From the million dollar Atari Video Game stash, to the most remote PRADA store in the world, these are 14 STRANGEST Things Found in American Deserts !
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8. Atari Video Game Stash
In Southeastern New Mexico, Atari filled a landfill full of their games cartridges from the 80’s including games like ET, Asteroids, warlords, and centipede. These games didn’t succeed and Atari had to do something with them. Investigators were hired in an attempt to find the games and in 2014 the games were finally uncovered in the landfill near the atari factory after months of planning and investing 50,000 dollars. Once they were found over 900 copies , the games sold on Ebay like hotcakes and even the smithsonian was interested in some copies.
7. The Petrified Forest
Would you believe there’s actually an entire forest of fossilized trees in Arizona!? A long time ago, this modern day desert was covered logs that were naturally transported by a river of now extinct trees on the continent of Pangea. Each of these large rocks that are formed on the ground are actually fossils from the late Triassic Period about 225 million years ago. The went through a process known as petrification when their living cells were filled with minerals, like silica and quartz which helps the wood retain much of its original form. It’s believed that some of these trees were over 200 feet tall when alive
6. Abandoned Prada Store
This fancy designer shop was set up right in the middle of a desolate area in Western Texas. This was actually a permanent art installation, and not a random place to do shopping. Scandinavian Artists, funded the project and wanted to see how the store would look after spending a long period of time in the middle of the desert. The installation was quickly robbed of all the designer products like you could probably imagine only a few days after it was installed. The store was quickly repaired with stronger windows to prevent theft of the handbags and shows inside.
5. Flintstones Bedrock City
Ever wish you be apart of a cartoon sometimes and see what it would look like in reality. The designers of this Flintstones themed attraction park had the same idea in mind but it didn’t turn out to be quite as popular as they had hoped. This is located in the desert just northwest of Flagstaff, Arizona and it’s delightfully creepy. It’s was abandoned for quite some time but it looks like it’s recently been slightly renovated with addition of the slide on the dinosaur's tail.
4. Utah Evaporation Pools
If you were hiking through the Utah desert might think you were slightly hallucinating when you came across these evaporation ponds. However you certainly would not want to take a swim here because these waters actually contain salts with potassium. The ponds provide a brilliant blue light in contrast of the barren Moab desert that surrounds them. When the sun evaporates the pond, what’s left over are potassium crystals which are then sold. The different shades of blue are actually due to how much of the water
3. Death Valley Castle
What’s a huge castle doing in the middle of the desert in possibly the hottest place on Earth? Scotty’s Castle is a two story Spanish mission style villa, located in Northern Death Valley. It’s known as Scotty’s Castle and it was built by Alberty Johnson who was convinced there was possibly gold in Death Valley somewhere by prospector Walter Scott. The claim turned out to be false however the two managed to become friends anyways. The mansion went unfinished due to the stock market crash in 1929 but tours are available for those who are intrigued by this place.
2. Titan Missile Museum
Where else in the US can you visit a 9 ton nuclear warhead? Ok the real one was moved in order for it to become a museum, missile that was used for training excersizes looks quite real! This is the only megaton missile silo that’s actually open to the public from the Cold War and it offers a truly mysterious experience for those who want to visit it. It’s hidden away in the vast, Arizona desert but was decommissioned in 1982 by Ronald Reagan. People can visit the living quarters of the crew who were ready to bring on an apocalypse if asked to do so. You can also spend the night here for the right price. You can even check out the key hole where people would have turned to key for it to be launched!
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Oldest North American Petroglyphs
The Petroglyphs found in the Northern Nevada Desert, is home to North America’s oldest known petroglyphs that are believed to date back to at least 5,600 BC but some can be as old as 14,000 years. That predates the pyramids by at least 3000 years! The rock art is extremely fragile and efforts are being made to protect them. Some of them depict geometric patterns, while others depict a spear and an antelope. Who were the ancient people who left this prehistoric artwork and what were they trying to convey?