The most mysterious mysteries of the world that have been solved. Unsolved secrets and mysteries of our world and all humanity

Unsolved natural mysteries of the world

Stone waves

Our planet Earth will never cease to amaze us. Let me introduce you to another extraordinary place - Wave Rock, located in Perth, Australia. Wave Rock is a stunning rock that resembles the crest of a huge wave, as if someone froze the water and turned it into stone. This is part of Hyden Rock, which according to scientists is more than 2,700 million years old. IN Lately More and more tourists are flocking here, and surfers dream of getting a photo with such a huge “wave”.

Cave of Swallows

Unique creations of nature

Black Rock Desert (USA). This mystical place is located in Nevada. Vibrantly colored geysers, dry river beds and moody cliffs make this a fantastic place.

"Yellowstone National Park." Located in the USA. These hot spring terraces are like living sculptures that are constantly changing due to the gentle flow of water and erosion of the limestone.

"Lake Powell, Glen Canyon." Located in the USA in the state of Utah. National Nature Reserve Glen Canyon, created in 1972, covers an area of ​​more than 1 million acres. This is a rugged desert with numerous canyons stretching for 298 km along Lake Powell. The lake arose as a result of the damming of the Colorado River and its tributaries.

"Dry Valley" Located in Antarctica. This desert is the driest place on earth, and the only part of Antarctica not covered with ice. There has been no precipitation here for several million years.

Socotra Island. It is part of a small archipelago of six islands in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Somalia, about 350 km south of the Arabian Peninsula. Socotra is one of the most isolated continental archipelagos in the world. Despite the hot and dry climate, the island abounds in many extremely rare flora and fauna, a third of which are endemic, i.e. found only here.

Rio Tinto quarry in Andalusia (Spain). The huge quarries of Rio Tinto create a landscape similar to the moon. The quarries are named after the river of the same name, which flows here and washes minerals out of huge craters. Mining has been carried out here for many centuries, so the river turns a bright red-orange color.

"Spotted Lake" The lake is located in British Columbia, Canada. Depending on weather conditions and time of year, the lake crystallizes and turns specific color. Many “spots” - circles of minerals - form on the lake. This is the world's largest concentration of sulfates, as well as silver and titanium.

"Frozen Waterfalls" They are located in Mexico. From Spanish (Hierve el agua) translates as “boiling water.” This is another one of the wonders of the world. They are formed by water with a high content of calcium carbonate, which, as it settles, forms sagging and bizarre relief shapes.

National Park"Arches". The park is located in Utah (USA), near the city of Moab. This is a high-mountain desert, painted in all shades of dark red, in which various natural formations rise (arches, columns, fantastic figures). This place is rightly called one of the “Natural Wonders of the World”.

Stone forest "Shilin". Located in China. This is a stunning example of karst topography. The rocks are made of limestone and were formed by water, which destroyed everything except these tree-like pillars. Since the Ming Dynasty, the Shilin Stone Forest has been known as the "First Wonder of the World."

“Eye of the Sahara” (Rishat structure). Located in Mauritania. This natural formation with a diameter of about 30 km is clearly visible from space. Its origin is still a mystery. Initially, it was believed that the Eye was formed as a result of a meteorite fall. However, modern geologists believe that the Richat structure is the result of erosion.

“The Gates of Hell” (Davraz). This famous burning crater is located in Turkmenistan in the middle of the Karakum Desert. The crater, with a diameter of 60 m and a depth of 20 m, is a well in which gas burns, ignited after the completion of geological exploration work.

Petra is an ancient city. Located on the territory of modern Jordan, at an altitude of more than 900 m above sea level, in the narrow Siq canyon. In 2007, Petra was recognized as one of the new Seven Wonders of the World.

Banaue Rice Terraces. Found in the Philippines in the Ifuago Mountains. They are spread over an area of ​​more than 4,000 square meters. km, at an altitude of 1524 m above sea level. Locals call them the “eighth wonder of the world”: hand-carved terraces on which rice has been growing for 2,000 years.

Ice caves "Eisreisenwelt". There are many ice caves in the world, but the Eisreisenwelt Caves are the largest among them. The total length of the caves is 40 km.

Hummingbird drawing on the Nazca Plateau, Peru.

Goreme National Park, Türkiye

Volcano "Ankisabe", Madagascar. Erosion on slopes.

"Chocolate Mountains" Bohol Island, Philippines "Baccanile Archipelago". Located 800 km west of the coast of Australia. The rocks on the islands are two billion years old.

“Cone on Tolbachik”, Russia. These breakthroughs on the Kamchatka Tolbachik volcano, reminiscent of a Martian landscape, appeared in 1945. The place where the photo was taken is called the “lunar rover base.” It was here that Soviet lunar rovers were tested.

Antelope Canyon, USA

Great Blue Hole, Belize

Crystal Cave of the Giants, Mexico

Deep in a mine in southern Mexico, Chihuahua, lies a group of mineral crystals hidden from human sight. Their height reaches several meters, their shape is usually rectangular, but some are cylindrical, and their color varies from silver to golden. Most likely, the space surrounding the crystals was filled with rock, which was gradually washed away by underground water flows, leaving such unusual formations.

