When Darkness Falls: 15 Jaw-Dropping Night Transformations
5. Forests in the Smoky Mountains of Elkmont, Tennessee
Every year in the Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee, millions of fireflies take part in an inexplicable light show that mesmerizes any and all spectators. While the “gathering of fireflies” may sound somewhat trivial and boring, you will not regret seeing it with your own eyes, as these pulsating little night lights prefer to choose glowing fungi as their landing pads, making this an even brighter experience!
6. Hachijo-Jima Island, Japan
Visiting Japan in summer? Don’t forget to check out Hachijo-Jima Island and its famous hiking trails speckled with emerald-glowing mushrooms! The perfect time to see the fungal “light show” is during the rainy season that usually lasts from May to late August.
7. Toyama Bay, Japan
Toyama Bay is the only place in the world, where you can see the Firefly Squid, an almost exclusively deep sea dweller, with your own eyes, without having to dive into the dark and cold depths of the Pacific Ocean. This spot has been their breeding grounds for centuries, maybe eons, so no wonder the Japanese art and folklore have more references to squids and tentacles, than any other culture on the planet! All jokes aside, at night time this place looks like a shot from one of Miyazaki’s anime.
8. The Ocean Depths
Speaking of deep sea creatures… After billions of years of living under immense pressure and adapting their bodies, survival skills, and hunting mechanisms, these monsters finally popped up on our radars and people freaked out. Since the middle of the 18th century we’ve discovered living organisms of almost any shape, size and form we could (and couldn’t) imagine, but the scientists currently know more about the planets in our solar system, than about those abominations lurking in our oceans.
When you look at these photos of deep sea creatures you can’t help but wonder “How is it that we can land a probe on an asteroid in space, but we don’t have good enough technology to explored the bottom of our planet?” Whatever the reason is, it’s wrong because before looking for extraterrestrial life in the galaxies far far away we should check our backyard, which is full of undiscovered alien-looking monstrosities waiting to be discovered.
