From ancient artifacts to modern-day phenomena, join us as we explore the most compelling unsolved mysteries that haven't received widespread attention. Our countdown includes perplexing archaeological discoveries, unexplained disappearances, mysterious manuscripts, and bizarre historical events that continue to baffle experts and enthusiasts alike.
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00:00But if the Shroud is truly from the first century, an event from the Bible might reveal an answer.
00:07Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most compelling mysteries
00:11that haven't gotten as much attention as their more popular counterparts.
00:15My mother is wearing the other one.
00:19But it's dirty.
00:21I thought you got blood by the time.
00:26Number 50, The Black Mausoleum.
00:28In life, George Bloody McKenzie brought about the cruel mistreatment and executions of hundreds who opposed Charles II.
00:36In death, his legacy has taken on a much more paranormal bent.
00:40They say that the dead can't hurt you, just the living.
00:44But try telling that to the hundreds of people left with scratches, bruises, and choke marks that have visited this very graveyard.
00:53He was buried in the same location where he carried out those infamous prosecutions,
00:56which may have contributed to the alleged dark energy there today.
01:00It all began in 1999, when an unhoused man stumbled upon a mass site of remains belonging to McKenzie's victims.
01:07Now, some sources say that the floor beneath the man gave way, plunging him into a pit containing more bodies.
01:13Even rumors that it was a plague pit.
01:15This is unconfirmed.
01:17But most of them were still in a state of decomposition.
01:20Since then, several people who visited the Black Mausoleum have reported being injured by unseen forces.
01:26One man even attempted to perform an exorcism, only to die shortly afterwards.
01:31Whether the reactions to the site are mere coincidence or the work of an evil spirit is still in contention today.
01:38Number 49, Miami Circle.
01:40In the heart of downtown Miami, between the skyscrapers and hotels, lies a mystery.
01:47When William Brickle first uncovered several intricate holes carved into limestone in 1998,
01:52he had no idea what he'd stumbled upon.
01:55They formed a perfect circle, some containing various ancient artifacts.
01:59Some believe it to have been the work of the Tukesta,
02:01an indigenous tribe that lived there thousands of years beforehand.
02:04However, the discovery of weapons made of basalt has kept that theory from being accepted.
02:10It's also unclear what the circle was used for.
02:12The most common guess is that it was the site of living quarters or religious ceremonies,
02:17while naysayers use a nearby septic tank to claim it's merely a dumping place for sewage.
02:21Whatever the truth may be, it's shown that humans lived there much longer than we once thought.
02:26The remains of shellfish once eaten on the site were carbon dated.
02:30The results were sensational.
02:33The earliest date is 730 BC.
02:37Number 48, Proto-Elamite Script.
02:40Many languages span across several millennia,
02:42with their translation giving us valuable insight into the communities that use them.
02:46Some remain undeciphered, including one of the oldest known in the East.
02:50Proto-Elamite is believed to have stemmed from an even older Sumerian script,
02:54and consists of both numerical and logographic symbols.
02:58Over 1,000 tablets have been discovered, but none have been decoded.
03:02Historical context suggests that they were primarily used to track various inventories,
03:06although this hasn't been fully confirmed.
03:08The hieroglyphs found on some of the slabs are a combination of literal and abstract signs,
03:13requiring intense analysis.
03:15With there being so many scripts to comb through,
03:17we still aren't any closer to understanding them, even after decades of trying.
03:22Number 47, The Isdal Woman.
03:32Technology has made it easier to identify those that have passed,
03:35but there are some cases that evade even the most advanced techniques.
03:38In 1970, a family went on a hike in Norway,
03:42where they stumbled upon the charred remains of the Isdal Woman.
03:45An investigation began soon after, and brought about far more questions than answers.
03:50She used eight different identities, making it impossible to pin down her real one.
03:54Her cause of death is also unknown.
03:57A self-inflicted demise is the most supported theory,
04:00but some believe she was a spy that met a more insidious end.
04:03More developments have been made throughout the 21st century,
04:06but despite them, we're still no closer to learning who she is than we were decades ago.
04:11Number 46, The Bata Valley Megaliths.
04:14It's got two different compartments.
04:17I wonder what the hell it was used for.
04:19Upon first glance, they appear to just be a collection of sculptures.
04:22However, there is much more to the hundreds of Bata Valley Megaliths than first meets the eye.
04:28Despite being found in 1908, everything from their age to their purpose is debated.
04:32There are several local legends about them,
04:35including one that claims the statues have the ability to move on their own.
04:40It's a really strange place, this.
04:42Mesmerizing.
04:43There are even tales of purported criminals being turned to stone as penance for their crimes.
04:48It isn't even known what culture is responsible for them,
04:51as they're different from the Megaliths constructed in other areas of South Asia.
04:55To top it all off, there hasn't been much research about them,
04:58making them one of the most perplexing mysteries from ancient times.
05:01Number 45, The Sword and the Stone.
05:04The story describes a gleaming sword thrust into a huge stone,
05:09and only the rightful king of Britain could pull it out.
05:12You may have heard of Excalibur,
05:14a fictional sword pierced through a stone that was only able to be pulled free by King Arthur.
05:18There's a chance the story may be rooted in reality.
05:22According to legend,
05:23St. Galgano Guidotti was told by an angel to give up his worldly possessions,
05:27and in response, he stabbed his sword through a rock.
05:30Despite the hard surface, it supposedly went through easily.
05:33This sounds like nothing more than fiction,
05:36but testing done on the weapon has found that it's consistent with those used during that period of time.
05:40So I'm convinced that that actually is the original sword in the 12th century.