Blue Lake Cave, Brazil

The Mato Grosso do Sul region in Brazil contains many picturesque underground lakes - Gruta do Lago Azul, Gruta do Mimoso, Aquário Natural. The first of them is a natural room, the interior of which is formed by bizarre stalactites and stalagmites, as well as a vast blue lake. Its beauty impresses all tourists who managed to see this miracle of nature; the transparency of the water and its rich bright blue hue are especially memorable.

Giants Causeway, Ireland

The territory, covered with 40 thousand basalt columns of regular shape, was formed as a result of an ancient volcanic eruption. It is located in the northeast of Northern Ireland, most of the columns are hexagonal, but there are columns with 4, 5, 7 and 8 sides. The tallest of them reaches a height of 12 meters, and the thickness of the frozen lava around is up to 28 meters. In 2005, according to a Times poll, the Giant's Causeway was named the fourth wonder of the world in Great Britain (or rather, the fourth wonder of Great Britain)

Fire Falls - "Horse Tail"

This stunning waterfall is located in Yosemite National Park in California (USA). It's called Horsetail Fall.

Catatumbo Lightning

Lightning can be seen from a distance of up to 400 kilometers. They were even used for navigation, which is why the phenomenon is also known as the Maracaibo Lighthouse.

Local defenders environment believe that this unique area should be under the protection of UNESCO.

Fish rain in Honduras

Rain of animals is a relatively rare meteorological phenomenon, although such cases have been recorded in many countries throughout human history. But for Honduras this is a regular occurrence. Every year between May and July, a dark cloud appears in the sky, lightning flashes, thunder rumbles, strong winds blow and heavy rain pours for 2-3 hours. As soon as it stops, hundreds of living fish remain on the ground.

And now the photo gallery unusual places on the planet. All of them are so amazing that they are more similar to the landscapes of other worlds, and not to the surface of our planet.

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Despite the fact that scientists tirelessly unravel and discover, the mysteries in the history of mankind do not seem to decrease. Many mysteries and unsolved secrets remain in the history of our civilization.

Science is applying more and more modern methods and technologies, history is gradually lifting its curtains, but even billion-dollar research budgets and brilliant researchers still cannot answer some very interesting questions, cannot explain the origin of a certain people or where the entire state disappeared.

1. Was there Atlantis?

Atlantis is the most famous of the legendary continents of the Ancient World. Plato wrote about it in detail. She was mentioned in their writings by Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, Posidonius, Strabo and Proclus. According to Plato, the island was located to the west of the Pillars of Hercules, opposite the Atlanta Mountains. During a strong earthquake, he went under water in one day. This happened around 9500 BC.

Atlantis was searched all over the world, from Gibraltar to Peru and Brazil, but today there is not a single scientifically based theory of its location.

2. Was there a Great Flood?

The Flood is mentioned not only in the canonical books of the Bible, but also in the later apocrypha. For example, in the Book of Enoch. The story of the flood can be found in other books, in the Jewish Haggadah and Midrash Tankhuma, as well as in the Sumerian myth of Ziusudra. The first surviving Sumerian flood poems date back to the 18th century BC.

There are mentions of sea trends in the myths of all cultures, but did the flood really happen? Historians cannot yet give a definite answer. However, it is known, for example, that around 5600 BC. There was a real flood in the Mediterranean when, due to earthquakes, the level of the Black Sea rose by 140 meters, it increased 1.5 times, and the Sea of ​​Azov appeared. Perhaps for the inhabitants of those places it was a “global flood”.

3. Who built the pyramids?

No matter how modern reconstructors and scientists struggle to solve the riddle of the construction of the pyramids, convincing versions of the method of their construction have not yet been found. Some experts say that the pyramids were built from ready-made blocks hewn out of the rock, others (Joseph Davilowitz) say that the blocks were made at the construction site from a mixture of stone chips and “geopolymer concrete” based on limestone. The incredible complexity of the process calls into question all hypotheses. The question also remains open about who built the pyramids, slaves or civilian workers, and how many there were.

4. Where did the Mayans go?

The Mayan civilization was one of the most developed, but by the time the conquistadors arrived, only scattered forest tribes remained of the Mayans, underdeveloped and not representing a serious force. They lived in huts and did not build majestic temples and palaces. Where did the Mayans go? The mystery is still not solved. There are many versions, from epidemic and war to alien intervention, but none of them is proven.

5. Who were the Sumerians?

About the Sumerians global community found out only in mid-19th century, when scientists proved that in Mesopotamia there existed a state whose age reaches 6000 years. It was from him that Babylon and Assyria inherited their culture.

It is still unknown where the Sumerians came to Mesopotamia. It is assumed that this was a mountainous region, since in the Sumerian language the words “country” and “mountain” are spelled the same. It also had to be an area with advanced technology - the Sumerians were pioneers in many fields of knowledge, from astronomy to physics. It is speculative, but not yet proven, that this could be in the south of India.

