Top 10 Tourist Attractions Ruined by Morons
#10: Casa dos Mouros Dolmen
Vigo, Spain Despite the fact that there are so many morons doing moronic things in this world, it’s always kind of shocking when things like this happen. A popular tourist attraction in Vigo, Spain, is the Casa dos Mouros dolmen, a 4,000-year-old megalithic stone formation. In 2016, someone spray-painted one of the dolmen’s stones with a symbol from “Harry Potter” of all things, and wrote “Always” with what appears to be an emoticon heart at the end. It’s honestly an inexplicable action, and defies any common sense. Dolmens are believed by archaeologists to be tombstones and gravesites, so not only is this immature, it is highly disrespectful.
#9: Margate Beach
Margate, England This is something that happens frequently, but let’s just pick out one beach in particular. Margate in Kent, UK, refers to itself as “The Original Seaside” on tourism sites, and is home to many attractions such as a theme park and art galleries. In 2019, an event attracting around 500 people was held on the beach, in addition to the number of usual beachgoers. The event was provided with trash bins, bags and plenty of provisions to not make a huge mess in the sand. This was all futile, however, as visitors were said to leave a “heartbreaking” amount of litter on the beach. The seagulls were thrilled. Humans, not so much.
#8: Cliffs of Moher
Ireland The Cliffs of Moher were naturally formed over 320 million years ago and are a unique, geological wonder to behold on the coast of Ireland. They’ve been declared part of a UNESCO Global Geopark, which means that there is extra effort to conserve the location and its awe-striking visuals. However, we clearly can’t have nice things. In 2013, two French graffiti artists who go by “Mama” and “Dirty Edoir” decided to spray-paint an eight-by-six-foot swirly, multicolored and impossibly unwelcome abstract piece of street art on the cliffs. Why? Just, why? Geologists were quick to assess the damage, some saying the erosion and waves will likely naturally remove the paint, however it could take years and possibly decades to entirely disappear.
#7: “The Little Mermaid” Statue
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Copenhagen, Denmark Copenhagen’s most famous statue, “The Little Mermaid,” has been victim to vandalism an astonishing number of times over the years. It seems people have seen the piece fit for a number of protest declarations. The statue was commissioned in 1909, and has since been beheaded twice, had her arm sawed off, was found floating in the harbor, held some adult toys and has been covered in paint a couple of times. In 2020, a vandal spray-painted the words “Racist Fish” onto the stone beneath the mermaid, without any direct explanation. A number of monuments have been defaced in the past few years, with explanations. It’s hard to see what the character that would eventually become Ariel did to anybody, however.
#6: Fifteen Statues
Parque Museo la Venta, Tabasco, Mexico The problem with allowing tourists to view historical objects in a large, open space is that they are much too close to the artifacts. This has often been an issue in the British Museum for the same reason. The Parque Museo la Venta is a stunning outdoor museum and park, in which visitors can view centuries-old Olmec culture sculptures. In 2018, two men, tourists from Indonesia, were taken into custody after damaging fifteen of these sculptures by pouring oil over them. Fifteen. It’s difficult to know why anyone would do this, but thankfully these two idiots were caught.
#5: Azalea Trees
Liangshan, China The Sichuan province of China is home to the incredibly beautiful bloom of azalea trees and idyllic scenery. Because of this, thousands of tourists flock to the area in their cars, blocking local traffic and life. That’s not the worst part, however. The tourists can’t just look with their eyes. Aside from the trash left everywhere, tourists have been known to uproot and steal the azalea trees, tear the branches off to get “better pictures” and even use the azalea branches to start barbeque fire pits. Azalea trees can only grow 2,800 feet above sea level, atop mountains, and are thus delicate to begin with. These are earthly wonders that will rapidly disappear with continued barbaric behaviors.
#4: The Duckbill Rock Formation
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Oregon, US The “Duckbill” was a sandstone rock in Cape Kiwanda State Natural Area in Oregon, US. It was an ancient hoodoo formation (which is basically a tall, thin spire) naturally resembling a duck’s head, hence its nickname. The keyword here is “was,” as it’s no longer there. In 2016, a group of teenagers decided to topple the formation over, destroying it. Over the years, the structure had become weakened from the abundant amount of visitors climbing it, so the park had erected a fence around it to avoid tourist contact. Claiming to be doing the park a “public service” to avoid accidents (sure), the teens pushed the rock until it collapsed and shattered.
#3: The Hot Springs
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Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming Yellowstone is known for its impressive natural hot springs, and many a tourist has done stupid things in or around them. However, this one is a slow burn, caused by large numbers of visitors. “Morning Glory” is one the the most famous springs. Images from the 1940s show the spring in its former glory (pun intended) with a tropical blue hue, hence its floral name. However, recent photos show the spring is now a dark green, edged with yellow and orange. This has been proven recently to be due to the abundant amount of pennies, rocks and general trash tourists throw into Morning Glory. If your penny wish was to ruin a stunning natural phenomenon, congratulations.
#2: Seven US National Parks
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US Social media has really led to some moronic behavior in the past decade or so. Over twenty-six days in the fall of 2014, twenty-three-year-old Casey Nocket defaced government property in seven US National parks with her graffiti which consisted of her mediocre artwork and Instagram handle. She claims to have done so “in the name of art,” but that’s a little hard to believe, given the social media info provided. Due to said info, she was quickly tracked down and caught by authorities. Nocket was subsequently sentenced to two years probation, and is banned from all government-owned parks. Can we go back to cairn stones if we must leave a trace of ourselves? There’s a reason they’re natural.
#1: The Pyramids & the Sphinx
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Egypt Arguably the most recognizable tourist attractions, the Egyptian pyramids and the Sphinx are subject to decline due to massive amounts of visitors. There are some natural phenomena at work here, such as breath and humidity from tourists in abundance doing damage to the ancient structure walls. However, there is, of course, a human stupidity element as well. Once again, people can’t just use their eyes. Tourists have been known to chip away at the rocks on the attractions to get “souvenirs,” as well as flat-out steal parts of artifacts and illegally climb the structures. In 2013, the Temple of Luxor was defaced by a teenage tourist, who wrote the classic “so and so was here” on ancient Egyptian artwork. Bravo.
