14 Places You’re Banned from Visiting and Why
There are some places in the world where you simply cannot go. No matter how badly you want to see these places, they are off-limits to the outside world. These places include Area 51, Snake Island, Fort Knox, and many more.
Today, we dive into the 13 places you’re banned from visiting and why you can’t ever visit these places.
1. Area 51, USA
This is probably one of the most well-known places on earth, but it is strictly off-limits. Many believe that the government is hiding something there—something that would change humanity as we know it if the secret got out.
The first thing that people think is hidden here is aliens. There have been multiple people who worked in Area 51 that said that they saw the aliens while working there, and most of those people were silenced.
In 2019, people had finally had enough and were ready to storm the gates of Area 51 and see what was hidden inside its walls. However, it was mostly turned into a meme and there were more reporters there than people actually planning on storming the gates.
2. Niihau, Hawaii, USA
If you’ve been to Hawaii, you’ve probably heard the stories of the secret island just a stone’s throw away from Kauai. You can even take tours to the tiny crater just a couple hundred feet from Niihau’s shore. However, setting foot on this island is illegal.
This island was bought by the Robinson family and given to the native Hawaiians so that they could continue living without tourists, have no connection to the outside world, and govern themselves.
Only 84 people live on the island, which is dwindling yearly. The only electricity they have is from solar panels; there’s no plumbing or running water, no cars, and the people who live here only speak the Niʻihau dialect of Hawaiian.
3. North Sentinel Island, India
This island is part of India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands, but the islands are closer to Myanmar than India. North Sentinel Island is at the southern tip of the main island and is off-limits to visitors because of a protected tribe that lives there.
The Sentinelese tribe that lives on the island do everything that they can to protect their little island home. They have killed multiple people who either purposefully go to the island or even are shipwrecked on the island by shooting them with arrows. This island is protected by the Indian government, but it seems like the tribe living here is doing a fine job of protecting it themselves!
4. Snake Island, Brazil
Snake Island, also known as Ilha da Queimada Grande, is an island off the coast of São Paulo, Brazil. Can you guess why it’s called Snake Island? You got it: There are a ton of snakes on the island, not just any snakes. Venomous snakes that could kill you with one bite, such as the golden lancehead pit viper.
The island is off-limits for the safety of the public and the safety of this endangered population of snakes that can only be found on the island. There are stories about shipwrecks that happen on the island, and when they get to shore, they are met by thousands of venomous snakes.
It’s estimated that there are anywhere from 2,000 to 4,000 snakes, which means one snake per square meter. The only people allowed on the island are researchers and the coastguard, but why would anyone ever even want to step foot on this island? It’s terrifying!
5. Lascaux Caves, France
These caves are home to prehistoric art. They were discovered in the 1940s and then closed in the 1960s. One of the oldest cave paintings ever discovered is thought to be from 17,000 years ago. The caves were closed to the public to preserve the art; now, only scientists can visit them.
Over 6,000 figures painted in the caves have been separated into three categories: animals, humans, and unknown signs. A replica cave is located right next to the actual caves and has the exact same paintings, but if you want to enter the actual Lascaux Caves, you’ll need at least a doctorate.
6. North Brother Island, USA
This island is right in the heart of New York City, but it’s strictly off-limits. The island was originally used as a quarantine zone for infectious diseases. It had a hospital and a lighthouse, but those were the only two buildings on the island. This island also has a dark history of cops rounding up unhoused people from the streets of New York who were addicts and forcing them to detox here against their will.
Now, the island is a bird sanctuary and is off-limits to the public. Some birds that live on the island are the black-crowned night heron, barn swallows, great egret, snowy egret, and the double-crested cormorant. A dense forest has taken over the hospital, but this island sounds like the perfect place for a mad scientist to hide and perform human experiments, doesn’t it?
7. Surtsey, Iceland
This volcanic island off the coast of Iceland is one of the newest in the world, having been formed in 1963. It’s just one square mile in size. The only people allowed on the island are scientists, and no one lives here permanently. The volcano last erupted in 1967, and because of erosion, scientists think that the island will be gone by the year 2100.
Scientists are closely monitoring some birds and foliage on the island, but everything else is strictly off-limits.
8. Pluto’s Gate, Turkey
Pluto’s Gate is also known as the “Gate to Hell” because anything that enters it immediately dies. This spot is where even tourists from back in the day (like 60 BC) can witness the cave’s “mythical” energy. They would sell little animals like birds or mice at the entrance of the cave, and then people would send them in, only for them to die.
