Vatican Secret Archives
Anyone who is curious about the deepest secrets and mysteries of the Catholic Church might be interested in the secret archives at the Vatican, which date back to the 8th century. Who wouldn’t want to read a letter written to Pope Julius II by Michelangelo? What about a hand written letter by Mary Queen of Scots? The vault is located under ground and apparently stretches on for 53 miles! However, only researchers with special permits are allowed to explore.
Vatican Secret Archives
North Sentinel Island, India
This small archipelago located just off the Bay of Bengal in India is closed off to visitors. The local indigenous population are simply not interested in any outsiders of any kind. They have held on to their ways of living and this voluntary isolation means that they are not living a modern life, which is totally fine with them. Any vessels that approach the island are attacked by the Sentinelese and are not afraid to kill any intruders.
North Sentinel Island, India
Lascaux Caves, France
The Lascaux Caves are located near the village Montignac in southwestern France. They feature more than 600 wall paintings that show animals, local fauna, and scenes depicting life in the Upper Paleolithic area. Since 1963, the caves have been closed to the public since their condition is in decline and historians want to preserve them. There are replicas available so the public can experience this piece of history.
Lascaux Caves, France
Snake Island, Brazil
Ilha de Queimada Grande, which is often called Snake Island, is an island off the coast of Brazil, which is known for the massive amount of snakes that are native to the land. Some estimates say that there are about 430,000 snakes living on the island, though the exact nuber is still debated.
Snake Island, Brazil
Grand Shrine of Ise, Japan
The Grand Shrine of Ise is located in Ise, Mie Prefecture of Japan. The Shinto shrine is dedicated to the solar goddess Amaterasu and is comprised of two main shrines surrounded by many smaller shrines. Traditionally, the shrine is rebuilt every 20 years. As it is considered one of the holiest sites in the Shinto tradition, the general public is now allowed to visit past the thatched roofs of the central area, and it is protected by four wooden fences. Visitors are allowed to explore the forest and walkways around the shrine.
Ise Grand Shrine, Japan
Queen Elizabeth’s Bedroom
While Buckingham Palace, the British monarch’s main place of residence and has been since 1837, is open for tourists to visit, the Queen’s bedroom is not open for visits. It makes sense, but back in 1982, intruder Michael Fagan broke into the palace and snuck into the Queen’s bedroom, allegedly by accident while roaming around the palace, resulting in one of the biggest security scandals in British history.
Queen Elizabeth’s Bedroom
Club 33, Disney World
Club 33 is a collection of private dining clubs found throughout the Disney Parks. The first one was opened in 1967 at Disneyland California. Other locations of Club 33 can be found in Shanghai Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland, as well as a lounge at all four parks at the Walt Disney World Resort. Membership is quite exclusive, with a huge waitlist in place. Membership is said to cost between $60-70,000 for initiation and $20,000 annually. Additionally, membership invitations mainly come from referrals from current members.
Club 33, Disney World
The Tumen River
The Tumen River is located between North Korea, China, and Russia, and serves as a part of the boundary between the countries. Its name comes from the Mongolian word tumen, meaning “ten thousand.” The river has been crossed by North Korean refugees who fled to China, with many refugees crossing during the 1990s North Korean famine. Defectors rarely, if ever, cross into Russia, since that side is much more patrolled than the Chinese section.
The Tumen River
Fort Knox
Fort Knox is a US Army installation found in Kentucky and right next to the US Bullion Depository, which houses a large portion of the US official gold reserves. That explains the serious level of security here, which is why the expression “safe as Fort Knox” came from. It should go without saying that it is completely closed off from the public.
Fort Knox
Area 51
Area 51 is a highly classified US Air Force facility located in the Nevada Test and Training Range. While it is known to be a training range, there are no public details of its operations, and many believe that it is often used to test experimental weapons and aircraft systems, which has led to many conspiracy theories surrounding it. The area is not open to the public, but the surrounding area is very popular with tourists because all of the mystery that Area 51 is shrouded in.
Area 51
Room 39, North Korea
Officially known as the Central Committee Bureau 39 of the Workers’ Party of Korea, Room 39 is a secretive North Korea party organization that works to maintain the slush fund of the North Korean leadership. It is estimated to bring in between $500 million and $1 billion per year, mainly from illegal activities. Room 39 is said to be the largest of the three most influential of the Third Floor offices which are said to be located in the Works’ Party building in Pyongyang. Of course, the area is strictly forbidden to any outsiders.
Room 39, North Korea
Svalbard Global Seed Vault
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is a highly secured backup facility that protects the world’s crop diversity. It’s located on Spitsbergen, a Norwegian island in the highly remote Arctic Svalbard archipelago. The aim of the vault is to provide security to the world’s food supply in the event of a global disaster, mismanagement, war, disease, sabotage, accidents, etc. It is managed under an agreement between the Norwegian government, the Crop Trust, and the Nordic Genetic Resource Center.