05:46It's still unclear how he would have achieved this,
05:49creating a mystery that neither history nor science can answer.
05:53Number 44, The Newton Stone.
05:55Move over, Stonehenge.
05:56In Scotland, there are two engraved stones,
06:00one that's written in Pictish, and one that's completely untranslatable.
06:04The latter is known as the Newton Stone,
06:06and it has perplexed historians ever since it was found in 1803.
06:10There are multiple carvings in it,
06:12including one that's written in Ogham, a medieval tongue.
06:15There are over 15 different possible interpretations for that inscription alone,
06:19making it impossible to pin down.
06:21That's only the first part of the elaborate mystery.
06:23The other engraved message is in an unidentifiable language,
06:27with guesses ranging from Phoenician to Hebrew to it all being fake.
06:31Though experts insist it isn't a hoax,
06:33both translations still allude them to this day.
06:36Number 43, Linear A.
06:39We know so little about the Minoans,
06:41partly because we cannot understand their inscriptions.
06:46We can know so much about how a language is used without understanding a single word.
06:50While it has been confirmed that Linear A was primarily used in religious writings during Minoan rule,
06:56there haven't been any advancements in terms of translating it.
06:59It's a complex system, with hundreds of signs being used to write it,
07:02unlike its much more understandable successor, Linear B.
07:05Linear B was relatively easy to decipher,
07:09because it's a known language.
07:11With Cretan Pictographic and Linear A,
07:15we may be dealing with languages that we don't know.
07:18There are a limited number of samples.
07:20The cherry on top is that the text isn't written in the form of sentences,
07:24but rather a series of short, repetitive phrases.
07:27There's even a theory that it wasn't the only speech used during the time period,
07:31adding another complex layer to it that ensures it won't be solved anytime soon.
07:36Number 42, The Hal Cefaliene Hypogeum.
07:39Sometimes mysteries are exacerbated by human error,
07:42and this is one of the best examples of it.
07:44After being accidentally discovered in 1902,
07:47several human remains and items buried around them were disposed of
07:51without being properly looked over beforehand.
07:53What the unwitting workers have unearthed
07:55isn't merely a lost underground temple or ancient sanctuary,
07:59but a massive subterranean necropolis.
08:04This has made it even harder to understand the Hal Cefaliene Hypogeum,
08:07an underground cemetery that may hold even more secrets from a past time.
08:11There are several small burial chambers that supposedly lead to even larger ones,
08:15but the areas are so small that it's impossible to know for sure.
08:19It extends on three different stories about 7 point some meters below ground.
08:24It covers an area of about 5,400 square feet.
08:28There are several questions left unanswered about the mass graveyard,
08:31including how ancient populations were able to access it in the first place,
08:35as there is no evidence anywhere of a potential entryway.
08:38Number 41. The Feistus Disc
08:41Who could have guessed that there were so many languages left to decipher?
08:47Uncovered in 1908,
08:48Crete's Feistus Disc has kept both natives and tourists perplexed for over a century.
08:53There are dozens of signs laid into a spiral,
08:56and linguists don't even know how to go about reading it.
08:59There's a strong case for it not having been written in a traditional pattern,
09:02making any attempt at translation pure speculation.
09:05There have been over a dozen attempts at decoding it across several different dialects,
09:09and none has come close to finding out the true message.
09:12It's been so hard to figure out that some have called it a hoax,
09:15and a lack of any dating further corroborates that theory.
09:18The linguists insist it isn't the case.
09:21I still believe that it's 100% a forgery.
09:23There's no question in my mind.
09:25Number 40. Devil's Kettle Falls
09:27You'd think, when water tumbles down a waterfall,
09:30that you'd be able to see where it's going.
09:32Even questioning it seems absurd, like the answer is right there in front of you.
09:35But Devil's Kettle Falls in northeast Minnesota isn't like most waterfalls.
09:39Nature has a way of making some of its own mysteries.
09:42In Judge C.R. Magney State Park,
09:44there lies a waterfall with a seemingly bottomless pit.
09:47The river splits into two thanks to a massive rock.
09:50One stream is well-recorded and merely continues downstream.
09:53The other, however, is a different story.
09:56It leads into a pothole that's at least 10 feet deep,
09:59but no one knows for sure.
10:01Visitors have reported throwing items into it,
10:03only for them to not reappear.
10:05This has created a plethora of theories about where the lost items could have ended up.
10:09A dye-tracing experiment was planned for 2017,
10:12but was canceled before it could be carried out,
10:14ensuring that the truth would never be found out.
10:17We probably won't learn the fate of Devil's Kettle Falls
10:19until some researchers get down there
10:21and try to track the water that's running with the devil.
10:23Number 39. The Rohans Codex
10:25Could someone really have written an entire book as a prank?
10:29According to historians,
10:30that very well may be the case for Hungary's Rohans Codex.
10:34The manuscript is wild from beginning to end,
10:37written in an unspecified language or system of writing
10:39and with an unidentifiable author,
10:42spanning 448 pages.
10:44It's so in-depth that it seems hard to believe it was all written for an ancient bit.
10:48Despite all the attempts to understand the work,
10:50none has come close to the answer.
10:52Besides the text itself are several illustrations depicting various battles and religious figures,
10:58making it even harder to pin down.
10:59Even though it's impossible to tell now,
11:02the truth will be shocking whether it's real or not.
11:04Number 38. The Elinikon Pyramid
11:07And this is the eastern entrance of the Pyramid of Elinikon.
11:11The pyramid complex found in Giza, Egypt, is widely known to many.
11:15However, what's less circulated is that they weren't the only country to master the structures.
