The worlds biggest historical mysteries are still unsolved. People have been trying for decades or even centuries to solve these mysteries, but they only have reasonable theories to show for their efforts (and plenty that are unreasonable). The eyewitnesses have usually died, and the key evidence is lost in the mists. Often, entire cultures vanished and no written record remains to explain the most amazing achievements. Maybe there was one person who could solve the mystery, and they took the answer with them to the grave. Here are the World’s Biggest Mysteries ranging from geologic puzzles dating back to the deep past to unsolved crimes in the 20th century. century. Most of these mysteries remain unsolved today.
1. Where is Cleopatra’s tomb located?: World’s Biggest Mysteries
The discovery of Cleopatra VII’s burial site, which is considered to be the final pharaoh in Egypt and the last monarch from the Ptolemaic Dynasty after Alexander the Great died, would undoubtedly rank as one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of modern history. No one knows where to start looking.
According to conventional wisdom, Cleopatra’s tomb is located next to her palace in an ancient Alexandria area that has now been submerged under the Mediterranean Sea. The tomb will likely be lost forever if this is true.
Researchers have focused their attention on Taposiris Magna near Alexandria, which is the site of a temple to Osiris – the Egyptian ruler of the realm of the dead. Cleopatra and Mark Antony wanted to be associated with Osiris, his sister-wife Isis and the temple at Taposiris Magna. The Taposiris Magna dig has been transformed into an interactive tourist experience starting at around $21,000 per person.
2. What is the cause of the Great Unconformity in America?
John Wesley Powell, an American geologist, was exploring the Grand Canyon in 1869 when he noticed something odd. As tools and techniques advanced, it became apparent that over a billion years worth of rocks were missing in some parts of the Grand Canyon. Since the missing time immediately precedes the Cambrian explosion–the period when evolution seems to have kicked into high gear and life on Earth suddenly and rapidly diversified–scientists would very much like to know more about it.
The rock strata have many gaps or “unconformities” but one billion years is huge, even when viewed in geologic terms. Geologist Kalin McDannell told science magazine Eos that it is the difference between a few missing pages in a book and a whole chapter torn out. Since Powell discovered the anomaly at the Grand Canyon, other places around the world have also noticed it. In some places, the gap is two times as big, which represents more than 40% of Earth’s history.
Where did it go? In recent years, two main theories have been proposed. The first theory says that glaciers removed the rock a few hundred million years ago during the Snowball Earth Period. Rodinia is another theory that could be the culprit. This supercontinent predated Pangaea. It may have carved away large swathes from what became our geologic records as pieces of this enormous land mass broke off, slid across the planet and then smashed together. The Great Unconformity may not be one large gap but a collection of smaller gaps that were caused by different geologic events.
The Great Unconformity may be the answer to another mystery. researchers think the rock that was missing from Earth’s oceans changed the chemistry and sowed it with minerals and nutrients. It could have provided the early life forms with the resources needed to develop useful things such as shells and bones, setting the scene for the Cambrian Explosion.
3. What happened to Roald Amundsen?
Exploration can be a risky business. The Franklin Expedition, a polar exploration mission that began in 1845, saw all 129 of its men die within a few years. Amelia Earhart’s disappearance in 1937 with navigator Fred Noonan, while they attempted to circumnavigate the globe, is still front-page news, even though little progress has been made. Percy Fawcett vanished from the Amazonian Jungle in 1925, while looking for the lost city of Z. We don’t even know what happened to Henry Hudson who was cast adrift after a mutiny on a ship in 1611.
The disappearance is of the legendary Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen. Amundsen was at the forefront of polar exploration. He was the first person to sail through the Northwest Passage, and he also beat England’s Robert Falcon Scott by several weeks to the South Pole. Amundsen did not die charting new territories. He vanished while on a rescue mission, trying to help Italian pilot Umberto Nobile whose airship crashed in the Arctic while exploring it in 1928. Amundsen is believed to have crashed his plane somewhere near Bear Island, in Norway’s Svalbard Archipelago. In 1933, fishermen found something unusual in the area. However, the object was lost in the water before it could even be recovered. A high-tech search in 2009 came up empty. Amundsen is still a mystery. However, according to Norway’s Roald Amundsen House, three items that were found soon after Amundsen disappeared might indicate a crash south from Bear Island.
