Unsolved Mysteries
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Introductory Questions
Credits to my excellent teammate, Caitlin for completing some parts of this resource!
Introductory Questions
Credits to my excellent teammate, Caitlin for completing some parts of this resource!
- Is there a difference between a mystery and an unanswered question?
- A mystery and an unanswered question are very similar indeed, but the key difference lies in what restrictions exist in order to find the answer. An unanswered question could be a mathematical formula yet to be discovered by mankind, yet those searching for it are armed with all the tools and information they need. A mystery however, often necessitates that some information required to solve the mystery is missing, or that it has gone unsolved for such a long period of time. Mysteries often have more restrictions than unanswered questions.
- Are most mysteries solved by individuals, by governments, or by the private sector?
- Solving a mystery is a prospect that drives many parties. As with many things, it depends on the mystery itself. In order of who gets involved, often individuals will be the first to get to a mystery and those who carry on solving it decades after it first came up. The government is often the anti-party here, they don’t have much interest in mysteries unless it threatens them directly or might provide some use to them if they solve it. In fact, it is often governments who create mysteries, such as the fabled Area 51, an outcrop of desert in the United States that many believe is the site of secret government research. Finally we have the private sector, historically companies haven’t had much of a hand in solving mysteries, they’re more concerned with getting money from selling products. But on the occasion that a lucky individual does solve a mystery, companies are often the first to publicise the matter and associate themselves with either funding or assisting the lucky solver.
- Are some mysteries more worth solving than others?
- Again, this depends on the mystery. Of course if a mystery involves the disappearance of someone close to a party, then it is of the utmost importance that those individuals solve the mystery (such as the ill-fated MH370). In terms of more general “extraterrestrial mysteries”, these are often the projects of ambitious mystery hunters or professional organisations attempting to lay claim to solving an enigma. If a mystery could concern humanity’s safety, security or provide scientific enlightenment, then it is often placed higher up in terms of “gotta go solve that one”.
- What distinguishes mysteries that are solved from those that go unsolved?
- Well firstly, the fact that a mystery has been solved is rather incredible and distinguishing in of itself. Yet often times, it is those mysteries that have eluded answer for decades or even centuries that earn more prestige in the world of mystery-solvers.
- Why are so many people fascinated by mysteries? What features might make one mystery more fascinating than another?
- Since humanity is naturally inquisitive and curious, we are fascinated by mysteries in that they present a problem which logic alone cannot solve. In this way, some mysteries foster humanity’s creativity and free-thinking spirit. The main features that make one mystery more fascinating than another are the facts presented in the mystery and how long its gone unsolved for. The mystery of the ghost ship Mary Celeste is rather intriguing since the facts are plentiful, yet the explanation continues to elude us. Whereas something as long standing as Stonehenge or the Pyramids are fascinating in that eons have passed since they were constructed. Though we have written records of the latter, we can’t help but ponder whether it was just manpower that helped build these magnificent structures.
- Can you think of any mysteries that are better left unsolved?
- Mysteries that are better left unsolved are those whose solution won’t do much good to the world. Whilst it would be an emotional relief and benefit to aviation experts if MH370’s disappearance was finally resolved, it wouldn’t be much good if only now we found out why the Mary Celeste was found adrift with full supplies and no crew. Yet as humanity and technology gain more abilities, I see little chance that we will stop searching for the answers that continue to escape our grasp.
- Do people who solve mysteries have an obligation to share the solution?
- This is a complicated matter (it often is portrayed so in pieces of media). Once again, it falls to the actual mystery itself and what impact it will have on humanity. People who solve them are under an obligation to share the solution if they believe that it will help others overcome feelings of uncertainty and doubt, or help progress a field of knowledge for the betterment of the human race. Yet for other mysteries, particularly those whose answers might hurt others and raise doubts amongst the academia of a certain field, it is up to the individual to decide whether or not they will share it. The government is often hesitant to do so, especially the US one. It is believed that inside Area 51 or some other secret intelligence building, hundreds of files contain sensitive solutions to mysteries from another world.
- How do we deal with questions that we are unable to answer?
- Simple, we keep on trying to answer them until either our funds run out or humanity forgets about it (usually the former). When we truly decide that an unanswered question is no longer worth solving (or no longer solvable), we don’t forget it completely. Rather, those who bothered to try and solve it record their progress so that the next generation of answer-seekers pick up from where they left off. However, in some cases where we simply fail to materialise any other evidence, we leave the explanation to logic. Occam’s Razor (the scientific principle which states that the simplest solution is the correct solution) often plays a large part here, for example with MH370, instead of concluding that a wormhole appeared or that they’re now languishing in some secret kingdom, logic dictates that the plane crashed into the sea and all onboard perished.
- Can you imagine a circumstance in which someone would solve a mystery and then decide to keep the solution secret?
- Yes, many. Insert all US government memos about solved mysteries here. Oh wait, nevermind those memos are classified, under lock and key and you are liable to execution for attempting to uncover them. As mentioned before, if the party who solved the mystery believes that others may be harmed from it, or that the solution is simply too mind-boggling to even be considered, then it is best kept to oneself.
- Have you ever had something happen in your life for which you lack an explanation? Do you want that explanation?
- Other than how I simply cannot attract girls with my methods and charm, no. I would by the way, very much like that explanation.
- Investigative Methods
- Guesses, Estimations, Hypotheses, Theories
- Guesses: When one guesses, they make a random assumption with little logic or facts to back it up. This is often the first stage humans reach when a mystery pops up, we guess what happens until enough evidence is found. Guesses are often lacking in detail (i.e Jack the Ripper was fake)
- Estimations: The second stage of investigative methods, estimations are made with slightly (though only slightly) more evidence than guesses. These estimations often have several more numbers within them (i.e Jack the Ripper was more than 1 person colluding with each other)
- Hypotheses: A hypothesis is where substantial evidence or previous reasoning is built upon to provide a more whole explanation. As this is the third stage of investigative methods, hypotheses are often much more detailed than guesses and have much more evidence to back them up. Another interesting aspect is that once a hypothesis is formed, then the actual mystery solving is narrowed down to prove/disprove the hypothesis. For example, if one were to propose that Jack the Ripper was more than 1 person, we would look at his letters to see if the handwriting changes drastically.
- Theories: Theories are the final stage of investigative methods. Once we’ve gathered as much evidence as we believe possible (or as much evidence as we believe exists), we form full-fledged explanations that can be multiple paragraphs long and each assumption has a fact or logical reason to back it up. Theories are often built up from the hypothesis that had the most evidence to support it.
- Inductive vs. Deductive vs. Abductive Reasoning
- Inductive: Perhaps the lowest form of reasoning out of the three, inductive reasoning is the opposite of deductive and the one that we try to avoid doing daily. Inductive reason is where one looks at specific data and makes broad generalisations about that data. One goes from the specific to the general, the opposite of the scientific method. Here’s an example for Area 51: “Planes fly into Area 51, those planes are red and white, therefore all red and white planes can fly into Area 51”. Even if all the aspects of a statement are true, the conclusion can still be false. Here’s another example of that: “Daniel Berdichevsky likes Havana, Daniel Berdichevsky is a US immigrant, therefore all US immigrants like Havana”. Believe it or not, this is the type of reasoning that we use at the beginning of the scientific method. We look at previous cases or sets of data and make generalizations about it, thus forming a hypothesis that we can then test using deductive reasoning. Speaking of which....
- Deductive: If deductive reasoning sounds a lot like detective work, that’s because it most resembles it (let me put on my Sherlock Holmes nerdiness for this). Deductive reasoning is where we start out with a general statement (or in the case of science, a hypothesis) and examine specific cases to reach a logical conclusion. Scientists use this type of reasoning to test hypotheses and mystery hunters to test theories. Instead of going from the specific to the general like in inductive reasoning, we go from the general to the specific. The specifics of deductive reasoning lie in its steps: there are often 2 premises and then an inference based on those premises. A common form of deductive reasoning is a syllogism, in which a major premise and minor premise reach a logical conclusion. Here’s an example: the premise“all crows are black” followed by the premise “this bird is a crow” can be logically concluded by saying “therefore this bird is black”. Syllogisms are also great ways of testing the validity of conclusions to ensure that the reasoning is solid, a great way to analyze your opponent’s points for flaws in debate!
- Abductive: Not quite sharing anything with inductive or deductive reasoning, abductive reasoning is what we would generally label the type of investigative method mystery solvers are using. Simply put, in the presence of incomplete data abductive reasoning attempts to use that data to point to the most likely conclusion for that data. For example, if you were to walk into your room and find your test ripped up (a dream for most scholars I’m sure) as well as your pet in the room, abductive reasoning would explain this data by saying that your pet ripped up the homework. Now it might not have actually been your pet, it might have been your mother or father, but the information available points to the pet as being the most likely explanation.
- Elements of the Scientific Method
- Firstly, we must answer the question: what is the scientific method? In layman's terms, the scientific method is how we find an explanation for some event. In more complicated terms, it involves posing a question, using logic or previous experiments to provide an informed guess (using inductive reasoning initially) and then running a series of tests to see whether or not specific data supports the explanation for the question (using deductive reasoning to end with). Keep in mind that not all scientific investigations follow this procedure, especially those with tests that cannot be carried out practically (i.e wondering whether dinosaurs could be tamed). As for who to thank for this, history generally puts most of the praise on Francis Bacon, an english philosopher who is credited with penning the scientific method. Yet centuries before his writing was widely read, an Arabic scholar by the name of Ibn Al-Haytham first preached the basis of the scientific method (questioning the occurrences of the natural world, refusing to submit to illogical or incomplete explanations, rigorous and controlled tests to determine the true explanation). Below are all the steps of the scientific method:
- Ask a question
- Do background research
- Construct a hypothesis
- Test with experiment(s)
- Fix any faults in the procedure (should they exist)
- Analyse Data and Draw Conclusions
- Conclude by answering the question and the accuracy of the hypothesis
- Firstly, we must answer the question: what is the scientific method? In layman's terms, the scientific method is how we find an explanation for some event. In more complicated terms, it involves posing a question, using logic or previous experiments to provide an informed guess (using inductive reasoning initially) and then running a series of tests to see whether or not specific data supports the explanation for the question (using deductive reasoning to end with). Keep in mind that not all scientific investigations follow this procedure, especially those with tests that cannot be carried out practically (i.e wondering whether dinosaurs could be tamed). As for who to thank for this, history generally puts most of the praise on Francis Bacon, an english philosopher who is credited with penning the scientific method. Yet centuries before his writing was widely read, an Arabic scholar by the name of Ibn Al-Haytham first preached the basis of the scientific method (questioning the occurrences of the natural world, refusing to submit to illogical or incomplete explanations, rigorous and controlled tests to determine the true explanation). Below are all the steps of the scientific method:
- Hard Evidence: Forensic Science
- Hard Evidence: Interestingly, searching up “Hard Evidence” on the internet provides very few results. The best explanation therefore is one that resorts to logic. Hard Evidence is literally any piece of evidence that cannot be disproven or otherwise. In science, this is very rare, scientists are often finding that evidence can easily have faults in it or some new case will appear that negates the evidence validity. In terms of mysteries, hard evidence is usually used to refer to whatever facts are on hand when the mystery was discovered. Often there is photographic, physical or written proof of this evidence existing.
- Forensic Science: Derived from the latin word forensis, which means a public debate or discussion, the modern contextual meaning of forensic science is the application of the scientific method to solve crimes or other events concerning the judiciary system (the law). Forensic science can also loosely be applied to types of investigation that focus on organic evidence (e.g fingerprints, DNA samples, autopsies etc.). Within unsolved mysteries, forensic science is very much present, seeing as some of the biggest unsolved mysteries concerned inexplicable acts of crime (such as a certain British serial killer whose identity remains unknown and whose alias rhymes with “Mack the Kipper”).
- Guesses, Estimations, Hypotheses, Theories
- Philosophy of the Unexplained
- known knowns | unknown unknowns | epistemology
- Known knowns: Interestingly, though you might expect this phrase to come from some Greek philosopher or Western writer, it in fact originated in 2002 with the United States Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld. During a speech, he mentioned not just known knowns, but also unknown unknowns and known unknowns (try saying those phrases 5 times quickly). Known knowns are things we know we know about, for example, we know that we know for sure this planet is inhabitable.
- Unknown unknowns: Unknown unknowns are things we don’t know we don’t know, such as complex quantum concepts or some mathematical theory yet to be discovered. This is often more used in strategic planning and strategic planning, a common example is that the typewriter businesses didn’t know that they didn’t know computers would throw them all out of business. Within mysteries, this often refers to facts we don’t know we aren’t aware of.
- Epistemology: For those who take Theory of Knowledge (TOK), this concept this essentially what you are studying (or rather, questioning). Epistemology is the theory of knowledge and often concerns its scope, methods, validity and accuracy. It is often used to debate what differentiates justified belief and facts from opinion. The most stereotypical but justified (pun not intended) question asked within this field is “how do we know that we know?”
- Johari window | belief vs. knowledge | intuition
- Johari Window: As a throwback/crossover of last year’s science and special area, the Johari window is a technique and model that helps people better understand their relationship with themselves and others. It was developed by psychologists Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham, it should be noted that the word “Johari” comes from combining their first names. Usually, the exercise involves a person (the subject being analysed) and their peers selecting adjectives and placing them in a grid based on who perceives what. In this model, there are four quadrants: Open/Arena, Hidden/Facade, Blind Spot and Unknown. The first of these is traits or characteristics of someone that both that person and their peers believe exist. The second is where only adjectives that the subject believes exist, the peers don’t see them in the subject. The third is the opposite of the second, where adjectives that only the peers chose. The final zone is where any adjectives not selected by the subject nor the peers go, these are either false and do not exist or are collectively ignored. See image at the bottom of the page.
- Belief vs. Knowledge: Belief and knowledge, two words that the IB and other school systems love to play with in their courses. Belief is often trust, faith or confidence in an explanation of something, whilst knowledge is the understanding of a concept through the use of practical investigations or pre-existing evidence. The line is thin here, and often times we believe that we know something, when instead we should know that it is just a belief (hehehe).
- Intuition: Often interchangeably used with gut feeling, intuition is something that one knows or believes in from instincts rather than logical reasoning or hard evidence. Intuition is also used to describe acquiring knowledge without proof or evidence, a fickle thing when it comes to trying to prove mathematical theorems that you know are true but can’t quite logically prove are.
- known knowns | unknown unknowns | epistemology
- Contests to Uncover the Unknown: Effective or Not?
- Millennium Prize Problems | Loebner Prize
- Millennium Prize Problems: Exactly what it says on the label, the Millennium Prize Problems are seven mathematical problems that were stated by the Clay Mathematics Institute (a US non-profit foundation) in March of 2000. A correct solution to any of these problems, with a proof will land you 1 million dollars. To date, only 1 of the 7 have been solved. In 2003 Russian mathematician Grigori Perelman provided proof for the Poincare Conjecture, yet declined his 1 million dollar prize on the basis that his work was no greater of those who came before him. These 7 problems are as follows: The Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture, Hodge conjecture, Navier–Stokes existence and smoothness, P versus NP problem, Poincaré conjecture, Riemann hypothesis, and Yang–Mills existence and mass gap
- Loebner Prize: The Loebner prize is an annual competition in the field of artificial intelligence development. It works off the Turing test (after Alan Turing, a British intelligence worker during the Second World War who created a machine to solve the german enigma code). In this test, a judge has a conversation with a real human being and a computer program via online methods. The judge then decides which is which, with the victory going to the artificial intelligence signifying a winner. This competition is rather impressive yet also scary, the fact that humanity can create machines which fool us into thinking they’re humans.
- One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge
- One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge: Exactly what is says on the label, the One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge is a challenge set by the James Randi Educational Foundation. It challenges the public to demonstrate seemingly supernatural or paranormal abilities under controlled scientific conditions. It initially began in 1964 with James Randi being challenged to “put his money where is his mouth is” by a parapsychologist. Initially the prize was merely $1,000, yet over the years it was increased, until in 1996 internet pioneer Rick Adams donated the $1,000,000 for the prize. Unfortunately, the initial restrictions for entering the competition discouraged many possible entrants. In 2007 the guidelines were that one had to have an existing profile in the media (i.e be famous or have some sort of appearance on television) as well as the backing of a reputable academic. In 2011, the entrant restrictions were opened to the general public. Whereas once you had to submit press clippings and a letter from a reputable academic, now you could submit either one of those or a public video demonstrating your ability. Even with over a thousand entrants, none have passed the qualifications to get their 1,000,000 dollars. In September 2015, with James Randi no longer at JREF (having resigned in January of that year) the challenge was officially terminated.