11:20There are several located in Greece,
11:22with the most well-known being the Pyramid of Elinikon.
11:24They weren't as large as their African counterparts,
11:27yet they were utilized for similar reasons, housing their dead.
11:31Originally, Elinikon was thought to have been built in 300 BCE.
11:35A study done decades later revealed that it may have actually been built much earlier,
11:39closer to 3000 BCE.
11:42Should that be true,
11:43it would make it around the same age or even older than the ones found in Egypt.
11:47Even that research has been harshly criticized,
11:49making it impossible to discern the truth.
11:51Let's have a look at the side of the pyramid.
11:55It's beautiful.
11:56I mean, look how straight the edge is.
11:59Number 37.
12:00The Ma-Re-Man
12:01The figure is the largest depiction of a human ever created.
12:05It's even visible from space.
12:08Not all unsolved mysteries come from ancient times.
12:11There are plenty that have come to be in modern times,
12:13including the symbol simply known as the Ma-Re-Man.
12:16Built and found in 1998 in Australia,
12:19it depicts an Aboriginal man hunting with an unknown weapon.
12:22Despite being one of the largest glyphs on the planet,
12:24it was discovered entirely by chance.
12:26The Ma-Re-Man is 4.2 kilometers long,
12:2928 kilometers around it.
12:31The marking is around about 35 meters wide.
12:34Before much outside research could be done,
12:36the government closed off the area,
12:38along with any chances of understanding the piece.
12:41The biggest theory to date is that it was created by United States citizens,
12:45thanks to phrasing used in anonymous messages
12:47and physical evidence bearing the American flag.
12:50Yet dissenters consider that to be red herrings,
12:52and instead credit a now-deceased local artist.
12:55It's a great secret, and so it shall remain.
12:58Number 36.
12:59The Skulls of Mottala
13:00Human remains being found isn't anything new.
13:03Yet the conditions of those found in Sweden between 2009 and 2011
13:08immediately stuck out due to the inclusion of wooden stakes impaled through two skulls.
13:12While radiocarbon dating was able to deduce that the bodies were from the Mesolithic era,
13:16and that the group consisted of four men, two women, and an infant,
13:20what happened to them remains unsolved.
13:22The inclusion of the craniums on a stake suggests that it may have been
13:25a post-mortem ritual carried out by the perpetrator.
13:28Others have put forth the idea that it was a way of honoring respected members posthumously.
13:32With it being the first confirmed case of this display during the period,
13:36it's impossible to tell which one is more likely.
13:39Number 35.
13:40The Dequise Delta Stone Spheres
13:42They may not be the most extravagant,
13:50but they've still become one of history's most compelling conundrums.
13:54Costa Rica's almost perfectly spherical stones have been the source of a long global conversation.
13:59Not only are they a possible connection to the now-extinct Dequise Society,
14:02the way they were created, and why, has remained a mystery.
14:06There are hundreds of these spheres,
14:08with plenty of myths and theories attempting to explain them.
14:11They range from plausible, such as the belief that they were naturally formed,
14:14to impossible, like the theory that they were brought to land from Atlantis.
14:18Their purpose is also unknown,
14:20although a recent theory posits that they may have been a model of the universe according to their creators.
14:26Number 34.
14:26The Lead Masks Case
14:28After decades, experts are still baffled by the cause of Miguel Jose Viana and Manuel Pereira da Cruz's deaths.
14:36Some demises are so bizarre that they may never be solved.
14:40This, unfortunately, is the case of the victims of the Lead Masks Case.
14:44Manuel Pereira da Cruz and Miguel Jose Viana were found dead in 1966.
14:49In the decades since, nothing pertaining to their death has been confirmed.
14:53They were both wearing lead eye masks, which only scratches the surface of what was discovered.
14:58A cryptic note, towels, and a water bottle were the only evidence left.
15:02Viana and da Cruz were both electrical technicians,
15:05who told their families they were leaving to buy supplies.
15:09The bartender who sold them water described Miguel as very nervous,
15:13and repeatedly looking at his watch.
15:15The most glaring aspect is that there were no signs of violent injury.
15:19However, the autopsy taking weeks to get done made it impossible to find what killed them.
15:24This led people to create their own theories, but as of 2025, none has been proven.
15:30A woman and her children who lived next to the hill where the men died
15:33claimed they had seen an orangey, oval-shaped UFO
15:37flying over the spot at the moment the detectives believed the men had died.
15:41Number 33. Judicolor Rock
15:43It is a part of the story of who we are.
15:49It is a definer of what is being a Cherokee.
15:53Even something as seemingly simple as a rock can have a rich background.
15:56Deep within North Carolina lies Judicolor Rock,
15:59a boulder inscribed with petroglyphs and engravings.
16:02Each carving is a small clue about when it first started being worked on,
16:06with the guesses going as far back as 200 CE.
16:08While it's unknown exactly what all of the various inscriptions mean,
16:12one widely supported theory is that it depicts the land inhabited by the Cherokee
16:16until their forced removal in 1838.
16:19This has been corroborated by modern-day tribe members as well.
16:22If this is true, it would give us incredible insight
16:25into the history of the area before it was fully settled.
16:27It gives me a place on the face of the earth
16:31that I've been granted to share with my relatives.
16:35It tells me that I'm home.
16:39Number 32.
16:40The Murder of Julia Wallace
16:41Story's main protagonist may well have committed the impossible murder.
16:47What first appeared to be an open and shut case
16:50has spiraled into an unending mystery.
16:52It was a seemingly normal evening in 1931
16:55when William Herbert Wallace was instructed to meet with a potential new customer
16:59at a non-existent address.
