The Voices of the Lop Desert
Marco Polo wrote that in a desert on the Silk Road, travellers who fell behind heard spirits calling their names, and the sound of drums and armies.
What was reported
Crossing the Lop Desert, on the edge of the Taklamakan, took travellers a month. Marco Polo wrote that if anyone fell behind the caravan at night, they would hear voices calling them by name, in the voices of their companions, and follow them off the track, never to be found.
Sometimes, he said, travellers heard music, drums and the clash of arms, like an army passing. Caravans tied bells to their animals and kept close together.
Explanations offered
Desert dunes can make booming and roaring sounds as sand slides, and wind across rocks can sound like voices. Exhaustion, thirst and the fear of being lost in a vast empty place can make people hear things. The 'singing sands' of this region have been recorded.
- When
- Described by Marco Polo, about 1273
- Where
- Lop Desert, Xinjiang, China
- Witnesses
- Travellers on the Silk Road
- Status
- Partly 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.
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