- Millennium Prize Problems | Loebner Prize
- Additional Terms to Know
- cognitive dissonance | whodunit | John/Jane Doe
- Cognitive Dissonance: Yet again we get a flashback to last year’s science curriculum. Cognitive dissonance is a psychological term used to refer to a state where one has inconsistent beliefs or behaviours, especially ones that conflict with each other. This is often a feeling of discomfort when your beliefs are in conflict with your behaviour or new information being presented to you. The theory was first described by American social psychologist Leon Festinger and he explained that the human mind has a natural tendency to ensure that both beliefs and behaviour are consistent with one another. Inconsistency in either can cause disharmony, something we tend to avoid. The degree of dissonance that we actually experience, including the value of a particular belief and the degree to which they are inconsistent.
- Whodunit: Literally what it says, a whodunit is a plot-driven story or play variety of the detective story in which the reader/audience is given the chance to engage in the same deductive process as the protagonist and their companions throughout the story. As the story goes along, more facts or interesting pieces of evidence are brought up, challenging the reader to make the correct deductions with incomplete information (abductive reasoning right here). Essentially think of every Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot and other famous detective stories. The identity of the criminal is often revealed at the climax or end of the story. It is this literary feature that many authors often add spins to, including purposely giving false evidence to confuse or deceive readers suspicions.
- John/Jane Doe: An interesting concept, John Doe and Jane Doe are multiple-use names for males and females respectively. They are used by many criminal investigation organisations or the government when referring to persons whose true identity is unknown or is being intentionally concealed. Usually this includes criminals who’ve yet to be discovered, corpses yet to be identified or persons whose names are hidden. These names are also used for hypothetical “everyman” in other contexts, referring to everyday persons (hence the term “Average Joe”) on the street with whom people can relate to. There are variations of these names for criminal investigation organisations around the world (i.e “Joe Bloggs” and “John Smith”)
- fata morgana | cold case | preternatural vs paranormal
- Fata Morgana: How hilarious. A natural phenomenon whose first word is my last name (and whose second word has another relation to me, but that is a mystery I shall let you solve). A fata morgana, actually named after sorceress Morgan Le Fay in the Legends of King Arthur, is a mirage observed on bodies of water where objects on the horizon appear as if they are floating in the sky, even in inverted positions. This phenomenon has been observed on boats, islands and even coastlines. The mirage occurs when light is refracted (or "bent") by contrasting air temperatures. In oceans and seas, the air near the surface is sometimes cooled by the water, so the temperature is warmer at higher altitudes. Light passes through hot air more easily, so it reaches the eyes of a far-off viewer after refracting above the cooler air. The viewer’s brain expects that light travels in a straight line, so it's fooled by the refraction and perceives that the far-off object is floating above the water. As for the history of fata morganas, they have been notorious for causing false explorations and are even used to explain some mysteries. When observed in the Straits of Messina, Italian sailors named these occurrences fata Morgana, in the belief that the fairy (Fata in Italian) Morgana was luring sailors to their deaths with mirages on the open ocean. In fact, one related mystery we will explain later is the Flying Dutchman, the legend of a ship doomed to sail the oceans forever, never being able to make port. It is believed that this may have just been sailors observing fata morganas.
- Cold Case: A cold case isn’t some detective or police investigation that happens in freezing conditions. Rather, a cold case is an investigation whose solution remains unknown (i.e the identity of the criminal has yet to be discovered). Often, the file and data on a cold case is kept in the archives, ready to be uncovered whenever new evidence or technological methods comes up about the case. Perhaps the most famous case of this type is Jack the Ripper, a serial killer who stalked the streets of London in the 1880s. Though the police have arrested and even convicted several persons they believed to have been the Ripper, evidence has surfaced that goes against those people being the serial killer.
- Preternatural vs. Paranormal: Two words that, despite sounding very similar, are worlds apart (quite literally). Preternatural is that which appears to be outside or beyond the natural, in religion this often meant the work of angels or demons. In science (and more importantly, in mysteries), the word has been used to describe phenomena that do not fit with known scientific explanations. That does not mean we don’t have an explanation for them, fata morganas can be classified as preternatural. It isn’t natural to see a ship or distant horizon being lifted and flipped, but we can explain it through some science. Paranormal is where that line dissolves. The paranormal refers to events or phenomena which are not natural nor can be explained by science, this often includes “ghostly sightings” or “superpowers”. The main difference is that preternatural activity exceeds the scientifically proven bounds of what is possible, whilst paranormal activity actually goes against those laws in the first place.
- cognitive dissonance | whodunit | John/Jane Doe
- The Pyramids | Stonehenge | Hanging Gardens | Zuni language
- The Pyramids: Take a trip to Egypt, ride a camel down to the valley of the kings and a magnificent sight shall be yours to behold. There, in the valley of rulers, stand giant limestone structures built 2,500 years ago to house the remains of great kings. These are the pyramids of Egypt and perhaps one of the most amazing structures ever devised and built by mankind. Yet before scientists were able to discern the true methods used to construct these marvels of engineering, humanity’s creativity was allowed to foster. The building of the pyramids was a great mystery that perplexed humanity until very recently. How did Egyptian workers get huge stone blocks, each weighing almost 3 tonnes (some even more) from the quarries south of the construction site, to move almost 100 meters into the air? For centuries, many believed that the technology to do so simply did so simply did not exist back then, they instead lent the construction to some supernatural force. Many were convinced that the priests and architects who planned and oversaw construction actually contacted beings from another world to come down and use their levitating devices to bring up the stones. Yet with recent discoveries and the power of technology, we now know that the Egyptians used rolling wooden trunks as “flatbeds” and ropes to haul the gigantic stones into their nesting places. Yet what remains a mystery to us now is the actual content of the pyramids. Whilst many have been explored inside out, it is believed that there were several “hidden rooms” inside the pyramids that housed possessions of the dead (or perhaps even their relatives). Most recently, the Great Pyramid gave up its secret, with scientists discovering a massive hidden vault inside the pyramid using state-of the art technology (in 2017 too). Though these massive structures may be well over 3,000 years old, it is likely that they will spend another 3,000 years (assuming humanity lasts that long) hiding their secrets and mysteries from us.
- Stonehenge: A great mystery that continues to boggle our scientific minds to this day. In the middle of the English countryside, 3 kilometres west of Amesbury lies a ring of standing stones, each about 4 meters tall and arranged in a cryptic pattern (see below). Scientists and archaeologists have been puzzled for many centuries as to several points. The first of which is the actual construction of the structure, whilst the second is what the actual purpose of Stonehenge is. What we do know is rather loose. All we can estimate is that Stonehenge was built in different stages, with the “pits” being dug out and the stones being raised at different times. The main structure that still stands was likely built in 3000 BC-2500 BC (Late Neolithic period, about the same time the Egyptians were building their pyramids), probably by Celtic druids and their followers. As for how the stones were raised into those positions, please see the picture below. The purpose of Stonehenge remains one of the greatest mysteries of our age. Initially, it was believed that the stones were aligned in some sort of way to allow the druids (who actually came 2,000 years after the construction of Stonehenge, so that theory’s busted) to perform their rituals. A more plausible theory (and the one that is most supported) is that Stonehenge was some sort of burial ground for the high and mighty of whatever society built the structure. The discovery of skeletons laid facing north supports this theory, supposedly saying that north was a “holy direction” for whatever culture they had. A more outlandish theory is that Stonehenge was built to accommodate alien spaceships (I’ll be honest, I can imagine a flying saucer landing in that structure when it was built).
- Hanging Gardens: Wow, we’re just taking an ancient world tour with this one aren’t we? Well time for a stop in the Middle East. The Hanging Gardens of Babylons were believed to have been a massive and beautiful garden complex, right next to a palace known as the Marvel of Mankind. The Neo-Babylonians, who ruled much of modern Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran in the 6th century BCE, built the complex because the wife of king Nebuchadnezzar II (I would not like to have to type or write that frequently), missed the rolling hills and green landscapes of her home village (some act of love that was). The garden was a magnificent work of architecture and engineering. Written accounts by Greek and Egyptian writers say that it was 120 meters wide and long, reaching a height of over 24 meters (hence the name, hanging gardens). The actual irrigation system for the garden is disputed, apparently a mechanism similar to an Archimedean screw lifted water from a moat on the ground to the different levels of the garden. Yet this might not be the case, since Archimedes wasn’t around for another 350 years. Many things about the Hanging Gardens are likely works of Greek and Egyptian imagination.
- Yet the actual existence of the structure itself is one of the biggest mysteries of ancient archaeology. Some believe that the gardens were not in Babylon, but actually in Nineveh, another major city almost 350 miles away (close to modern-day Mosul, Iraq). Ancient writings from Babylonian and Sumerian recorders appear to depict such a work of construction in that city. Yet whether or not the Hanging Gardens did actually exist, let alone live up to their (likely exaggerated) descriptions, remains a mystery shrouded in the desert sands.
- Zuni language: The Zuni language is a lingual mystery. In New Mexico and Arizona, there remain about 9,500 Zuni people. Despite the fact that their language shares some similarities with those of other Native American tribes, it is quite unlike anything we’ve ever heard. The Zuni people themselves are worth further investigation, since their religion and blood type are also unique to their people. Apparently, the Zuni people are believed to have lived in isolation for about 7,000 years, thus preventing their language from being influenced or from influencing many others. So where did the Zuni Language come from? The theory is rather shocking. The Zuni language was derived from ancient Japanese, thanks to Buddhist monks setting sail for the New World in 1350. Upon closer examination of both the physical body structure of Zuni skeletons and their words, linguists have discovered striking similarities between these Native Americans and the Ancient Japanese. If so, it could rewrite our history books and also explain why America and Japan were pretty close friends.
- Nazca Geoglyphs | Flying Dutchman | Giant Spheres of Costa Rica
- Nazca Geoglyphs: Take a plane ride over the Nazca desert in Southern Peru (or attempt a few days hike in scorching heat to a vantage point in that desert) and something rather intriguing will come to your attention. A series of white lines on the landscape, twisting and turning to form basic geometric shapes and even identifiable designs. These are the nazca geoglyphs (more commonly known as the Nazca lines). Some of these lines are 50 kilometres long, while the designs (representing among other things; a hummingbird, spider and monkey) are as long as the Empire State Building is tall (about 365 meters). Ever since 1926, many have studied the lines, chief among which was the Lady of the Lines; a German by the name of Maria Reiche. She would spend almost 40 years studying them, picking up where her mentor (American Paul Rosok) left off. The creation of the lines is rather simple, by removing Earth and rocks a “negative image” is created. This results in a light-coloured and highly contrasting sand. As for their creators, scientists and historians believe that the Nazca people, who flourished in the area from the 1st to 8th century were responsible for drawing them. Their purpose remains shrouded in mystery. Initially, it was believed that these great lines were used to track the stars, with certain lines aligning with certain constellations at specific times. However, this theory was quickly botched (for what purpose would the stars be to a civilisation that didn’t base any rituals off of them?). Instead, the more popular theory is that these lines were used in conjunction with rituals regarding water. The desert in which they and the Nazca people who drew them did only receive an inch of water every year. Perhaps these lines were pleas or symbols meant to appease the gods and pray for water. Of course, there remains the conspiracy theory that the Nazca people were instead an alien tribe and were trying to communicate with their otherworldly brethren.
- Flying Dutchman: Ah the Flying Dutchman, truly a great legend that I could spend an entire hour lecturing someone on (perhaps I will in my videos). If you’ve ever watched Pirates of the Caribbean or had any sort of amble into marine mysteries, you’ll know that the Flying Dutchman is a ship. In Pirates of the Caribbean, the Dutchman is a ship that sails the oceans of this world and the oceans of the dead. Its captain: one Davy Jones (yes that one from Davy Jones’s Locker) is said to have failed his job of ferrying the souls of the dead from the world of the living to the dead. Calypso, a sea goddess whom he was in love with (and the one who had given him both the task and the flying dutchman) punished him for failing his duties by condemning him to sail the seas for eternity. For only 1 day every 10 years, Jones could make land (this last bit was because when Jones first came on land, Calypso failed to turn up, talk about a late date gone wrong). In actual mariner’s legend, the Flying Dutchman actually appeared (or rather, people believed it did) in the late 18th century. Sailors around the Cape of Good Hope told strange tales of a ghost ship on the horizon. It was said that this ship was a Dutchman, come to claim the souls of those about to die and ferry them to the land of the dead. But of course, before the legend of a ghost Flying Dutchman, came the tale of the real Dutchman.
- The most common origin story for the Flying Dutchman is that of Captain Hendrick Van Der Decken, often called “The Dutchman”. His ship was actually called “The Flying Dutchman” and in 1641 it undertook a dangerous voyage from the Netherlands to the East Indies (modern day Indonesia). On the return voyage, the crew ran into a violent storm around the Cape of Good Hope. They begged the captain to turn around and seek calmer waters until the storm subsided, but Van Der Decken insisted that they continue. The ship never made it to land ever again. Sailors then began to say that Captain Van Der Decken, in attempting to defy his crew and sail through the storm, condemned his ship and men to sail the seas for eternity, never to make land again.
- To date, there have been multiple sightings of the Dutchman, often just before some sort of disaster on the vessel that sighted it. In reality however, the Dutchman is simply a fata morgana, an optical illusion that works by bending light off the atmospheric pressures near the horizon. It makes objects that are actually beyond the horizon appear as if they are flying and take on a ghostly image. Shame really, the stories and legends are far more interesting than the actual explanation.
- Giant Spheres of Costa Rica: One of the greatest geological mysteries that has baffled historians and scientists alike, the giant spheres of Costa Rica were first discovered in the 1930s in the Diquis Delta. It is believed that they were made by pounding stones into spherical shapes, though exactly using what tools remains a mystery (after all, they are almost 1,800 years old). These spheres range in size as well, from a few centimetres to almost 2 meters in diameter, weighing almost 15 tonnes at their heaviest. The stones are believed to have been created between 600-1000, slightly before the Spanish conquest of the region. The Diquis people, a now extinct tribe that lives in the area, has been accredited with forming these impressive structures. Exactly for what purpose remains a mystery, though some agree that they were placed on the path to the houses of chiefs. The more fantastical myths argue that Atlanteans who came on land sculpted these stones, others say that nature itself managed to dump them all over the area.
- Terracotta Warriors | Puma Punku | Ulfberht swords
- Terracotta Warriors (Caitlin did this one, pretty clear from the Chinese translations) (informational video): The Terracotta Warriors were discovered in 1974 by Chinese farmers digging a well in the Chinese province of Xi’an (西安). Unbeknownst to those farmers they had just discovered the tomb of China’s first emperor Qin Shi Huang Di (秦始皇帝). Qin Shi Huang instructed the construction of the terracotta warriors for the purpose of protecting him in the afterlife as he feared that the enemies he had slain in life would come and exact their revenge on him. Along with the warriors there were also servants and favourite pets of the emperor in the tomb. Further, lavish and exquisite items of the emperor’s life including rare objects, utensils and replicas of the towers and palaces he used to live in and visit were also found.
大家好! 我叫唐家盈,以下是有关秦始皇兵马俑的讯息。秦始皇是第一个统一中国的皇帝而且统一中国的文字和度量衡,。他即位之后马上开始兴建自己的陵墓。 - Puma Punku: Well, don’t we love our South American civilisations here? First the mayans and now the incas, what next? (hint: it rhymes with hex). For this specific mystery, we find ourselves in Western Bolivia. There lie the ruins (and I mean ruins) of an ancient temple complex that predates even the incas (syke). They were built by the Tiwanaku people, whose temples the Incas were so impressed with, they believed that the gods once came from them. Puma Punku, meaning “door of the puma”, was likely used between the 6th and 7th century. Some of the stones and the overall design of the complex (see photo gallery for more details) were so intricate and precise that many have attributed their construction to ancient aliens (yeah, turns out the Egyptians weren’t the only ones accused of calling extraterrestrials for construction work). However they were made, at the peak of its time, Puma Punku would’ve probably been home to over 400,000. The city itself was likely decorated in ornate stones and carvings, as the number of skilled craftsmen grew along with the civilisation (it eventually dominated the Lake Titicaca Basin). Yet like so many great structures, Puma Punku was mysteriously abandoned and left to ruin by nature (and looters) cruel hand. Initially, historians believe that some sort of prolonged drought ravaged the crops needed to sustain such a large city, causing many to seek better land elsewhere. However, the occurrence of such a large drought doesn’t actually coincide with the time period, the only major one happening almost decades after the Tiwanaku civilisation collapsed. So historians now agree that some sort of internal conflict and unrest caused the great Puma Punku works to be torn apart and broken (yes, there are signs of pieces being broken by angry protestors). Whatever the case, Puma Punku was still so majestic when the Inca stumbled upon it 500 years later, that they believed the world began from that spot.