17:00When he finally gave up and returned home,
17:02he was met with the gruesome sight of his wife, Julia,
17:05who had been brutally slain.
17:07Was it a robbery gone wrong?
17:10But Julia's purse had not been touched.
17:12And anyway, how could a burglar have got into a locked house?
17:17There were no signs of a forced entry.
17:20Her husband became the prime suspect,
17:22and after a short trial, he was found guilty and given the death penalty.
17:25Before that could come to fruition,
17:27it was overturned due to the evidence convicting him being purely circumstantial.
17:31Since then, there hasn't been another suspect brought to court or even questioned.
17:36And to this day, Julia's murderer has gotten away with it.
17:40Number 31.
17:41Codex Gigas
17:42It may be the largest known Bible in existence,
17:45but that hasn't stopped it from baffling historians.
17:48Codex Gigas consists not only of both testaments,
17:51but a series of other popular works as well.
17:53It was supposedly written in the 13th century by Herman the Recluse,
17:57a prisoner who was sentenced to death.
17:59Unless he could write a text encasing all of human knowledge in one night.
18:03He allegedly prayed to the devil in order to finish it,
18:06which could explain the large drawing depicting him.
18:09Help me finish this book, cries the monk,
18:11and you can take my soul.
18:12Lucifer, not one to pass up such a great deal, agrees.
18:16A modern-day test showed it would have taken at least 20 years to complete.
18:20Yet, according to other experts, it was the work of one person.
18:24The truth could be somewhere in the middle,
18:26but at this point, we may never know.
18:28Some people have said the devil's Bible is cursed,
18:31and will bring misfortune on anyone that goes near it.
18:33Number 30.
18:34The Circleville Letters
18:35Living in a small town seems ideal,
18:38until you're suddenly thrown into a real-life horror movie.
18:42Circleville, Ohio is a seemingly normal place,
18:44with a true crime mystery that spanned decades.
18:47It began in the 1970s,
18:49when a suspicious death led to citizens receiving unsettling letters.
18:52This is no joke.
18:55Please take it serious.
18:57The content ranged from accusations of infidelity and police cover-ups,
19:01to thinly-veiled threats of violence.
19:04The correspondence escalated,
19:05and eventually, the writer attempted to take someone's life.
19:09On closer examination,
19:11Mary realized that it was a crude booby trap,
19:14designed to fire the gun at her.
19:17Even after an arrest and conviction,
19:19the mail kept coming,
19:21making people realize they might have had the wrong person.
19:24They continued to be terrorized for years,
19:26until their primary suspect had been released.
19:29To this day,
19:30no one truly knows who was behind the frightening messages,
19:33or if they'll ever return.
19:35So many questions remain in this most bizarre case.
19:39Number 29.
19:40Sakseoman
19:41Some earlier civilizations were able to erect impressive structures
19:45that have lasted into modern times.
19:46Some are so well-built that you'd think
19:49that they could have only been accomplished with newer equipment.
19:52One such example is Sakseoman,
19:54a fortified wall that was constructed by the Incas centuries ago.
19:58It's so precisely assembled that the details of its construction
20:01are the subject of a long-lasting debate.
20:04Some argue that the stones were pre-cut and lowered onto one another,
20:07while others think that they were towed into place.
20:10Both theories have been tested,
20:12with inconclusive results.
20:13The actual answer remains a secret,
20:16one that we may never get to find out.
20:18Number 28.
20:19Rongo Rongo
20:20The foundations of communication,
20:22verbal or not,
20:23have long been studied.
20:25Some of the earliest attempts at language have been observed,
20:28but not all are easy to parse,
20:30such as Rongo Rongo.
20:31Rongo Rongo is the traditional writing system of the Rapa Nui.
20:35It is inscribed onto wooden tablets.
20:37Unearthed on Easter Island in the 19th century,
20:39It is a series of tablets inscribed with different glyphs,
20:43and is supposedly one of the oldest preserved forms of writing.
20:47It's an extraordinary archaeological find that no one can figure out.
20:51It's one of the most unique and beautiful forms of knowledge of art in the world.
20:58Several efforts to translate the slabs have been made, with no solid verdict.
21:03In 1995, one linguist claimed that they were primarily creation chants.
21:07However, his conclusions are still being questioned today,
21:11making this one of the toughest historical nuts to crack.
21:14It's unique.
21:15And if we lose it, we lose part of the history of Rapa Nui.
21:18Number 27.
21:20Tonus Heraklion
21:21Although we already know ancient cities existed,
21:24finding the remains of one can still feel unreal,
21:27especially when they're underwater.
21:29Throughout most of contemporary history,
21:31Tonus and Heraklion were assumed to have been two separate areas that existed at the same time.
21:35However, the discovery of artifacts in Abu-Kir Bay led to the shocking realization
21:40that they had been one combined state the entire time.
21:43These fascinating artifacts from lost Egyptian cities were discovered.
21:47While that answered one question, that didn't stop others from popping up.
21:51No one is sure how the municipality met its fate,
21:54although examiners have suggested that severe flooding could have been the cause.
21:58The once magnificent Egyptian cities of Tonus Heraklion and Colopus,
22:02buried under the sea.
22:04Beyond that, less than 10% of the city has been found,
22:07meaning there are plenty of other old conundrums that could potentially be solved soon.
22:12D. The sea had reclaimed the cities where they lay undiscovered for over a thousand years.
22:18Number 26.
22:19The Potomsky Crater
22:20This seemingly simple rock formation has been throwing scientists for a loop since 1949.
22:26Siberia is famous for meteor strikes,
22:29but meteors don't usually make craters shaped like this.
