#25. The Lost Roanoke Colony
The origin of this mystery can be traced back to 1587 when a group of English men arrived at Roanoke Island, the coast of what is now North Carolina, and tried to establish the first British colony in the United States. Since the native population fought back and the tension between the two groups began to increase, John White, their governor, went back to England to bring back reinforcements. What do you think happened when he finally returned to visit his new colony?
Yes, you’re right! When he returned to Roanoke, some years later, where he had left his wife and his daughter with the rest of the settlers, he found no trace of them or the other inhabitants. There were no signs of struggle or violence either. The only clue he found was the word “Croatan” — which was the name of another nearby island— carved on a wooden post. But their bodies weren’t found in the Croatan Island either! For years and years, people tried to track down the former inhabitants of this Lost Colony, but without success.
#24. The Sailing Stones In Death Valley
California’s remote and paradisiac Death Valley has held a mystery for almost a century: there are stones that — apparently — move on their own when nobody is looking. This eerie phenomenon takes place in Racetrack Playa, and many tourists come to visit to see the “Saling Stones” for themselves. The stones, which are as big as 700 pounds, slide across the surface of the dry lake bed without any forces acting on them.
Geologists have been left baffled, as only some of the stones move, and those that do only move every two or three years and they don’t move at the same time nor in the same direction. Scientists have come up with many different theories, but all of them have been refuted, including those that suggested a magnetic effect. To this day, people are working to find a feasible explanation.
#23. The Taos Hum
The town of Taos in Mexico has been home to many celebrities, including Julia Roberts, Aldous Huxley, and Dennis Hopper. It’s a small laid-back artsy community that is also home to one of the most incredible mysteries: a mysterious hum, that is also called The Taos Hum.
Reportedly, residents and tourists keep hearing a low-pitched sound described as something similar to a diesel engine. A variety of hypotheses have been offered as explanations, from secret government mind control experiments to UFO bases. The hum has been heard since the early 1990s. The research revealed that there was not a single identifiable hum, but instead, several different ones. People have used different terms to describe the sound, and this suggests that it may possibly be a subjective experience and not an objective sound.
#22. Signals From The Unknown
In August 1977, while working on a SETI project at Ohio State University, astronomer Dr. Jerry R. Ehman, detected a strong narrowband radio signal with the Big Ear radio telescope, which is a radio signal detector. The telescope was pointing at Chi Sagittarii —a group of stars— in the constellation Sagittarius.
That signal matched perfectly to the expected signature of an interstellar signal. Ehman couldn’t believe how closely it matched the expected signature of an interstellar signal. Therefore, he printed it out, circled the numbers and wrote “Wow!” next to them. The signal lasted almost two minutes and has never been detected again. Up to this day, it is the strongest signal we ever received from outer space and is one of the proofs that shows we are not alone in this galaxy.
#21. Vile Vortices
There are places on Earth where strange things happen much more frequently than anywhere else, and many o these are home to paranormal or mysterious activities. Such areas are known as Vile Vortices, a name created by the biologist Ivan T. Sanderson. He even created a catalog of vortices, describing the different sites and the type of phenomenons that occur in them.
There are twelve main vertices situated along the Earth, and the most popular of them is perhaps the Bermuda Triangle. Others include the Algerian Megaliths, the Indus Valley, and the “Devil’s Sea”. In these regions, people and planes have disappeared and UFOs have been seen alongside many other paranormal phenomena. Even though there’s no explanation for this, many people believe that the answer has to do with Ley Lines and spiritual energy.
#20. Ball Lightning
A Ball Lightning is an unexplained and potentially dangerous atmospherical phenomenon that is associated with thunderstorms. It consists of spherically shaped, floating balls of electricity which can also be accompanied by a roaring sound and a stinging odor. Don’t believe me? Many windows have been shattered to pieces because of this!
One of the first sightings occurred back in 1638 when a “great ball of fire” appeared through the window of a prominent church in England with a deadly result. However, the best-documented case happened in 1984 when ball lightning of 4 inches entered an aircraft and flew above the passengers of the plane without making any noise. An engineer suggested that ball lightning could be the result of vaporized ground material being pushed up by a shockwave of air but there’s no real answer.