- Ulfberht Swords: Ah the medieval period, that time of human history where the artworks where the most brutal (i.e a man being sawed in half for god knows what). It was also a period where actual war was brutal (highly likely more than a few unfortunates were cut in half). The wars of that time were fought not using guns and bombs, but with swords and arrows. Yet swords were pretty expensive back then, having one (especially a good one that didn’t bend or break in the heat of battle) meant that you were likely pretty high in society. The Ulfberht swords were the best of the best, swords that would never break or bend and could easily pierce chainmail armor (as well as the flesh and bone beyond). To date, 170 swords have been found (sadly, these swords couldn’t quite stand the test of time). The swords were likely made in Francia, a region back then between Germany and France that was very famous for the quality of its metallic weapons. The mystery of the Ulfberht swords is actually twofold, who and how? Though it is likely that the first person to start the business was called Ulfberht, it's unknown whether he ran a family business or simply hired the best craftsmen around. Furthermore, while we know how to make the swords now, doing so back then still remains an enigma. Making a sword back then meant mixing iron and carbon to produce steel, yet the balance had to be just right (too much carbon and the sword will become brittle, too little and the sword will just bend). Perhaps the method of using trace amounts of other materials was used, copied from Arab smiths producing the famous “Damascus steel”. Yet the trade network required for this feat to occur seems pretty unlikely at the time. Whatever the case, we do know that the owners of these swords were likely Norse in origin (read: Vikings) and were very rich.
- Terracotta Warriors (Caitlin did this one, pretty clear from the Chinese translations) (informational video): The Terracotta Warriors were discovered in 1974 by Chinese farmers digging a well in the Chinese province of Xi’an (西安). Unbeknownst to those farmers they had just discovered the tomb of China’s first emperor Qin Shi Huang Di (秦始皇帝). Qin Shi Huang instructed the construction of the terracotta warriors for the purpose of protecting him in the afterlife as he feared that the enemies he had slain in life would come and exact their revenge on him. Along with the warriors there were also servants and favourite pets of the emperor in the tomb. Further, lavish and exquisite items of the emperor’s life including rare objects, utensils and replicas of the towers and palaces he used to live in and visit were also found.
- Jack the Ripper | Dale Kerstetter | Mandy Hampton
- Jack the Ripper: Ah good old Jack, there’s a serial killer if you’ve ever heard of one. The very name of this fellow sent shivers down the women of 1888 London’s East End. Though Scotland Yard and the Metropolitan Police sent their best detectives and bobbies against him, they would never catch the Ripper. Then, just as quickly as he had made himself known, he disappeared into the soupy London mist; never to emerge for another murder again. Or so it is believed. Thus then, who is this man (if the Ripper can even be called one) of legend?
- Whitechapel, London, 1888. The industrial revolution has just finished. Whilst many are reaping the rewards of industrialization, others are struggling to barely make ends meet. In London’s East End, immigrants from the Continent stay in drab boarding houses where rooms cost less than a pound a day. It was in several districts here that the Ripper quite literally, made his mark. The first murder occurred on August 31st, one Mary Ann “Polly” Nichols was found dead in Whitechapel district. While women of her position (harlots, alcoholics and beggars) were commonly found dead (either due to roughhousing or alcoholic abuse), she bore marks of a vicious and unforgettable murder. Just 9 days later, Annie Chapman was dispatched in an even more gruesome manner. Her intestines were laid bare for all to see, her throat cut clean from left to right, portions of her bladder and uterus were missing. The police knew that they were dealing with a professional, one who clearly took delight in his trade. Elizabeth Stride was the next victim on September 30th, she was found in much the same fashion as those before her. Interestingly though, this time someone might have actually interrupted the Ripper while he was making his mark on the poor lady, causing him to flee before her innards could be fully displayed. Yet just an hour later, he found a new victim to finish his work on. Catherine Eddowes is arguably the most famous Ripper victim, because of how well the police documented her. The Ripper’s final victim was one Mary Jane Kelly, the last “canonical” victim and the one with which the Ripper painted his masterpiece. Unlike the other victims, Kelly was murdered indoors on 9th November with many marks indicating the Ripper had come knocking. She was the most mutilated of all the victims, I won’t lavish you with the details but essentially every body part the Ripper could uncover he either cut out and displayed or mutilated beyond recognition.
- Then, came the end of the Whitechapel Terror (or so it is believed). The police would never face such a difficult case in their time ever again. The Ripper is even known to have sent letters to both Scotland Yard and the Metropolitan Police, most infamously his “Letter From Hell” wherein he attached half of a human kidney, stating that he’d eaten the other one.
- Throughout the decades, the police have kept the Ripper’s case open, adamant that new evidence or technology can shed a light on the madman who dared to wreak havoc on London in such a short period of time. Many believe the Ripper to have been a Polish immigrant, common in that area. Some more outlandish theories connect the Ripper to Queen Victoria’s Grandson. Whatever the case, Jack the Ripper’s legacy will likely echo through the ages for many decades to come.
- Dale Kerstetter:
- Some mysteries are surprising and shocking in how they involve regular people. Take the case of poor Dale Kerstetter. A security guard and maintenance man working the night shift at Corning Glassworks in Bradford, Pennsylvania, Dale was a simple man who did his job well. Yet on the morning of September 12th 1987, when security guard John Lindquist came to relieve him, Dale was nowhere to be found. His pickup truck, keys and lunch were still on the facility grounds. Upon going through security footage, authorities found that Dale had conversed and walked with a masked man. This man was then recorded stealing 250,000 dollars worth of platinum rods from the grounds. The last sighting of this man was when he wheeled a cart full of sacks to his waiting vehicle. Police suspect that Dale (or at least, his body) was in one of those sacks. Whatever happened to Dale Kerstetter, the police still have a cold case incase he reappears (or new evidence surfaces).
- Mandy Hampton: This one is slightly more interesting, instead of being the disappearance of a real person, Mandy Hampton is actually the name of a fictional character who was portrayed by Moira Kelly in the American serial drama The West Wing. While she was a main character to the plot, her actual appearances in season 1 began to lower as every episode went by. When season 2 came around, fans of the series were shocked to discover that she was no longer a cast member in the show. Since the plot made no connection to her disappearance, people wondered why she had left so suddenly. Director and series creator Aaron Sorkin later stated that the character was just not working out for the actor, and that they had agreed to shake hands and part ways after the first season.
- Jack the Ripper: Ah good old Jack, there’s a serial killer if you’ve ever heard of one. The very name of this fellow sent shivers down the women of 1888 London’s East End. Though Scotland Yard and the Metropolitan Police sent their best detectives and bobbies against him, they would never catch the Ripper. Then, just as quickly as he had made himself known, he disappeared into the soupy London mist; never to emerge for another murder again. Or so it is believed. Thus then, who is this man (if the Ripper can even be called one) of legend?
- Amelia Earhart | Sodder Children| Edgar Allan Poe
- Amelia Earhart: On July 2nd 1937, the world turned their eyes to the skies in remembrance of Amelia Earhart. One of the most famous aviators in history, Amelia Earhart was known for setting multiple aviation records and progressing the field of woman in aviation. In the early 1920s and 30s, aviation was still rather primitive. Planes were constructed out of wood and canvas, with controls often being moved by wire. In keeping with the gender roles of the day, the sky was declared no place for woman (let alone at the cockpit of a plane). Amelia Earhart broke all these rules. In 1921 she gained her flying wings (otherwise known in dumb terms as a flying license), apparently she got her first plane and flew it before she drove her first car (high achiever). In 1922, her first steps to fame came when she set her first record. She became the first woman to fly solo above 14,000 feet (4 kilometers). On May 20th 1932, Earhart became the first woman (and second person) to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a plane on her (second only to famed aviator Charles Lindbergh). Later that year, Amelia became the first woman to fly nonstop across the United States. In 1929, Amelia Earhart became a founding member of “The Ninety-Nines”, an international organization that aimed to progress women in the field of piloting. On June 1st 1937, Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan took off from Oakland, California in a Lockheed 10E Electra in an attempt to become the first woman and duo to circumnavigate the world. By the end of that month, they had only 7,000 more miles to go. Yet the world would never see that Electra again. On July 2nd, the plane left New Guinea for tiny Howland Island, their next refueling stop. The US Coast Guard lost contact with the plane shortly afterwards. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt authorized a massive two-week search by the navy and air force for the Electra. But the sea would keep its secrets, on July 19th the pair were announced as “lost at sea”.
- Over the years multiple theories would form as to where they had actually gone. Many accept the evidence and theory that their plane simply ran out of fuel, having not found Howland island and ditching in the sea. Others say Noonan and Earhart made it to a deserted island, where they survived until old age caused them to die. Recent investigations to Gardner Island in Kiribati turned up some interesting evidence, including a piece of plexiglass and woman’s show from the 1930s. Other believe the more outlandish theory that Noonan and Earhart ventured into Japanese held territory and were captured. Some think that the two were actually spies for the government and had assumed false identities upon returning to the US.
- Sodder Children: A mystery that I only recently learned of (i.e last year) and one that is truly bone-chilling and slightly melancholy. The Sodder Children names one of the US’s most notorious disappearance cases. What’s chilling about it is not so much the fact that it occurred, but rather the extreme series of coincidences and omens that happened on the night it occurred. 1:00 AM Christmas Day 1945. A fire breaks out at the Sodder house in West Virginia. George and Jennie Sodder, along with 4 of their 10 children (the 10th serving abroad in the war), managed to escape their burning house. Yet with 5 children still trapped inside, George attempts to rescue them. That’s where the coincidences begin to start unnaturally. First, the ladder often propped up on the side of the house was not there (it was later found in a ditch 20 meters away), George’s two trucks wouldn’t start (despite having worked perfectly the day before the fire), the family phone wouldn’t work when they called the fire department (despite working perfectly previously) and the firefighters wouldn’t arrive until 8:00 AM (despite having been called by multiple neighbours hours earlier). No human bones or remains were found in the ruins, so the Sodders began to suspect that their children were never actually in the house when the fire broke out. Many theories say that the Sodder Children had been kidnapped by the Italian Mafia, whose presence was felt in the community where the Sodders lived (indeed George was an Italian immigrant who criticised Mussolini openly, much to the rage of his town).
- Edgar Allan Poe: October 3rd, 1849. Joseph J. Walker, employee for the Baltimore Sun, headed out to Gunner’s Hall, a public house often full of life. Yet when he arrived there, he found a delirious and shabby-dressed man lying in the gutter. This man was none other that famous horror writer Edgar Allan Poe, one of if not the most critically acclaimed author of that time. Walker quickly asked if anyone who knew Poe could be called upon. Poe quickly gave the address of one Joseph E. Snodgrass, whom he’d run into while authoring stories. Just a week earlier on September 27th, Poe had left Richmond Virginia for Philadelphia, where he had been beckoned by poet St. Leon Loud to help edit some poems. Poe would never reach his final destination, nor would he make it back to New York to escort his aunt to Richmond for his upcoming wedding. Instead, Poe would spend the next days slipping in and out of delirium (likely brought about by drink) and having hallucinations. His attending physician, Dr. John J Moran, said that the figure “Reynolds” was repeated multiple times (the identity of such a person remains unknown to this day).
- Amelia Earhart: On July 2nd 1937, the world turned their eyes to the skies in remembrance of Amelia Earhart. One of the most famous aviators in history, Amelia Earhart was known for setting multiple aviation records and progressing the field of woman in aviation. In the early 1920s and 30s, aviation was still rather primitive. Planes were constructed out of wood and canvas, with controls often being moved by wire. In keeping with the gender roles of the day, the sky was declared no place for woman (let alone at the cockpit of a plane). Amelia Earhart broke all these rules. In 1921 she gained her flying wings (otherwise known in dumb terms as a flying license), apparently she got her first plane and flew it before she drove her first car (high achiever). In 1922, her first steps to fame came when she set her first record. She became the first woman to fly solo above 14,000 feet (4 kilometers). On May 20th 1932, Earhart became the first woman (and second person) to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a plane on her (second only to famed aviator Charles Lindbergh). Later that year, Amelia became the first woman to fly nonstop across the United States. In 1929, Amelia Earhart became a founding member of “The Ninety-Nines”, an international organization that aimed to progress women in the field of piloting. On June 1st 1937, Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan took off from Oakland, California in a Lockheed 10E Electra in an attempt to become the first woman and duo to circumnavigate the world. By the end of that month, they had only 7,000 more miles to go. Yet the world would never see that Electra again. On July 2nd, the plane left New Guinea for tiny Howland Island, their next refueling stop. The US Coast Guard lost contact with the plane shortly afterwards. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt authorized a massive two-week search by the navy and air force for the Electra. But the sea would keep its secrets, on July 19th the pair were announced as “lost at sea”.
- Starlite | Roanoke | Library of Alexandria | DB Cooper
- Starlite: This one is slightly more interesting. Starlite is not a person, but rather a material. Specifically, starlite was a plastic developed by one Maurice Ward, a hairdresser from Yorkshire England. The plastic had properties that would’ve revolutionized industrial processes. It could withstand a nuclear flash, easily beat heats of up to three times the melting point of diamonds, and could be formed into any shape. Starlite was, quite literally, the “wonder material” of our age. Or rather, it could’ve been. Ward was extremely secretive with how he actually made the material, despite some of the biggest companies like NASA or Boeing offering to pay millions for the right to his process. Ward died in 2011 without ever commercializing or patenting his plastic, and his family has remained tight-lipped on their plans for the secret.
- Roanoke: Ah America, aren’t you responsible for your fair share of unsolved mysteries? Area 51, Oak Island, Donald Trump’s stupidity. Yet by far one of the oldest mysteries of this continent is that of Roanoke. Before we delve into the actual details and theories however, time for a quick (ish) history lesson. In 1584, Queen Elizabeth I grants explorer Sir Walter Raleigh a charter for the colonisation of North America; hoping to make a fortune for Britain from the New World. After a few hitches in the trip and upon their arrival, the Roanoke settlement was established but then shortly abandoned in 1586. A small detachment of 15 men were left behind to guard the settlement until the english could return. Raleigh ordered a new expedition in 1587, under the leadership of John White 150 men sailed for the Roanoke colony. Surprisingly, only a single human skeleton was found when they arrived, with no trace of the 14 other men having been uncovered. Undeterred, the colony was rebuilt and expanded to include the 100 or so colonists now part of the new land. Yet with hostilities from the native Indian tribes (with the exception of the Croatoan tribe, whom John was able to foster good relations with). After the killing of colonist George Howe by native americans, John left the colony to sail back to the English mainland for supplies and reinforcements. It was a bittersweet moment for the English colonist, whose daughter had just given birth to Virginia Dare, the first British child to be born on American soil. Yet with the Spanish Armada threatening the peace, John was forced to hold off any return plans until August 18th 1590. Almost three years after leaving America, John returned to find a ghost town. No skeletons or remains were found, no sign that the settlement had ever been inhabited in the first place. The only signs were CROATOAN carved into a fence post and CRO carved into a nearby tree. These meant something to John, who’d told them to carve these signs if they had to leave before his departure. Yet the one sign they failed to find was that of a Maltese cross, this would mean that the colonists had left under duress (likely the result of hostilities with the nearby natives). John had initially planned to search further inland for his family, but a fierce storm forced them to return to England. So what happened to the colonists of Roanoke?
- There are many explanations as to what occurred to them. The one that many agree with is that the colonists, without the necessary weapons or manpower to hold off the native tribes, decided to join them. It is likely that the men were killed (yeah, that strategy of “if you can’t fight them, join them” should probably add “only if you’ve made sure that they won’t kill you after they do”). The women and children were spared, with some of the ladies perhaps even marrying into the tribe. Another commonly held theory is that the colonists were simply tired of waiting (in their defence, three years is a long time) and boarded a ship that John White left behind in their own attempt to make it back. Other theories state that the colonists were wiped out by a natural disaster, racked by disease or slowly starved to death. Another theory exists however, a much happier one where the colonists actually did move inland, but they didn't survive much longer after that. Whatever happened to the Roanoke colony will likely remain a mystery, but we do know that it may not be such for very long. The “Lost Colony DNA project” may prove or disprove the first theory, while the land upon which the Roanoke colonists moved inland cannot be excavated (cause private property reasons).
