The Mountain of the Bell
On a sandy mountain in Sinai, people heard bell-like booms and said a monastery lay buried inside, its bells still ringing for prayers.
What was reported
Jebel Naqus, the 'Mountain of the Bell', is a hill near the Gulf of Suez in southern Sinai, with a steep slope of fine sand. Bedouin and travellers reported hearing deep, ringing sounds from it.
Legend said a monastery had been swallowed by the mountain, and that the sound was its bells, or the wooden gong called a naqus that monks beat to call people to prayer.
Explanations offered
In the 19th century, the explorer James Wellsted ran down the sandy slope and set off the sound himself, loud enough to startle him. Like the singing dunes of China and Kazakhstan, the boom comes from dry sand grains sliding together in an avalanche.
- When
- Legend recorded since the 1800s
- Where
- Jebel Naqus, near El Tor, South Sinai, Egypt
- Witnesses
- Bedouin, monks and travellers
- Status
- Explained
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.