#19. Spontaneous Combustion
Over the years, plenty of cases of human spontaneous combustion have been reported around the world, but what is it, really? Spontaneous combustion has its roots in the 18th century when a member of London’s Royal Society coined the term in the article Philosophical Transactions. According to this article, this form of combustion is “a process in which a human body allegedly catches fire as a result of heat generated by internal chemical activity, but without evidence of an external source of ignition.”
In the Victorian era, it was associated with alcoholics and even Charles Dickens wrote a novel about it, Bleak House, in which the main character catches fire and burns to death. The first case was documented in the 1400s when a knight burst into flames in front of his parents. However, the scientific community is not convinced that spontaneous combustion can be caused by internal factors, and this is why they remain skeptical about the whole thing.
#18. The Tunguska Event
The Tunguska Event is the name given to an enormous explosion that took place in Tunguska, Siberia at 7:14 AM on June 30, 1908. The explosion was estimated to be more powerful than 2,000 Hiroshima-type bombs. It flattened 770 square miles of forest and may have caused more than three human deaths.
This explosion is generally attributed to the airburst of a meteoroid, though there are no signs of an impact crater. While scientists think it was a meteor, the lack of scientific proof has led to many absurd theories ranging from UFOs to Tesla Coils, an electrical resonant transformer circuit used to produce high-voltage, low-current, high-frequency electricity.
#17. Bermuda Triangle
This body of water between Florida and Puerto Rico has been responsible for the unexplained vanishing of numerous ships and airplanes. The earliest reported incident was the sinking of navy ship USS Pickering which is believed to have gotten lost in a wind storm. The last incident took place in 2017 when a private aircraft disappeared and its wreckage was later found.
Through the years, several documentaries have attempted to explain the science behind the mysterious activity in the region, and these explanations have involved both natural factors, human errors, variations in electromagnetic activity, leftover technology from the lost continent of Atlantis or UFOs and aliens. It’s needless to say that none of these factors are convincing enough.
#16. Loch Ness Monster
In Scottish folklore, Loch Ness Monster or Nessie is said to be a creature who lives in the Loch Ness, in the Scottish Highlands. It is frequently portrayed as large with a long neck and one or more humps projecting from the water. However, according to recent research, it’s more like a giant eel rather than a reptile.
Many people believe that Nessie is a hoax — a falsehood deliberately fabricated to masquerade as the truth— but several photos and videos from 2007 and even the appearance on some sonar equipment make people believe it may be real. Unfortunately, the data and footage aren’t strong enough to verify its existence so it is just one of the most famous cryptozoology cases in history.
#15. Big Foot
Big Foot, also known as Sasquatch, is a giant ape-like creature that has been seen in the American Northwest. The most famous evidence documented on camera is the short film taken in 1967 by Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin, shot in California. The film shows a dark, man-sized and man-shaped figure striding through a clearing. Some scientists typically associate sightings both to hoaxes or to misidentification of known animals and their tracks, particularly black bears… but was the creature in the video really a bear?
Although most specialists acknowledge the Bigfoot legend to be a mixture of folklore and hoaxes, many others remain skeptical. Some people say that Big Foot is, as well as Nessie, a living remnant from the Jurassic era, specifically a Gigantopithecus Blacki, which is a big ape. According to a survey, only 16 percent of Americans said that Bigfoot “absolutely” or “probably” exists, with 44 percent responding “probably not” and the rest denying its existence.
#14. Lost City Of Atlantis
In Timaeus and Critias, Plato describes Atlantis as a formidable naval power that conquered much of Europe and Africa circa 9,000 BC. After failing to invade Athens, the city sank into the ocean in just one night. The idea of Atlantis — the “lost” island subcontinent often idealized as an advanced, utopian society — has captivated people for generations. Thousands of books, magazines, and websites are devoted to Atlantis, and it remains a popular topic. In fact, people have lost their fortunes trying to find Atlantis.
Many theories have tried to explain this mystery, but according to 2 of the most famous ones, Atlantis was a mid-Atlantic continent that suddenly sunk, and it was swallowed by the Bermuda Triangle. However, while there have been numerous works centered on discovering the remains of the city, nothing concrete has ever been discovered.
#13. Amelia Earhart Disappearance
During an attempt to make a flight around the globe in 1937, Amelia Earhart disappeared over the Pacific Ocean. To some people, the young Amelia was an American spy sent to carry out espionage against the Japanese, who discovered and killed her. To some others, she secretly returned to the United States and changed her identity to Irene Craigmile Bolam, a wealthy New Jersey banker and housewife. However, the last and our favorite theory is that she was abducted by aliens.