- Library of Alexandria: The city of Alexandria was the beacon of humanity and civilisation in the ancient age. For centuries, it was the seat of great empires and many more civilisations. Historians from that period often wrote scroll upon scroll about the wonders of the city. It was here that the Lighthouse of Alexandria could be found, guiding those seeking the knowledge and culture of the great city towards its ports. Yet within the city itself was another great wonder whose demise remains a mystery (the lighthouse was destroyed after an earthquake). The Great Library of Alexandria was the biggest ancient library in the world, often being called a “universal library” in that it held scrolls and scriptures from all around the known world. Yet somewhere along the line of its rich history, the library was burned down in a mysterious fire. No archaeological remains have ever been excavated, leading some to wonder whether the library even existed or if it was simply an exaggeration. As for who started the fire that caused its destruction, many would like to point fingers at one Julius Caesar (yes that Julius Caesar), who ordered the entire harbour burned down when his army was trapped by an Egyptian fleet in 48 BCE. However, others believe that Theodosius I and perhaps an Arab Caliph were responsible.
- DB Cooper: By far one of the most well-known and captivating mysteries involving a single person; the mystery of DB Cooper (or rather, Dan Cooper as police originally called him) is still shrouded in some uncertainty to this day. November 24th, 1971, Portland International Airport. A man walks up to the Northwest Airlines counter and asks for a ticket on flight 305, a 30-minute trip to Seattle. The flight ticket is printed, with the name Dan Cooper on it. Onboard the flight, the man calmly reveals that his briefcase is in fact a bomb and sets out his demands. $200,000 in cash, 4 parachutes and a fuel truck to refuel the plane upon arrival in Seattle. The police can do nothing but comply. So after releasing all the passengers in Seattle, Cooper then orders the three pilots (along with the lone flight attendant) to head for Reno, Nevada. Somewhere along the route, Cooper attaches the bag of $20 dollar bills and the parachutes to himself, before jumping out the plane; never to be seen again. In the weeks following the incident, the government launched a manhunt for the elusive Dan Cooper. A miscommunication with the press meant that the nation instead called him “DB Cooper”. To date, there have been several theories as to the whereabouts and identity of this hijacker. None more so supported than that of Robert Rackstraw, a Vietnam veteran who reportedly sent a confession letter to the FBI a few years after the incident. So far however, no one has been charged with the crime and DB Cooper could still be out there.
- Mayan Civilization | Dinosaurs | Lost Tribes of Israel
- Mayan Civilisation: In lieu of a National Geographic documentary; “The Mayans predicted our end, but they couldn’t predict their own”. First a bit of backstory (because there’s quite a bit of history in these mysteries, incase you couldn’t tell). The Mayans were one of several Mesoamerican civilisations that managed to last from about 1,800 BC to 900 AD. Unlike other civilisations in the area that were spread out around multiple villages and towns, the Mayans were centred on a single geographical area. This area included the Yucatan Peninsula, Guatemala, Belize and other Central American state. The Mayans were unique in that they came way before the conquistadors and other conquerors of European origin (insert unexpected Spanish Inquisition here). Instead, their civilisation died out around the 9th century, more than 500 years before Christopher Columbus discovered the New World. One by one, the many cities of the Mayans were abandoned and left to ruin. Much like the dinosaurs, there are several scientific theories as to what occurred to this great civilisation. Many scholars argue that the Mayans had outgrown the land, their populations expanding beyond the capability of the resources available to them. Others argue that the city-states, competing for even more land and resources, began to war with one another. The final explanation lies in a natural disaster, perhaps a prolonged drought that decimated the annual harvest of crops. Whatever the case, by the time the Spanish and Portuguese landed on the shores of the South American continent and Latin American islands, the Mayans had been reduced to scattered families living in simple farming villages.
- Dinosaurs: By far one of the oldest mysteries on this list, the extinction of all dinosaurs was a scientific mystery. Many believed that there was some sort of “chain reaction” that occurred 65.5 million years ago. The exact cause of the events still remains a mystery, but it did cause geological and climate changes that allowed for the food supply or even the natural conditions of the land to change. Many point fingers at a crater hole in Mexico, known as the Chicxulub crater. They believe that when this meteor somehow impacted the Earth (give our planet a break, its atmosphere wasn’t quite that developed back then), the dust kicked up from the impact covered out the sun and caused climates to drop. This caused plants to die, along with the herbivores that relied on them, as well as the carnivores that relied on those dinosaurs.
- Lost Tribes of Israel: The 12 tribes of Israel were believed to have all descended from the 12 sons of Jacob. It was these tribes that formed a confederation in modern day Israel, about the time of the Bronze Age. Yet 2,370 years ago, the neighbouring Assyrians invaded the Kingdom of Israel, with their king Shalmaneser V exiling 10 of the 12 tribes to parts unknown (supposedly beyond the mythical Sambation river). The Benjamin and Judah tribes, who remained in the kingdom, became the modern-day Jewish people. Over the centuries, what remained of the 10 tribes became a mystery. Some claimed to have met traces of them in as far as Nigeria, China, Burma, Central Asia, Ethiopia and even the West. Yet in 2010, the Israeli government decided to end the question once and for all. It funded a genetic study to determine the most likely answer: that the Pashtuns and Afghans carry DNA which links them back to the 10 tribes of Israel. Ironically, the Pashtuns (which have the most claim to be the descendants of these tribes), would also have been the most hostile towards their religious beliefs.
- Atlantis | tenth planet | Land of Punt | El Dorado | Area 51
- Atlantis: A city underneath the sea. A land of utopian culture and a species lost to the centuries. This is Atlantis, a land first described by Greek philosopher Plato in 360 B.C in his dialogues “Timaeus” and “Critias”. In these works, he states that almost 9,000 years ago, a great city on the ocean sank in a night and a day. This city was a utopian society, whose structures were the stuff of legends and whose people were half-god, half-human. Yet in being so advanced and utopian, they succumbed to the flaws and sins of man (greediness, corruption and selfishness). The gods, angered by how their offsprings had abused the knowledge and power of the cosmos, sent a massive earthquake and fire that destroyed the buildings and sent the islands upon which the city rested to the bottom of the ocean. Many have disregarded Plato’s story as a myth, stating that Atlantis never existed. Others, namely those treasure seekers and mystery hunters, have attempted to explain the existence of this city, along with its civilization. Some believe it lies off the coast of Spain, others believe it moves with the currents in the Atlantic, some even think that its trapped underneath the Sahara desert (the irony is not even remotely subtle). Yet the most widely-accepted theory is that of a Greek island (thus fitting with the Plato origins). The island of Santorini, once a lush area of the Minoan people, a second-millenium BC volcanic eruption sent the entire island (along with its people) to the bottom of the ocean.
- Tenth Planet: Poor Pluto, not only does it get demoted from planet status; but it turns out its replacement is many thousands of kilometers beyond the known edge of our solar system. Oh whoops sorry, wrong term. Yes believe it or not, the “Tenth Planet” actually refers to a lost serial in the original 1966 Doctor Who series. The serial was meant to have been 4 episodes long, but the final one was missing from the BBC archives after they were wiped the programme from their databases. It was only in 2013 that the episode was aired, with the missing parts being replaced with animated sections.
- I was joking by the way, there is actually a tenth planet lurking at the edges of our solar system (that’s what you get for not clicking the link first). Scientists have announced the discovery of a Mars-shaped object in our solar system, this planet is almost 63AU (astronomical units, 1 of which equals 93 million miles) away from the sun.
- Land of Punt: Once again we find ourselves going back to the Egyptians. Yet not quite with their own civilisation, but one that has very strong ties to them. The Land of Punt (or “Punt Land”), was a nation that had very good relations with the pharaohs and the people of Egypt. Many scholars, taking cues from ancient hieroglyphs and paintings on Egyptian ruins, believe that Punt was a land in the Arabian peninsula, perhaps on the southern Coast of the Red Sea (modern day Ethiopia and Djibouti). What we do know for sure is that this land did in fact exist. Egyptian records and greek documents tell of Queen Hatshepsut undertaking a voyage to Punt. Apparently, this was the land of the gods, where the pharaohs came from. Punt has been described as a flourishing landscape, full of lush greens and palm trees for miles. The land was rich with resources like spices, gold and other precious minerals.
- El Dorado: What is it with the Europeans and their obsession over exploiting the New Land? As if the South American continent wasn’t enough to fill their appetites, they began chasing myths in the belief it would bring great wealth in the form of gold for those who discovered it. The story of El Dorado begins in the 16th century, when Spanish newcomers to South America heard tales of a tribe hidden high in the Andes mountains (in what is now modern-day Columbia). It was said that when a new chief was elected this tribe would perform a ritual that earned them their Old World name. According to legend, the chief would be covered in gold dust and hundreds of gems would be cast into the Guatavita Lake to appease the gods. The Spanish, having found tonnes of gold amongst the lowland Incas and Aztecs, decided that this land had to be real. The name El Dorado, meaning “The gilded one” was bestowed upon the fabled kingdom. Though the Spanish did find Lake Guatavita (along with hundreds of gold bars lining it), they could never find the city (or at least the ruins) of this land. Even British explorer Sir Walter Raleigh made a crack at it in 1617, losing his son to the Spanish in the attempt. Furious, he blamed the messenger who brought the news of his son’s death, shortly afterwards this poor man killed himself. Raleigh was later executed on the orders of King James, who punished him for disobeying a direct order not to anger the Spaniards. So then, where is El Dorado? We may never know, for perhaps the Andes are just as good as the seas when it comes to keeping their mysteries. However, perhaps the 1849 work of one Edgar Allan Poe contains hints: “Over the Mountains of the Moon, down the Valley of the Shadow, ride, boldly ride.... if you seek for El Dorado”.
- Area 51: Interestingly, this mystery is unique in that it is entirely manmade. Area 51 refers to a US military base in the middle of the Nevada desert. For almost 60 years its been there, ever since it was first constructed in 1954. For almost 60 years, alien-hunters and all kinds of people have been trying to enter the area. The story of Area 51 goes back to the Cold War, when it was initially built as a testing and training ground for the infamous U-2 spy plane. From 1955, the base served as the area of operations for pilots destined to fly this marvel of technology. Pilots flying commercial airlines reported seeing “unidentified flying objects” with lights on miles above the base. This was just the U2, likely out on a training flight 60,000 feet (18 kilometers) above the ground. In the late 1950s, the U2 program was discontinued. Yet the Area would still serve as an experimental training area for many air force projects. In 1989, the rumours really began to circle. On a televised interview, former employee Bob Lazar revealed that he had seen aliens (or at least their ships) and had worked on them while in Area 51. The US government denied anything, but in the face of this new theories began to circulate. Perhaps inside the base was the remnants of the Roswell craft that crashed in 1947, currently being studied by scientists to develop levitating circular disks of their own. Perhaps inside one of the hangars lies a set used to film the 1969 moon landing (NO, the moon landing did actually occur). Interestingly, you can still see lights above the area in the early morning. Unfortunately, these aren’t the lights of an alien spacecraft being tested, instead it's the contracted commercial plane that goes by the callsign “Janet”, carrying the workers to and from their home airports. Whatever the case, Area 51 will remain closed to the prying eyes of those who dare attempt to spy on the US government’s secret projects.
- Holy Grail | New Zealand | Fountain of Youth | Dark Matter
- Holy Grail: Quite a religious artifact, the holy grail is believed to have been a sort of cup, chalice, platter or other container of liquid that Jesus Christ drank from at a Last Supper. It has also been theorised that Arimathea used the grail to collect Jesus’s blood after the crucifixion. For centuries, scholars and historians have all attempted to discover the true whereabouts of the grail. In classic works of literature dating back to the 12th century, the grail is described as having “great healing powers” and that whoever drinks from it shall be cured of any illness or condition. The grail has also been told to give eternal youth and happiness to whomever’s lips it touches. Whatever mythical powers the grail is believed to be capable of, one thing remains clear: we don’t actually know whether it existed. There have been over 200 claims of this grail popping up all over the world, from South America to the Far East. The most popular claim is that of two Spanish historians, who believe the grail was at a church in Leon (Northern Spain).
- New Zealand: Firstly, New Zealand does exist (look at any map and find a fish-shaped nation underneath Australia. Many scientists and geologists agree that the land was formed after it broke apart from the Gondwana supercontinent millions of years ago. However, an interesting tale is that found in Maori legend, which states that the demigod Maui (yes, that one from Moana), fished up the North island of New Zealand. On a fishing trip with his brothers (all of whom despised their demigod brother). In order to win over their favour, Maui crafted a fishing hook from an ancestral jawbone (don’t ask) and hauled up the land of New Zealand (which is shaped rather like a fish, so don’t blame him).
- Fountain of Youth: If you’ve heard of the holy grail, you’ve probably also heard of the Fountain of Youth. It does exactly what it says on the label, it gives one the appearance and energy of their youthful selves (helpful, considering that humans have for centuries despised old age). Yet the existence of this “fountain” if it was even such a thing remains disputed. Many believe that it was the natural springs in St. Augustine, Florida that generated the legend of the fountain. One Spanish explorer by the name of Juan Ponce De Leon is often attached to this legend, he is believed to have landed at Florida in 1513, attempting to search for this elusive fountain. The Fountain of Youth is probably the most disputed on this list in terms of its existence, we don’t even know if Juan Ponce de Leon was actually trying to search for it (apparently it could’ve been a joke by his enemies back home, after all he was old and apparently “in the need for some youthful vigor”).
- Dark Matter: How ironic, a mystery that relates the most to science has yet to be proven by science itself. Dark Matter is essentially the stuff of which the universe is theorised to be made of, apparently 85% of the universe (ever-expanding mind you) is composed of this mysterious material. Scientists believe that dark matter itself is made of some unknown subatomic material. Apparently this substance is completely invisible to light (hence why we can’t see it) and other forms of electromagnetic radiation. Scientists are adamant in their belief that this material exists, due to the gravitational effects it asserts on astronomical bodies.
- Monsieur Chouchani | Lori Erica Ruff | Atacama skeleton
- Monsieur Chouchani: A teacher by any other name (quite literally that’s all we know about him), Monsieur Chouchani was an anonymous and unknown Jewish teacher who taught a small number of gifted students after World War 2. His students included French philosopher Emmanuel Levinas and American writer Elie Wiesel. Very little is actually known about Monsieur Chouchani, other than that he was Jewish and was purposefully enigmatic about his details.
- Lori Erica Ruff: Christmas Eve, 2010; Longview, Texas. A woman is found dead in her own car, the cause of death being a self-inflicted shotgun wound. The woman is Lori Erica Ruff, whose marriage to Blake Ruff recently fell out. Or at least, she is believed to be Erica Ruff. 2 letters were left in the car, a note addressed to the husband and another for the daughter (not to be opened until she reached the age of 18). Inside the 11-page notes for the husband were ramblings of one who was clearly unstable. So the Ruff family decided to investigate her house in Leonard, Texas. Inside her private safe, they made a shocking discovery. Lori Erica Ruff was not who she claimed to be. The birth certificate of one Becky Sue Turner was discovered, along with a ruling by a judge that whoever held this name could change it to Lori Erica Kennedy. Upon digging deeper into the identity of Becky Sue Turner, records showed that she had died in a house fire at the age of 2. After hiring a private detective working for the Social Security Administration, the family finally got answers in 2016. After genetic testing and database research, a third cousin was located who had relations with Ruff. After even more family tree compiling, the cousin was finally located in Pennsylvania. Joe Velling, the now retired private investigator for the SSA, made contact with the family. The mystery of Lori Erica Ruff could finally be put to rest. She had been born in 1968 to Deanne and James Mclean, under the name Kimberly Mclean.
- So how did this Pennsylvania born woman become an “identity thief”? Apparently the story starts in 1986, when Kimberly decides to leave her home after being unable to cope with the recent divorce of her mother. So in 1988 California, she gets a copy of Becky Sue Turner’s birth certificate. Later an Idaho ID card “proves” that she is Sue Turner, despite the real one having died in 1971 at the age of 2. Just months later, she legally changes her name to Lori Erica Kennedy. The rest is history.