6. Did the Vikings discover America?

The Norman version of the discovery of America is being voiced more and more often, but the Columbus version is still the official one. What's interesting about both of them is that both times America was discovered by mistake (a Scandinavian trader named Bjarni Herjulfsson lost his course due to a storm, and Columbus sailed to India).

There is much less material on the Norman version than on the Columbus version, and not all of them are considered authentic, which greatly undermines its credibility.

7. Who were the Hyksos?

They are called "shepherd kings." It was during their reign that a two-wheeled military chariot appeared in Egypt, which changed the tactics of warfare. Little is known about them. The Hyksos were nomadic tribes, “rulers of the desert highlands,” who invaded Egypt around 1700. BC e. They ruled it for more than 100 years and even founded an entire dynasty of Hyksos kings. The Hyksos were expelled from Egypt only by the founder of the 18th dynasty, Ahmose I, in 1587 BC. e. The question of who exactly the Hyksos were, where they came from and where they disappeared remains open.

8. Why did Neanderthals go extinct?

The human and Neanderthal genomes are approximately 99.5% identical, but this does not mean that we descended from Neanderthals. We have 98% genome similarity with monkeys.

Contrary to popular belief that Neanderthals were semi-savage, they were not. This was a fairly developed evolutionary branch, they even knew how to do musical instruments. The versions of their disappearance are as follows: 1) Assimilation; 2) Cro-Magnon genocide; 3) The Ice Age, which they did not survive because they did not know how to make clothes as they were unnecessary.

None of these versions is yet scientifically legitimized.

9. Where did the Scythians disappear to?

It is believed that Scythia was the first state to disappear as a result of the Great Migration. The Scythians fought with the Sarmatians, Philip and Alexander the Great, with the Goths and Huns. It is believed that after the defeat of the latter, most of the Scythians died, while many became part of the winning army. In history, because of this, there is a lot of confusion with the later definition of the Scythians. Some historians count Chechens and Ossetians among the descendants of the Scythians.

10. Why did Alexander the Great die?

We still don’t know where Alexander the Great is buried. This significantly reduces the chances of finding out the main mystery - why he died in the prime of his life, at 32 years old. The Persians, whom he mercilessly defeated, claimed that the commander was punished by heaven for desecrating the tomb of King Cyrus. The Macedonians who returned home said that the great commander died of drunkenness and debauchery (sources brought to us information about his 360 concubines). Roman historians believed that he was poisoned with some kind of slow-acting Asian poison. According to the most common version, Alexander died of malaria. She does not explain why she made such a “single strike.”

11. Did King Arthur exist?

Almost all of us have known King Arthur since childhood. The Arthurian cycle was a bestseller back in the Middle Ages, and in our time it has become one of the cult phenomena popular culture. Some critics argue that all fantasy literature came out of Arthuriana. However, the reliability of Arthur's existence as a separate historical figure has not yet been proven. Probably, real prototype Arthur had a different name, or this collective image from several prototypes.

12. Why did the plague “mow down” Europe?

There is a lot that is unclear in the story of the European plague pandemic, which literally “decimated” Europe in the Middle Ages. Thus, it was not possible to identify wild rodents known as such, whose habitats would also extend so far to the north. There is no answer to the question of why the Black Death pandemic struck Europe in the same sequence and over the same territories, and for the same time, as the first pandemic - the Plague of Justinian (531-589)? How did its outbreaks flare up synchronously over very extensive areas of Europe, for example, the plague epidemic in Moscow and London in the middle of the 17th century?

13. Where did the gold of the royal family go?

By the beginning of the First World War Russian empire had the world's largest gold reserves, which were estimated at 1 billion 695 million rubles (1311 tons of gold, more than 60 billion dollars at the exchange rate of the 2000s).

The fate of most of the gold reserves of Tsarist Russia is still unknown (“Kolchak’s gold”). This was approximately 490 tons of pure gold in bars and coins, valued at 650 million. According to one version, it was stolen by the Czechoslovak corps, according to another, it was hidden on the orders of Kolchak himself, according to the third, the funds ended up in European banks.

14. Where did the Templar gold go?

The countless treasures of the Templars are still legendary. According to the historian Lozinsky, the chief treasurer of the order was the chief treasurer of France, and the largest debtor of the order was King Philip IV the Fair of France.

After the trial of the Templars, he discovered that there was not much jewelry and gold in the treasuries. Where the Templar gold went is a mystery. It is known that the surviving Templars transported part of the accumulated treasures on ships, but where is not known for certain. If you believe the legends, the Templar gold ended up in Nova Scotia - the territory of modern Canada. It is believed that part of it was transported to the Canadian Oak Island, where the descendants of the temple knights hid it in a cache with numerous traps.

15. Where did the 10 tribes of Israel go?

At the end of the 8th century BC, five-sixths of Jews disappeared completely - 10 out of 12 ethnic groups. They have been sought for for 2,500 years, and are sometimes found in the most unexpected places - from India to Europe. Even in Japan they claim their kinship with the lost tribes. There is a religious movement called Makuya, whose representatives claim that the imperial title “Mikado” itself comes from the Hebrew mi gadol (great). None of the versions is official today.

