Forever a Mystery
History is full of weird events that no one can explain, and some—even after generations of fresh studies and new information—may always be a mystery.
Here are 16 unexplainable events or discoveries that scientists cannot seem to solve.
The 2,000-Year-Old Body
Another strange occurrence that scientists struggle to figure out is the 2,000-year-old body that still has hair, eyelashes, and blood in her veins.
The Body: Discovery
Lady Day, the Marquise of Dai lived during the Western Han dynasty in ancient China. Two-thousand years after her passing, her tomb was discovered inside the Mawangui hill in China.
Inside, archeologists found many important documents and artifacts—along with something else that sent shivers down their spines.
The Body: Preservation
Archeologists discovered that the woman’s body was incredibly well preserved, with her organs and blood vessels still completely intact. She even had hair and eyelashes, and melon seeds and fluid were found in her stomach.
Scientists are wracking their brains to figure this one out.
The Man with Head Trauma
Back in 2006, a man hit his head off the bottom of a pool and suffered a severe head trauma from it. Aside from the usual memory loss and a bump on the noggin, he seemed okay—at first.
The Man: Hospital
Derek Amato was an average guy. One day he dove head first into a pool and smacked his head off the bottom, resulting in a severe concussion. He went to the hospital to be monitored. After waking up, he said something to the doctors that blew everyone’s minds.
The Man: Genius Status
The man woke up from his accident and was suddenly a genius. A composer, to be specific. He reportedly told doctors, “As I shut my eyes, I found these black and white structures moving from left to right, which in fact would represent in my mind, a fluid and continuous stream of musical notation.”
The Man: No One Like Him
Similar cases to this have happened before, but nothing to this extreme, and doctors are calling the patient a miracle.
Australia’s Thundercloud
Another intriguing phenomenon that baffles scientists is the strange weather cloud that appears in Australia at the same time every day.
Australia’s Thundercloud: Hector
Dubbed “Hector the Convector”, the strange weather cloud shows up between the months of September to March, in the exact same spot at the exact same time every day.
Australia’s Thundercloud: Explanation
The giant cloud was named by a WWII pilot and is still the subject of many meteorological studies, who have not yet come up with an explanation for this phenomenon.
The Dancing Plague
Way back in 1518, a mysterious plague struck Stasobourg, Asace. This illness is known as the “dancing plague” because of what happened to its victims as they became ill.
The Dancing Plague: Actual Dancing
This Dance Epidemic apparently made over 400 people dance uncontrollably—many of whom perished from heart attacks and exhaustion as a result of the dancing.
The Dancing Plague: How it Started
It is said to have started after a woman named Mrs. Troffea started dancing uncontrollably in the middle of Strasbourg. Soon, 34 more people joined and after a short while, 400 were affected.
This went on for days, and the plague took about 15 lives each day.
The Dancing Plague: Diagnosis
The doctors thought the epidemic was due to “hot blood” and built the affected a wooden stage to “dance it out”. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t help.
The Dancing Plague: Unexplained
Modern scientists suggest that it might have been caused by the toxic products of the ergot fungi but the true cause remains unknown.
A 100-Year-Old Discovery
Collectors everywhere were completely baffled when something entirely unique, extremely old, and in perfect working condition was found bricked-up inside a wall.
A 100-Year-Old Discovery: 40 Years
The owners of the home had lived there for four full decades before deciding to tear down this particular brick wall. Behind it, they discovered a large item, covered in dust and draped with a white sheet.
A 100-Year-Old Discovery: The Motorcycle
Their fascinating discovery was a 100-year-old Traub motorcycle. It was a unique model, the only one of its kind, and it started seamlessly on the first try.
No one knows why it was hidden inside a wall, or who put it there.
The Manuscript
Back in 1912, a Lithuanian-Samogitian bibliophile purchased a 500-year-old hand-written book that was written in a mysterious language.
The Manuscript: Deciphering
Many people tried their hand at deciphering the mysterious book, including codebreakers from WWI and WWII, but none were successful.
The Manuscript: Theories
A recent theory suggested that it could be a women’s health medical book, but it was quickly discredited.
The Undiscoverable Tomb
Most people have heard plenty about Cleopatra’s life, but did you know that her tomb has never been found?
The Undiscoverable Tomb: x2
It is believed that she was buried with her lover Antony and that Octavian gave orders to bury her “in splendid and regal fashion”.
The Undiscoverable Tomb: Archeologists
Archaeologists and scientists have made countless attempts to discover the tombs of the great Cleopatra and Mark Antony, though none have been successful.
The Vanishing Village
In 1930, the entire population of an Inuit village in Canada unexplainably vanished without a trace.
The Vanishing Village: Abandoned
A trapper, named Joe Labelle visited a small Inuit village who he had visited many times before. Upon arrival he was shocked to discover the village completely empty—except for one thing.