Modern-day scientists have figured out what is really happening in this cave. A constant stream of carbon dioxide enters it from an underground source.
Some priests in late BC would stand at the cave entrance and breathe in the fumes, which would give them a feeling of being high. Then, they would give sermons and perform animal sacrifices while breathing in the noxious fumes.
So, although this cave is not some portal to hell, it will kill if you stay inside it for too long, so you are not permitted to go anywhere near it.
9. Vatican Secret Archives, Vatican
I think this forbidden location is the most interesting on the list. The Vatican Secret Archives (the Apostolic Archive) is kept inside the Vatican and is one of the world’s most secure buildings.
The archives have over 53 miles of shelving and are filled with 35,000 cataloged volumes of texts. The Secret Archives are also said to be where aliens and even the holy grail are kept.
Pope Francis decided to open the Archives and allow people to visit them and see the secrets that lie within. However, he allowed people to start touring on March 2, 2020, days before the world was put under lockdown for the pandemic. It’s almost as if God didn’t want people to see the secrets of these historical archives.
Read more about Vatican as one of the World’s Oldest Libraries
10. Morgan Island, South Carolina
This small island off the coast of South Carolina could be the start of a real-life Planet of the Apes. In 1979, hundreds of monkeys infected with the herpes B virus were shipped from Puerto Rico’s Caribbean Primate Research Center to Morgan Island.
The monkeys quickly took control of the island and have grown to almost 4,000. On an island of just one square mile, 4,000 territorial monkeys live on it—that’s terrifying!
It’s also said that experiments have been done on the monkeys that live on the island, like spreading AIDS to its population and other diseases, to see how the monkeys deal with the diseases. So they are territorial and distrusting humans, and they could be potentially mad at us. See what I mean? Next Planet of the Apes. You can tour the island by boat, but that sounds way too scary of a tour.
11. Fort Knox, Kentucky, USA
I remember watching a show about Fort Knox on the History Channel as a kid and being fascinated by it. You can visit Fort Knox, but there’s one spot on this military base where you are definitely not allowed to go.
It’s called the Fort Knox Bullion Depository; inside it is 147.3 million ounces of gold! Gold is currently valued at about $42 an ounce, meaning over 6 billion dollars worth of gold inside Fort Knox. This is where the US Treasury keeps about half of its supply of gold, but there are even more valuables inside the fort than just gold.
This Fort is also known as “America’s Medicine Cabinet” because huge amounts of morphine are kept inside. It also contains original copies of the Magna Carta. It once held the original Declaration of Independence and the crown, sword, scepter, orb, and cape of the King of Hungary.
They were only held for short periods, but it just proves that the American government knows this is one of the most secure places in the country.
12. Coca-Cola Vault, USA
Here’s a pretty funny one. The Coca-Cola vault in Atlanta, Georgia, holds the company’s secret formula inside. It feels like this should be in an episode of Sponge Bob or something. The company has been around since 1888, but the secret formula wasn’t written down on paper until 1919.
It was then kept in a lockbox in New York until the company’s debt was paid off in 1925 when they moved it to the vault it’s in today. The vault is now one of the main attractions in the Coca-Cola museum, but to see the actual Coca-Cola secret formula, you’ll need to buy the company. I’m sure you can afford the measly 270.88 billion dollars that the company is valued at, right?
13. Svalbard Global Seed Vault, Norway
Then, we have the seed vault in Norway, which holds 1,214,827 worldwide. The vault is on a tiny island called Svalbard, high in the Arctic Circle. The seeds are kept here in case there is some kind of nuclear fallout, a giant asteroid crashes into Earth, or something kills all plant life. This structure in the North Pole is basically Noah’s Ark of modern times.
You can tour outside the vault, but no one but the scientists who work here are allowed inside. You can take a virtual tour of the vault online, but there’s no way you’re getting inside this fortress.
14. Pyramids, Egypt
All three of the Pyramids of Giza are open to visitors, but many parts of them are strictly guarded and where visitors are not welcome. One of these places is the newly discovered passageway in the Great Pyramid of Giza. Many scientists believe it could finally lead to the discovery of Cleopatra’s tomb.
Many other secret passageways and tunnels under the pyramids are guarded, and no one can enter. However, if you find a person who knows a guy who knows a guy, and if you are willing to pay a hefty price, then you could get yourself inside of one of these secret ancient tunnels. Just don’t get caught!
