The last hundred years have borne witness to humankind’s
extraordinary technological advancements. Man has walked on the moon,
ventured deeper into the oceans than ever before and even uncovered the
building blocks of life, DNA. But even with our inexorable progress as a
species there are still mysteries and enigmas the solutions to which
elude us. Below is a selection of 10 of the most puzzling mysteries in
history.
10) The SS Ourang Medan
In
June 1947, a chilling SOS message was picked up: “All officers
including captain are dead lying in chartroom and bridge. Possibly whole
crew dead." This was followed by some indecipherable Morse code, and
one final grisly message... "I die." Then, silence.
It was picked
up by nearby ships and listening posts, who identified the vessel as the
Dutch freighter SS Ourang Medan and located it within the Strait of
Malacca that separates Indonesia from Malaysia. The nearest merchant
ship, The Silver Star, raced to her aid. The Silver Star was soon
alongside the Dutch ship and their boarding party found a macabre sight:
every member of the crew lay dead, their corpses scattered on the
decks. More than this, their eyes were still open and expressions of
sheer terror were etched on their features. The Silver Star’s party
found the radio operator dead too, his hand still on the Morse sending
key, eyes wide open and teeth bared. There were no sign of wounds or
injuries on any of the bodies.
The decision was made to tow the
mysterious ship back to port, but before they could get underway, smoke
began emanating from the decks below. The boarding party hurriedly
returned to their ship and barely had time to cut the tow lines before
the SS Ourang Medan exploded and swiftly sank.
It has been claimed
that clouds of noxious natural gases could have bubbled up from
fissures in the seabed and engulfed the ship; even aliens and ghosts
have been cited as possible explanations for the Ourang Medan’s macabre
and mysterious demise. To this day, the exact fate of her crew remains
an impenetrable mystery.
9) The Aluminum Wedge of Aiud
In
1974 (or 1973 depending upon which source you believe) a curious
aluminum wedge was discovered on the banks of the Mures River in
Transylvania, near the city of Aiud. It was found buried deep beneath
the sand alongside two mastodon bones.
Upon examination, the
object – which resembled a hammer head – was found to be encased in a
one millimeter thick layer of oxide which suggests that it is some
300-400 years old. A second, Swiss investigation confirmed the results
of the first examination. Furthermore, as it was found with mastodon
remains it could even be as much as 20,000 years old.
Aluminum is
abundant in the earth’s crust but it is always combined with other
minerals and the wedge predates the technology used to extract it. An
aeronautical engineer suggested that the wedge is similar to the foot of
landing gear used on spacecraft. The scientific community believes ‘the
wedge was made on earth and its purpose is not yet identified’.
Unfortunately, the Aluminum Wedge of Aiud is currently locked away in a
secret location; however, some photographs of the curious, unexplained
object do exist online.
8) Dulce Base
Supposedly,
a top secret subterranean complex is carved into the rock below the
Archuleta Mesa in Dulce, New Mexico. Claims that the base is a ‘genetics
lab’ in which humans and extraterrestrials cooperatively conduct
disturbing experiments have been made by various ‘leaked documents’,
witness reports and even an ex-employee.
Strange humming sounds
that seem to emanate from the earth near the town of Dulce have added to
speculations of an underground facility, as have the presence of
military helicopters that have been spotted around the area.
An
author with the nom de plume of Branton claims to have interviewed
former workers at the base who said: "[There] are experiments done on
fish, seals, birds and mice that are vastly altered from their original
forms. There are multi-armed and multi-legged humans and several cages
of humanoid bat-like creatures up to seven feet tall. The aliens have
taught the humans a lot about genetics, things both useful and
dangerous." The U.S. government denies the base’s existence, but that
doesn’t stop the speculation.
7) BEKs
Chances
are you have not heard of BEKs (Black Eyed Kids) yet. Sightings of them
are few and far between but via the internet they are growing in
number, and the reports describe close encounters that are not only
weird, but also frightening.
The stories almost always start with a
ring of the doorbell. One, two or more children appear on a ‘victim’s’
doorstep and ask for help: they need to use the toilet, make an urgent
phone call or relate another tale of distress. They ask to come in,
plead in some cases, but the homeowners never let them in due to an
unexplained feeling of terror that overcomes them. Perhaps it is the
BEKs’ entirely black eyes that induce the overwhelming horror; perhaps
it is because, as one ‘witness’ described, their faces appear as
slightly blurry. The mysterious encounters don’t stop there, either:
“For a period of three days straight, [the BEKs] kept showing up on my
driveway. When the police came they were nowhere in sight. After that,
they never showed up on my driveway, but every once in a while, I will
see them in the downtown area, like they are following me. They will be
behind a tree, I will drive to another section of Sacramento and I would
see them again or I will see them on the side of the road as I am
driving by and they will stare at me.”
One man did let the
children in. They claimed to need to use the toilet and phone, but it
was only when they entered into the house that he saw their peculiar
eyes and felt the full force of dread. The BEKs moved towards him,
saying that ‘they had come to collect him’. He fled the house in terror.
6) The Piri Reis Map
Currently
located in the Library of the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, the Piri Reis
map is a puzzling enigma. It outlines the coast of western Africa, the
eastern coast of South America, and even a section of the northern coast
of Antarctica (thought to have been discovered 300 years after Piri
Reis’s lifetime). Furthermore, the map shows the coastline without its
glacial covering. Geological evidence suggests that Antarctica was last
in this ice-less state in 4000 BC. Reis was a famous Turkish admiral
whose passion (understandably for a seafarer) was cartography. Taking
advantage of his rank and his privileged access to the Imperial Library
of Constantinople, his 1513 gazelle skin map was built upon the work of
others, with some of his cartographical sources dating back as far as
the time of Alexander the Great. The map also seems to detail more about
the topographical features of South America than Europeans were thought
to have in 1513, such as the Andes.