16. Who built Stonehenge?

The mystery of the megalithic complex Stonehenge has not yet been solved. According to one version, it was built by the Druids, according to another - by the Celts, according to the third - by the ancient Britons, according to the fourth - by Merlin himself. There are those who claim that Stonehenge is a hoax and was built in modern times.

It is also unknown exactly how Stonehenge was built. During the restoration of the complex, which began in 1901 and was completed only in 1964, the stones were rearranged using cranes, but in the Middle Ages there was no such equipment.

17. How were the monuments built on Easter Island?

The most widely accepted theory among researchers is that the moai on Easter Island were erected by settlers from the Polynesian islands in the 11th century. How they did this is still unknown. Thor Heyerdahl's experiments were only partially successful. Its method of transportation was not suitable for multi-meter colossi weighing 50 tons or more. The Norwegian scientist also could not explain how the Maoi wore hats weighing up to two tons.

18. Where was the “cradle” of the Indo-Europeans?

This question still remains open. It was previously believed that the “cradle” of the Indo-Europeans was in India, but linguistic analysis refutes this. As a rule, in the region of origin of any language family There are many different languages ​​and dialects of the same family, and India has only one Indo-Aryan branch of languages. In Central and Eastern Europe In contrast, there are hundreds of varieties of Indo-European languages.

The most reliable, although not proven, version is that the ancestral homeland of the Indo-Europeans was the Volga and Black Sea lands, where archaeologists recorded the Yamnaya culture.

– Cowanchee

Few stories have the power to capture our attention like those that have not yet been solved. Ciphers, riddles and coded public messages tease us with their intrigue: Why is this message encrypted? What great secrets can it hide?

Go figure it out

Despite the efforts of the best historians, brilliant cryptographers and the most dedicated treasure hunters, history is full of mysteries that continue to baffle us to this day. Fictional stories, such as those described in the book The Da Vinci Code and the movie National Treasure, have nothing in common with these real-life mysteries. Take a look at our list of the ten most mysterious unsolved mysteries and unsolved ciphers.

Voynich manuscript

Named after the Polish-American antiquarian bookseller Wilfrid M. Voynich, who acquired it in 1912, The Voynich Manuscript is a detailed 240-page book written in absolutely unknown language. Its pages are also filled with colorful drawings and strange diagrams, images of incredible events and plants that are unlike any known species, which only adds to the intrigue of a document that cannot be deciphered. The author of the manuscript is unknown, but radiocarbon dating has shown that its pages were written somewhere between 1404 and 1438. The manuscript has been called "The Most Mysterious Manuscript in the World."

There are many theories about the origin and nature of the manuscript. Some believe that it is a pharmacopeia describing various knowledge of medieval and early modern medicine. Many pictures of herbs and plants also suggest that it was something like a textbook for alchemists. The fact that many of the diagrams appear to depict astronomical phenomena, coupled with unidentifiable biological sketches, has even led some of the more sophisticated theorists to speculate that the book is of extraterrestrial origin.

But one thing almost all theorists agree on is that this book is unlikely to be a hoax, given the amount of time, money and meticulous work that went into its creation.

Kryptos

Kryptos is a mysterious code-covered sculpture created by artist Jim Sanborn that is located in front of the Central Intelligence Agency headquarters in Langley, Virginia. It is so mysterious that even the CIA itself could not fully decipher its code.

The sculpture contains four encryptions, and although three of them were deciphered, the code of the fourth has not yet been cracked. In 2006, Sanborn gave a hint that the first encryption contained clues to the fourth, and in 2010 he revealed another: symbols 64-69 NYPVTT in the fourth part mean the word BERLIN.

Maybe you can decipher it?

Bale cipher

The Bale Cipher is a set of three encryptions that purportedly reveals the location of one of the greatest buried treasures in the world. American history: many thousands of pounds of gold, silver and precious stones. The treasure was originally obtained by a mysterious man named Thomas Jefferson Bale in 1818 during gold mining in Colorado.

Of the three encryptions, only the second was decoded. Interestingly, it seems that the key to the cipher is the American Declaration of Independence - amazing fact, given that Bale's name is the same as the author of the Declaration.

The decrypted text indicated the location of the treasure: Bedford County, Virginia, but its exact location appears to be encrypted in one of the remaining encryptions. Today, treasure hunters carefully scour (often illegally) the hills of Bedford County in search of this untold wealth.

Phaistos disc

The mystery of the Phaistos Disc is like an Indiana Jones story. Discovered by Italian archaeologist Luigi Pernier in 1908 in the ruins of the Minoan palace at Phaistos, the disc is made of baked clay and contains mysterious symbols that may represent an unknown form of hieroglyphs. It is believed to have been made sometime in the second millennium BC.

Some scholars believe that these hieroglyphs resemble the characters of "Linear A" and "Linear B", written languages ​​that were once used in ancient Crete. Then what is the problem? The fact is that “Linear A” cannot be deciphered.

Today, the disk is one of the most famous mysteries in archaeology.

