With this view, it is not difficult to understand why Lake Baikal is shrouded in mystery.

DLNews Natur:

Lake Baikal in Siberia is shrouded in fascinating legends, ranging from tales of monsters to sunken ships and even reported UFO sightings. Interestingly, even Russian state sources have acknowledged these speculations.

It's no surprise that Lake Baikal is a remarkable body of water, boasting superlative features such as a depth of 1,642 meters (5387.14 feet) and over 25 million years old. It is the largest freshwater lake and deepest lake on the planet, with roughly 20 percent of the world's drinking water reserves that are not ice-bound. It's no wonder why this lake has inspired so many captivating legends.

However, some are pretty bizarre: numerous blogs, such as "Mysterious Universe," repeatedly report mysterious UFO sightings over Lake Baikal. Numerous residents are said to have written visits from flying saucers over the past few decades – mostly; there was talk of inexplicable lights in the sky that moved at lightning speed and then disappeared just as suddenly as they came - of course, without anyone ever taking a usable photo. I could have provided evidence of these claims.

Lake Baikal is the largest freshwater lake in the world, the deepest lake, and is ancient - perhaps that is why so many mysteries surround it.

Enslavement by aliens

However, that doesn't stop UFO disciples from spreading even weirder theories, for example, the alleged existence of an underwater alien station deep in Lake Baikal. An "incident" from 1982 is reported in which Russian military divers encountered mysterious human-like creatures in silver diving suits at a depth of 50 meters (165 feet-, three of the divers allegedly died shortly afterward.

This lake hides a horrifying secret.

The craziest thing: In 2014, the speculations of the UFO disciples even received official support when two Russian military experts seriously claimed in a guest article for the Russian weekly newspaper "WPK" that humanity was on the verge of enslavement by aliens. Media like "Focus" reported on it, albeit with a wink.

Sea monsters and missing gold

And, of course, Lake Baikal also has its own "Nessie," according to "Mysterious Universe," a lizard-like creature with a forked tongue, whose image was supposedly found on the shores of the lake, carved into a stone stele. Lake Baikal is home to 1,500 animal and 1,000 plant species that only occur here and are endemic. But it is doubtful whether there is such a water monster underneath. The only animal in Lake Baikal that can send shivers down your spine is a crab called Macrohectopus. According to a report in the "Berliner Zeitung," it eats the organic remains of dead plants, animals, and possibly a dead person. A Russian scientist told the "Berliner Zeitung": "If a person drowns in Lake Baikal, the relatives have seven days to find the body." After that, everything mortal in the lake is destroyed.

But that's not all, because mystery fans also suspect an Eastern European Bermuda Triangle in Lake Baikal. According to consistent reports on numerous blogs, ships repeatedly disappear on its waters, never to be seen again. It was only in June 2011 that the Yamaha party boat with four men on board disappeared at a place called the "Devil's Crater," which, according to alleged residents, was probably torn into the depths from their vortexes that suddenly appeared again and again - which are logically a gateway to hell. It seems almost logical that some believe that Tsar Nicholas II's gold has disappeared in the shallows of Lake Baikal - but historians doubt this version; the treasure was probably taken out of the country during the turmoil of the Russian Revolution.

Such ice circles appear repeatedly on Lake Baikal's surface.

Mysterious gas eruptions in Lake Baikal

But what about the vast, mysterious circles that keep appearing on the frozen surface of Lake Baikal in winter? Many people suspected that at least aliens were at work here, especially since the ice circles were first discovered on satellite images.

But that's also far from the truth: Violent gas eruptions occur repeatedly on the bottom of the lake, which lead to underwater whirlpools. At the edge of these whirlpools, the water rotates so quickly that the ice becomes thinner - and the circles appear in the ice.