22:33Located in Siberia, the Potomsky Crater consists entirely of broken limestone
22:37and covers a wide expanse of ground throughout the Potom highlands.
22:41Since it was found, there's been non-stop supposition about its origins.
22:45The most popular thesis is that it was caused by a meteor crashing to Earth.
22:49However, some believe that a volcanic eruption was responsible.
22:52Some believe it's cursed and that those who go there will die.
22:56The dispute became so heated that a conference was held in 2010 to discuss each proposition.
23:02Physical markings on the crater have revealed flaws in every hypothesis,
23:06but that hasn't stopped researchers from searching for the answer.
23:10D. I see why it's inspired so many crazy stories.
23:13Number 25.
23:14The Yonaguni Monument
23:16While humans can take credit for most existing structures,
23:19there are some that are questionable, especially when they exist underwater.
23:23Beneath the depths of the Philippine Sea lies the Yonaguni Monument,
23:27an alleged pyramid complete with stairs.
23:29The main structure is over 500 feet long, almost the length of two football fields.
23:35Its appearance has led people to believe that it was a human-made creation
23:38that succumbed to nature and sank below the surface.
23:41However, not everyone is so sure.
23:43Some geologists have posited that it was formed naturally,
23:47citing erosion as the most probable cause.
23:53The man who initially discovered Yonaguni disagreed,
23:57even suggesting it was proof of the fabled lost continent Mu.
24:00While research seems to support the logical reasoning,
24:03there hasn't been irrefutable evidence disproving him yet.
24:06If these stone structures were, in fact, created by humans,
24:10then they would have had to have been carved when the monument was above water.
24:14Number 24.
24:15The Paracas Candelabra
24:17An engraving found by the Paracas Bay in Peru is one of the more peculiar mysteries.
24:22It measures 600 feet tall and is visible from a dozen miles away.
24:26Everything about it baffles historians, from its purpose to how it was made.
24:30Its age is also contested,
24:32although objects found nearby suggest it's been there since 200 BCE.
24:36It isn't even known if the society living there at the time had any hand in building it.
24:41Its mysterious beginnings have remained elusive to this day.
24:45Considering how much we've been able to learn about our past,
24:48the fact that we know next to nothing about something so massive is truly mind-blowing.
24:52Number 23.
24:53The Hestalen Lights
24:54Unidentified lights aren't a new phenomenon.
24:58The Hestalen Lights have been seen in Norway since the 1930s,
25:01but no one is certain what causes them.
25:03And we saw this huge light in the mountainside.
25:08They vary in color and speed, leading to constant speculation.
25:12There are different ideas, both realistic and fantastical.
25:15While there are the usual declarations of them being extraterrestrial in origin,
25:20some of the more prominent theories suggest
25:21they're the outcome of aerial dust particles caused by mining.
25:25It can move slowly, and it can move very fast.
25:30No sound.
25:32There are even suggestions that radioactivity could be behind the spectacle.
25:36While these proposals make sense,
25:38the lack of a concrete explanation has led to people staunchly concluding
25:41their signs of otherworldly life.
25:44It must be something new.
25:47Number 22.
25:48The Sodders
25:48Even though they lost their home,
25:51it still wasn't the biggest tragedy they faced that fateful night.
25:54It was Christmas Eve in 1945 when the Sodder family home suddenly caught on fire.
25:59While both parents and four of their children managed to escape,
26:02the other five were seemingly trapped inside.
26:04Though they had been told their children's bodies had burned up,
26:07they weren't quite so convinced.
26:09The discovery that their phone line had been cut
26:11led them to believe their children were still alive and somewhere out there.
26:15This spiraled into a long-lasting investigation,
26:18where others claimed to see the missing youths for years afterwards.
26:21Even though the last known Sodder passed in 2021,
26:25the search is still kept alive thanks to various web forums.
26:29Number 21.
26:30The Shugbra Inscription
26:31Upon an outwardly inconspicuous monument in England
26:34is a cipher that has mystified countless individuals.
26:37Many have tried to take a crack at the 18th century message,
26:40essentially a series of letters, with little success.
26:43Letters carved into the marble below
26:45are seen by some as part of a secret code.
26:48The estimations range wildly,
26:51with even a few delving into conspiracy theory status.
26:54Some have opted for a more natural reasoning,
26:56such as it being a basic tribute.
26:58Those who believe it could be the key to an ancient mystery
27:00claim that the DM code was mentioned
27:03by the infamous 16th century prophet of doom,
27:06Nostradamus.
27:08However, there's a large subset that's convinced
27:11there's a deeper meaning,
27:12even believing it's a clue that eventually leads to buried treasure.
27:15The truth is still sought after today,
27:18and the memorial serves as proof
27:20that even something mundane can be the source of ceaseless discussion.
27:24The DM code is a relatively modern invention,
27:27yet people have been trying to decipher it for more than 200 years.
27:31Number 20.
27:32The Toynbee Tiles
27:33Boston, Kansas City, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires.
27:37What do all of these locations have in common?
27:40In all of these cities and many more,
27:42embedded in seemingly random streets,
27:44are linoleum tiles containing cryptic messages about death.
27:48New York, D.C., Boston,
27:50the person who made them was a complete mystery.
27:54The phrase,
27:54resurrect dead on planet Jupiter,
27:56is present on many of the tiles,
27:58as well as references to Stanley Kubrick's 2001 A Space Odyssey.
28:02A couple of different theories have been put forth
28:04as to the identity of the tiler,
28:06including a 2011 documentary,
28:08but no proof or admission from the tiler has confirmed any of them.
28:12If it were one person,
28:14why go through the trouble of traveling around the world?