Svalbard Global Seed Vault
Tomb of Qin Shi Huang, China
The tomb of Qin Shi Huang, also called the Qinshihuang Mausoleum is located in Lishan Mountain, northeast of Xi’an, Shaanxi Province. He was the first emperor of the Qin dunasty, and his mausoleum was constructed over 38 years. The tomb itself has not been excavated yet. East of his tomb mound is the Terracotta Army, which served as a garrison to the mausoleum and also has yet to be excavated completely.
Tomb Of Qin Shi Huang, China
The Coca-Cola Vault
The Coca-Cola Bank Vault is home to the company’s secret recipe, which is one of the most highly guarded recipes in the world. The Chamber of the Secret Formula is located at the World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta, Georgia. Of course, visitors are absolutely not permitted to go in the vault, but there is a tour to see the outside of it that also tells the story of the recipe, how competitors tried to copy it, and a myriad of interactive experiences.
The Coca Cola Vault
Chernobyl Exclusion Zone
The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone is the official exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster. It was established in 1986 by the Soviet Armed Forces after the disaster happened, and initially took up about 30 kilometers in radius, but has since been expanded. It was used to restrict access to dangerous areas, and is still one of the most radioactively contaminated places on earth today.
Chernobyl Exclusion Zone
Moscow Metro-2, Russia
Metro-2 is the informal name for a supposedly secret underground metro system that is parallel to the Moscow Metro system, referred to as Metro-1 when this is discussed. It is said to have been built during Stalin’s rule and codenamed D-6 by the KGB. Now it is rumored to still be in use by the Main Directorate of Special Programmes and Ministry of Defence.
Moscow Metro 2, Russia
Poveglia, Italy
Poveglia is an island located between Venice and Lido in the Venetian Lagoon in northern Italy. Beginning in 1776, the island was used as a quarantine site for people infected by the plague, other diseases, and later as a mental hospital, and was used for this purpose for over 100 years. In 1968, the mental hospital closed and since then it has been totally vacant. Because of that, the island is often the subject of paranormal shows. Visiting the island is prohibited.
Poveglia, Italy
White’s Gentlemen’s Club
White’s is a gentlemen’s club in St. James’s, London which was founded in 1693 first as a hot chocolate shop in Mayfair. White’s is the oldest gentleman’s club in London, and it was moved to its current location in 1778. Its current members include Charles III, the Prince of Wales, and former Prime Minister David Cameron. It is not open for visitors, but for members only.
White’s Gentlemen’s Club
Spy Museum, China
At the Jiangsu National Security Education Museum in the city of Nanjing, visitors can view guns disguised as lipstick, hollow coins used to hide documents, and maps hidden into a deck of cards. However, foreign visitors are not allowed to visit. A spokeswoman for the museum shared: “We don’t want such sensitive spy information to be exposed to foreigners, so they are not allowed to enter.”
Image: Jiangsu National Security Education Museum
Dulce Base, New Mexico, US
Dulce Base, in New Mexico, is the topic of a conspiracy theory that claims that a human and alien jointly operated underground facility can be found in Archuleta Mesa, which is on the Colorado-New Mexico border. In the 1980s, businessman Paul Bennewitz first became convinced of the theory after he believed he intercepted electronic communications from an alien spacecraft.
Dulce Base, New Mexico, US
Uluru
Uluru, which is known as Ayers Rock, is a sandstone formation located in the center of Australia. It is a sacred site to the aboriginal Pitjantjatjara people of the area, known as the Anangu. It is also listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. At first, it was not a tourist attraction, but beginning in the 1950s, infrastructure was developed to make it into an attraction, and since it became a UNESCO site in 2000, tourism has increased. However, it is not permitted to climb Uluru.
Uluru
Heart Reef
Heart Reef is a naturally formed composition of coral that makes the shape of a heart, which is located in The Whitsundays of the Great Barrier Reef. Since the reef is protected, snorkeling, swimming, and scuba diving is not permitted there. What visitors can do is see the heart reef from above in a helicopter ride.
Heart Reef
The Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem
The Dome of the Rock is an Islamic shrine at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem. The site is holy to both Judaism and Islam, as the mosque is situated on the site of the Second Jewish Temple, which itself was built to replace Solomon’s Temple. The Dome of the Rock is the oldest surviving work of Islamic architecture. Access is very limited to non-Muslims, and non-Muslim religious prayers, prayer books, and religious apparel is banned.
The Dome Of The Rock, Jerusalem
Surtsey Island
Surtsey is a volcanic island that’s located in the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago off the southern coast of Iceland. The island formed after a volcanic eruption that started 130 meters below sea level. It was named after a Surtr, a fire giant from Norse mythology. Is it likely that eventually the island will disappear due to erosion, though it will take a long time until that happens. Only researchers are allowed to visit the island so they can research how ecosystems work without any human interference.
Surtsey Island
Royal Air Force Menwith Hill, U.K.
RAF Menwith Hill is a Royal Air Force station located in Harrogate, North Yorkshire in England. It provides intelligence and communications support to both the U.K. and the U.S. Nobody knows its exact role right now, and it is even more shrouded in mystery as nobody outside of its personnel is allowed in the area.
Royal Air Force Menwith Hill, U.K.