Encryption from Shaboro

Look from a distance at the 18th-century Shepherd's Monument in Staffordshire, Britain, and you might mistake it for a sculptural reproduction of Nicolas Poussin's famous painting The Shepherds of Arcadia. But look closer and you'll notice the strange sequence of letters DOUOSVAVVM - a code that has remained undecipherable for more than 250 years.

Many of greatest minds Our world has tried to decipher this code and failed, including Charles Dickens and Charles Darwin.

Tamam Shud case

The Tamam Shud case is considered one of Australia's biggest mysteries, and revolves around an unidentified man who was found dead in December 1948 on Somerton Beach in Adelaide, Australia. Besides the fact that the man was never identified, the matter became even more mysterious when a tiny piece of paper with the words “Tamam Shud” was found in a secret pocket sewn into the man’s trousers.

This phrase translates as "finished" or "completed" and is used on the last page of Omar Khayyam's collection of poems, the Rubaiyat. To add to this mystery, a copy of the Rubaiyat was soon found, which contained a strange code supposedly left by the dead man himself.

Wow! signal

One summer night in 1977, Jerry Eman, a SETI volunteer, may have become the first person to receive a message from another planet. Eman was scanning radio waves from deep space in the hope of accidentally stumbling upon a signal bearing the hallmarks of an intelligent race, when he noticed a jump in his measurements.

The signal lasted 72 seconds - the maximum possible measurement duration that Eman's equipment and scanning range allowed. It was loud and apparently transmitted from a place no human had ever been to: the constellation Sagittarius, from a point near a star called Tau Sagittarius, 120 light-years from Earth

Eman wrote the word "Wow!" on the original printout of the signal, and that's why it was called "Wow! signal."

All attempts to recapture the signal failed, leading to great debate regarding the nature of its origin and its significance.

Letters of the Zodiac

The Zodiac Letters are a series of four encrypted letters believed to have been written by the famous Zodiac, a serial killer who terrorized the people of San Francisco during the latter half of the 1960s and early 1970s. The letters were likely written as a way to taunt journalists and police, and while one letter has been deciphered, the other three remain unsolved.

Zodiac's identity has also never been established, although no further Zodiac murders have been identified since the 1970s.

Georgia Guidestones

The Georgia Waystones, sometimes called "America's Stonehenge", is a granite monument erected in Elbert County, Georgia in 1979. The stones contain engravings in eight languages ​​- English, Spanish, Swahili, Hindi, Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese and Russian - and each contains ten "new" commandments for the "Age of Reason". The stones were also installed taking into account some astronomical considerations.

And although the monument does not contain encrypted messages, its purpose and origin remain a mystery. It was erected by a man whose identity has never been precisely established, and who was hiding behind the pseudonym R. C. Christian.

Of these ten commandments, the first is perhaps the most controversial: “Keep the human population below 500 million in eternal balance with wildlife.” Many believe that this is a calling to reduce the human population to a specified number, and critics of the Guidestones have even demanded their destruction. Some fans of conspiracy theories even believe that they were created by " secret society Lucifer" calling for a new world order.

Rongorongo

Rongorongo is a system of mysterious signs inscribed on various artifacts found on Easter Island. Many believe they represent a lost writing system or proto-writing, and may be one of three or four independently invented writing systems in human history.

The signs remain undeciphered, and their true meaning - which some believe holds clues to the fate of the lost civilization that built the statues on Easter Island - is likely lost forever.

Incredible facts

These mysteries still raise questions among scientists and researchers.

1. Holes in the ground in Yamal in Siberia

In July 2015, a 100-meter sinkhole appeared on the Yamal Peninsula in Siberia. Although a team of researchers was sent there in November 2015, the cause remained unknown. Since then, two more craters have opened in the Tazovsky region and on the Taimyr Peninsula.

There is an assumption that the formation of holes in the ground is associated with a gas explosion or an eruption from within the permafrost.

2. Walrus at St Pancras Burying Ground

The St Pancras Walrus was discovered by archaeologists in the old St Pancras Church in 2003. The site was used for mass burial due to a series of epidemics in the early 19th century.

One of the graves contained the remains of eight people along with the bones of a Pacific walrus.

Scientists have never been able to find an explanation for how the walrus' remains got there.

3. D.B. Cooper

In 1971, a man known only by his first name, D.B. Cooper boarded a Boeing 727-100 at Portland International Airport. The flight, which took place on Thanksgiving Day, was headed to Seattle. During the flight, Cooper passed a note to the flight attendant and said he had a bomb, demanding $200,000 and four parachutes.

The flight was delayed two hours to give the FBI time to collect the ransom and parachutes.

The plane landed at Seattle-Tacoma Airport, and once all of Cooper's demands were met, the passengers were released, except for one flight attendant. Cooper ordered the pilots to take off again and head towards Mexico City. On the way, he jumped out and disappeared.

4. Max Headroom Invasion

During the broadcast of an episode of the television series Doctor Who, the television station's signal was interrupted and a man wearing a Max Headroom mask appeared on the screen, making inarticulate sounds.

The reason for this and the identity of the masked man remains unknown, although there are several theories about this.