Although the official version states Earhart ran out of fuel and crashed at sea, many people speculate that she may have been captured by Japanese forces, while others believe she lived out the rest of her days as a spy for the CIA since 1937 when the United States received her last radio transmission. Despite the use of increasingly sophisticated sonar to scour the ocean bottom, the fate of Earhart remains undetermined.
#12. Voynich Manuscript
The Voynich manuscript is an illustrated codex hand-written in an unknown writing system. It was written on vellum and it dates to the early 15th century, presumably made in Italy during the Italian Renaissance. The manuscript is named after Wilfrid Voynich, a book dealer who purchased the book in 1912
It is composed of around 240 remainings page, with some missing. The text is written from left to right, and most of the pages have sketches or diagrams. Some pages are foldable layers. It has been studied by many professional and amateur cryptographers but no one has yet demonstrably deciphered the text. The dominant theory is that it served as a pharmacopeia, though the puzzling drawings have fueled many different theories about its origins and content.
#11. El Chupacabra
Translated to “The Goat Sucker,” the name is originated from supposed attacks on animals, particularly goats, to drink their blood. It is a legendary creature in the folklore of parts of the Americas, with its first purported sightings reported in Puerto Rico. Physical descriptions of the creature have varied according to the different alleged witnesses. It is purportedly a heavy creature, the size of a small bear, with a row of spines reaching from the neck to the base of the tail.
“What really interested me about the chupacabra is that it’s a vampire, unlike Bigfoot, unlike the Loch Ness monster, the moth man, the New Jersey Devil,” said a famous writer. In October and December 2018, there came many reports of chupacabras suspects in India. Many domestic animals were killed in a suspicious manner as the chupacabra does. Many people said that they had seen the chupacabras with their own eyes. However, forensic experts stated that those killings had been perpetuated by street dogs.
#10. The Bimini Road
Everyone has heard the story of the lost city of Atlantis, but what about the Bimini Road? In 1968, an underwater rock formation was found near North Bimini Island in the Bahamas. It is considered by many to be naturally made, but because of the unusual organization of the rocks, many think it’s part of the lost city of Atlantis.
Another curious element of this mystery is a prediction made in 1938 by Edgar Cayce: “A portion of the temples may yet be discovered under the slime of ages and seawater near Bimini… Expect it in ‘68 or ‘69 – not so far away.” In a more recent expedition in 2016, amateur archeologist Dr. Little discovered another row of rocks in the same formation directly below the first, leading him to believe that the road is actually the top of a wall or water dock.
#9. The Mothman
On the 16th of November 1966, a local newspaper published an article that brought terror to the residents of Point Pleasent, a small town in West Virginia. The newspaper reported an encounter with a 7-foot tall winged apparition that was haunting local residents. It was reportedly seen just one more time on December 15, 1967.
Since there were no more sightings after the collapse of the Silver Bridge on December 15, legend has it that the two events were somehow related. Biologists, however, have hypothesized that the creature was actually a sandhill crane that had wandered from its typical migration path. Since 2002, Point Pleasant has hosted an annual Mothman festival with restaurants, shops and even a museum celebrating the Mothman.
#8. Babushka Lady
On November 22nd, 1963, President John F Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Thousands of people crowded at the Dealey Plaza to watch the Presidential motorcade when Kennedy was hit by two bullets. A mysterious woman wearing a green overcoat and a scarf on her head appeared in numerous photos immediately following the Kennedy assassination.
Her name came from Russian grandmothers who used to wear similar scarves. It is hard to tell from the photographs, but it seems she is holding a camera and taking pictures. Although the FBI publicly requested for her to come forward with her footage, she never did. More than 50 years have passed since John F Kennedy’s assassination, but this part of the puzzle hasn’t been solved yet.
#7. Black Dhalia
In 1947, the body of Elizabeth Short, also known as the Black Dahlia, was found in two pieces in a Los Angeles parking lot. Her case became highly publicized due to the graphic nature of the crime, which included her corpse having been mutilated and bisected at the waist.
Elizabeth Short was living in Los Angeles, California, working as a waitress to support herself while dreaming of catching her big break into Hollywood’s acting scene. Her chance at stardom, however, would never come. The Black Dahlia’s killer was never found, making her murder one of the oldest cold case files in L.A. to date, as well as the city’s most famous one.
