Famous Unsolved Mysteries That Haunt History

These mysteries are more than mere enigmatic stories—they are riddles and puzzles, begging for someone to crack the code. So, grab your detective hat, magnifying glass, and notebook, and as the famous Sherlock Holmes exclaimed with a wink and a twinkle of excitement in his eye,” The game is afoot! Let’s go!”

With some motifs measuring up to 1,200 feet long, theories abound on how exactly these pre-Inca people carved such precise imagery. Allegedly, these incredible etchings were, in fact, used for astronomical tools and communication. However, this has never been proven, and it still remains one of archaeology’s most perplexing puzzles. Researchers have recently confirmed that some of the geoglyphs of birds were initially incorrectly identified as regional species, and the drawings actually represent exotic birds that lived far away from the site itself.

Sarah consulted a medium to channel in her dearly beloved and departed husband, William, in the hope that he would advise her what to do with her newly inherited fortune. Apparently, dear William was most helpful and suggested she leave Connecticut, head west to California, and build a stately home for the spirits of those who died at the point of Winchester rifles. However, many suggest that perhaps poor Sarah was just plain mad and built the maze-like house on a haphazard whim. People claim to have heard and seen ghostly apparitions from the windows late at night.

Some say these mysterious inscriptions spoke the words of a deadly curse, “the direst punishment follows any intruder into a sealed tomb.” Carter died a miserable death in 1939 after dismissing the curse as ‘Tommy rot,’ adding fuel to the bubbling curse theory. While the curse has never been proven, several mysterious deaths followed the tomb’s unveiling. The Earl of Carnarvon, Carter’s financier of the project, died shortly after its discovery. Carter’s secretary, Richard Bethell, also died supposedly smothered in his bed in 1929, and his father committed suicide. Arthur Mace, part of the excavation team, passed from a suspicion of arsenic poisoning in 1928.

Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, famously known as the resting place of prominent figures such as Washington Irvin, has been plagued by mysterious vandalism. The community has been baffled and appalled by defaced graves marked with cryptic symbols and words, statues destroyed, and strange footprints found where no soul should enter. Despite extensive surveillance and increased security, the vandals were never found, vanishing without a trace—leaving only a trail of eerie mystery behind.

Many have cited seeing an eerie figure hunting for his lost head, particularly on Halloween night. Horses whining, thumping sounds of rolling heads, a man’s screams piercing the night—these are just some fun things you may encounter walking the streets of Sleepy Hollow on All Hallow’s Eve. Is the horseman still hunting his head, or are these just wild visions conjured in the heads of die-hard ghost story fans?

Sadly for Ron, after a mysterious phone call and declaring that he would confront the Circleville letter writer, he left in his truck, slid off the road, and slammed into a tree. Ron died at the scene. The letters continued and grew more intense. Ron’s brother-in-law, Paul Freshour, was charged as the evil letter writer behind the town’s misery. Paul never admitted to the crime, and even though he was safely behind bars, hundreds of letters kept arriving in mailboxes. Freshour was even lucky enough to receive an anonymous letter of his own while in prison. Decades later, no one knows who composed the Circleville letters. The local sheriff’s office marked this an unsolved case.

Twenty-five days later, a search party discovered a gruesome sight. The hiker’s abandoned tent was found ripped to shreds from the inside, and footprints in jumbled directions left by the victims were scattered around the site, indicating a mad rush from something… or someone?! Some prints showed a single shoe or barefoot, but they all eventually led to the forest’s edge, where two bodies lay dressed only in underwear. Over a few months, the remaining bodies surfaced—as did the full extent of this horrific incident. Some victims had blunt force trauma and third-degree burns, while another was missing his tongue! Although there are many theories such as Yetis, aliens, and the KGB this mystery remains unsolved. Another possible theory was death by “infrasound hum” or Vibroacoustic disease. I guess we will never know.

The Mary Celeste set sail in 1872 from New York to Genoa, Italy. It was laden with luxurious goods and seven crew members, including Captain Benjamin Briggs, his wife, and his two-year-old daughter. The Captain’s last daily log entry was strangely normal, with nothing untoward revealed. It was as if they had vanished into thin air. The crew’s mysterious disappearance has been linked to pirates, giant octopuses, and sea monsters. But was this part of some divine plan that Captain Briggs and his crew devised to disappear with new identities and start a life somewhere else, never to be found?

Code breakers from World War I and II were enlisted to crack the Voynich Code, but alas, it evaded them also. So, was it just some fictitious fantasy work but an artistic dreamer? Is it a cryptic code manual or language from another world, or an encyclopedia of unknown lands travelled by the author? No one knows, but they do know that the language doesn’t fit any known linguistic paradigm. So, the who, what, and why remains unanswered.