28:17Number 19.
28:18The Hornet Spook Light
28:20It seems a lot higher than the old days,
28:22and it's behind us.
28:24We actually came down pretty far into it,
28:26but it seems to be back there.
28:27We had a neighbor stop by and says it doesn't even live here.
28:30What's in a name?
28:31Well, judging by the spooky phenomena
28:34that occurs in the Devil's Promenade west of Hornet, Missouri,
28:37sometimes a lot.
28:39Also known as the Hollis Light,
28:41the spook light is a ball or group of lights
28:43that's been sighted numerous times around the border
28:46between Missouri and Oklahoma.
28:47And then some nights,
28:49they're spectacular,
28:51and they're frightening.
28:53People have proposed explanations
28:54that range from headlights on Route 66
28:56to atmospheric gases
28:58to the spirits of two cuapa lovers who ran away together.
29:02Oh yeah, and aliens, obviously.
29:04Over the years,
29:05a few investigators have laid out evidence
29:07for the headlights' explanation,
29:09but there are still true believers
29:11who think there must be something more to the tale.
29:14We believe it's likely that any of the headlights
29:17from any cars coming all the way down this long hill
29:21to this point could be the ambience of the spook light.
29:27Number 18.
29:29The Overtune Bridge
29:30Don't bring your dogs near this next mystery.
29:33The Overtune Bridge in Scotland
29:34is a seemingly normal bridge like any other,
29:37except for the staggering amount of dogs
29:39that have jumped to their deaths from the structure.
29:42He just looked up and let go right over the bridge.
29:44Local tabloids have estimated
29:46that around 600 dogs have leaped off this bridge,
29:49seemingly for no reason.
29:50I started shouting to David,
29:53Sophie's jumped off the bridge,
29:55she's jumped off the bridge.
29:57It just happens so fast, seconds.
30:00Residents tell of their dogs pausing on the bridge
30:03as if possessed before unexpectedly jumping.
30:05Some dogs have reportedly jumped twice.
30:08Paranormal theories abound,
30:10including spirits and ghosts,
30:12while the most scientific explanation
30:13is that the dogs are smelling wildlife below.
30:16They've no concept of what's on the other side.
30:18They can't see the drop.
30:20But if that's the case,
30:21why this bridge in particular?
30:24Number 17.
30:25The Devil's Footprints
30:26One winter morning in 1855,
30:29residents of Devon, England,
30:30woke to find an eerie phenomenon.
30:32Hoofprints, some four inches long,
30:35were found across 40 to 100 miles of snow,
30:38as well as on roofs, walls,
30:40and even in drain pipes.
30:41Residents might have been able to write the markings off
30:43as belonging to a donkey or another animal,
30:45except they appeared in a variety of unreachable places.
30:49Even stranger,
30:50they were all in a single line
30:52instead of alternating left and right.
30:54No animal walks in such a unique way.
30:57To this day,
30:58no satisfactory theory exists.
31:00But residents think it was Satan himself.
31:03Number 16.
31:04The Disappearance of Benjamin Bathurst
31:06Try rationalizing this one.
31:09Benjamin Bathurst was a British diplomat
31:10in the 19th century.
31:12He was traveling through Germany in November 1809
31:15with his aide Herr Krause
31:16when something strange happened.
31:17They were walking to the carriage together,
31:19but when Krause got in,
31:20he suddenly couldn't find Bathurst.
31:23Investigations uncovered his valuable fur coat
31:25in an outhouse
31:26and pantaloons miles away in the woods.
31:29His wife spent a fortune trying to find him,
31:32but to no avail.
31:33It's thought he was murdered
31:34and a possible skeleton was found many years later.
31:38Bathurst was known to carry pistols.
31:40How could no one have seen
31:41or heard him being taken?
31:43Number 15.
31:44The Phantom Barber
31:45There was more to worry about
31:47than World War II
31:48in the small town of Pascagoula, Mississippi in 1942.
31:51A mysterious person dressed in white
31:53began sneaking into homes
31:54and cutting off locks of people's hair
31:56in the middle of the night.
31:58This phantom seemed to prefer blonde hair
32:00and he was rarely seen in the act.
32:03Though his intrusions were usually non-violent,
32:05police think he used chloroform
32:07to knock out a victim.
32:08And on one occasion,
32:10he beat a couple unconscious with an iron bar.
32:13A suspect was later arrested
32:14and then released.
32:16No definitive identity
32:17has ever been given for this ghastly figure.
32:20Number 14.
32:21The Pollock Twins
32:22Sisters Joanna and Jacqueline Pollock
32:24were 11 and 6 years old respectively
32:26when they were killed in a car accident.
32:29The devastated parents decided to have another child
32:32and gave birth to twins,
32:33Jillian and Jennifer.
32:34These twins shared so many similarities
32:36with the deceased sisters.
32:38including birthmarks,
32:39behaviors and preferences,
32:40as well as memories from before the accident,
32:43that they seemed to be perfect reincarnations.
32:45Many simply dismissed the case as a hoax.
32:48But both parents were convinced
32:50that these twins were their original daughters.
32:53The case is often touted
32:54as evidence of true resurrection.
32:57Number 13.
32:58Sleeping Sickness
32:59This is a scary one.
33:01A sickness began sweeping through the world
33:03shortly after World War I.
33:04And it would become so widespread
33:06it became an epidemic.
33:08It was called lethargic encephalitis.
33:11And it put people in a sort of coma
33:12where they were conscious
33:13but unable to speak or move.
33:16Like living statues.
33:18Close to a million people died.
33:20And millions more were helplessly trapped
33:22in their bodies.
