Unveiling Antarctica’s Blood Falls: Is This Mysterious Glacier Hiding a Dark Secret?
It set sail from Cardiff, Wales, on June 15, 1910, aboard the ship Terra Nova. After stops in South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand for fundraising and supplies, the team reached Ross Island in Antarctica in early January 1911 and established a base at Cape Evans.
Public DomainThomas Griffith Taylor, who discovered Blood Falls, was a survivor of the Terra Nova expedition — from the ship Terra Nova — which sought to both explore Antarctica and reach the South Pole.
The group was split into several sections. Scott’s team would ultimately reach the South Pole on Jan. 17, 1912, only to find that a Norwegian team led by Roald Amundsen had beaten them there 34 days earlier. They tragically died during their return trip, with Scott’s final journal entry dated March 29.
However, the two other Terra Nova Expedition groups had better luck. One spent the winter of 1911 in a hut at Robertson Bay, and the latter half of the expedition near Evans Cove. The other, which included Taylor, set out to conduct a geological survey along a coastal area west of McMurdo Sound.
During this expedition, Taylor discovered a glacier flowing in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, a region unusually lacking in snow and ice cover. The glacier was subsequently named “Taylor Glacier,” and the nearby valley “Taylor Valley.”
Public DomainBack row: Robert Forde and Tryggve Gran. Seated: Frank Debenham and Thomas Griffith Taylor.
While studying Taylor Glacier, Taylor’s team observed a peculiar phenomenon at its terminus: a waterfall of crimson water seeping from the glacier and into Lake Bonney. It looked disturbingly like blood, and was especially striking in contrast with the stark whiteness of Antarctica. Taylor dubbed the strange natural phenomenon “Blood Falls.”
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