The 'Underwater City' off Cuba
In 2001, a survey ship scanning the seabed off western Cuba found shapes that looked like pyramids and streets, half a kilometre down.
What was reported
In 2001, a Canadian company led by Paulina Zelitsky and Paul Weinzweig, surveying the seabed off Cuba's western tip, reported sonar images showing large, regular shapes about 600 to 750 metres deep: what looked like rectangles, circles and pyramid-like forms.
The find was widely reported as a possible sunken city, and linked by some to legends of Atlantis.
Explanations offered
Geologists pointed out that the land could not have sunk so far in the time humans have existed, and that natural rock formations can look regular on sonar. Follow-up studies were limited, and no evidence of human work has been confirmed. Most scientists consider the shapes natural.
- When
- Reported in 2001
- Where
- Off the Guanahacabibes Peninsula, Cuba
- Witnesses
- An ocean survey team
- Status
- Probably natural
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.