33:23No scientist to this day can explain
33:25what this sickness was or how it spread.
33:28And it is one of the biggest medical mysteries
33:30in history.
33:32Number 12.
33:33The Aurora Incident
33:34We've all heard of Roswell,
33:36but have you heard of the alien shipwreck
33:38in Aurora, Texas?
33:39In 1897, an airship that looked like a cigar
33:42allegedly collided with a windmill and exploded.
33:45People reported seeing a non-human pilot
33:48and papers with an unrecognizable language
33:50that resembled hieroglyphics.
33:52The pilot was supposedly buried,
33:54but the grave marker disappeared.
33:56The cemetery declined a request
33:57from the mutual UFO network
33:59to exhume the site.
34:00The dear Lord is powerful enough
34:02that if he wanted to create another universe
34:05and other people,
34:06he could have done it.
34:07Conspiracy theorists believe
34:08the wreckage was confiscated by the military.
34:11So all that's left are accounts and memories.
34:14Was this a misconstrued event
34:15or a real alien shipwreck?
34:17He's coming!
34:22Number 11.
34:23The Big Gray Man
34:24The Big Gray Man,
34:26known as Amfer L'Amour in Scottish Gaelic,
34:28is not actually a man.
34:31It's said to be a creature or spirit
34:32living in the isolated Cairngorms Mountains in Scotland.
34:36Various accounts of the creature
34:37tell of a tall specter shrouded in mist
34:39that inflicts terrible fear and panic in the victims.
34:42Nearly all accounts report footsteps
34:44following them in the gravel
34:45before they encounter the entity.
34:47Are you going to help me up or what?
34:53Another explanation that's been proposed
34:55is that it's a brock inspector,
34:56where the user's shadow is enlarged on a cloud bank.
34:59We sure hope so.
35:04Number 10.
35:05The Flannan Isles Lighthouse
35:07In December of 1900,
35:09three lighthouse keepers mysteriously vanished
35:11without a trace
35:12on the uninhabited island of El Anmour.
35:15When people went to check on them,
35:17they found a spare oilskin and unmade beds,
35:20suggesting something suddenly aroused them from their sleep.
35:22The mechanical clocks had not been wound
35:24for some time either.
35:25No evidence of foul play was found,
35:27and the bodies were never seen again.
35:30The leading theory is that waves
35:32pulled them into the Atlantic Ocean,
35:33but it's forbidden to leave the lighthouse unmanned.
35:36So why did they all venture outside?
35:39And why did one leave his oilskin suit?
35:41It may forever be a mystery.
35:44Number 9.
35:45The Dancing Plague of 1518
35:47In 1518, in the Holy Roman Empire,
35:50the city of Strasbourg was reportedly struck
35:52with one of the strangest plagues in history,
35:54an inability to stop dancing.
35:57What started with one woman busting some moves
35:59somehow turned into mass hysteria
36:01that lasted for days.
36:03Residents found themselves unable to stop,
36:05and some sources report
36:06that many danced themselves to death.
36:09To this day, no one knows what really happened.
36:12Some believe the residents had ingested ergot,
36:14a hallucinogenic fungi,
36:16while others point to stress-induced hysteria.
36:19Oddly enough, this plague also reportedly occurred
36:21in Switzerland, Holland, and Germany,
36:24though not to the same extent.
36:26Number 8.
36:27The Nazca Lines
36:28These lines are incredibly long,
36:30perhaps miles,
36:32and they're straight as a ruler.
36:33One glyph is mysterious enough.
36:36Over 700 seems unfathomable,
36:38yet the Nazca Lines still continue to amaze today.
36:42They span across two distinct eras in history,
36:44capturing two different cultures' work.
36:46They take the shape of organisms,
36:48from trees to hummingbirds,
36:49and even one that seemingly depicts an astronaut.
36:52This could tie in to the possible reasons
36:54for the line's creation.
36:56It's been theorized that they could either
36:57depict constellations noticed by civilians,
37:00or could be the marker of a place
37:02to observe the stars.
37:03The theories don't stop there.
37:05There are some that adamantly believe
37:06that they are a landing place for aliens to use.
37:09Though the reasoning is more likely much more realistic,
37:12no historian has been able
37:13to quite wrap their heads around them.
37:15From on high,
37:16you can see the Nazca Lines,
37:17a massive geoglyphs,
37:19the largest ever made.
37:21But why are they here,
37:23in the middle of a vast and empty desert?
37:25Number 7.
37:26Bimini Road
37:26This strange rock formation is located in the Bahamas.
37:30The underwater path stretches for exactly half a mile
37:33before ending abruptly.
37:34The limestone blocks seem to have been precisely cut and stacked,
37:38leading some to claim that it must have been human-made.
37:41And all the indications are that it goes back
37:44to the end of the last ice age,
37:46and it's probably around 11,000 to 12,000 years old.
37:50What makes this even stranger
37:51is that some 30 years before divers discovered it,
37:54modern prophet Edgar Cayce said that the road
37:56leading to the lost city of Atlantis was near Bimini.
37:59Geologists argue that this is a naturally occurring formation,
38:03but there are still believers who argue
38:04that it must have been built by an ancient civilization.
38:07Number 6.
38:08The Disappearance of the USS Cyclops
38:11It's one thing when a small dinghy vanishes,
38:13but how does the largest ship in the Navy suddenly disappear?
38:17That's what happened in 1918
38:18when the USS Cyclops was making a trip to Baltimore.
38:21The last message sent from the ship is simple,
38:24quote,
38:25normally when ships disappear,
38:29some remnant or flotsam of the vessel washes ashore,
38:32but nothing whatsoever has been found of the Cyclops.