Maya Bay
Maya Bay, located in the Ko Phi Phi Le island of the Phi Phi Archipelago in the Krabi Province of Thailand. After it became overrun by tourists, in March 2018, Thai authorities announced that Maya Beach will be closed to tourists for several months in order to let the area recover from the damage the environment sustained from tourism. While it was reopened to tourists in 2022, there are strict protocols in place with no swimming, no boats, and no more than one hour to visit per person, as well as there being a limited amount of people allowed to visit at once.
Maya Bay
U.N. Buffer Zone, Cyprus
The United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus is a demilitarized zone that is patrolled by the Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus. It was established in 1964 and later extended in 1974 after a declared ceasefire of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. There are certain areas that are untouched by humans and are preserved so as to be a safe haven for flora and fauna in the area.
U.N. Buffer Zone, Cyprus
North Brother Island
North and South Brother Islands are a pair of islands that are found between Rikers Island and the mainland Bronx. North Brother Island used to be the location of the Riverside Hospital, which was a quarantine zone, but is now completely abandoned. The island have been government owned since 2007 and both islands have been designated sanctuaries for water birds. Public access is not allowed, and special permission is granted only to researchers and journalists.
North Brother Island
The Mormon Church Secret Vault
The Mormon Church Secret Vault, called the Granite Mountain Records Vault is the largest genealogical records located in the mountains near Salt Lake City, Utah. It was built by the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints in 1965 in order to preserve important records which include family history microfilms. There is no public access to the vault.
The Mormon Church Secret Vault
Bohemian Grove
Bohemian Grove is a campground in California, which belongs to the private San Francisco gentlemen’s club, which is known as the Bohemian Club. Every July, Bohemian Grove hosts a two week encampment that draws in some of the most powerful men in the world. The all-male membership is quite exclusive, and for those who are members for over 40 years, they are then inducted into the “Old Guard” status. Prominent members include Ronald Reagan, Theodore Roosevelt, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bob Weir, Herbert Hoover, and many more.
Bohemian Grove
Niihau, Hawaii
Niihau is the seventh largest uninhabited island in Hawaii that has been designated as a critical habitat for an endemic and endangered species of the Hawaiian lobelioid flowering plant. It called called “the Forbidden Isle” since it is off-limits to visitors except members of the Robinson family, who are the descendants of Elizabeth Sinclair, the woman who purchased the island in 1864.
Niihau, Hawaii
Pine Gap, Australia
Pine Gap is a satellite surveillance base and Australian Earth station in Alice Springs, Northern Territory in the center of Australia. It is jointly run by Australia and the U.S., and is actually partially run by the CIA, the NSA, and the NRO.
Pine Gap Image
Heard Island
The Territory of Heard Island and McDonald Islands (HIMI) are an Australian eternal territory that include a volcanic group of barren Antarctic islands. They are some of the most remote locations in the world and are completely uninhibited. The only way to reach the island is by sea, and it takes about two weeks from Australia to get there.
Heard Island
Mezhgorye, Russia
Mazhgorye is a closed town located in the Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia. It is about 120 miles from Ufa, the capital of the republic. It was founded in 1979, but has since been closed down by Russia, which means that it is subordinated directly to the federal government of Russia.
Mezhgorye, Russia
Robins Island
Robins Island is an island on the east part of Long Island off the coast of New Suffolk, New York, which is privately owned and does not grant public access to any visitors. It falls under jurisdiction from the Town of Southold in Suffolk County, New York. It is owned by Wall Street financier Louis Bacon.
Robins Island
Chichen Itza Pyramid
Chicen Itza Pyramid was a pre-Columbian city built by the Maya people of the Terminal Classic. period. It was one of the largest Mayan cities and may have had the most diverse population of all the Maya world. The ruins of Chichen Itza, including the pyramid, are federal property but the land was privately owned until March 2010.
Chichen Itza Pyramid
Bhangarh Fort, Rajasthan, India
Bhangarh Fort is a fort built in the 16th century in Rajasthan, India. It was established during the Bhagwant Das rule as the residence of his second son Madho Singh. From Sunset until sunrise, it is not possible to enter the fort, as in the 17th century the Indian government deemed the fort haunted.
Bhangarh Fort, Rajasthan, India
Pravcicka Brana, Czech Republic
Pravcicka Brana is a rock formation in Bohemian Switzerland in th Czech Republic. It has been named the largest natural sandstone arch in Europe. As heavy erosion was caused by tourists, in 1982, the arch has been off-limits to visitors, while the entire terrain became privately owned.
Pravcicka Brana, Czech Republic
Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center, United States
The Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center is a government command facility in Virginia used as the center of operations for FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It has also been designated as the major relocation site for the highest level of civilian and military officials in the case of a national disaster.
Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center, United States
The Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion, Ethiopia
The Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion is an Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church which is claimed to hold the Ark of the Covenant. It is located in Axum Tigray Region and is believed to have been built during the reign of Ezana, the first Christian ruler of the Kingdom of Axum. As of now, only the guardian monk is allowed to view the Ark.
The Church Of Our Lady Mary Of Zion, Ethiopia