- Atacama Skeleton: The Atacama skeleton (otherwise known as “Ata” by mystery hunters), is theorized to have been an alien skeleton left on Earth by the extraterrestrial beings who paid us a visit. The skeleton achieved this theorization because of its unique features. The entire being (if it ever was able to stand) was only 6 inches (15cm) tall, it had 2 ribs less than us humans (10 instead of 12) and its skull ended in a ridge instead of forming a circular shape. Genetic testing and other biological tests shows that this skeleton was likely simply the result of many genetic mutations. 64 in fact, more concentrated than any other specimen in history. The girl who this skeleton belonged to was likely left in the care of a priest or other church figure (since she was discovered in an abandoned village church in the Peruvian Atacama desert). It was here that the serious mutations likely killed her.
- Taured Man | Somerton Man | bog bodies| Sky Object
- Taured Man (Caitlin): The Taured Man’ or the ‘Man from Taured’ was a man who arrived in Haneda Airport in 1954. This man approached the customs officers with a passport originating from the country ‘Taured’. According to the man, ‘Taured’ was a country between the border of France and Spain and presented a passport with VISA stamps from all over the world. The Japanese customs officials were reasonably skeptical of this man and subsequently detained and placed in a hotel room while they were figuring out what to do with this mysterious man from ‘Taured’. The next morning the mysterious ‘Taured Man’ vanished from his hotel room and was never found. Theories surrounding this man range from time travel, extraterrestrials to a simple hoax.
- Somerton Man: December 1st, 1948. A deceased man is found on Somerton Beach, Adelaide Australia. He was nicely dressed in a suit and tie, had no identification cards or tags on his clothes and the only clue was a piece of paper in a secret pocket in his pants. Written on the paper was “Taman Shud”, a phrase that appears at the end of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (and 11th century book of Persian poems). The words translate to “end” or “finished”. In the weeks following the discovery, a businessman came forward with a copy of the Rubaiyat, apparently it had been thrown into his car through an open car window. As expected, the police found the final page, where the words Taman Shud were torn out. More intriguing was the writing on the back cover of the book. See the photo below (perhaps you’ll crack the mystery yourself). The letters couldn’t be decoded, but the telephone number led to the doorstep of a young nurse. The young nurse denied ever having any knowledge of the man. So the police kept the case open, whilst the Somerton Man was buried, a plaster cast of his body was made. Yet a few decades later, the nurse was later reinvestigated and she is believed to have been the wife of the Somerton Man.
- Bog Bodies (Caitlin): Ireland is known for many things: U2, me, the incredible Tayto theme park and Bobby Sands. An unusual thing Ireland is also known for are bog bodies, two examples of famous bog bodies are known as “Old Croghan Man” and “Cashel Man”. Some other notable bog bodies include those called “Tollund Man” from Denmark, “Lindow Man” from the U.K., “Elling Woman” from Denmark, “Haraldskaer Woman” from Norway and what once used to be known as “Windeby girl” but is now known as “Windeby I”. Bog bodies are formed as a result of a corpse that are naturally preserved in peat bogs. They differ from regular corpses because instead of decomposing they are preserved as a result of the acidity, temperature, lack of oxygen and other conditions that prevent the internal organs and skin from completely decomposing. Some bog bodies have perfectly preserved skin, hair or facial features. Many of the bog bodies have died violent deaths, some bog bodies were sacrifices to primordial gods, ancient kings or peasants who were buried.
- Sky Object: This one is slightly more recent. December 2018 to be exact, where a mysterious object was spotted and photographed by hundreds in California. The object appeared to be making some sort of swirly trail. NASA quickly confirmed that the object was most likely a meteor, Earth’s gravity pulling it into the sea. The explanation for the unusual trail was a noctilucent trail (NLC), where smoke from the meteor allows ice crystals to form around the meteoric dust. Some still remain skeptical however, citing the work of aliens or even mother nature.
- Greek Fire | Archimedes Death Ray | Mithridate | Havana Syndrome
- Greek Fire: Firstly, if we’re going to be historically accurate, this shouldn’t be called “Greek Fire” but instead it should be named “Byzantine Fire”. That’s right, the Greeks never actually invented this fire for their own purposes. It was instead the Greek-speaking Byzantine empire (The Eastern wing of the Roman Empire in Italy), who invented and used this deadly substance in combat. Apparently, a Syrian engineer by the name of Callinicus discovered the formula for this fire in 673 AD. It was used to devastating effect against the Arabs who were knocking at the door of the empire. Greek fire was superior to any incendiary weapon in history (even our flamethrowers and napalm bombs can’t compare to it). It was said to burn on water, stick onto surfaces and was only extinguishable with vinegar or sand (and interestingly, old urine). The fire was often deployed using a primitive version of modern flamethrowers (see gallery below), or hurled towards the target in clay pots. It is said that the actual formula for the creation of Greek fire was handed down from emperor to emperor. In fact, enemies who captured both the fire itself and the siphon that delivered it were unable to replicate either (a true wonder weapon then). The secret obviously died when the Byzantine empire fell, and over the centuries many have tried to recreate this weapon. Even modern day technology cannot replicate the weapon (perhaps however, that’s a good thing). Many believe that petroleum, naphtha, sulphur, resin and quicklime were key ingredients. Yet the true formula and method will likely never be discovered.
- Archimedes Death Ray: Ah Archimedes, aren’t you a colorful character? One moment you’re making huge leaps in the field of geometry, the next you’re running through the streets naked shouting “Eureka” after discovering buoyancy. Born in the city-state of Syracuse (Sicily, which was then a part of Ancient Greece) in 287 BC, the great mathematician and inventor was soon called upon to use his intellect for war. In 214 BC, the Roman army came knocking. So Archimedes devised ways of getting them to leave. Since Sicily had no land bridge back then, the Roman navy was forced to land troops on the island. To stop them, Archimedes invented a huge metal claw, operated by a complex system of levers and pulleys from within the city. It could pick up a Roman galley and dump it back in the ocean, leaving its crew drowning or floundering for help. Yet also among his tools was the so-called “Death Ray”. Unfortunately, the death ray was not some sort of doomsday device that evokes Steampunk-like fantasies. Instead it was a system of mirrors that concentrated sunlight onto the Roman ships. Apparently these mirrors could easily burn the biggest of boats, leaving nothing but a burning hulk at the bottom of the ocean. The historian Dalen was the first to mention the death ray, almost 350 years after the siege of Syracuse ended. Yet the lack of any other writing about it throws the entire idea into doubt. Perhaps the death ray was some other contraption or maybe it never even existed. Current tests with the system (including some on the popular Discovery Channel show “Mythbusters”) have had mixed results. Whilst MIT researchers have been able to prove that it could burn a ship, the conditions were simply too perfect and not realistic enough.
- Mithridate: Imagine a medicine that could fortify your body from any poison. One whose origins date back to the time of Roman emperors and Greek writers. This is Mithridate, a semi-mythical remedy with as many as 65 ingredients. It was believed to have been created by King Mithridates VI of Pontus (a region of Greece) in the 1st century BC. Its use continued during the Middle Ages and during the Renaissance. Until as late as 1786, physicians in London possessed the recipe and were allowed to prescribe this to patients. Apparently, the drug was so effective that when its creator wanted to kill himself, no poison had any effect on his body (so logically, he asked his soldier to run him through with a sword). The recipe was later discovered by Pompey and improved by Nero’s physician.
- Havana Syndrome: Wow, I’m going to have to give props to Daniel Berdichevsky and the team to finding this mystery. The Havana Syndrome is (much to the disappointment of us scholars), not some sort of medical condition induced by repeatedly listening to the song on repeat. In late 2016 and until December 2018, US and Canadian staff stationed at their respective embassies in Havana, Cuba have reported cases of sudden and unknown brain injuries brought about by hearing some “buzzing”, “piercing squeals” “grating metal” and “humming” sounds. The sounds came suddenly, along with a sort of attack on the brain. Thus far, over 30 staff in total have been sent back home due to these conditions. As for their cause, some scientists believe that ultrasound or infrasound might be responsible, with Donald Trump even accusing the Cuban government as using a “sonic attack” weapon to incapacitate members of their civil service (oh Donald, your accusations will never get old will they?). Perhaps radiofrequency radiation might also be to blame, or a poorly created ultrasonic transmitter used to eavesdrop (I might need one of those) could induce the sounds.
- Magnetic pole reversals | Bermuda Triangle | Oak Island Money Pit
- Magnetic Pole Reversals: Go investigate this interesting phenomenon with the following links:
- Bermuda Triangle: December 5th, 1945. A flight of 5 Grumman TBM torpedo bombers leaves Fort Lauderdale Florida, on a routine training mission over the North Atlantic. They are never to return to base. Their disappearance is one of many that plague the area, over the centuries at least 50 ships and 20 planes have been lost to the oceans (or perhaps, something else). The Bermuda Triangle is a patch of ocean between Florida, Puerto Rico and Bermuda Island, where mysterious disappearances occur. Surprisingly however, the Bermuda Triangle isn’t actually as “fabled” as myths make it out to be. It doesn’t claim more ships than any other part of the ocean, in fact everyday commercial shipping runs peacefully through that stretch of water with no anomalies. When the Bermuda does decide to claim a few lives, it does so in a mysterious fashion. To date, most of the ships and planes that were lost in the triangle are never found. Not even wreckage is left drifting on the surface. For a time, the supernatural was associated with the Bermuda triangle. People believed that wormholes, aliens and even Atlantis were responsible for claiming the doomed vessels. Yet as is always the case with mysteries, science has a few more theories that are probably the likely ones. The first is that “Rogue waves”, huge walls of water more than 30 meters high that appear out of nowhere. Theoretically, this would be enough force to completely destroy any evidence of a wreck, or at least send the entire vessel down to the bottom. Since the Bermuda Triangle lies in an area where multiple storms can converge at once, this theory is probably the case for ships. But what about planes? How did an entire squadron of US Navy bombers disappear without trace? Well let’s go back to Flight 19 and uncover some interesting (yet also unfortunate) details.
- Lt. Charles Taylor, leader of Flight 19, reported that his squadron was off course and was somewhere over the Florida keys. Navy command at Fort Lauderdale told him to head north back to base. Yet due to magnetic anomalies in the Bermuda Triangle, Taylor was actually leading his squadron further out to sea instead of inland. Their planes low on fuel, the squadron ditched in the ocean, never to be seen again. Many believe that these magnetic anomalies are the cause of navigational errors in aircraft.
- Oak Island Money Pit: The Oak Island Money Pit is just one such mystery that shows our lust for treasure. Especially if that treasure might have come from the high seas. Yet the story of the Oak Island Money Pit is one of discovery, tragedy and obsession. Oak Island is a 140-acre piece of land on Canada’s Atlantic Coast off the shores of Nova Scotia. In 1795, a teenage boy by the name of Daniel McGinnis first noticed flashing lights off the shores of Nova Scotia. When he went to explore the island, he found a large circular depression where oak trees had clearly been removed to make room for...something. Eventually, McGinnis and his friends came to excavate the area, but their efforts were thwarted whenever they reached the 108 feet mark. For when this depth was reached, water would start to inexplicably fill the hole. Over the years, many would try to dig deeper and uncover what secrets the money pit was hiding. In 1861, tragedy struck when a man was scalded by an exploding boiler in an attempt to excavate the hole further. The theories as to what lies down there range from the logical to the slightly absurd. The most supported theory is that of Pirate Treasure, the island was a good haunt for these sea thieves in the 17th and 18th century. Others state that the Knights Templar (a secret order going back to the crusades) buried their loot here, including the holy grail. Others state that Marie Antoinette, about to be executed during the French revolution, gave her jewels to a maid and ordered them buried on this island. Some even state that a Viking ship from the original expedition to Nova Scotia is buried under all that sand. Whatever the case, the current owners of the island, brothers Rick and Marty Lagina, are still hard at work trying to uncover the mystery of the money pit.
- Deep Blue Hole | Dyatlov Pass incident | Hollinwell Showground
- Deep Blue Hole: Otherwise known as the Great Blue Hole, the Deep Blue Hole is a natural sinkhole near the centre of Lighthouse Reef, a small atoll 70 kilometers away from the mainland. The hole is circular in its formation, measuring 318 meters in diameter and 124 meters deep. It is the second largest structure of its kind, surpassed only by the Dragon Hole off the shores of China. The site gained quite a reputation after famed oceanographer and diver Jacques Cousteau brought his research ship there in 1971. As of late, the hole has gained a reputation for holding marine secrets. The sediment around it also holds something interesting, signs of a massive drought during the 10th century. This drought may finally confirm the downfall of the Mayans. As for what lies down there, scientists are just about to get to the bottom of it (excuse the pun).
- Dyatlov Pass Incident: If you thought some of the other disappearances on this list were disturbing, they have nothing on the chilling (apologies for the weather-related pun) mystery of the Dyatlov Pass. Our story begins on January 31st 1959, nine college students from the Ural Polytechnic Institute depart on a skiing trip to reach the peak of Otorten, a mountain in the Northern Urals. Led by experienced hiker Igor Alekseievich Dyatlov, the team were hampered by snowstorms that caused them to deviate from the path to the mountain. Instead, they found themselves setting up camp near the top of another mountain, Kholat Syakhl, a name that translates to “Dead Mountain” in the native Mansi tongue (a rather ominous sign). It was on this chilling mountain top that all nine hikers would lose their lives. When Dyatlov’s sports club didn’t receive a telegram confirming the group’s arrival at Vizhai by February 12th, the university sent another volunteer search and rescue group. After the volunteer force found the campsite on February 26th, the army and police were called in to witness the horrific scene. The tents of the campers had been abandoned, torn open from the inside with all their belongings still within. Eight or nine sets of footprints were later located, leading away from the tents, these tracks later led the investigators to a nearby wood almost 1.6 kilometers away from the campsite. Here the group had set up a campfire and here lay 2 bodies from the campers. Despite the temperature having been between -25°C and -30°C, the campers were found wearing no shoes and only their underwear. They then found the three bodies of more campers, including group leader Dyatlov. These bodies, despite having some anomalies, had shown signs of hypothermia. So the Soviet Union said that these unfortunate souls had been left to the mercy of the harsh Siberian weather. That is, until four more bodies were located 2 months later. These were found in a ravine 75 meters deeper into the woods where the campfire was set up. Three of the four had serious injuries, while one simply showed signs of hypothermia. 1 showed significant skull damage, while 2 exhibited chest fractures. The most haunting sight was that of Lyudmila Dubinina; whose tongue, eyes and lips were missing. So what had claimed the lives of these unfortunate students?
- One theory states that nature merely disposed of them with an avalanche, yet the authorities were adamant in saying that Dyatlov knew better than to camp in such an area. Another states that the Menk, a Russian yeti, descended upon the group and caused the traumatic injuries. Yet the weirdest detail is still in the tents. Why were the students running out of them in little more than underwear? Was someone, or something coming to get them? Scientists have also blamed paradoxical undressing, a condition of hypothermia where the brain believes that its actually getting warmer, so clothes are taken off to cool down. Some have even theorized that the Soviet military had been testing some sort of concussive weapon in the area, thus explaining the hurried retreat from camp. Another interesting detail came in the form of slight radioactive readings from the bodies. Was the area secretly a testing site for nuclear weapons? Another plausible theory was proposed by another group of campers who’d been sleeping about 50 kilometers from the Dyatlov group. They reported seeing “strange orange orbs” floating in the sky and heading towards Death mountain. Perhaps an extraterrestrial race came knocking on Siberia (not the first time it might’ve happened, see the Tunguska event later on). Whatever the case, the mystery remains open and the path to Otorten mountain has been renamed the Dyatlov Pass to commemorate the 9 poor victims.
- Hollinwell Showground: This might as well have been a tale from an Edgar Allan Poe story. On July 13th 1986, 500 children and adults were crowded on the Hollinwell Showground at Kirby-in-Ashfield England. It was one of the biggest junior brass and marching bands competitions in the country. Yet as the kazoos and drums started up, the shouts and cheers turned to horror as 300 children adults fell to the floor suddenly. All of them were unconscious, though no serious conditions were found in hospital (all of them survived, thank goodness). They reported having a “terribly burning sensation in their mouths and eyes” before fainting, with some showing signs of hyperventilation. The mystery of the Hollinwell showground is one that manages to perplex people to this day. Some believe that “mass sociogenic illnesses” had taken ahold of the cheerful occasion, whilst others blame a pesticide that had been previously sprayed on the showgrounds. Whatever the case, the Hollinwell Showground is notorious for its abrupt occurence and lack of evidence.