On February 5th, 1923, a neighboring village was awaiting a daily shipment from the town of Hoer Verde—it never arrived. They went to investigate, expecting to be greeted with the usual friendly warmth and hospitality; instead, they found an empty, deserted ghost town. Doors were open, and tables were still set as if they had left in a hurry. On the ground outside the school was a pistol lying in the dirt, still smelling of a recent fire. On the board, eerily etched in chalk, were the words. “There is no salvation.” No one ever discovered their fate. This mystery is veiled in many theories, such as being swallowed by the black hole, alien abductions, and soldiers forcing them to evacuate. Some say the town never existed, and it is merely a legend passed along the jungle vines…

A month after the gruesome find, a suitcase was found in the cloakroom at the Adelaide Railway Station. It was checked on the day before the body was discovered and contained unlabeled clothes and waxed thread not sold in Australia. Despite an extensive investigation, they never found The Somerton Man’s killer.

Over time, the children settled into their new surroundings and learned English. They spoke of their home, “St Martin’s Land”—a place of eternal darkness, where everything was green. The boy eventually died from illness, and the girl married a villager. No real evidence existed for these children, but many swear it to be true. If so, were these little ones from some other parallel universe, or were they migrant orphans—tinged green from malnutrition?

Theories have flown around for years about this famous mystery, most of which have sunk like her plane. Did she crash and drown only to be slowly consumed by crabs or sharks? Did she fake her death, take the name Irene Craigmile, and move to New Jersey to marry her secret love, Guy Bolam?

Known for famously killing at least five women from the “night working” district, the true identity of this slashing sinter fellow has never been revealed. Of course, with all great mysteries—theories are aplenty. Was Jack The Ripper a delusional doctor? A mad midwife? Queen Victoria’s grandson? Or a German sailor named Carl Feigenbaum, who loved visiting the odd brothel?

While the symptoms themselves were not unusual, the cause was. The victims said they all heard weird noises in their homes or hotel rooms before feeling unwell. Some claimed it was like a beam pointed at them or a high-pitched squeal, while others spoke of sounds like marbles rolling around the floor. And the answer is still rolling around out there, unexplained. One scientist studied a recording of one of the sounds and believed it to be the mating song of crickets. But perhaps it wasn’t the loud cries of love-struck insects, and it was some secret new weapon or strange feedback from ultrasonic waves?

As with all supposed theories, they can get pretty wild. From crew suicide and high jackings to meteor strikes and our beloved aliens abducting once again.

Despite numerous scientific investigations, Nessie’s existence is still waiting to be verified. However, some claim to have found carcasses and the remains of Nessie’s ferocious appetite scattered around the shores of Loch Ness.

Some say the colonists disappeared to the other islands to hide as they didn’t like the colony’s rules. Others say witch doctors cursed the colony. Or what is simply another case of “did this colony ever exist?”

Once the twins could speak, they began identifying and asking for toys that belonged to their dead siblings and became panic-stricken near cars and knew landmarks familiar to their sisters. Scientists tried for years to discover how and why the twins did these strange acts. This may not seem unusual, but they were too young to know about their sisters or their fate. Was it reincarnation, or was it just some innate familial sense?

This case has inspired amateur sleuths and code breakers for decades, with many saying that it was perhaps more than one person who was writing this spine-chilling story, and it wasn’t one murderer they were looking for, but a few….

While scientists have struggled to find a genuine explanation for these mysterious disappearances, they have come up with suggestions of magnetic pulls and methane hydrate eruptions. But others insist it is the work of extraterrestrials that created an invisible vortex to capture earthly treasures for research!

This sound has been one of the most substantial signs of extraterrestrial intelligence to date. However, was it just a reverberating and resounding sound from somewhere on Earth? Or was it someone on Earth communicating with aliens?

A series of deaths occurred where young men drowned, often with smiley-faced graffiti found nearby. The reason for the young men’s deaths or the creepy graffiti grins was never revealed. Investigators eventually dismissed the theory that the smiley faces were messages left by the murderer. But then why was there one found nearby in every case?

According to Brazil’s official historical records, the Portuguese were the first to arrive in Brazil. But these jars of mystery may say otherwise. Were the Romans actually the first, or was it some wayward traveling ship that lost its way on a stormy voyage? Only the sea knows…

Many believe that this base is a massive morgue for crashed aliens, where they conduct experiments on the bodies. The evidence does suggest that it’s used for some type of experimentation, mainly for developing and testing aircraft and weapons. However, could these aircraft be for time travel or teleportation? Is it a meeting place for the outer space residents to converse with us earthlings?

Strange occurrences that evening add fuel to this fire. The father claimed he tried to save the children with his coal truck—which was inoperable. The phone lines were cut, and the apparent five victims were seen peering out of a car as the house burned. The children were said to be accompanied by two men and two women of Italian origin. Some theorize that it was the mafia’s doing, and others, it may have been closer to home. Or could it have been staged for some strange purpose that we will never know?

This story undoubtedly resembles something from an intriguing movie script, but the real-life story remains a mystery. Was it assignation? Or a decree ordered by his family due to financial woes? Or was it suicide or something more sinister?

The cause was never known, but the most common theory for the dance craze of the century was demonic possession and ergot poisoning. But were they simply just keen dancers who didn’t know when to stop?

That is their nature. While we may never get the answers we crave, these mysteries teach us to keep exploring and questioning, and they make for one hell of a tale to tell at a dinner party or around the campfire on a dark and mysterious night.

Happy Sleuthing!