#6. DB Cooper
D.B. Cooper, also known as Dan Cooper, is a criminal who in 1971 hijacked a commercial plane traveling from Portland, Oregon, to Seattle, Washington, and later parachuted out of the aircraft with the ransom money. Shortly after takeoff from Portland, he handed a note to a flight attendant in which he claimed to have a bomb in his briefcase. He then proceeded to open the attaché case, which contained numerous wires, red sticks, and a battery.
Cooper demanded four parachutes and $200,000 in $20 bills. After the flight landed in Seattle, Cooper released the 36 passengers when authorities provided the money and parachutes. However, he forced two pilots, a flight engineer, and a flight attendant to remain on the plane. After it refueled, he ordered the pilots to fly to Mexico City and then, he disappeared.
#5. Zodiac Killer
In 1968 and 1969, the Zodiac Killer attacked seven people in four different Northern Californian locations. His first three targets were couples in secluded areas; two of these people survived. His last known victim was a taxi driver killed on October 11, 1969, in San Francisco. During and after his killing spree, Zodiac received attention and spread fear as he shared ciphers, letters, information, and threats with authorities and the public.
Though he claimed to be responsible for 37 deaths, no Zodiac victims have been discovered since 1969. Even though the case was not under federal jurisdiction, the FBI provided support for analyzing handwriting, fingerprints and decoding Zodiac’s messages, but the truth is that none of the victims have ever been found.
#4. Marfa Lights
An unexplained set of lights have been spotted by many residents and tourists near Mitchell Flat, East of Marfa, Texas. They are described as being the size of a basketball, swimming in the air at around ridge altitude, and sometimes moving quickly in various directions. Although very few people have seen these lights, a large amount of photographic and video evidence exists.
“They appeared in the darkness south of U.S. 90 between Alpine and Marfa,” a journalist wrote after seeing the Marfa Lights in June 2006.
“Yellowish-white lights that glowed, faded, disappeared, and returned in different places. Sometimes they changed colors, other times they split apart. I couldn’t tell if they were 10 miles away or a hundred, the size of a car or a house. I didn’t understand them, but I didn’t care. I loved those lights”, said another witness.
Skeptics, however, usually attribute these lights to traffic on US Route 67 or electric byproducts of quartz mining in the area.
#3. Jimmy Hoffa
James Riddle Hoffa (born February 14, 1913, declared dead July 30, 1982) was an American labor union leader who served as the President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) union from 1957 until 1971. Hoffa was sentenced to prison for thirteen years for jury tampering, mail fraud, and bribery, but was pardoned by President Richard Nixon in 1971 on the condition that he would not stay involved with union activities.
Hoffa disappeared from a parking lot in Detroit shortly after his release from prison. He had been supposedly due to meet up with a couple of Mafia heads but was never heard from again. While the most popular belief is that he was shot and buried in a stadium, a team of investigators carried out some excavations in the stadium where Hoffa was supposedly buried and found nothing.
#2. Jack The Ripper
After a hundred years, detectives continue to search for the identity of the infamous killer who terrorized the women of Whitechapel in 1888. The mystery of Jack the Ripper began on August 31, 1888, when the body of a dead woman was found. Her throat had been cut and her abdomen gouged open. Three months later, when what became known as the “Autumn of Terror” had ended, four more women had undergone the same grisly fate.
Jack the Ripper has been the subject of more than a hundred nonfiction books, dozens of novels, several TV series, and more than 20 films. The mystery has even given birth to an entire discipline known as “Ripperology,” which specializes in exhaustive research about the case and theories behind the murders. In spite of modern police methods, to this day no one knows who the Ripper was.
#1. The Mary Celeste
In November 1872, the Mary Celeste left New York with Captain Briggs, his wife, young daughter, and a troupe of eight. Expected to dock in Italy, none aboard were ever seen again. The boat was found in a seaworthy condition, under partial sail, and with her lifeboat missing. The last entry in her log was dated ten days earlier.
In the decades that followed, fact and fiction became intertwined. According to the most influential theory, noxious alcoholic fumes escaped either due to turbulence or porous barrels, causing a small explosion. Briggs may have then given the order to temporarily abandon the ship, with everyone piling into the lifeboat to sail behind the Mary Celeste until the danger had passed.