Curiosity is one of the basic ingredients of human nature. From the start of civilization, we question the way, things are and this leads to experiments and deductions. When it is not satisfied, legends believe that curiosity kills the cat. While humans survive the mortal danger posed by curiosity most of the time, it does create unsolved modern mysteries that trouble human minds like a stone in shoes. Here are the most bizarre modern-day mysteries that remind us that we may know a lot, but we still don’t “know it all”:
15. Bigfoot
Bigfoot or Sasquatch is believed to be an ape-like creature that lives in forests and has a huge humanoid body. There is no concrete evidence about the existence but there have been claimed multiple sightings and some blurred pictures, all asserting that they have seen the bigfoot. Some people believe this creature to be a survivor from the age of dinosaurs.
In Northwestern Pacific, wildings had a lot of stories about this creature, and legends differed from place to place and family to family. All of this said, scientists and Bigfoot believers say that the majority of Bigfoot sightings and pictures are a hoax or misidentification of some animal, although the legend prevails with numerous believers even in modern times.
14. Toynbee Tiles
Toynbee tiles are linoleum plaques appearing on roadways of at least twelve cities in the United States, all bearing a little variation of the same message:
“TOYNBEE IDEA IN MOViE `2001 RESURRECT DEAD ON PLANET JUPITER”.
No one knows the origin of the tiles or the message conveyed by them. The tiles seem to be the work of the same person. New tiles keep appearing every now and then in different places.
13. Baigong Pipes
Baigong pipes are the pipes found near Mount Baigong, near the city of Delingha in Qinghai province, China. These pipe-like features are believed to be totally natural.
The pipes are 2 to 40 cm in diameter comprising iron oxide, silicon dioxide, calcium oxide, and the other 8% of unidentifiable content. How these pipes came into being is still a scientific mystery.
12. The Roanoke Colony
Image Source: Library of Congress
With the permission of Queen Elizabeth I, in 1584, Sir Walter Raleigh launched an expedition to the Eastern shores of North America, planning to make a permanent English colony there. Two groups were left on the Roanoke Islands to establish their settlement there and Raleigh went back to England. New colonists came and went, trying to befriend some of the tribes, losing some men to the conflicts between tribes.
John White, the leader of the colonist’s team, returned to England too but went back again in August 1590 with reinforcements and a better plan. When he reached the Islands, the settlements were deserted, and the tribes went, without a significant struggle. It remains one of the top ancient mysteries that are still very much unresolved due to the fact that to this day no one knows what happened to the tribes and where they left for.
11. El-Chupacabra
The word Chupacabra means “Suck Goat”. It is the name given to the reported sightings of a creature in Puerto Rico, Mexico, and America, having a huge body like that of a bear and scales on the back like that of a lizard. Chupacabras are reported to attack livestock, especially goats, sucking their blood, thus giving them the name, goatsuckers.
The origin of this creature remains a mystery, although many experts question its very existence. El-Chupacabra has gathered a lot of media and research attention in the last 17 years.
10. Marfa Lights
Also known as the Marfa ghosts lights, Marfa light refers to the phenomenon of sightings of unexplained lights appearing in Marfa, Texas. The origins of these lights remain obscured and a number of supernatural explanations have been put forward.
Scientific researchers tend to disagree and suggest that most of the Marfa Lights, if not all of them, are atmospheric reflections of headlights of vehicles and campfires, although many people believe in supernatural, rather than scientific, explanations about the origin of Marfa Lights.
9. Black Dahlia
Image Copyright: Bettmann/Getty Images
1947, 22-year-old Elizabeth Short was found dead in a parking lot in Los Angeles. The body of Short was cut into two pieces. Mysteriously, Elizabeth Short was given the nickname, Black Dahlia, shortly after her death, which is odd because she was never called by this nick in her life.
Even one of the biggest investigations of LA couldn’t unveil the origin of her nickname or the murderer of the 22-year-old beauty.
8. Atlantis
Image Copyright: Zdroj/archiv
Atlantis is a legendary (and perhaps mythological) island, first reported in the dialogues of Plato who believed Atlantis to be a huge naval power that conquered many parts of Africa and Western Europe around 9600 BC. After an unsuccessful attempt to invade Athens, Atlantis sank into the ocean in a day and night of misfortune.