4. What is the deal with the Salish Sea feet?
The phenomenon seems to have started in 2007 when a 12-year-old girl found a running shoe containing a human foot on the southwestern Pacific coast. A 12-year-old girl discovered a shoe with a human foot in it on a British Columbian beach. since then, more than 20 feet have washed up on the Salish Sea coasts of Canada and the United States. This embarrassing phenomenon has led to a variety of sinister theories, ranging from the plausible (a serial murderer is at work) and the fantastic (it must be aliens). The science community has asked us to calm down and look at the facts.
has ruled out foul play, and determined that some of the feet were from people who died by accident or suicide. There are roughly 8.7 million people who live on these beaches, and a correlation exists between the density of the population and the number of corpses found in the water. If it’s natural, then why are there only feet in the water? Why was it only recently that this began to happen? Why only the Salish Sea shores?
We can also benefit from science in this case. Most drowning victims in the Salish Sea, including those who are most likely to die there, tend to sink where the soft tissue of their bodies is eaten by animals that live at the bottom of the sea such as crabs or lobsters. Soft tissue holds our feet in place, but it can become detached. If they’re tucked inside running shoes or hiking boots that are made of lightweight, buoyant materials–technology that began to develop rapidly around the time the feet started washing ashore–they’re likely to bob up to the surface, where the Salish Sea’s distinctive combination of geography, wind conditions, and currents conspire to deposit them on beaches rather than carry them out to the open ocean. We can mark this as “solved” for all practical purposes.
5. What happened to Mary Celeste?
Arthur Conan Doyle is to thank if you have heard about Mary Celeste. Conan Doyle’s sensational 1884 short story, “The Fictional Marie Celeste”, about the unsolved abandonment in 1872 and the fate of 10 passengers would have likely been forgotten. Instead, the American merchant vessel became one of history’s most famous maritime mysteries.
Doyle’s fictionalized account of a missing African artifact, a murderous rebellion led by an American-born slave, and a missing African artifact did not help solve the mystery surrounding Mary Celeste, its captain, wife, 2-year-old girl, and seven-man crew. The official investigation conducted many years ago also failed to find any reason why the crew would have abandoned such a seaworthy ship. The hold was filled with three and a half feet of water, a pump was dismantled and the lifeboat had disappeared. The ship was still safe and operational when it was discovered drifting near the Azores Islands. Its crew had no problem sailing 800 miles to Gibraltar to file for salvage.
In 2006, a University College London chemistry professor proposed a possible solution: An explosion caused by a “pressure wave type of explosion”, caused by the cargo of the ship – around 1700 barrels of industrial alcohol – and some unknown spark caused only minor damage but scared the crew to abandon the vessel. Other researchers have dismissed the theory. The mystery surrounding the Mary Celeste is still unsolved. However, the storytellers continue to be inspired by it. Season 4 of True Detective, for example, was partly inspired by the abandoned vessel as well as the Dyatlov pass incident, a historical puzzler.
6. Why and how were the Olmec heads made?
The Olmecs flourished in the region between 3200 and 2400 years before the Maya and Aztecs established sophisticated civilizations. The Olmecs were the first civilization in Mesoamerica and are often referred to as a “mother culture” which influenced the many peoples that followed. The Olmecs had a vast trade network, and they were skilled engineers, but their art is what we remember them for. We have found 17 colossal stone heads, which are the best examples of their work.
The mystery surrounding the heads has two layers. The first is their sheer size. Some are almost 10 feet high and weigh on average 8 tons. This would have posed a logistical challenge. Each head was carved out of a single basalt volcanic boulder. These boulders were moved over 50 miles away from their source. How did they manage it? Why did they do it?
Most archaeologists believe that the heads depict powerful Olmec leaders. However, some think they may be ballgame players that were not very good. Some theories have been proposed as to how the heads were transported such a long distance, including wooden rollers, enormous rafts and temporary causeways.
7. Who was D.B. Cooper?
A study of historical mysteries is incomplete without the story of D.B. Cooper the only person in history to have hijacked and fled a commercial aircraft in the United States. Cooper is in a different category. We still do not know the identity of Jack the Ripper the Axeman from New Orleans or the Zodiac killer, for example. Cooper’s crime was not violent, but it was bold. He only showed a flight attendant what he thought was a bomb.
Cooper took a flight to Seattle from Portland, Oregon the day before Thanksgiving, 1971. After 3 pm, Cooper handed a note to a flight attendant, showed her his alleged bomb and demanded $200,000 cash and four parachutes, saying “No funny things or I will do the job.” The plane landed in Seattle and traded the passengers and flight attendants to Cooper for his ransom. It then took off.
Cooper, wearing only a business suit and possibly a trenchcoat, jumped out of the plane as it flew somewhere between Seattle, Nevada, and Reno. He had two parachutes and $200,000, which is about $1.5 million today. The ensuing NORJAK manhunt, which stands for “Northwest Hijacking,” lasted over 45 years. It produced 800 suspects, but no arrests. Cooper is a folk hero for many. He has inspired songs, movies and TV shows. There are even podcasts. Books. And an annual CooperCon gathering.