The Vanishing Village: The Discovery
Not far from the village, the trapper came across seven lifeless sled dogs laid in a man-made grave, apparently as a result of starvation.
Extensive searches took place, but no one found the missing villagers, or their bodies.
The “Wow!” Signal
Scientists are struggling to find out more information about a mysterious signal that was received back in 1977. The 72-second long signal is said to be the longest unknown signal ever received—and to this day it has only ever appeared that one time and never repeated.
The “Wow!” Signal: Discovery
Ohio State University’s Big Ear Radio telescope picked up a mysterious signal, dubbed the “Wow!” signal. It was discovered by astronomer Jerry R. Ehman, who circled the anomaly when looking at the data and wrote “Wow!” next to it.
The “Wow!” Signal: Otherworldly Contact
Countless astrologers and scientists of all kinds have delved into this mystery, but even still, no one knows the source of the signal. Some speculate that it might have been a contact attempt from aliens.
The Mysterious Phaistos Disc
This intriguing Phaistos Disc is another mystery no one can seem to decipher. It’s a clay disc made sometime during the Bronze Age and contains mysterious symbols.
The Mysterious Phaistos Disc: Theories
Many people have studied this ancient piece, but no one has cracked the code. Some suggest that it might have been a board game or a prayer to the goddess of fertility.
The $10 Million Treasure
A rather starting mystery is the owner of a $10 million treasure found by a local husband and wife near their home.
The $10 Million Treasure: Discovery
In 2013, a couple found a treasure near their home. It was filled with coins worth about $27,000 but the historical value skyrocketed their price to a whopping $10 million.
The $10 Million Treasure: The Mystery
No one knows who stashed the treasure. And the new owners have stated that they will never reveal the location that it was found, in fear of people going there to look for more.
The Missing Crew
Another startling mystery is that of the missing crew—all 25 members on the boat vanished, but the boat remained.
The Missing Crew: Joyita
Back in 1955, merchant vessel Joyita mysteriously disappeared in the South Pacific. After a while, the vessel was found but it was completely empty – no crew was in sight.
The Missing Crew: Search
A search began but no one even knew where to look as the vessel had been missing for a while before they found it. Of all 25 crew members, not one of them was found.
It still remains a mystery what happened to them.
The Disappearing Island
Geologists usually have a pretty firm grasp on the configurations of our beautiful Mother Earth, but there is one puzzling question they cannot seem to answer.
The Disappearing Island: Bermeja Island
An island called Bermeja is—or, was—located off the north coast of Yucatan.The island appeared on many maps until the 20th century, but nothing has ever been found in its location.
The Disappearing Island: Public Interest
People became interested in the mysterious island after someone pointed out that the island has no real boundaries and rights of oil in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Disappearing Island: Mystery
No island has ever been discovered during the search, and no one can even prove whether the island ever existed.
The Missing Prime Minister
Harold Edward Holt was the 17th Prime Minister of Australia, serving from 1966 until his presumed demise in 1967.
The Missing Prime Minister: Weekend Plans
The Prime Minister loved spearfishing and was spending time at Portsea one weekend with friends. The group had gone to the beach one afternoon—and that’s when tragedy struck.
The Missing Prime Minister: Gone in Seconds
The Prime Minster was an avid swimmer, and knew this beach like the back of his hand. But the current was too powerful and the sea took him away in seconds.
The Missing Prime Minister: The Search
The biggest search operation in Australian history was organized but his body was never found. This mystery got the attention of conspiracy theorists.
The Missing Prime Minister: Theories
This mysterious disappearance caused many conspiracy theories: some believed he faked his own demise, while others believed his life was taken by the CIA.
An Otherworldly Experience
Another intriguing event that has scientists scratching their heads is the story about the two men who claimed to have been taken by aliens.
An Otherworldly Experience: The Experience
Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker are two men from Mississippi who claim that they “heard mysterious sounds and saw strange lights above their heads. When they looked up, they saw an oval-shaped object around 40 ft across and 10 ft high.”
An Otherworldly Experience: Stuck
Parker and Hickson say they had been “paralyzed but remained conscious” while the aliens took them and “performed various examinations on them before releasing them.”
An Otherworldly Experience: Unbelievable
At the time, no one believed them. The two men took a lie detector test and passed, but people still didn’t believe them. Some say the men experienced a “walking dream state.”
The Kentucky Meat Shower
The “Kentucky meat shower” is a mysterious event that happened back in 1876. A woman named Mrs. Crouch was making soap on her porch when she saw something fall from the sky.
The Kentucky Meat Shower
The woman took a closer look and believed it to be chunks of meat—and there was plenty of it. For several minutes, chunks of meat fell from the sky above her.
The Kentucky Meat Shower: Explanation
Although no one really knew what had happened that day, the most widespread theory is that the meat had been vomited by buzzards flying overhead.
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