3. The Sunken Crosses of Malpique
Value Estimate Present: Unknown
Year Found: 1570; Year Disappeared: N/A
Forty stone crosses can be found on the seafloor, 65 feet below the surface, off the coast of La Palma, Spain. The story truly dates back to the 1500s, but in 2000, Catholic officials in Spain purposefully positioned these there. 40 Jesuit missionaries encountered a gang of pirates in 1570 while traveling to La Palma. At the time, pirates were a common sight in the region.
Malpique’s Sunken Crosses, @atlasobscura/Pinterest
The missionaries’ ship and its cargo were desired by a group of French pirates, but the men within were not. Regretfully, the missionaries were pronounced martyrs when they perished in the pirate onslaught. In 2000, forty crosses submerged beneath the waters served as a reminder to everybody of this centuries-old horror tale.
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