8 Spooky and Strange Things Found In Antarctica

Antarctica is still a relatively unexplored area on our planet.

There are probably plenty of discoveries in Antarctica still to be made.

It was only in 1773 that an expedition led by Captain James Cook crossed the Antarctic Circle.

Multiple expeditions in the 19^th century managed to reach the Antarctic Peninsula, and in 1911 Roald Amundsen’s party were the first people to reach the South Pole.

With such a young history of Antarctic exploration, it is no wonder that there are still many strange things about Antarctica that remain mysterious to this day.

October is coming up, and you just know social media will be flooded with Halloween posts even before the event.

As such, Cez and Agness of eTramping were kind enough to provide some spooky, puzzling and altogether creepy things found in Antarctica.

Some of these Antarctica scary facts have simple explanations, others – not so much. There’s some weird stuff in Antarctica…

8 Spooky and Strange Things Found in Antarctica

1. Sea Pigs

H.P. Lovecraft would have probably loved to see this interesting creature.

Called “the ugliest creature beneath the waves,” the scotoplanes (scientific name) are what you get when you combine the terror of Cthulhu with the plump, pink and short-legged appearance of a piglet.

They are the slugs of the sea and live among other deep-sea creatures such as clams and coral.

Their appearance is vastly different depending on which ocean you spot them in, but one thing is for certain: the sea pig is the stuff of nightmares, and definitely one of the weirdest things found in Antarctica.

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2. A “Sea Monster”

It’s amazing that in the age of 50+ megapixel quality images we can still have grainy photos that yield Sasquatch or UFO-hunts on the Internet.

Maybe we’re being too harsh here – after all, this is just a satellite image we’re talking about. Regardless, sometimes you might get lucky and find some Antarctica mythical creatures.

This sea monster definitely fits the description of “scary things found in Antarctica!” Pictured near Deception Island (how convenient!) it has spawned numerous theories on what it could be.

While it is most likely some kind of big whale species, it still has a menacing, creepy air to it. Especially since you need to zoom in on a dark ocean cavern to spot it.

You can see it for yourself at coordinates 63° 2’56.73″S 60°57’32.38″W on Google Earth.

3. Sea Spiders

If you’re not afraid of spiders yet, these scary things in Antarctica might change your mind if you’re “lucky” enough to see them on an Antarctic cruise.

Well, they’re not actually spiders, but a type of primitive marine arthropod.

In retrospect, that doesn’t make them any less creepy.

As a species, they are present all around the planet and can be as small as 1 millimetre in size.

Unless you get to scary Antarctica where Polar Gigantism is a thing.

These underwater terrors can grow up to have a leg span of 25 centimeters.

4. Blood Falls from Taylor Glacier

No, this is not the name of that one metal band your cousin listens to.

But, it could certainly be the subject of a song on their album!

In East Antarctica, there is a place where it looks like the continent is gushing out blood. I did say there were some scary facts about Antarctica!

When it was discovered in 1911 by an Australian geologist, the explanation he came up with was that microscopic red algae gave the waterfall it’s colouring.

In 2003, however, a team discovered that the colour was a result of oxidized iron. How “metal.”

It wasn’t until this year that researchers have found out that the waterfall springs from a lake trapped under the ice for over a million years!

5. Striped Icebergs

What comes to your mind when you hear the word “iceberg”? If you asked a friend, it would probably be the thing that sunk the Titanic in that famous DeCaprio movie.

Most of these magnificent ice giants are either snow-capped and white or have a clear turquoise color. You’d hardly expect them to come in stripes as well.

But they do in creepy Antarctica!

The stripes’ colour can be blue, black, or green. Maybe not a spooky as the rest of the creepy facts about Antarctica on this list.

But to those accustomed to the Hollywood image of an iceberg, seeing striped ones can make one feel a bit uneasy.

The different colourings can actually be simply explained as frozen meltwater (blue), sediment (black) or algae (green) that were trapped while the iceberg was forming.

Again, while it isn’t the most immediately terrifying phenomenon, these crazy things found in Antarctica are still unnerving.

6. “Pyramid”-Shaped Mountains

There are numerous conspiracy theories regarding Antarctica, and we won’t get into them (though some are hilarious).

Still, one that has been making the rounds recently is the discovery of supposed pyramids as one of the strange things found in Antarctica, “remnants of an ancient civilization.”

The difference is that you can actually see something resembling them on Google Earth (coordinates 79°58’39.25″S 81°57’32.21″W).

A discovery of this magnitude would definitely be spooky, but according to LiveScience the formation is simply a mountain that looks like a pyramid.

It was caused due to millions of years of erosion, and it is not uncommon for mountains to have at least a partially pyramidal shape in various parts of the world.

7. Tunnels Almost as Tall as the Eiffel Tower

The ice shelves under Antarctica are hiding numerous things unknown to humankind.

One such thing is a series of 820-foot tunnels. In comparison, the Eiffel Tower is 987-feet tall.

Sure, it would be cool (no pun intended) for creepy things found in ice like this to have been created by some sort of mythological ice giants.

But again, as with many weird things found in Antarctica, the explanation is much simpler.

Using special radars, a British team of specialists discovered the tunnels while flying over West Antarctica.

They determined that the tunnels were most likely the result of meltwater flowing underneath the ice shelf.

8. A Ton of Bones

You get some strange things found in icebergs these days, and what better way to end a “Halloween-themed” article about Antarctica than with some classic skeletons?

Well, in 2016 a team of researchers discovered some very interesting things found frozen in Antarctica.

These things turned out to be over a ton of fossils on the James Ross Island, ranging from 71 to 67 million years old.

Most of them were remnants of ancient marine creatures, or even the ancestors of modern-day ducks.

But it wouldn’t be AS exciting if they didn’t also discover massive dinosaur bones, such as from the mosasaurus.

If you’ve seen “Jurassic World,” it’s the giant whale-like colossus from the feeding show.

The remnants come from the final days of the dinosaurs on Earth, so these strange things in Antarctica are quite an amazing sight to see today!

Frequently Asked Questions

What do you think they’ll find on (or in) the icy continent next?  Tell us below which one of the weird things in Antarctica you are the most shocked about!

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