Experts disagree on how much Plato’s claims were inspired by the older traditions and the truthfulness of his account of the story about Atlantis. To this day, the remains of the legendary city are yet to be found. The Island of Atlantis has been central to a number of fictional stories.
7. Spontaneous Human Combustion
Spontaneous human combustion refers to the phenomenon of burning a living body without any apparent external source of combustion. There have been a lot of reported cases of spontaneous human combustion, over 200 since 1995, in different places of the world.
A number of natural and supernatural hypotheses have been put forward to explain the phenomenon. The most popular explanations are supernatural ones, rather than natural ones. This phenomenon remains a mystery to humankind and research is being carried out to find a proper explanation for it.
6. Devil’s Sea
The Devil’s Sea, also known as the Dragon’s Triangle, is a region from 100 km to Tokyo around Miyake Island. The area is said to be the host of a number of mysterious disappearances, including 6 Japanese military vessels, losing over 700 men.
The Japanese government sent a research vessel of 100 scientists to investigate the Devil’s Sea, and unfortunately, that vessel was lost too. The Devil’s Sea is one of the modern-day unsolved mysteries and the Japanese government has declared it a dangerous zone.
5. Sailing Stones
Image Source: Flickr/James Marvin Phelps
Sailing Stones refers to the geological phenomenon where stones slide, forming a path, inscribing a long track on the valley floor, without the known driving force for its movement.
Sailing stones have been reported in a number of places including Little Bonnie Claire Playa in Nevada, and Racetrack Playa, Death Valley National Park, California. The phenomenon is subject to scientific research with a number of hypotheses presented to explain it, yet the mystery still stays unsolved.
4. Shroud of Turin
Lifesize Shroud Replica on Cotton Canvas Centerpiece of the 2005 International Shroud Exhibit, Auckland, New Zealand
A linen cloth bearing an image of a man who seemingly died as a result of the crucifixion is called the Shroud of Turin.
The cloth is a mystery because, despite a number of scientific experiments, no one has yet been able to find out how the image was printed on the cloth, and to this day and it has not been reproducible yet. The Catholics believe it to be the burial shroud of Jesus Christ.
3. Jack the Ripper
In 1888, there were a series of murders in London, (mostly in the White chapel area), and the murderer was never found. The name, Jack the Ripper, comes from the letter sent to a newspaper by someone claiming to be the killer. The victims’ throats were usually cut and their bodies were mutilated, the victims largely being the prostitutes of London.
The strange thing is that the victims’ bodies were sometimes found just after the Ripper had left the scene, without any evidence leading to him. The police had many suspects in the case, but never enough evidence to convict anyone. To this day, the real identity of Jack the Ripper remains a mystery, even after using modern-day investigation methods.
2. The Taos Hum
The Taos Hum is a very low-pitched voice reported to be heard in a number of places, worldwide including the USA, UK, and northern Europe. The sound is often described as the sound of a diesel engine far away.
The origins of sound have never been found. In 1997, Congress directed some scientists and experts to find out the origin of sound heard by residents of small-town, Taos in New Mexico. The team failed in its mission and to this day, the origin of the sound of the Taos Hum is still an unsolved mystery to those who have heard it.
1. Bermuda Triangle
The Bermuda Triangle, also known as The Devil’s Triangle, is an area of the Atlantic Ocean in which a large number of ships and aircraft (the most famous one being Flight 19) are reported to have disappeared. There is no mention of the triangle in official maps drawn by US Government agencies and the US Board on Geographic Names does not recognize the name.
There have been a lot of supernatural and natural explanations for the disappearances of the planes and ships, but none of the explanations is supported by overwhelming evidence. The origins of the accidents in the Bermuda Triangle remain a mystery to this day.
Honorable Mentions
This list of top mysteries cannot be completed without mentioning these unsolved mysteries as well:
- Wow! Signal
- Loch Ness Monster aka Nessie
- Starchild Skull
- Real Ghost Pictures
Which of the above-mentioned most bizarre modern-day mysteries are the most fascinating ones? Let us know in the comments section below!
Some facts described in this post sent shivers down my spine.
The most terrifying things aren’t those we can see (like chupacabra), but those unseen (like murderers and Bermuda Triangle).