- Solway Spaceman | Airfares
- Solway Spaceman: In 1964, fireman Jim Templeton of Carlisle went out with his family for a usual picnic. Once they’d set up their mat and were settling down, Jim took a photo of his daughter Elizabeth sitting down in a nice dress. Yet when the chemists exposed the photo, behind Elizabeth there appeared to be a mysterious figure clad in a white suit and helmet. Many believed that a spaceman or visitor from outer space had just been caught on film. The Solway Spaceman gained even more notoriety after officials in Woomera, Australia announced that they had seen two men matching that description near the launch site of a Blue Streak missile (the launch was actually cancelled due to those two men). Eventually however, experts simply agreed that it had been an overexposure incident. Jim’s wife Annie had been nearby with a blue dress. Perhaps she accidentally stepped into the frame and the chemists allowed her blue dress to look white.
- Airfares: Apparently this mystery is slightly less captivating than the others. Have you ever gone onto an air ticketing website which promised an affordable cost, only to have that price swapped out with a much higher one? That’s essentially the process of airfares, where the price of a ticket goes considerably higher despite looking initially low. Sometimes people do this on purpose, to make some easy money deceiving travellers. Airline industry experts deny this and instead say that its the result of “caching” where information is stored in order to be retrieved quickly but perhaps with less accuracy. We still need more investigations and IT audits on this one before proving or disproving a theory.
- Voynich manuscript | Kryptos | Cicada 3301 | Wow! Signal
- Voynich Manuscript (Caitlin): The Voynich manuscript is an illustrated piece that no one can ever read, no one knows what language it is written in and (it's a likely possibility that) no one ever will. The manuscript has been carbon dated to originate from around the 15th century in northern Italy, but no one knows for sure. The script in the book is unique and incomprehensible. There are some drawings and diagrams that accompany the text but similarly, they are also incomprehensible. The drawings include images of herbs, recipes, astronomy, biology, cosmology, and pharmaceutics. It is theorised that the Voynich manuscript purpose is to be a “ pharmacopoeia “ or to provide information and insight into the topics of early medicine and medieval treatments. Some of the theories surrounding the Voynich manuscript include the possible author(s), the origin of the manuscript, the language and the content.
- Kryptos: Kryptos is slightly less mysterious than the other ones, nor does it involve any sort of extraterrestrial involvement. Rather, Kryptos is an artwork in front of the CIA building in Langley, Virginia. Built on November 3rd 1990, by artist Jim Sanborn, it bears four encrypted messages for the public to decode. Of them, three have been decoded, with the fourth one becoming one of the most famous unsolved ciphers of all time. Admittedly there are a few spelling errors here and there, some on purpose others for the aesthetic look. Here are the solutions to the three solved messages:
- BETWEEN SUBTLE SHADING AND THE ABSENCE OF LIGHT LIES THE NUANCE OF IQLUSION
- IT WAS TOTALLY INVISIBLE HOWS THAT POSSIBLE ? THEY USED THE EARTHS MAGNETIC FIELD X THE INFORMATION WAS GATHERED AND TRANSMITTED UNDERGRUUND TO AN UNKNOWN LOCATION X DOES LANGLEY KNOW ABOUT THIS ? THEY SHOULD ITS BURIED OUT THERE SOMEWHERE X WHO KNOWS THE EXACT LOCATION ? ONLY WW THIS WAS HIS LAST MESSAGE X THIRTY EIGHT DEGREES FIFTY SEVEN MINUTES SIX POINT FIVE SECONDS NORTH SEVENTY SEVEN DEGREES EIGHT MINUTES FORTY FOUR SECONDS WEST X LAYER TWO
- SLOWLY DESPARATLY SLOWLY THE REMAINS OF PASSAGE DEBRIS THAT ENCUMBERED THE LOWER PART OF THE DOORWAY WAS REMOVED WITH TREMBLING HANDS I MADE A TINY BREACH IN THE UPPER LEFT HAND CORNER AND THEN WIDENING THE HOLE A LITTLE I INSERTED THE CANDLE AND PEERED IN THE HOT AIR ESCAPING FROM THE CHAMBER CAUSED THE FLAME TO FLICKER BUT PRESENTLY DETAILS OF THE ROOM WITHIN EMERGED FROM THE MIST X CAN YOU SEE ANYTHING Q ?
- Cicada 3301: What an interesting internet mystery. Cicada 3301 is a nickname given to an organisation which has thus far posted 3 sets of puzzles to recruit codebreakers, cryptographers and possible even other professions. Their goal has been cited as “recruiting intelligent individuals” by presenting a series of puzzles for them to solve. No new puzzles have been posted since 2015. Some believe that Cicada 3301 was put up as a secret recruitment drive for NASA, CIA, FBI or other covert intelligence organisations. Some believe it was even the work of an underground anonymous group that aims to foster those with the right skills. This mystery is most interesting because it is a prime example of how the internet can be used to create humanity’s own enigmas.
- Wow! Signal: For those of you who are active on the WSC facebook group, you may have seen Daniel tease this mystery shortly before the entire curriculum was released. The Wow! Signal was a nickname given to a mysterious transmission from the cosmos, first detected in 1977 by astronomer Jerry Ehman using the Big Ear radio telescope (in Ohio University). It was a 72 second burst of radio waves that Ehman then wrote “Wow!” next to, indicating his surprise at their existence. Over the 40 years since that occurrence, the signal has never been reheard, but we may have an explanation as to what caused it. Though many are adamant that this is proof of alien life out there, the rumours have been put down once more. The first clue lay in the frequency: 1,420 MHz, the same frequency that hydrogen transmits. Coincidentally, there had been two comets with hydrogen clouds millions of kilometers in diameter accompanying them when the Wow! Signal was heard. Further coincidence was that the telescope just happened to be pointed at the space in the stars where these comets were. Ok so maybe not all that was coincidence. These two comets, 266/P Christensen and P/2008 Y2(Gibbs), were later seen again between November 2016 to February 2017. So scientists put their theory to the test and found that not only was the Wow! Signal replicated, but it could also have been generated by any other comet in that area. Thus we have proof that the Wow! Signal was probably generated by an astronomical object and not some extraterrestrial lifeform.
- Rongorongo | Toynbee tiles | Circleville letters | Linear B | quipu
- Rongorongo: Ah Easter Island, fabled land of Easter rabbits/bunnies (not really), home to huge stone heads and generally a pretty great place to visit on holiday. Yet was there once a flourishing civilisation on this rocky outcrop of land? Rongorongo appears to support that belief. Rongorongo refers to a system of glyphs (writing symbols instead of letters) that were etched onto wooden tablets using obsidian flakes or sharks teeth. Thus far, no one has been able to decipher their meaning, which frustrates many who believe that these remnants of the Easter Island people might tell stories about how their nation collapsed. The glyphs were first discovered by Eugene Eyraud, a friar of the Roman Catholic Church who landed on Easter Island as part of a missionary on January 1864.
- Toynbee Tiles: Again, slightly more modern than the other ciphers and writings on this list. The Toynbee Tiles are messages embedded in the asphalt of about 24 major cities in the United States and four South American ones. Since their discovery in the 1980s, several hundred of these tiles have been found. About the size of a license plate, the tiles generally follow this sort of message: TOYNBEE IDEA/IN MOViE ‘2001/RESURRECT DEAD/ON PLANET JUPITER. Upper and lower tabs of these tiles often contain political statements or encourage readers to create their own tiles. It is unknown who made these tiles and what their actual context is. What we do know is that the main text draws on quite a bit from literature. A “2001 Space Odyssey” focused on a man who was resurrected on his way to Jupiter, the Ray Bradbury short story “Toynbee Convector” describes a time traveler who goes back to the present to convince his contemporaries to build a future for themselves. Finally, philosopher Arnold J. Toynbee has shared beliefs that the afterlife is not automatic, it is man-made. The Toynbee Tiles are a playful mystery however and some more may pop up soon in even more cities.
- Circleville letters: This story may put some of you on the edge of your seat (or wishing you’d never told your teammates that you’d take up studying Special Area). The Circleville letters date back to 1976, when for a few weeks some anonymous writer calling himself “The Circleville Writer” sent letters to the citizens of that small town. Circleville is about 40 kilometers away from Columbus, Ohio and the town was the sort of place where everyone knew everyone else. The Circleville letters contained private pieces of information that sometimes only the recipient knew, along with crude imagery and threats of violence if the person didn’t announce their secret. While many quickly disposed of the letters, one Mary Gillespie was quickly singled out for them. Mary drove a bus as a living and was married to Ron Gillespie. Her letters concerned accusations about an affair with the superintendent of schools, along with unsettling information that her house was being watched. Later letters saw Mary and Ron threatened as a couple, with the final one indicating that Mary had better come clean or else the entire news agency would know her secret. Ron’s brother-in-law, Paul Freshour, was the prime suspect for the two of them. On August 19th, 1977 the final twist in the madman’s plot was complete. A phone call for Ron was picked up, with the husband storming out of the house with a pistol in his hand. Hours later, his car was found smashed up against a tree with his dead body inside. If the caller had been the letter-writer, then the threat had been executed. An interesting detail was in the gun, police notice it had been fired once, though where the shot landed was never found. Furthermore, a primary investigation concluded that this was the result of drunk driving, as Ron’s alcohol blood level was 1.5 times above the legal limit. His friends protested this, claiming that Ron was a teetotal who wouldn’t drink at all. Mary would continue with her lift, carrying on despite more letters coming in. Then in 1982, while on her usual routine, she noticed a sign that threatened the life of her daughter. Mary decided to end things once and for all by removing the sign, only to find that it had been booby-trapped to a hidden pistol. Police traced the serial number on the gun back to Paul Freshour, who denied ever writing the letters or placing the booby-trap (the pistol, he claimed, had been lost for a while). Regardless, the people of Circleville had had enough of these threats, so the judge sentenced Freshour to a 25 year term in prison, though he would only spend 10. Even though he was imprisoned, the Circleville letters still kept coming, one even came to Freshour himself. So the Circleville letters remain a mystery, with their writer still out there.
- Linear B: Despite such a boring name (honestly I thought this was some type of computer code), Linear B is actually full of implications and discoveries for us. Linear B refers to a Greek dialect and language known as Mycenaean, named after Mycenae where the ruler Agamemnon was based at. The usage of this language dates back to 1500 BC, where it spread from the island of Crete to the southern part of the Greek mainland. It was in the early 20th century that excavators and archaeologists at Knossos, Mycenae and Pylos found tablets bearing this script. For many decades, archaeologists and historians were baffled as to how to decipher this script. Luckily though, an amateur British student by the name of Michael Ventris finally discovered the secret to unlocking the language. It's thanks to his efforts that we are able to decipher and read the language of the Ancient greeks, crucial in telling us of their complex economic system and political agendas.
- Quipu: Ah the ancient mesoamerican civilizations, once again we turn to you to provide a mystery for our modern culture. The quipu was a method used by the Incas in order to store information or communicate it throughout the many cities of the empire. A normal quipu could often be composed of over hundreds of different-colored knots and strings. Each knot or lack of one often communicate a different thing. Inca often used quipu to record numbers or remember stories to recount to the next generation. When the emperor Atahualpa came into power, the quipu were forgotten as a form of communication, in an effort to reinvent the Incan language.
- Phaistos Disc | Singapore Stone | Rohonc Codex
- Phaistos Disc: Crete, 1908; archaeologists find a mysterious clay disk with some Greek symbols on it. They are baffled as to what these symbols might mean, or what the 4,000 year old clay disk was used for. The disk dates back to 1700 BC, at the height of the Minoan civilization that called the island home. Interestingly, deciphering this disk required combining the scripts from Linear A and the recently uncovered Linear B. Recently, scientists believe that this disk contained some sort of prayer to the Minoan gods. So that’s one linguistic mystery solved.
- Singapore Stone: At the mouth of the Singapore river lies a myth, shrouded in local folklore and intertwined with the empires of Majapahit. At least, that’s what scientists and historians believe the Singapore stone symbolizes. This sandstone slab is now located in the National Museum of Singapore, where you can view the writings and inscriptions on it. Historians believe that this stone dates back to the 13th century, possibly even older. Thus far, the inscription is undecipherable, but many believe that it is in Old Javanese or even Sanskrit. Perhaps this stone is proof of an extension of the Majapahit Kingdom that may have conquered the area. It certainly comes into alignment with the folklore from the area. The 14th century strongman Badang is said to have tossed a massive stone to the mouth of the Singapore River. On his death the Rajah sent two stone pillars to be placed over his grace “at the point of the straits of Singapore”.
- Rohonc Codex: For the final language related mystery, we must travel to the continent of Europe (a welcome change from the South Americas or Asia). The Rohonc Codex is an illustrated manuscript (not unlike the Voynich manuscript) by an unknown author in an unknown language. It came to be discovered in Hungary during the early 19th century, with investigations being performed until today. Many believe that the illustrations and writing were some sort of combination of the native languages around during the time. Yet many linguists and historians are in doubt as to whether this should be taken seriously or simply dismissed as an elaborate hoax. Whatever the case, it seems pitiful that the Rohonc Codex is not given as much of a limelight as the Voynich Manuscript.
- Humans
- function of the appendix | need for sleep | evolutionary Missing Link
- Function of the appendix: Ah the appendix, it appears we’ve begun our journey through the unsolved mysteries within our own lives. The appendix is an organ of the body that generally sits between the small intestine and large intestine, being a thin tube about 10 centimeters long. The actual function of the appendix is unknown, doctors have yet to decide whether this organ is actually used for anything. One theory is that the appendix acts as a storehouse for “good bacteria”, that is the microorganisms that will repopulate the digestive system after a diarrheal illness. Other theories state that the appendix was a byproduct of evolution, being a useless feature of the body (like our tailbone) that our primate ancestors once used as part of their digestive system (Darwin called it a cecum in his theories).
- Need for Sleep: You might think this is a laughable mystery with an answer even you could come up with (go ahead, be my guest). Yet in reality, scientists and researchers have no idea why we need to sleep. Sure eating allows us to gain energy and grow, reproducing allows us to populate more cities, but sleep is just one of those things our body tends to do on its own. One thing is for sure, sleep is important (yes, I’m looking at you fellow scholar if its 11:00 or later). Tests on animals and even ourselves have shown that sleep deprivation can easily lead to unwanted side effects (lack of concentration, inability to perform simple tasks, even death). But whenever we do sleep, the brain is still at work. There are several theories as to why we sleep. One is that the brain needs sleep as a time to restore its energy, another is that the brain uses it to clear out waste energy produced during the day. The most promising theory however, is one that links back to our science theme for the 2018 season. Yes that’s right, the brain might be undergoing plasticity changes and synapse alteration. Plasticity is involved in how people store memories and learn new skills, those without much sleep tend to forget things easily or have trouble paying attention. Its believed that the brain reinforces the connections between synapses and refreshes its memory banks.
- Evolutionary Missing Link: Firstly, DO NOT use this term whenever you are writing an answer to a science test or answering a biologist. They will probably regard you in a lower light once you’ve used it. The “Missing Link” is often used in popular culture to refer to any sort of transitional fossil or signs that might link our evolutionary chain. Scientists hate this term because it supports the theory of the Great Chain of Being instead of traditional evolutionary theories. The “missing link” assumes that evolution occurs in a linear pattern, with only 1 “type” of the species existing at any one point in history. This is incorrect, evolution is a branching process that sees many different variations of the same species over a period of time (hence why we humans once hung out with Neanderthals, before they all mysteriously disappeared). So the evolutionary missing link refers to some sort of creature that bridges the gap between ape and human; though several have claimed to be the discoverers of such “transitional fossils”, none are the absolute missing link.
- right-handedness | fingerprints | laughter | yawning | dreaming
- Right-handedness: Genetics, something we can thank or blame (depending on what traits you wish you had or are grateful you do have) for who we are. Yet when it comes to which hand you’d rather write with or hold things with, science is baffled as to how that’s decided. If genetics is still a theory, then why do 70 to 95% of people worldwide prefer using their right hand over their left? Many believe that this dates back to the middle ages, where those who were left handed (probably due to some genetic mutation in the first place) were often looked down upon in society. Ever since then, people with left-handedness preferred to train themselves in using their right hand (to avoid social shame and whatnot, understandable), causing their descendants to inherit the same trait. There are of course, many more scientific theories as to why we prefer the right over the left, but I’ll let you sink your teeth into them.
- Fingerprints: On the surface of each finger and toe you possess something that truly makes you unique. Forget your intelligence, personality or even appearance. Your fingerprint is the one thing that no other person on this planet has. Literally, scientists have calculated that there is a 1 in 64 billion chance that someone has the exact same fingerprint as you. Even identical twins, who share a vast majority of identical DNA, do not have identical fingerprints. So how do we get these unique features? Well we need to once again turn to our old friend genetics. Genetics are often the deciding factor in which of the three features of fingerprints you’ll possess (loops, whorls or arches).