5) Commandment Rock
An
80 ton boulder on the side of Hidden Mountain in New Mexico bears a
puzzling inscription. Carved into the stone’s flat side is what has been
interpreted by some to be a version of the Ten Commandments in a form
of ‘Paleo-Hebrew’.
Discovered by academia in 1933 by archaeology
Professor Frank Hibben, it had been known to locals for decades, and the
guide who led Hibben to it said he had known of it since the 1880s – a
date which, if genuine, means the rock’s authenticity is likely, as the
Paleo-Hebrew script was then unknown. This means it outdates Columbus’s
discovery of America and suggests that people from Israel or Phoenicia
(who used a similar language) discovered the continent centuries before
it was thought possible. Skeptics draw upon punctuation and grammatical
‘errors’ as evidence of it being a fake, while others still doubt this
debunking.
4) The Somerton Man
In
the early hours of December 1, 1948 a dead body was found lying on
Adelaide’s Somerton Beach. The man was judged to be in his early forties
and in good physical condition. Curiously, all the labels were missing
from his clothing, he had no identification and his dental records did
not match any known person.
Even the coroner and Scotland Yard had
no luck finding out the man’s identity or cause of death. The mystery
deepened when a piece of paper with the printed words “Tamam Shud” on it
was discovered in a secret pocket concealed within the dead man’s
trousers. The scrap of paper was traced to a rare edition of a book
entitled The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, the back of which contained some
kind of a code. Numerous unsuccessful attempts by amateurs and
professional codebreakers to crack it have failed. The identity of the
deceased man and even the cause of death remain unsolved to this day.
The case was never closed by the South Australian Major Crime Task Force
and many individuals continue to work on it.
3) Gef the Talking Mongoose
Also
referred to as the Dalby Spook, Gef was said to be a creature
resembling a mongoose. It was reported to live with the Irving family in
their farmhouse near the hamlet of Dalby on the Isle of Man. Gef’s true
identification remains shrouded in mystery. It has been interpreted as
(among other things) a poltergeist, a cryptid and of course, a hoax.
In
September 1931, the Irvings started hearing strange scratching noises
coming from their farmhouse’s attic. Soon the scratching became more
like a baby ‘gurgling’. The gurgling then evolved to ‘resemble a baby
learning to talk and shortly after to mimic certain words that the
‘animal’ seemingly picked up from the Irving family’. If that wasn’t
weird enough it described itself as a “an extra, extra clever mongoose,”
an “earthbound spirit” and “a ghost in the form of a weasel.” It could
even sing.
The case was investigated by Harry Price, but aside
from a few grainy photographs of a strange animal roaming the fields
outside the house, nothing substantial was ever recorded.
2) The Black Mausoleum – Tomb of ‘Bluidy’ MacKenzie
Edinburgh
is a ghost hunter’s paradise. It seems that there is barely a nook or
cranny of the Scottish capital that doesn’t lay claim to spooky
goings-on of one kind or another, and there is one hot spot in
particular that boasts inexplicable activity which is unusually
well-documented.
George MacKenzie (1638–1691), Lord Advocate of
Scotland, was a merciless persecutor of the Presbyterian Covenanters in
life, and now it seems that he (or something else) has returned from
parts unknown to take up residence in his tomb and continue his
nefarious deeds.
In 1998, a vagrant broke into his tomb and fell
through a rotten lower floor into a plague pit filled with skeletons.
Since then, there have been over 450 reports of strange incidents, from
people having lost consciousness to inexplicable fires breaking out and
an unusually high number of dead animals having been found around the
tomb. Visitors have had their fingers broken, hair pulled and been
punched or kicked by an invisible assailant. Unexplained bruises,
scratches and burns, skin gouges, nausea and numbness are all commonly
reported.
The physical signs of attack often go unnoticed until
people arrive home and relax or return to their hotels for the night.
Witnesses have even reported activity following them home. Whatever
lurks within the Black Mausoleum, it is certainly active.
1) DB Cooper
The
solution to one of the greatest mysteries of all time still eludes
America’s Federal Bureau of Investigation. On the November 24, 1971, a
man in his mid forties and giving the name Dan Cooper (he is also known
as DB Cooper due to a ‘press miscommunication’) hijacked a Boeing 727
aircraft and demanded $200,000 in ransom and two parachutes. His claim
of having a bomb in his briefcase was verified by an air stewardess.
Cooper
was given the ransom money at the Seattle-Tacoma Airport. He allowed
passengers and some members of the flight crew to leave before ordering
the plane to be flown to Mexico.
Soon
after the plane took off, Cooper then opened the rear airstairs and
parachuted into the pitch black, rain-lashed night. A five month manhunt
– said to the most extensive and expensive of its kind – was
immediately launched. Despite $5,880 of the ransom being discovered by a
boy in 1980, no other trace of the hijacker was ever found.
In
2007, the F.B.I. reopened the case, saying that it does not believe
Cooper survived the jump, but expressed an interest in ascertaining his
identity, saying: “Would we still like to get our man? Absolutely.”
Despite
there being hundreds of leads since 1971 (including many deathbed
confessions), Cooper’s identity remains a mystery and the world's only
unsolved skyjacking case.
source : http://brainz.org/10-greatest-unsolved-mysteries/
Tag :
Mysterious
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