Fantasy worlds

Atlantis was a real estate scam – and 9 more crazy fictional worlds

Image: Artem Sapegin

Fiction has given us worlds beyond comprehension—realms where logic collapses, physics defies expectation, and imagination reigns supreme. From cities in the sky to entire worlds beneath our own, some of these fictional places have captivated us since their creation. Join us on a fantastical journey through some of the quirkiest and most head-scratching of these imagined worlds.

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Lewis Carroll’s 1865 Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland conjured a world where words, rules, and even size lose all meaning. Time halts at tea parties, cats vanish mid-sentence, and logic itself becomes nonsense.

Carroll, a mathematician and Oxford don, infused what at first glance seems like just a children’s story with riddles, puns, and complex paradoxes. The book’s wordplay critiques Victorian social norms while subtly introducing mathematical and logical concepts.

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A technicolor realm of talking animals, magical shoes, and wicked witches, L. Frank Baum’s 1900 classic The Wonderful Wizard of Oz reshaped children’s literature forever. Baum’s storytelling introduced a vivid fantasy world filled with unique characters, whimsical landscapes, and moral lessons that appealed to both children and adults.

Characters like the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion have become iconic figures in American popular culture for generations. The 1939 MGM film starring Judy Garland cemented the book’s imagery, leaving an enduring influence on film, theater, and the broader cultural imagination.

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An island where no one grows up and pirates battle endlessly, J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan debuted in 1904 and quickly became a lasting symbol of escapism. Barrie first introduced the character in a 1902 play before expanding the story into his 1911 novel, embedding themes of adventure, imagination, and the tension between childhood and adulthood.

Psychologists and literary scholars often reference Neverland as an allegory for arrested development, representing the desire to remain permanently in a state of innocence and freedom.

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A wardrobe that opens to another world, talking lions, and epic battles of good versus evil—C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia (first published in 1950) created a richly imagined fantasy universe.

Drawing on Christian allegory, classical mythology, and his own experiences in World War I, Lewis crafted seven novels that explore courage, faith, and moral growth through fantastical adventures. The series has had a profound cultural impact, inspiring stage adaptations, radio dramas, films, and countless illustrated editions.

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A floating island of science, invention, and eccentric rulers, Laputa appears in Jonathan Swift’s 1726 Gulliver’s Travels. The island hovers in the sky, controlled by magnets, and is inhabited by scholars obsessed with abstract mathematics, music, and astronomy—often to the detriment of practical life below.

Swift, a master of satire, used Laputa to lampoon the scientific and political elite of his time, highlighting their detachment from practical, everyday concerns. Its striking imagery has also had a lasting impact on the depiction of futuristic societies and utopian civilizations.

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Rolling hills, cozy hobbit holes, and a peaceful, pastoral life—J.R.R. Tolkien’s Shire, introduced in The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1954–55), embodies an idyllic, pre-industrial England beneath the veneer of a fantasy world.

Tolkien, a scholar of languages and mythology, infused the Shire with intricate customs, poetry, and festivals, aiming to create a mythology for England that he felt was missing—one that celebrated simplicity, community, and harmony with nature.

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A hidden plateau where dinosaurs and prehistoric creatures survive, Arthur Conan Doyle’s 1912 novel The Lost World introduced readers to a thrilling world untouched by time. Doyle’s story follows Professor Challenger and his expedition as they encounter giant reptiles, ape-men, and other wonders on a remote South American plateau, blending adventure with early paleontological speculation.

Doyle was likely inspired by Mount Roraima, a flat-topped plateau in South America’s Guiana Highlands. Its sheer cliffs, isolated ecosystem, and mysterious cloud-covered summit provided a tangible model for the novel’s prehistoric world.

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A legendary sunken city, Atlantis was first described by Plato in his dialogues around 360 BCE. According to Plato, Atlantis was a powerful and advanced civilization that sank beneath the ocean in a single day and night of catastrophic events, serving as a cautionary tale about hubris and moral decline.

Despite its origin as a philosophical example, many scholars believe Atlantis was inspired by the real-life Minoan civilization on Crete. The Minoans were an advanced maritime society whose cities, such as Knossos, were eventually devastated by natural disasters, including the volcanic eruption of Thera (Santorini) and subsequent tsunamis.

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A hollow Earth filled with prehistoric creatures and lost civilizations, Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Pellucidar (1914) imagines a world at the center of the planet, lit by an eternal inner sun. The series follows David Innes and his adventures among tribes of humans, dinosaurs, and other strange beings, blending swashbuckling action with imaginative geography.

Burroughs drew inspiration from the era’s fascination with unexplored frontiers and the Hollow Earth theories popular in the 19th century. Pellucidar has influenced later science fiction and adventure literature, inspiring works that explore hidden worlds and isolated ecosystems.

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A mysterious Scottish village that appears for only one day every hundred years, the legend of Brigadoon draws on deep-rooted folklore from the Scottish Highlands. The tale likely originates from myths of fairy-haunted glens and hidden villages, where magic protected communities from outsiders and the passage of time.