The blackout lasted just over 90 seconds and occurred on November 22, 1987, which some associate with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on the same day in 1963.

Earlier that day in 1987, the same man had silently interrupted a news program on another television channel.

5. Meat Rain in Kentucky

In the spring of 1876, pieces of meat fell from the sky within minutes in Bath County, Kentucky, and were reported in several major media outlets. According to some eyewitnesses of the event, the meat tasted like lamb.

It is believed that the phenomenon is associated with nostoc, a type of cyanobacteria found in the ground that swells into a jelly-like mass when it rains.

6. The Man in the Iron Mask

You may have heard about this story in books and films, however historical truth about this person may seem even stranger.

For more than three centuries, people are still trying to figure out the identity of the man who was mysteriously imprisoned and forced to wear a mask to hide his identity.

7. Hinterkaifeck Farm Incident

This incident has it all distinctive features horror film: a strange house in the village, complaints about ghosts, the sounds of footsteps in the attic and, finally, the brutal murder of an entire family by an unknown person.

This crime remains one of the most mysterious in the history of Germany.

8. A real night hunter

The unidentified serial killer, also known as the "Golden State Killer" and the "East Rapist," committed a series of crimes in Sacramento County over the course of a decade, including robberies of more than 120 homes, the rape of 45 people and the murder of 12.

He was known to call victims beforehand, and sometimes afterwards, to abuse them.

The perpetrator of these crimes is believed to still be alive, and the FBI recently launched a campaign in hopes of finding the man who managed to evade justice for so long.

9. Rumble

We truly appreciate silence when it disappears, especially if it concerns some incomprehensible sounds.

A hum is a persistent, low-frequency noise that people have heard in different parts of the world from the UK to New Zealand. However, the source of the sound cannot be explained.

10. The ship "Mary Celeste"

"Mary Celeste" is one of the most famous examples ghost ships - a ship with a crew that disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

The ship was found abandoned off the coast of Portugal, leading to much speculation as to what happened to its crew.

11. Signal "Wow!" 1977

Signal "Wow!" is a radio signal that gets its name from astronomer Jerry Eyman, who discovered it by writing "Wow!" on his printout.

An unexplained radio signal is believed to indicate the existence of extraterrestrial beings. Despite many attempts, the signal was never received again.

12. Tarrar

Tarrard was a Frenchman who lived in the 18th century and became famous for his strange eating habits and insatiable appetite.

During performances, he ate stones, live animals and a whole basket of apples, but never satisfied his appetite. Despite his gluttony, he was of average weight.

13. Silent Twins

Twins June and Jennifer Gibbons were born in Wales in the 60s and did not interact with other people, speaking only to each other and sometimes in a way that was incomprehensible to everyone else.

The story got even stranger when the twins grew up and were admitted to a mental hospital. They had an agreement that if one of them died, the other should start talking to other people. Jennifer died suddenly a short time later from acute myocarditis, but doctors could find no evidence of poison or drugs in her system, and her death remains a mystery.

After June's death, as agreed, she began to communicate with others.

14. Tunguska meteorite

On June 30, 1908, a major explosion occurred in the area Podkamennaya Tunguska. The nearest city was 60 km away, but still felt the effects. The explosion produced 85 times more energy than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima and leveled about 80 million trees.

Although the destruction is believed to have been the result of a meteorite, no impact crater was found, prompting many hypotheses.

15. Cicada 3301

Every year since 2012, a secret organization has baffled the Internet by anonymously publishing difficult puzzles online. Whether this is some kind of tactics of intelligence services or hackers, or the tricks of some kind of cult, is still not known.

16. Green children of Woolpit

This event took place in 12th century England when the village of Woolpit was visited by two green-skinned children. They spoke a strange language and claimed that they came from the underworld, where other green people lived.

17. Voynich Manuscript

The Voynich Manuscript is a manuscript written in an unknown language with an unknown alphabet, containing diagrams and drawings, dating back to around the 15th century. Researchers have been trying to decipher the strange book for centuries, but they have never been able to do it.

18. Taman Shud case

The Taman Shud case involves the discovery of a dead man on the Australian coast. He did not have a passport and his identity could not be established. An autopsy showed that he was poisoned, but there were no traces of poison.

The case became even more confusing when an expert examined the man's body 4 months after his death. In his pocket he found a small piece of paper with the inscription "Taman Shud".

These were the last words in the collection of poems "Rubaiyat" by Omar Khayyam, which translates as "completed." A piece of paper was torn from a book that was in a car near the beach. The book contained the nurse's phone numbers and a coded message that the police were unable to decipher.

The nurse reported that she gave the book to a man named Albert Boxall. However, after some time, Boxall appeared alive, and he had the same book with the last words.

19. Disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370

One of the unsolved mysteries remains Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared on March 8, 2014. There were 277 passengers and 12 crew members on board the international flight from Malaysia to Beijing. The last contact with ground services took place less than an hour after takeoff, and the plane itself disappeared from the radar screens a few minutes later.

Military radar tracked the plane for an hour after the incident, watching it veer off course until it disappeared into the Andaman Sea.

