Gharangi temple

The Gharangi Temple is a geological formation off the coast of southeastern Ulungo. The stones are almost perfectly square and smooth cut. While it is believed to have been formed naturally, local tradition claims that it was a temple of a long lost civilization called the Gharangi. Supposedly, the “temple” was in the center of a great city and was for a dark god called Nor, a shapeless, mind-shattering entity. Human sacrifice was employed, and the Gharangi would go out and conquer far off lands for people to give to Nor. Some would be “blessed” by Nor and transform into monstrous beings of incredible power and madness. One day, the great city of the Gharangi fell into the waves, ending their civilization. According to legend, some of their monsters still lurk the nearby waters, and come ashore at night to take unwary travellers to be sacrificed to their god.

In 1924, Sailish writer Aia Ianthuwaro visited Hazala as part of the Mac Labhrann Foundation’s Global Literature Scholarship. She heard the tales of the Gharangi, and reportedly had a nightmare about them. This inspired her to write Darkness from Gharangi, an adaptation of local folktales. This is considered the first instance of Ianthuwaroan or cosmic horror.

Gásan Mak Domhnaill, the founder of pseudoarchaeology, has claimed that the formation was artificial and made by an ancient civilization (for which he used the native name). This is rejected by the vast majority of the archeological and geological community, though conspiracy theorists have latched onto this theory.

Some of those who have studied the formation, such as geologist Asjad Mansur of the University of Abayad City, state that it is most likely natural. Mansur observed the sandstones that make up the Gharangi formation to "contain numerous well-defined, parallel bedding planes along which the layers easily separate. The rocks of this group are also criss-crossed by numerous sets of parallel, vertically oriented joints in the rock. These joints are natural, parallel fractures by which the rectangular formations seen in the area likely formed. Ulungo lies in an earthquake-prone region; such earthquakes tend to fracture the rocks in a regular manner." He also observes that there are similar formations on the northeast coast of Ulungo. Trond Ohnstad of the University of Tusmetsand also reaches the same conclusion. Mansur also believes that the "drawings" identified by the locals are natural scratches on the rocks, and suggests that the "walls" are simply natural horizontal platforms which fell into a vertical position when rock below them eroded, and the alleged roads are simply channels in the rock.