- Laughter: Ah that insatiable desire to let out a chuckle, prolonged hehehe or a loud hahaha. Laughter has been with humans since the dawn of our species, even our primate ancestors possess the ability to express joy through laughs. Yet why do we laugh and what does it do to the body? Laughter in some stages even involves the muscles of the body and our breathing patterns. Our face often scrunches up, with our muscles practically incapable of any movement during prolonged periods. Laugh for long enough and your lungs will no longer be able to intake enough air to keep you conscious (yes, fainting from laughter is a thing). As for what triggers laughter and what it does to the brain, researchers have yet to discover exactly what benefits it does to our mind. What we do know is that laughter relieves stress and sends out positive hormones throughout the body.
- Yawning: Yet another seemingly normal function of the human body that science embarrassingly lacks an explanation for (isn’t it somewhat funny that we have unlocked the secrets of atoms yet can’t even explain why our mouths open to intake air for long periods?). Again, we aren’t exactly sure why yawning occurs, or how the brain functions whenever we do intake air. Common theories include fatigue and boredom. If you’re yawning, it's a 50/50 chance you’re either in need of sleep or need to do something slightly more captivating. Another theory is that we yawn in response to others, as a sort of social communication (weird way to evolve, but sure). Interestingly, you yawn more in response to those whom you care more about.
- Dreaming: This admittedly is expected. Whenever our brain drifts off to sleep (which in of itself is a mystery), our mind can often present visions or events in a fantastical or scarily realistic way. Our dreams are often believed to reveal our subconscious to our eyes, uncovering our greatest fears and deepest desires. Sometimes, our brain even presents old memories to us, allowing us to revisit and even alter them in ways we never could were we awake. It is in dreams that we can find ideas, omens or signs of what to do in life. Scientists believe that dreaming is a byproduct of the brain processes when we’re sleeping. Apparently our brain uses this time to consolidate memories and regulate emotions, with the dreams being reflections of both.
- interstitium | blood types | altruism
- Interstitium: Sorry Biology students, but your anatomy lessons may now be slightly outdated (better go update those notes!). Scientists believe that a network of fluid-filled tissue lining the entire body is actually a new organ in of itself. Known as the interstitium (after the term “interstices”, referring to the space between structures of the body), it is believed to contain up to a fifth of the entire body’s fluids. The fluid itself is thought to be lymph, a colorless liquid composed mainly of white blood cells and produced by lymph nodes. Scientists believe that further study of this organ is in order, perhaps it will give us more answers about certain disorders (such as cancer) and shed a light on more bodily functions (including interestingly, why our skin wrinkles as we age).
- Blood types: The very substance that fuels our bodies and gives us life is actually an accident of evolution. More specifically, why humans have different blood types (A, B, O, AB as well as positive or negative) is due to the evolutionary branches of our species. One such cause is disease, different blood types have been observed to be more resistant towards diseases. For example, Africans tend to have O blood types, which are more effective than A blood types at shielding the body from malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases. This is the most popular theory, that our environmental diseases altered our blood types and allowed us to pass them down generation by generation. While research has yet to confirm that this is in fact true (after all, there are European with O blood types and Africans with A blood types), it appears to be the most logically supported one.
- Altruism: Whenever you’ve helped out a friend on schoolwork, did some chores for your parents or visited a relative in hospital, that’s your body being altruistic. Altruism is the concept of acting out of concern for others, where you let go of personal concerns and do what is necessary to assist those around you. Altruism is rather mysterious, we don’t know if our brains are coded with it from the get go or if we slowly develop it over time. While our ancestors likely used it to help others escape danger (and I mean our ape ancestors), it isn’t always evident in some people (admittedly, I have trouble being altruistic).
- function of the appendix | need for sleep | evolutionary Missing Link
- Non-humans
- vanishing honeybees | white-nose syndrome | immortal jellyfish
- Vanishing honeybees: Ah bees, somehow you manage to just flip the bird (apologies) when it comes to scientific and medicinal law. Take their ability to fly for example, too big and wings too small (bee movie reference), yet still they can become airborne like its normal. Now, bees appear to be defying the laws of biology. Recently, from about 2005 to even now, honeybees across America have been vanishing from their hives in the hundreds. The official term is Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), wherein the majority of worker bees leave the hive and never return. The only remnants are a few nurse bees along with the queen bee (who often dies without any food from her workers to nourish herself). Scientists have had many theories, including pesticides, disease or noise. Their theories range from the bees being weakened and then unable to find food, or simply getting lost and never making it back home. Another theory that blames us humans (sorry bees) is air pollution, in which the noxious fumes from our cars cancels out the sweet scent of flowers that bees rely on in order to pollinate them.
- White-nose syndrome: Moving from bees, we explore yet another airborne animal (though this time its flight capability is justified by physics). Bats. Unfortunately this syndrome is slightly more worrying than CCD and may even wipe out some bat species if no cure is found. White-nose syndrome refers to a condition in which a bat exhibits distinctive fungus growth on its nose and wings during hibernation. First identified in 2006, it is estimated to have been found in at least 33 US states and 7 Canadian provinces as of early 2018. The disease is caused by the bats contracting Pseudogymnoascus destructans, a fungus that attacks the skin of these creatures when they’re hibernating. It causes bats to be far more active than normal, burning up crucial fat stores that can’t be replenished during the long winter months. To date, millions of bats have died, with some species seeing more than 90% reduction rates. Scientists are scrambling to find a cure, but thus far none has been successfully tested.
- Immortal jellyfish: Great news scholar! Scientists have just found the secret to immortality. Bad news, you’ll have to become a floating blob less than 5mm wide and spend the rest of eternity in an endless cycle of maturity and teenage puberty. That’s right, meet the immortal Turritopsis dohrnii, a jellyfish which has so far been the only recorded animal to be “immortal”. Now keep in mind, this should actually be called the “regeneration jellyfish” to be more accurate, but immortal just has that prowess to it. Anyways, the jellyfish accomplishes this task by constantly going through a cycle of maturity and immaturity. After mating, these jellyfish revert back to a polyp and then undergo their entire life cycle again. That doesn’t mean they will live forever though, a predator can easily devour such a creature or disease can wreak havoc on it. Interestingly, there is no one area of the world where these creatures exist, instead they’ve been spreading worldwide by hitching rides on the ballast tanks of ships.
- tardigrade indestructibility | animal intelligence | cryptids | baobab death
- Tardigrade indestructibility: Perhaps even more remarkable than the immortal jellyfish is the humble tardigrade, an animal which measures 0.5mm long when fully grown. Tardigrades are water-dwelling, but have been found in the most extreme biomes of our planet (the frozen wastes of Antarctica, scorching African deserts and even radioactive fallouts). The secret to the tardigrade is actually something of a mystery. While its ability to last without water for decades is also found in bacteria and single-celled organisms, its ability to survive in space and radiation are beyond our current knowledge.
- Animal Intelligence: We don’t actually know how smart other animals are. Certainly we’d like to believe that humans are the most intelligent of them all, but there are other animals that have shown intelligence. Parrots, crows and other birds have shown the ability to memorize information and display their thoughts. Chimpanzees, orangutans and other primates have been recorded using basic stone tools and learning sign language. Dolphins, whales and other water-dwelling mammals can communicate complex messages as well as navigate through a featureless ocean. Even our canine companions or feline fellows can perform feats given enough training.
- Cryptids: What do Bigfoot, the Yeti or the Loch Ness monster have in common? Science calls them all cryptids, after the Greek word for “hide”. Cryptozoology is actually a field of science (unofficial mind you, and frowned down upon by the other fields) that deals with trying to find and study creatures such as cryptids. Popular culture defines them as creatures from folklore whose existence is questionable. Every civilization had them, from America’s bigfoot to the Himalayan Yeti to the Scottish Loch Ness monster. We don’t even know if they actually exist or are simply myths from a bygone era.
- Baobab death: If there’s any organism whose demise we should pay respects to, it's the mighty Baobab tree. Found in low-lying plains of the African continent and in the remote Australian outback, the Baobab tree is one of nature’s largest stationary organisms. Some can grow to as wide as a bus is long and they’ve been around for as long as 3,000 years. Yet since last year, many of them have been mysteriously dying after living such a long life. Nine of the thirteen oldest trees in Africa have been reported as dead, with their roots no longer able to intake nutrients to sustain them. Exactly why remains a mystery to researches, since baobabs have shown themselves as extremely resilient lifeforms. Burning, bark stripping and root ripping has little effect on them; they can simply regrow like they’ve been doing it casually for the past centuries (they probably have considering their age). Thus far, research has pointed fingers at climate change (the usual suspect whenever a species suddenly dies) and its alterations to the South African climate.
- zebra stripes | Monarch migration | giant squid
- Zebra Stripes: Even more mysterious than whether zebras are white with black stripes or black with white stripes (they’re black with white stripes by the way, go look it up); is why they have stripes to begin with. Why don’t we see horses or mules with stripes going down their bodies? Why did evolution decide to give this nice little feature to the African horse? Scientists are still divided on this. Three main theories exist as to what purpose they actually serve. The first is that these stripes form a camouflage screen over zebras that hides them from predators (yeah black on white in the green African savannah is totally camouflage). Another school of thought states that these stripes help prevent diseases carried by flies and other insects, most notoriously the tsetse fly (again, how does contrast provide some sort of protection?). Yet the theory that is most supported is that these stripes help regulate the temperature of zebras while they forage the African landscape for places to feed. Zebras actually need to spend more time out in the heat, since their digestive systems are nowhere near as efficient as other grazers in the African wildlife. This theory has yet to be fully confirmed, since many doubt that contrasting stripes provide a cooling mechanism.
- Monarch migration: Ah the Monarch butterfly, the most stereotypical design for any butterfly that every kid draws when asked to color in the wings. The Monarch butterfly is unique among other species in that it has been observed to migrate en masse to overwintering sites in Western California and even Mexico. Interestingly, not all monarchs migrate, just a select subspecies that live throughout the North American continent. Why then, do these beautiful creatures take such large migration efforts that are described as a "phenomena of nature"?
- Giant squid: Almost as feared as the Flying Dutchman is the legend of the giant squid. For centuries, sailors have spread and heard tale of a monster that lurks beneath the deep abyss of the ocean. From time to time, these creatures have been found dead, washed up on shores and displayed by the fishermen who found them. This is the giant squid, a mercreature of great legend and modern day intrigue. How do these creatures operate? What are their behavior patterns? Do sperm whales truly battle it out with them miles under the surface? Scientists are still trying to find out more about them. You’d think any creature that can grow to be 10-13 (possibly even more) meters long would be easy to locate, but since they live in specific areas and at depths where no sunlight can be found, they’ve been eluding our surveillance efforts for a while. In 2012 however, a Discovery Channel team finally caught such a creature on camera. They made a documentary about it, despite knowing so little to say. As technology allows us to reach deeper depths and pierce through the darkest of areas, we may find out more about this creature and why it tends to be more mysterious about itself.
- vanishing honeybees | white-nose syndrome | immortal jellyfish
- Consider the case of this supposedly alien skeleton and the process by which its actual origin was determined. Are there times when people would rather that science leave certain questions unanswered?
- The case of “this supposedly alien skeleton” is a rather interesting one that challenges science’s ability to test for extraterrestrial life. Before we answer that question however, it seems fitting that we give you the rundown of the skeleton itself. Discovered near a church in an abandoned village in the Chilean Atacama Desert, the skeleton (nicknamed “Ata” for the desert she was found in) was once believed to have been proof that aliens did land on Earth. Her body was clearly very different to that of us humans, whereas we have 12 ribs she had 10. Her head narrows to a ridged peak instead of forming a circular shape and she only stood 6 inches (15.24cm) tall. Using genetic databases and other advanced scientific methods, researchers from Stanford University concluded that this skeleton was indeed human (sorry alien-hunters, better luck next time). In fact, Ata was simply unusual in the fact that 64 skeletal mutations in her genes were present, more concentrated than scientists have ever seen. It is likely due to these mutations that she didn’t survive long, supposedly her mother left her with a priest for safeguarding (in the hopes that she could be “cleansed” of these imperfections). There have certainly been times where people wished that scientists never stuck their noses into the businesses of others. Indeed when the moon was first photographed in the 1900s, many were disheartened by the fact that it was nothing more than a barren rock. For centuries humanity had imagined the sorts of things they might find on that world, perhaps even another intelligent species (or the more unusual cheese moon theory), yet in the space of a day science dispelled all that wonder and imagination. Then again, science is not some compassionate field that bends to the will of humans. No matter how loud the protest is, science must always march forwards in the name of human advancement and discovery.
- Where did the Neanderthals go? Scientists have proposed several theories to explain the disappearance of the Neanderthal branch of the human family tree. Discuss with your team: how would you feel if you discovered you were part-Neanderthal? If the Neanderthals had survived, do you think “modern” humans could have coexisted peacefully with them?
- The article linked is rather old and points to some of the common theories used by scientists to explain why we don’t see our Neanderthal cousins roaming the lands anymore. Simply put, the Neanderthals were once hunter-gatherer tribes whose genes were very similar to ours. In fact they were believed to have been a subspecies of human evolution (sort of a “what went wrong” with nature type experiment). They were much more primitive than the direct descendants of modern humans and many believe that this may have been the main cause for their extinction. Perhaps we had more technological advances in terms of agriculture and hunting methods, perhaps our social groups were larger and thus allowed our birth rates and mortality to increase. Whatever the case, the Neanderthals were slowly either wiped out by climate or lack of food. Some who chose to adopt human methods were soon assimilated into our gene pool.
- If I had discovered I were part-Neanderthal, that would explain many things about me (not least my aggressive behavior) and I would demand an explanation as to what happened to my great-ancestors. If the Neanderthals had survived along with us, it is likely that they too would’ve evolved into something even more similar to us. Modern humans would likely have been able to coexist with them, since they would have essentially been our estranged relatives from evolutionary differences.
- Consider the long-awaited discovery of the San Jose. Discuss with your team: who has the right to lost treasure when it is finally found? Does solving a mystery give you ownership over the results?
- What is it about maritime mysteries that gives them a certain... flair over other disappearances? Take this ship for example, every treasure-hunters dream to find and salvage. The San Jose was a Spanish treasure galleon, huge ships that plied the Spanish trade routes, carrying goods from all corners of the world back to Europe. The San Jose was particularly prized for its reputation and for the cargo it annually transported. Every year, laden with precious gems and gold from the mines of South America, the San Jose would sail as the flagship of a treasure fleet bound for the home waters of Spain. It was so precious in fact, that the Spanish Navy dedicated an entire squadron of escort warships just to protect the ship on its way home. But in June of 1708, the War of the Spanish Succession tied up the escort vessels meant to guard the prized San Jose back home. Regardless of this, fleet commander admiral Jose Santos de Santillan decided to sail with just 3 escort vessels. Off the coast of Colombia, the fleet encountered a squadron of the British Navy. Even the 62 cannons of the San Jose were not enough to fend off the attack. The doomed merchant vessel sank to the bottom of the ocean with her treasure still in the hold. Now, more than 3 centuries after the sinking, the Colombian Navy along with a team of marine archaeologists have announced that the wreck of the San Jose, along with its treasure, has finally been found. Yet what to do with the ship still remains disputed. Colombia is adamant that they have earned the rights to salvage the vessel and create a museum for it. Spain, which technically owned the ship, believes that it should be returned to its rightful home. As of now, a foreign firm from Switzerland: Maritime Archaeology Consultants, appears to have earned the rights to salvage the prized ship for the Colombian state.
- Lengthy maritime enthusiast explanation aside, mysteries often have a bit of a complication when treasure is involved. Usually, the right goes to those who discovered it, especially if the mystery was a purposefully created treasure hunt for adventure seekers. However, in cases such as the San Jose, whose owners are still around; it often comes down to splitting up the treasure or making compromises.
- Are lost pets a mystery? How about lost socks?
- Lost pets are not a mystery, they are merely following their animals instincts somewhere. Perhaps one day they will return, but other humans will likely encounter them before you ever do. Lost socks are usually perplexing, but a detailed look through the dryer or washer might reveal a loose strand that remains of the sock. Either that or, for some incomprehensible reason, the sock was lost between when you took it off and when you put it for washing.
- Is there an ancient city lost beneath the waters of Fuxian Lake in the Yunnan province of China? Researchers (and sources) disagree. Discuss with your team: how could we best confirm whether such a city exists and, if so, its historical origins? Does anyone have a stake in the outcome? Are there other lost cities of interest around the world?