There were no distress calls, warnings of bad weather conditions, or reports of technical problems. The plane is believed to have crashed in the Indian Ocean, but the wreckage has never been found. Theories regarding the disappearance range from black holes to alien abduction.

20. Serial Killer Zodiac

The Zodiac is one of the most famous unsolved murders in history. In 1969, he killed at least five people in San Francisco.

Zodiac himself sent coded letters to newspapers and confessed to several murders, but he was never found. Several suspects have been interviewed, but the crime remains unsolved.

Many scientists have been trying to unravel the mysteries of the past for decades, putting pieces of the puzzle together. But there are artifacts and historical moments that are still shrouded in mystery.

1. Nazca geoglyphs

Geoglyph is a drawing on the surface of the Earth. In Nazca, similar images are made in the form geometric shapes or animals. It looks like they were carved on a hard surface.

To a person on the ground, they appear to be a plexus of lines. yellow color. Only once in the air can you see full-fledged figures: fifty-meter monkeys and spiders, condors 120 meters wide, or lizards one and a half times longer.

No one can say exactly how old the geoglyphs are. They can only be dated approximately. It has been proven that all this was created at different times. The first of them appeared in the 6th century. BC e. And the last ones - in the 1st century AD. e.

2. Mummies from the swamps of Europe

Back in the 17th century, it was mentioned that human mummies were found in the peat bogs of Denmark, Germany, Ireland and neighboring countries, which were perfectly preserved. Some are even worthy of display in museums.

Each body found was carefully studied by many specialists. Traces were found on everyone violent death: cut throat, affected areas from strangulation and blows, broken major bones, punctured head. Sometimes all at once.

For example, the “man from Lindow” lost his life due to an ax in his skull. The "Boathouse Woman" died because of the letter V, which was found deep in the back of her head. The “Kayhausen teenager,” who was no more than 15 years old, was found tied up so tightly that he could not even move.

Until now, many experts argue about what exactly it was: execution or sacrifice. After all, each of those found was dealt with cruelly.

3. Easter Island Statues

It is known that graceful stone creatures are the remains ancient civilization. They are noticeably different from those seen in other parts of the Pacific Ocean.

The structures were first noticed by the Dutch traveler Jacob Roggeveen, who ended up on the island on Easter Day.

In 1955, Thor Heyerdahl, with the help local residents in two weeks I was able to erect one such statue vertically. Using beams, they lifted the block several meters and placed large stones under it. This was repeated until the sculpture was in the desired position. But how exactly the hats weighing several tons ended up on their heads is not yet known.

4. Pope Joan

Medieval biographers report that Pope Ionna was born in 882. Since childhood, she loved to study and adolescence went to Athens to obtain the necessary knowledge. At that time, any education related to religion was unavailable to the fair half. Therefore, she decided to impersonate the young man John the Englishman.

When the girl ended up in Rome, she was noticed due to her learning, beauty and piety. After some time, she managed to become a cardinal. And after Pope Leo IV was appointed successor. From the outside, no one had any idea about the trick. But during the next festive procession, Joanna suddenly gave birth to a child right in front of everyone. Soon she died.

After this, starting from 1000 and for five centuries, a mandatory ceremony was carried out, during which the gender of the chosen one for the throne was checked.

This story was considered authentic back in the 13th century. Already in the 15th century they decided to challenge it. In the 16th century, historians had little doubt that this was all fiction. It was believed that the legend appeared as a result of someone's joke, when women dominated the Pope's court - 920-965.

Similar phenomena were noted in late XVI century, when Alexander VI Borgia appointed his mistress as a “medieval accountant”. At the same time, her brother, at the age of 25, without having the corresponding rank, became cardinal-treasurer and bishop of three dioceses. After that, he took the throne under the name Paul III.

It is also known that during the military campaign of Alexander VI, by his own appointment, his youngest daughter was on the throne.

5. Tomb of Genghis Khan

Until now, the best minds in the world have not been able to figure out where exactly the grave of the famous Genghis Khan is located. This place attracts many. It is of unique historical value. In addition, according to legend, incredible wealth is hidden in the ground along with the deceased. According to some estimates, two billion dollars worth of precious stones, weapons and gold can be found in the grave.

After his death, Genghis Khan's body was returned to his place of birth. Now this is Khentii aimak. It is assumed that the great military leader is buried next to the Onon River. Along the way, everyone who met the funeral escort was killed. The slaves who performed the burial were slaughtered. And then the executioners who carried out the execution also died.

There are several legends that explain why searchers fail to find the grave. According to one of them, Genghis Khan’s followers laid a riverbed directly above the burial. On the other hand, a thousand horses were driven across the dug up ground, and then trees were planted on top.

6. Origin of the Basques

The Basques are considered one of the most incredible historical mysteries. At one time they occupied a small part of modern Spain and France. The first thing that is noted is that this people had a unique language that did not overlap with others present in neighboring regions. Genetics also managed to establish that these are people who had the highest percentage of Rh factor in their blood - 25. The difference between these people and others living in the neighborhood stands out noticeably.