Cooper is unlikely to have survived the jump. It was so dangerous, that an experienced parachutist probably would not have even attempted it. Some of the ransom cash was discovered near the Columbia River in 1980. This led some to believe that Cooper may have parachuted and drowned. However, a study conducted in 2020 found the bills were exposed to the water between May and June, not November. The FBI dropped the case officially in 2016. Amateur sleuths continue to try and solve the mystery. One theory claims Cooper was a transgender named Barbara Dayton who died at age 76 in 2002.
8. What happened to the Flannan Island lightkeepers?
A whole category of historical mysteries is devoted to vanishings – people who seem to have vanished into thin air without leaving any physical clues as to what happened to them. Jimmy Hoffa’s case is a textbook example. Nearly 50 years after he disappeared from the parking of a Detroit-area restaurant, the body has not been located. But 75 years ago, Scotland investigated its mysterious disappearances – three of them.
A steamship’s crew, passing the Flannan Islands in December 1900 noticed that the lighthouse was dark. On December 26, a replacement lighthouse keeper discovered the Flannan Island structure abandoned. There were no signs of its occupants, but the storm that had ravaged the island was evident: supplies were scattered across the land, iron railings had been twisted and a large boulder had been thrown.
In the investigation that followed, it was assumed that the men were swept away by the storm. However, troubling details remained. If the men were in the storm as was assumed to be the case, then why did one man leave behind his raingear? The shepherds who were grazing their sheep on the isle suggested that the men died because of a powerful marine jet that would occasionally shoot large volumes of compressed water into the air. One man may have stayed behind to watch as the other men went into the storm to get equipment. He then saw the conditions from the lighthouse were perfect for water to erupt and ran out to warn his two friends. Unfortunately, all three were swept away by the storm. Some people discount the compressed-water explanation but most agree that the three men were all outside, doing something. For some reason, the third man was compelled to rush outside. The mystery was further heightened by the stories that Wilfrid Gibson, a poet, created a few years later about an overturned chair, and partially eaten food.
9. Was King Arthur real?
There’s a big question we don’t know: Did Arthur exist?
The Welsh poem, Y Gododdin dates to the 6th or the 7th century. However, it is not as simple as that. There are two versions of the story, both written many centuries later. Only one mentions Arthur. Scholars disagree on whether the Arthur reference was a 7th-century original or a 13th-century addition.
The first explicit accounts are found in the 9th-century Historia Brittonum. documents the 12 battles fought by a British commander named Arthur against the Saxons. In the 12th battle, he is said to have killed over 900 enemies by himself.
In the 12th century, Cleric Geoffrey of Monmouth added to Arthur’s legend with his Histories of the Kings of Britain. Later Arthurian poetry and romances also included now-familiar features such as the Round Table or the quest for the Holy Grail. Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur, which many consider to be the definitive King Arthur story, was not written until the 15th Century.
It’s important to know which version of Arthur we are talking about when we ask if he existed. If you’re asking about the version that started with Geoffrey, a glorious king once ruling most of Europe, then it is likely not. It is unlikely that he was ever recorded in history. The Historia Brittonum may have had some truth to its earlier account of Arthur as a great leader. It’s possible that the author got some details wrong – it would have been impossible to have one man fight in all twelve battles – but it is not impossible that there was a military leader in the dim past who united Britain’s fractured tribes against the Saxon invasion.
10. What happened to Roanoke?
The plan for England to colonize North America was not a smooth one. By the time artist-turned-explorer John White and about 115 colonists arrived on Roanoke Island off the coast of modern-day North Carolina in 1587, the settlement already had a reputation. It had been abandoned once in 1586, and a garrison of 15 men who were later then interpreted to mean “certain proof” that the colonists would be safe at Croatoan. A storm prevented him from going to find them. He was never able to raise enough money to fund another expedition.
White’s claim that “their safe being at Croatoan is not supported by hard archeological evidence” remains unproven. Researchers believe that the settlers either died at the hands of hostile Native Americans or were absorbed by more friendly Native populations.
Archeologist Charles Ewen believes that the idea of a strange disappearance is a modern one. He told The New York Times that colonization failures were not unusual. (Ewen is, however, sceptical of the Croatoan theory due to the lack of evidence.) Andrew Lawler is the author of The Secret Token, Myth, Obsession and the Search for the Lost Colony. He told Salon in 2020 that the “Lost Colony” was a product from the 19th century, when the idea of colonists’ assimilation with Native Americans, according to Lawler, was taboo.