- Perhaps there is an ancient city lost beneath the Fuxian lake. In 2001 divers noticed interesting rock formations not native to the lake in weird structures. Later carbon dating tests prove that these rocks date back to at least 1,750 BC (perhaps even earlier). Might this be a lost city of an ancient Chinese Dynasty? If so, what is it doing at the bottom of a lake? Interestingly (or rather, unfortunately), scientists and archaeologists have yet to find any real interest in this mystery, a shame perhaps. The most logical way to discern the existence of such a city would be to carry out more dives (ideally with a camera) and perhaps attempt to salvage any pieces for lab testing. It's likely that China will have a stake in the outcome, seeing as the city was likely built at the behest of one of its many warlords or emperors.
- Around the world there are plenty of lost cities. Structures that were once a great hub of humanity, now long-forgotten or abandoned ruins due to some mysterious reason. Tikal in Guatemala is one such example, a jewel in the crown of Mayan city states. Angkor-Wat, once believed to have been a large temple, may have been the religious seat of an ancient Cambodian civilization. Mohenjo-Daro in Pakistan, believed to be a relic of the Sumerians or other Indus Valley civilizations. Wherever great civilizations once put down roots, there are sure to be cities or other settlements that have (mostly) stood the test of time.
- Did scientists really just discover a new human organ? What mysteries do some people believe this new organ could explain? Discuss with your team: what aspects about humans are the most mysterious to you?
- Sorry Biology students, but your anatomy lessons may now be slightly outdated (better go update those notes!). Scientists believe that a network of fluid-filled tissue lining the entire body is actually a new organ in of itself. Known as the interstitium (after the term “interstices”, referring to the space between structures of the body), it is believed to contain up to a fifth of the entire body’s fluids. The fluid itself is thought to be lymph, a colorless liquid composed mainly of white blood cells and produced by lymph nodes. Scientists believe that further study of this organ is in order, perhaps it will give us more answers about certain disorders (such as cancer) and shed a light on more bodily functions (including interestingly, why our skin wrinkles as we age).
- Human behavior is the most mysterious to me. Why girls and boys act the way they do is most curious and I have made an effort to study that. It is my firm belief that knowing how a certain person is likely to act and react will allow you to forge closer bonds with them. To say nothing of the “modern trends” my generation appears to love and personify (i.e the necessity to use “hip” words where simple ones do not suffice).
- Discuss with your team: does this explanation of how the ancient pyramids were built make sense to you, and why does it matter that we know how they came to be? What are some other theories that people have posited to explain their construction, and do any of them have past or present socio cultural implications? Are there viable alternatives to scientific research for solving mysteries from so long ago? Be sure to investigate other architectural mysteries; are some more mysterious than others?
- The pyramids of Ancient Egypt are a wonder of the ancient world (quite literally, the great pyramids are the only wonders of the ancient world still standing). Their constructions remains shrouded in mystery (though by this time we can clearly rule out alien intervention as a construction method). The article in question discusses an interesting process, wherein constructions teams wetted the sand in front a large sled designed to transport the huge limestone blocks to the construction site. Researchers have discovered that wetting sand to an optimum level (about 2 -5 percent) allows the stiffness of the material to increase. It still can’t be proven whether the Egyptians knew of this, all we know is that their hieroglyphs considered pouring water in front of a block destined for the pyramids was a ceremonial practice. It matters that we know how the ancients built their pyramids so that we can dispel any doubts about this archaeological wonder.
- Nothing really beats scientific research when it comes to solving long ago mysteries. Sure the mathematics might have some dabbling in the field of construction, but speculation and theorization won’t get us very far. Luckily for the pyramids, they still exist, so practical field work can be done to discover as much about them as we can. Once that’s done, the artifacts are likely analyzed by historians, whose dusty books and manuscripts hold the secrets to deciphering the mysteries of the ancients.
- As for the other architectural mysteries, all 10 of them stand out to be very interesting indeed. I implore you to take the time to read about them yourselves, for some are very unknown to us (both in terms of how much we know about them and how popular they are to discuss)
- In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, it turns out that the smartest creatures on Earth were not humans, but mice. While there is no evidence for this particular theory, there is evidence that animals such as dolphins and octopi might be exceptionally intelligent. Is there a way to decipher exactly how intelligent they are—and would confirming their intelligence make a difference in how we treat them?
- Firstly, we have been trying to decipher how intelligent animals are for centuries. Observing apes use stone tools in the African jungles, to decoding the sonic communications sent by dolphins while they swim, humans have been fascinated with the thought that some animals are superior to others in their brain power. The best way to decipher exactly how intelligent they are is to give them increasingly difficult tasks that we humans perform on an everyday basis (though those tasks can be appropriated to their own lifestyles). Confirming their intelligence would make a pretty big difference for how we treat them, since we humans appear to believe that greater intelligence is a sign of value (logical, but flawed in our emotional world). It seems likely that we’d try harder to protect certain species whose intelligence is higher than others.
- What conclusions might people have drawn (or jumped to) if this had happened in 1976? What if it had happened in 2016? Discuss with your team: to what extent are mysteries a product of their time? Are there mysteries today that may seem quaint or nonsensical in the future?
- Firstly, let’s dissect (pun unintended) the event in question. On the 3rd of March 1876, large chunks of flesh fell over Olympia Springs in Bath County, Kansas. Initially, it was believed that this meat was the result of cyanobacteria colonies called nostoc falling due to rain. Yet with the skies clear, the only explanation left (and the one that is accepted) is that this was the result of multiple vultures vomiting projectiles of leftovers at the same time in the same area (there were a large amount of these creatures above the house where the meat came down on, according to eyewitnesses). Vultures often perform this disgusting action either as a defense mechanism or to lighten themselves for longer flights.
- Had this event occurred in 1976, its likely people might have believed it to be the work of aliens or foreign intelligence agencies. With the Cold War still in full swing and the Space Race having been finished, they might have assumed these chunks of meat were aliens attempting to communicate with them. Had this happened in 2016, science would’ve probably found the solution far quicker and few assumptions could’ve been made.
- The extent to which mysteries are a product of their time is pretty low. Mysteries have defied time about as well as girls have avoided me (self-deprecating humour for the win). Many mysteries still being discussed now are decades if not centuries old. What makes them a mystery isn’t so much what happened during their time (surely the builders of Stonehenge knew it’s purpose). Rather the lack of any proper documentation or false facts raises questions about the true theories behind mysteries. Perhaps in 100 years from now, science will advance to the point where we can solve many mysteries in a single year (or you know, invent a time travel device to just go witness the events).
- In 2002, the Secretary of Defense of the United States discussed the existence of "known unknowns" and "unknown unknowns". What did he mean by these two phrases? Could there also be, as philosopher Slavoj Žižek has suggested, unknown knowns?
- As explained in the section specifically for these terms, known unknowns are essentially things we know can occur but are not certain will occur. These are essentially risks, we know they can occur but are not quite sure of the consequences when they do. For example, when one books a flight, we are aware of the risk that the flight may have... difficulties; but are not quite certain of the consequences of such difficulties. Philosopher Slavoj Zizek has suggested unknowns knowns, essentially where the impact is unknown but the existence is. Usually this term can be used to describe untapped knowledge, more commonly mathematical formula. We know that they exist, but the actual impact they could have on the world is unknown. Similarly, within the context of unsolved mysteries, we know that a solution exists to them, but we don’t know what consequences this solution could have on society.
- Evaluate this suggested explanation for the mystery of the Flying Dutchman. Then, consider with your team: are there other mysteries that could be attributed to "fata morgana" or other tricks of light? To what degree should we distrust what we see with our own eyes?
- First, in order to satisfy maritime explanations, let’s settle some history behind the “Flying Dutchman”. In the late 1700s, the age of trade and empires sees European powers sending fleets of warships to escort cargo vessels with precious goods. Around the Cape of Good Hope, a treacherous ocean voyage sends many vessels to Davy Jones's Locker. Around the late 1700s, locals living on the Cape began writing accounts of “ghost ships” appearing in stormy weather. Sailors would soon attribute the sighting of this ship as an omen for doom and disaster. As for what the Dutchman actually is, I’ll indulge the more interesting historical theories before the boring scientific one (gee mysteries really do get deflated by science don’t they?)
- Captain Hendrick van der Decken, AKA “The Dutchman” (hence the name of the ghost ship) was a renowned Dutch merchant who made his business plying the trade routes between Europe and Asia. Yet on his final voyage from the East Indies (modern-day Indonesia) back home in 1641, a storm battered the Cape of Good Hope. While the crew begged their captain to turn around and wait until the storm calmed, Van Der Decken ordered them to sail further into the gale. Some believe he was drunk, others believe he was insane; either way the storm sunk his ship and all hands on board were lost. Written literature in 1790 and 1795 tell of a ghost ship that appears in stormy weather, but the connection wasn’t made until Richard Wagner’s famous 1843 opera: “The Flying Dutchman”. In it, the common sailor’s myth is given a poetic spin. Eternally damned for sailing further into the storm, the ship and its crew now roam the oceans for eternity, never able to make port and rest their souls.
- Another historical story points to Captain Bernard Fokke (or Falkenberg) who sailed for the Dutch East India Trading Company. He was able to make a voyage from Amsterdam to Indonesia in 3 months (compared to the usual 9-10 months). This led sailors to speculate that he’d been able to do so after trading his soul for such speed while playing a game of dice with the devil. Samuel Taylor Coleridge would use this story as imagery for his 1798 poem Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
- Sightings of the Dutchman have occurred throughout history. Sailors report seeing a ghost ship floating on the horizon, yet when they reach the location of the sighting, nothing is there. Science believes that this is fata morgana at work again, showing ships that are beyond the horizon due to light bending around the curvature of the Earth. There are several other mysteries that might have been attributed to fata morgana, mostly ghost ships or mysterious sightings on the horizon.
- Our eyes are easily fooled, if an optical illusion can confuse our brain enough, I see no reason why a few blinking lights in the sky can’t deceive us into thinking some extraterrestrial craft is there.
- Where did the ten “lost tribes of Israel” end up? One theory is that their descendants now live in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Discuss with your team: why would governments have an interest in finding evidence to support (or disprove) such a theory? Why might it matter where the descendants of long-ago people live today?
- The 12 tribes of Israel were believed to have all descended from the 12 sons of Jacob. It was these tribes that formed a confederation in modern day Israel, about the time of the Bronze Age. Yet 2,370 years ago, the neighboring Assyrians invaded the Kingdom of Israel, with their king Shalmaneser V exiling 10 of the 12 tribes to parts unknown (supposedly beyond the mythical Sambation river). The Benjamin and Judah tribes, who remained in the kingdom, became the modern-day Jewish people. Over the centuries, what remained of the 10 tribes became a mystery. Some claimed to have met traces of them in as far as Nigeria, China, Burma, Central Asia, Ethiopia and even the West. Yet in 2010, the Israeli government decided to end the question once and for all. It funded a genetic study to determine the most likely answer: that the Pashtuns and Afghans carry DNA which links them back to the 10 tribes of Israel. Ironically, the Pashtuns (which have the most claim to be the descendants of these tribes), would also have been the most hostile towards their religious beliefs.
- Governments are interested in funding efforts to prove/disprove this theory because it is a source of national pride and cultural heritage. To finally trace the paths of the 10 tribes would be a triumph for the people of Israel. It matters that we find where our ancestors and descendants came from because of the historical significance. Perhaps this discovery might raise more questions than it answers. Particularly: why did the Pashtuns harbor the Israelites despite them being extremely against the beliefs they held?
- Some mysteries are political: why did the United Kingdom vote for Brexit? What’s the matter with Kansas? Are political mysteries actual mysteries, or just unlikely outcomes that happen at about the expected rate?
- I’m not even going to bother with this one. Sorry scholars, but the political machinations of the US is something I’d rather not try and explain. I invite you to read the paper and do your own research about it. As for the questions however, I will gladly try my hand at answering them. Political mysteries are not mysteries at all, they are just unexpected occurrences that we can explain by investigating a certain factor or aspect (be it natural or manmade). The thing about politics is that we try and predict their outcomes, yet in doing so we set up expectations that leave us confused when the opposite happens.
- Did Shakespeare write Shakespeare’s plays—or did someone else write some or all of them? Explore other instances in which the authorship of works has come into question. Should the identity of the writer affect how we appreciate his or her writing?
- Ah Shakespeare, a genius of literature and a playwright whose name will be honored for many centuries from now. Or will it? Thing is, we don’t actually know if Shakespeare wrote his plays or simply signed them off. Since very little is actually known about the personal life of the English playwright, we don’t know whether all his plays (or indeed a vast majority of them) were his ideas. Some believe that Shakespeare simply signed his name on plays that he stole and tweaked from other playwrights and writers (most notably Christopher Marlowe or Francis Bacon). Whatever the case, that still shouldn’t affect how we appreciate his or her writing. We read hundreds of thousands of books every year penned by ordinary people with ordinary lives, yet we appreciate their writing much the same (or at least not much less) than we do books written by huge names (i.e J.K Rowling, Rick Riordan etc.)
- Consider these “six strange facts” about an astronomical object named ‘Oumuamua. Do you agree with the author that these strange facts could launch a whole new age in space science? Discuss with your team: how would the world react if it were proven ‘Muamua was a probe from a distant alien civilization?
- (I shall let you read the article as it does a much better job of explaining it than I can) The author is indeed correct in that this interesting discovery of an astronomical object that defies many of the predictions and conventions astrologists once believed existed beyond our skies. Though initially we can dismiss these as “one-offs” the constructions of ever more powerful telescopes both on Earth and in orbit mean that humanity will eventually be able to see billions of light years into the cosmos.
- The world would likely have mixed reactions if this astronomical body were revealed to be a probe from a distant alien civilization (I personally would find it extremely cool and fascinating). The scientific body along with most of the “alien-hunters” would observe it more closely and attempt to somehow send a probe ourselves to interact with it. The governments would probably (as is their duty), concern themselves with how close it is to Earth and what threat it poses to the planet. Instead of asking the boffins at NASA to study and make contact with this body, Trump would probably deploy his “Space Force” to intercept and destroy it.
- Some have suggested it was an atomic weapon from outer space, or even a collision of matter and antimatter; no one knows for sure what caused a giant explosion in Siberia in 1908. Discuss with your team: was this “Tunguska Event” a cautionary tale from which we should learn a lesson, or was it an ultimately inexplicable one-off that we should let recede into history?
- Perhaps one of the lesser-known unsolved mysteries of the 20th century (and for good reason), the Tunguska event continues to perplex and puzzle all manner of academia 111 years after it occurred. But before we get onto answering the questions, it is always good to get a bit of backstory.
- June 30th, 1908. Siberia. A massive explosion rips through the air near the Podkamennaya Tunguska river. The fireball from the explosion may have been anywhere from 50-100m wide, 2,000 square kilometers of forest was obliterated, almost 80 million trees flattened. Civilization felt the tremors of this almost cataclysmic event. In the nearest town 65 km away the effects were felt clearly; windows smashed, residents felt the heat and some were even thrown to the ground. Luckily, only one casualty is believed to have been involved, a lone deer herder who died after the blast hurled him into a tree. Hundreds of reindeer were unfortunately, also reduced to carcass in the aftermath. Something huge had collided with the Earth and eyewitnesses claim that “the sky was split in two” and that “high above the forest the whole northern part of the sky appeared covered in fire”. This event was the most powerful of its kind in history, more than 185 more powerful than the force generated by the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Unfortunately, due to Russian politics at the time (instability from worker’s riots and the First World War around the corner), no research teams were able to reach the area until 1927, almost 20 years after the event. What they concluded is now the most accepted theory, a huge meteor entered the atmosphere, the kinetic energy from its disintegration being converted into sound and heat. This would explain the “banging sound” that locals hears, and the fireball that decimated the ecosystem there. Yet so far little actual evidence has been found of meteoric metals, so the Tunguska event remains a scientific cold case.
- While the concern over the Tunguska event is justified scientifically, practically there is little we can do to concern ourselves with this. The odds of such a huge meteor (or other cosmic object) colliding with the Earth is extremely low, and there is little we can do now to actually prevent that (no, a city-shield made of vibranium is not going to be reality until at least 2100). However, there are some lessons that mystery-hunters can learn from this. The need for government funding and travel equipment back then hampered early investigation efforts, yet now private sectors and individual fundraising should be adequate. Once a mystery occurs, get to the site and get there quickly. Mother Nature does not care if an outsider collides with the Earth, she and time will claim the mysterious substance for their own.