38:35Even more eerily,
38:36it vanished within the infamous Bermuda Triangle.
38:39No enemy ships were ever reported in the region.
38:43The Navy has called it
38:44one of the most confusing mysteries in its history.
38:47Number 5.
38:48The Ghost Blimp
38:48Picture it, 1942 off the coast of California.
38:53Two U.S. Navy pilots command the Navy's L-8 Blimp
38:55in search of Japanese submarines in waters
38:57not so far from San Francisco.
38:59There were known to be Japanese submarines
39:01operating off the coast.
39:03There had been an attack on an oil refinery
39:06down near Santa Monica, Los Angeles.
39:11There was a great fear that there would be more attacks.
39:14They radio flight control about an oil slick on the water
39:17and are never heard from again.
39:20A few hours later,
39:21that very same L-8 Blimp crashes into a cliff
39:23with no one on board.
39:26Everything in or about the craft was working normally,
39:29the throttles were idle,
39:30and more eerily,
39:31the parachutes and lifeboat were still on board.
39:34To this day, no one knows what happened,
39:36and the personnel involved were never found.
39:39Number 4.
39:40The Bay of Jars
39:41Brazil's Guanabara Bay contains a lot of trash,
39:45but the trash that people cannot explain
39:47is the 200 or so Roman ceramic jars
39:49found submerged in an underwater field,
39:51an underwater field the size of three tennis courts.
39:55According to experts,
39:56these jars trace back to the 3rd century.
39:59However, European explorers
40:00didn't even reach Brazil until 1500,
40:03and the Romans themselves
40:04had little to no incentive to travel that far out.
40:07Thus, it's a complete mystery
40:08why their artifacts would be found there.
40:10Meanwhile, Brazil closed off the area in 1983,
40:14so it's unlikely an answer will ever be found.
40:17Number 3.
40:17The Voynich Manuscript
40:19If you haven't heard of this one, strap in.
40:22The Voynich Manuscript
40:23is a mysterious 250-page book
40:25written in a completely unknown language
40:28and containing odd, otherworldly sketches.
40:31There are theories that the book
40:32might have been written in a kind of encoded Latin,
40:35or that an alien wrote it
40:38while being held captive in a monastery,
40:40or that Leonardo da Vinci wrote it as a child.
40:44Its origin is unable to be fully traced,
40:47so no one knows who created it,
40:49let alone why,
40:50but carbon dating puts it in the early 15th century.
40:52Cryptologists say the writing
40:54has all the characteristics of a real language,
40:56just one that no one's ever seen before.
40:59What makes it seem real
41:00is that in actual languages,
41:02letters and groups of letters
41:04appear with consistent frequencies,
41:06and the language in the Voynich Manuscript
41:08has patterns you wouldn't find
41:10from a random letter generator.
41:11So far, no one has been able
41:13to decode the script it's written in,
41:15despite being worked on
41:16by professional code breakers
41:18from both World War I and World War II.
41:21What strange message lies inside this uncrackable book?
41:24The truth is,
41:25after decades of dedicated study
41:27to try and solve the mystery,
41:29this strange book seems likely to remain
41:31one of our most enduring historical codes to crack.
41:35Number two,
41:36The Max Headroom Hijack
41:37In 1987,
41:39two television stations in Chicago
41:41were hijacked
41:42in perhaps the most surreal act
41:44of video piracy ever recorded.
41:46It takes some pretty significant equipment,
41:49technical equipment,
41:50and some knowledge of broadcast frequencies,
41:53microwave frequencies,
41:54and a lot of power.
41:56Both instances featured an unidentified man
41:59dressed as obscure TV personality Max Headroom
42:01dancing to distorted audio.
42:04The second video,
42:04significantly longer,
42:06saw the man rambling incoherently
42:07in a distorted voice
42:08and being swatted on the behind
42:10by an off-screen accomplice.
42:12He's doing some dry clothing.
42:13Because he's a flippin' nerd.
42:16I think I've got the checks worse than me.
42:19Freckin' rough.
42:23Jesus.
42:25The segments lasted no more than a couple of minutes,
42:30but have gone down
42:30as among the most notorious incidents
42:32in television history.
42:34No one has ever identified
42:36who pulled it off,
42:37or even why.
42:38We can only hope someone comes forward
42:40after all this time
42:41to put an end to this mystery.
42:42My mother is wearing the other one.
42:46But it's dirty.
42:48Of course you can't put my tongue.
42:51Oh!
42:51Oh!
42:52Oh!
42:52Oh!
42:52Oh!
42:52Oh!
42:52Oh!
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43:06Number 1.
43:09The Green Children of Woolpit
43:11According to legend,
43:12in the 12th century,
43:14two children were found
43:15in the village of Woolpit, England.
43:17Their skin was green,
43:18they spoke gibberish,
43:20and they only ate broad beans.
43:22Eventually,
43:22they learned to eat normal food
43:23and speak English,
43:25and they claimed
43:25they were from a different world
43:26where there was no sun.
43:28The boy soon died
43:29of a mysterious illness,
43:31but the girl lived on.
43:32A few accounts
43:33from around the same time
43:34referenced the tale.
43:35One leading theory proposes
43:37that the children were lost
43:38in malnourished Flemish immigrants
43:40from another town in Suffolk.
43:42Others claim
43:42they were extraterrestrials,
43:44or from inside the earth itself.
43:47Have you ever heard
43:48of any of these obscure mysteries?
43:50Let us know in the comments below.
43:52But if the shroud
43:53is truly from the first century,
43:55an event from the Bible
43:56might reveal an answer.
43:58Did you enjoy this video?
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