Such stories often emphasized the danger and allure of the supernatural, reflecting local beliefs about enchanted landscapes and the thin boundary between the human and fairy worlds.

The truth about your brain

You won’t believe what happens in your brain while you sleep

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Your brain is one of the most powerful and mysterious organs in your body. It controls everything from your thoughts to your emotions and even processes information at lightning speed. But how much do you really know about it? Some long-believed myths about the brain have been debunked, while other surprising facts reveal just how incredible this organ truly is. Get ready to be amazed by these fascinating brain facts!

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You’ve probably heard this one before, but it’s completely false! While it’s true that not all parts of the brain fire at the same time, imaging studies show that most regions are active throughout the day, even when we sleep.

Your brain is constantly working, controlling bodily functions and emotions, and processing information. So next time someone says you’re only using 10% of your brain, you can confidently tell them that’s just a myth!

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Here’s a weird fact: While your brain processes pain signals from the rest of your body, it has no pain receptors of its own. This is why surgeons can perform brain surgery on conscious patients without causing them pain.

However, the membranes and tissues surrounding the brain do have pain receptors, which is why headaches and brain injuries can be so excruciating.

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How come we have headaches if the brain has no pain receptors? Well, that’s because headaches are triggered by chemical activity in the brain, changes in nerves and blood vessels, and even fluctuating serotonin levels.

In some cases, hormones like estrogen can also play a role, which explains why migraines are more common in women.

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Dreams are proof that your brain never rests! (Warning: this fact can make you feel exhausted.) While you sleep, your limbic system, that is, the part of the brain that deals with emotions, becomes especially active, which is why dreams often feel so intense.

On average, humans experience four to seven dreams per night, even if we don’t always remember them. And what about that scary nightmare about falling? Well, you can thank your amygdala, the brain’s fear center, for that one.

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Have you ever walked into a room and instantly forgotten what you were after? That’s because short-term memory only lasts about 20-30 seconds! That’s not enough!

Your brain holds a limited amount of information in its active state before deciding whether to store it or discard it. Ironically, we can’t really choose what makes the cut, but we do hope these facts stay with you!

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That sharp, icy pain when you eat something too cold? It’s your brain’s way of telling you to slow down! Officially called sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia, a brain freeze happens when cold food or drinks rapidly chill the blood vessels in your throat, causing them to constrict and then rapidly expand. This sends pain signals to your brain, warning you of the sudden temperature shift. It’s annoying, but it’s actually your body trying to protect itself!

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You didn’t need us to tell you, but let’s look at the details: The average person has between 12,000 and 60,000 thoughts per day. What’s even more interesting? 95% of those thoughts are the same ones you had yesterday. Is that not surprising enough? Hear this out: 80% of them tend to be negative. That’s because our brains are wired for survival, constantly analyzing risks and potential dangers.

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Even though it only makes up about 2% of your body weight, your brain employs a major quantity of energy! It consumes 20% of your oxygen and blood supply, making it one of the most demanding organs in your body.

If your brain goes without oxygen for just five minutes, brain cells start dying, leading to irreversible damage. This is why deep breathing and cardiovascular exercise are great for brain health!

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Do you know that feeling when you hit the back of your head and see stars? That’s because your occipital lobe, which controls vision, is located at the back of your brain. If you get hit there, your brain momentarily misfires, causing flashes of light.

Interestingly, your brain processes vision on the opposite side; while your right brain controls your left eye, your left brain controls your right eye. It’s one of the many ways the brain operates in a complex way.

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Believe it or not, your brain generates between 12 and 25 watts of electricity when you’re awake. If you can’t really grasp how powerful that is, check this out: It’s enough to power a small light bulb! Your brain’s electrical activity is what allows neurons to send signals at speeds of up to 260 miles per hour.

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Your brain may be the fattiest organ in your body, consisting of at least 60% fat! This is why consuming healthy fats, like omega-3s and omega-6s present in fish, for example, is essential for brain health.

Healthy fats stabilize brain cell walls, reduce inflammation, and support cognitive function. So go ahead and enjoy that avocado toast, it’s food for your brain!

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It’s not just your memory that fades over time; the brain itself physically shrinks as one gets older. It continues developing until your late 40s, but after that, it slowly decreases in size.

Now, size doesn’t equal intelligence, so a smaller brain doesn’t necessarily mean a less capable one. Staying mentally active, exercising, and eating brain-boosting foods can help keep it in top shape!

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We often think of cholesterol as bad, but your brain actually depends on it! In fact, 25% of your body’s cholesterol is stored in your brain, where it helps with learning and memory. However, unlike other organs, the brain can’t absorb cholesterol from the blood, it has to produce its own. So, while too much cholesterol in the body can be harmful, the right amount is vital for brain function. At least you can use that as an excuse to get that burger!