Deep below Tennessee found the 'lost sea'. This area is said to be the largest non-subglacial underground lake in the United States (US), and possibly the second largest in the world.
Found in the Craighead Caverns, this collection of underground water is so massive that no one is really sure how big it is.
It is located in a cave in the middle of the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee between Sweetwater and Madisonville. Apart from holding large amounts of water, this cave is known for its crystal, stalagmite and stalactite arrangements that adorn its limestone walls.
The cave system has a long history and is considered a National Natural Landmark by the National Park Service. Long before humans were here, there is evidence that the caves once housed the fearsome giant Pleistocene jaguars.
Centuries later, the area was used by the Cherokee as a haven, as demonstrated by the many Native American artefacts, including pottery, arrowheads, weapons, and jewelry, found here.
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In recent centuries, European colonists mined and manufactured gunpowder here. The lost sea was later discovered in 1905 when a child tripped over water while playing in a cave.
"The lake was discovered by Ben Sands," tour guide Savannah Dalton said in an interview with CBS News in 2019, quoted from IFL Science.
No one is sure about the size of this area. The visible part of the lake is 243 meters long and 67 meters wide, but below the surface it leads into another great hall filled with water and much of it unexplored.
More than 5.2 hectares of water area has been mapped so far, although explorers have still not found the end of the lake. This also strengthens the notion that the area is equivalent to the ocean.
Once there were divers swimming through the pitch-black waters of a lake armed with a sonar device and forced to turn around because they could detect nothing but the water around them.