11. Who is the killer of Black Dahlia?
Unsolved crimes have been committed throughout history. Assassination and disappearance The Zodiac murders in the Bay Area of the 1960s terrorized residents of the Bay Area. No American murder has captured the attention of the public quite as much as the brutal killing of Elizabeth Short. The young woman will always be remembered by her sensational nickname, “The Zodiac” Black Dahlia.
On January 15, 1947, Short’s body was discovered in a vacant lot in Los Angeles and her brutal treatment remains shocking today: her face had been horrendously disfigured, her body cut in half and some organs removed – among many other acts of torture and mutilation. Unfortunately, no arrest was ever made about Short’s murder; thus causing it to remain open until recently when new theories suggested Orson Welles or Bugsy Siegel as possible suspects for her killing.
Los Angeles Police Department investigators looked at numerous suspects, such as George Hodel a surgeon whose social circle included Man Ray and The Maltese Falcon director John Huston. After learning his father was under suspicion for Short’s murder in 1999, Steve Hodel decided to clear his father’s name by researching who killed Short. Unfortunately for Steve, his investigation only confirmed his suspicion that George indeed killed Short. Steve published his findings in 2003 in a well-received but somewhat controversial book but later lost credibility by accusing his father of being The Zodiac Killer!
In 2018, British author Piu Eatwell claimed to have identified Short’s killer. Her book Black Dahlia, Red Rose presented Eatwell’s theory as being Leslie Dillon – previously one of LAPD’s favourite suspects decades earlier), nightclub owner Mark Hansen and Jeff Connors as possible conspirators, though Eatwell suspects some connection between law enforcement officers and some or all these figures; she speculates they might even have covered up some aspect of this case as it may never be solved definitively.
12. Who built Stonehenge?
The popular imagination has connected Stonehenge with the Druids since the 17th century. However, the timeline does not match up–the first historical references to Druids are from the 4th Century BCE. Stonehenge is most likely to have been built between 3000 BCE and 2000 BCE. If the Druids did not build it, then who did?
It’s possible that there isn’t a simple answer. It is believed that the construction of Stonehenge took place over about 1500 years. the first monument consisted simply of a circle of earthwork surrounding dozens of pits, and perhaps some rocks. Around the time the Egyptians began building the pyramids of Giza, the iconic stone slabs appeared. New Evidence suggests that Stonehenge was built by descendants of Mediterranean Farmers who moved to Northwestern Europe around 6000 years ago.
Stonehenge builders’ achievements were astounding. Some of the stones were from local quarries while others came from a Welsh site located 200 miles away. We don’t know how people without wheels moved the stones into place.
13. What does the Voynich Manuscript say?
14. Why were the Nazca Lines drawn?
The Nazca Lines (or Nasca Lines) are a series of geoglyphs that are carved into the coast plains of southern Peru. While some are just straight lines, others are animals or people.
Researchers on foot first studied the lines in the 1920s. But it was not until 1930 that commercial pilots flew over the area and revealed their intricate design. The Nazca Lines were constructed over 1,000 years. They were mainly built by removing dark stones to reveal lighter sand.
Recent research suggests a more earthly purpose: It appears that the Nazca Lines were connected to rituals meant to appeal to the gods for rain. Recent research has revealed a different purpose. It appears the Nazca Lines were used in rituals to ask the gods to send rain. They may have marked pilgrimage routes or ritual points on the Nazca Lines.
15. What is the English of Sweating Sickness?
England experienced five outbreaks between 1485 and 1551 of a disease that was so deadly it could kill a healthy person within hours. Children and elderly people are generally spared. The aristocracy and members of the professional classes and clergy seem to be particularly vulnerable. The epidemics, while short-lived and brutal, did not spread outside England except in a few cases.
The symptoms appeared quickly. According to one report, they included “a sudden, great sweating, with redness on the face and body”, along with headaches, fever, and delirium. Half of the people who were afflicted by this disease died within 18 hours. Anyone who survived the first day was likely to recover, but there is always a risk of reinfection.
It vanished just as mysteriously. Since 1551, the last time we saw it was in 1551. Other than a few minor outbreaks over the years, it hasn’t been seen since. However, in France, in 1861, the “Picardy Sweat” caused nearly 200 small outbreaks.
Over the years, many theories have been proposed. Some have suggested that English sweating illness could be a strain of typhus or anthrax. In 1993, a similar outbreak in the American Southwest led to a more probable answer. Researchers speculated that the hantavirus could also be responsible for the English sweating illness and Picardy sweat. The fact that hantaviruses are spread by rodents could explain the severity of the epidemic in large households and educational institutions. Well-stocked pantries and kitchens would have attracted rats and mice, and staff could have been sweeping up their droppings to aerosolize the virus. According to a paper published in 2014 by the journal Viruses, a definitive answer is unlikely to come.