Most scientists believe that the Basques can safely be called the indigenous inhabitants of Europe. They came from the Cro-Magnons, who appeared in these places 35 thousand years ago. Presumably, these people decided not to change their location anymore, since no evidence could be found to refute this until the arrival of the Romans.

7. Time Travelers

Scientists have recently become increasingly confident that time travel is possible. And numerous facts serve as proof.

For example, this photo shows the opening of the South Fork Bridge in British Columbia, which occurred in 1941. In the frame you can see a person who clearly stands out from the rest.

He has short hair, dark glasses, a sweater over a T-shirt, and is holding a modern camera.

This image can often be seen these days. But for the 40s it seemed strange. Experts conducted their own investigation, during which they managed to find the person who participated in those events. But, unfortunately, he did not remember the “strange” stranger.

The authenticity of the photo has been proven several times using various analyses.

8. Ancient Swiss watches

This small object was found in a Ming Dynasty burial site. The tomb was opened in 2008 while filming documentary. To the surprise of the operator and archaeologists, a Swiss watch was found inside.

The former head of the Guangxi Museum, who then took part in the expedition, shared: “We were removing soil from the surface of the lid when suddenly a small piece of rock bounced off and fell to the floor from metallic sound. The object looked like a ring. But when we cleaned it of dust, we discovered a miniature dial.”

At the same time, we were even able to see the Swiss inscription inside. The Ming Dynasty ruled China until 1644. At that time, they had no idea that such technologies would ever become a reality. At the same time, experts claim that this tomb has been closed for the last 400 years and no one has ever been in it.

9. Ancient computer

In Kamchatka, several hundred kilometers from the village of Tigil, the St. Petersburg University of Archeology found unexplained fossilized remains.

According to the head of the excavations, this discovery surprised scientists, but could completely change history. Special analysis showed that these were originally metal parts that form a mechanism that is not yet understood. The most amazing thing is that the find dates back 400 million years.

10. Voynich Manuscript

The Voynich Manuscript is a mysterious book from the 15th century that no one has been able to decipher until now. It was written between 1404 and 1438 unknown author. In addition, the words inside have still not been translated. They are made up of a strange alphabet, which no one knows about either.

Book size: 23.5x16.2x5 cm. It contains about 240 pages. The manuscript has been repeatedly studied by many cryptographers, archaeologists and historians. No one could even come one step closer to deciphering even a single word.

After futile attempts, some experts came to the conclusion that the pages contained random characters that were in no way related to each other. Others adhere to the theory that the paper contains not only information telling in detail about that time, but also data about the future.

11. Jack the Ripper

Jack the Ripper is a serial killer (or killers) who committed several high-profile crimes in London in 1888. All his victims are girls prostitute from the poorest neighborhoods. The maniac cut their throats, after which he opened the abdominal cavity. He took some organs. It is believed that the killer had good knowledge of anatomy.

Only recently, a collector who purchased a shawl allegedly belonging to one of the victims handed it over to specialists. Using careful testing, they isolated the DNA of the alleged maniac. It turned out to be Pole Aaron Kosminsky, who came to England to work as a hairdresser. Despite this, many have criticized this method, since it does not definitively prove the emigrant's involvement in the murders.

12. Crystal Skulls

Many experts have been trying to solve the mystery of the origin of crystal skulls for a long time. No one yet knows who could have created them and how?


Scientists talk about 13 heads made of rock crystal. All of them are kept in museums or private collections. Artifacts have been found in Tibet and Central America. The exact time of their production has not yet been established. In addition, the tools with which this can be done are not known.

13. Ancient aircraft

The Incas, Aztecs and other peoples living in pre-Columbian America are known not only for their amazing pyramids and strange rituals. They also left behind many small figurines. One of them turned out to be the so-called “ancient aircraft”, which resemble modern aircraft in similar elements.

Initially, experts believed that these were simply figurines of insects or birds. However, it turned out that they have parts more similar to modern aircraft: stabilizers, landing gear, etc. No large aircraft of that time could be found. What the ancient tribes wanted to show by this is not yet known.

14. Phaistos Disc

The Phaistos Disc is a small clay round tablet that was found in 1908 in the Minoan Palace in Italy. Her secret still remains unsolved.

There are various unknown symbols on the plate. It is believed that this language was created in the 2nd century. BC. Some people think that the drawings resemble the hieroglyphs of Crete. However, they cannot find the decryption key. This disc is currently one of the most famous riddles archeology.

15. The Taman Shud case

So far, the best inspectors have not been able to solve the Taman Shud case. It was also called "The Case of the Mysterious Man of Somerton."

The case was opened when the body of a man was found at half past six in the morning in the city of Adelaide, Australia. He was on Somerton Beach. It was never possible to establish who the deceased was. Then experts found out that death occurred as a result of drug poisoning.

In addition, a piece of paper found in a secret trouser pocket caused a stir. There were only two words written on it - “Taman Shud”. These were words taken from a rare book by Omar Khayyam.

The police managed to find the required copy, which was missing the last page. On the back were several words written in pencil, resembling a code. It was never possible to find out what exactly was written there.

To this day, this case remains one of the most confusing and mysterious.