhaps the gardens were made to imitate mountain structures, and maybe used the Archimedes screw to irrigate the gardens.

See the following sources for more information:

Hanging Gardens of Babylon – Ancient History Encyclopedia https://www.ancient.eu/Hanging_Gardens_of_Babylon/

Hanging Gardens of Babylon – Britannica https://www.britannica.com/place/Hanging-Gardens-of-Babylon

Archimedes screw – Britannica https://www.britannica.com/technology/Archimedes-screw

The Statue of Zeus

The Statue of Zeus, was situated in Olympia, Greece. Built around 430 BC, and made of ivory and gold, it was an enormous statue – even larger than the statue of Athena in Athens. My favourite “fun fact” about this wonder is that it was featured in Disney’s movie, Hercules.

See the following source for more information:

Statue of Zeus at Olympia – Ancient History Encyclopedia https://www.ancient.eu/Statue_of_Zeus_at_Olympia/

The Temple of Artemis

The Temple of Artemis was build in what is now called Turkey (formerly Ephesus). The temple was first build in the 6th century BC, and was destroyed and rebuilt twice, before being finally destroyed in AD 401. Interestingly enough, the first time the temple was destroyed, it was set on fire by Herostratus, whose main goal in setting the fire was to become an infamous arsonist. He succeeded.

See the following source for more information:

Temple of Artemis at Ephesus – Ancient History Encyclopedia https://www.ancient.eu/Temple_of_Artemis_at_Ephesus/

The Mausoleum

The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, similar to the Great Pyramid of Giza, was a giant tomb. It was made for Mausolus, who ruled Caria around 350 BC. It was made of marble, had many spectacular statues, and was enormous. The Mausoleum was destroyed by a large earth quake, as well as the extensive use of pieces of the Mausoleum to build Bodrum Castle. One fact about the Mausoleum that I found particularly interesting was that its architecture was a combination of Egyptian, Greek, and almost-Eastern styles.

See the following source for more information:

Mausoleum at Halicarnassus – Ancient History Encyclopedia https://www.ancient.eu/Mausoleum_at_Halicarnassus/

The Colossus

The Colossus of Rhodes, was an immense bronze statue of the god, Helios, that reached an impressive thirty-three meters in hight. It was situated near a very important harbour in the Mediterranean. The statue was destroyed around 226 BC, and was later melted into scrap after having laid on the docks for a thousand years!

See the following source for more information:

Colossus of Rhodes – Ancient History Encyclopedia https://www.ancient.eu/Colossus_of_Rhodes/

The Lighthouse of Alexandria

The Lighthouse of Alexandria was built around 300 -280 BC on the island of Pharos. This structure stood for more than 1600 years, at a height of over 330 feet! The lighthouse was so tall, in fact, that it was second only to the Great Pyramid at Giza for being the tallest structure to be built by human hands. The lighthouse was dedicated to Zeus Soter (known as the deliverer) and perhaps Proteus (known as the Greek sea god or “the old man of the sea”). The dedication to Zeus Soter is particularly interesting, as it was inscribed on the lighthouse in letters that were half a meter high!

See the following source for more information:

Lighthouse of Alexandria – Ancient History Encyclopedia https://www.ancient.eu/Lighthouse_of_Alexandria/

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World certainly hold many interesting pieces information, and each wonder is exciting and unique in its own way. I loved discovering all these fascinating facts about the Seven Wonders of the Ancient world, and hope that you enjoyed discovering them with me!