20 Bizarre And Baffling Unsolved Mysteries

The world is full of incredible stories. The mysteries that make up this list will strain your belief, and while you read about them, a voice in your head will demand explanations, but unfortunately there are no explanations. Sometimes we live in a world that makes sense, and sometimes we live in a world that is stranger than fiction. These stories renew the cliche saying “anything is possible”, so read on to discover just how bizarre our world can be.

The Dancing Plague

In July 1518, Frau Troffea started to dance fervently in Strasbourg, Alsace. Over the course of a month, around 400 people joined in, and they all danced without pausing to rest. Many of those afflicted soon died of heart attacks or strokes.

The Feet of Salish Sea

Since August 2007, detached feet have been showing up on coasts along the Salish Sea. What’s stranger is that the detached feet usually are wearing shoes. The feet found thus far belong to five men, one woman, and three others of indeterminate sex.

The Hairy Hands

Since 1910, a stretch of road in the U.K. has provided a string of fatal vehicular accidents. From cars and motorcycles to carriages and bicycles, the victims report that disembodied “hairy hands” took hold of their vehicles to throw them off the road. Others have reported that the hands were invisible.

Flight MH370

On March 8th, 2014, Malaysia airlines flight MH370 lost contact an hour after its takeoff. No distress signal was ever sent, and the transponder signal was lost. What’s stranger is that a captain of another flight succeeded in making contact with flight MH370, but only heard a mixture of static and mumbling. Furthermore, two Iranian passengers had used stolen passports to get on the flight, and another four passengers had checked in but never showed up.

The Wow! Signal

Named after the “Wow!” exclamation Jerry R. Ehman, a volunteer for the SETI project, wrote in the transmission printout. In 1977, while scanning radio waves, he noticed the instruments spiking. The signal was powerful and came from the constellation Sagittarius, which is about 120 light years from earth. No similar signal has been detected since.

Stonehenge

Stonehenge is a monument in Wiltshire, England. Its purpose is uncertain. Estimated to be over 5,000 years old. The stones were transported about 160 miles from Wales, and this was done before the wheel had even been invented. The stones align perfectly with the midsummer sunrise.

The Overtoun Bridge

In the 1950’s, dogs started to inexplicably jump from this bridge near Dumbarton in Scotland, only to find their deaths at the rocks below. What’s even stranger is that they jumped from the same spot, and only long-nosed breeds were affected. People believe the overwhelming smell of mink is to blame.

D. B. Cooper

D.B. Cooper is the name given to the aircraft hijacker. On November 24th, 1971, Cooper received a ransom of $20,000. He then jumped out with a parachute of a Boeing 727 as it was flying over the Pacific Northwest and Southern Cascades. He was never seen again, nor was a body found. But in 1980, an 8-year-old boy found $5,800 on the shores of Colombia River. The bills’ serial numbers matched those of Cooper’s ransom money.

The Shroud of Turin

This cloth has the shadowy image on it of a man who seems to have died from crucifixion. Catholics consider it the burial shroud of Jesus Christ. Currently it is kept in the Cathedral of St. John. Despite many investigations and testing, no one understands how the image was imprinted.

Jack the Ripper

During late 1888, the Whitechapel area of London was terrorized by a handful of murders. The victims were prostitutes and had their throats cut and bodies mutilated. Sometimes the victims were found only moments after Jack the Ripper had left. The killer sent a letter to the newspapers claiming he was the killer and signed it “Jack the Ripper,” but his true identity remains unknown.

The Mary Celeste

After passing through the hands of several owners, the Mary Celeste was bought at a New York salvage auction. The new Captain Benjamin Briggs set out in November 1872 with his wife, daughter, and crew of eight for Genoa, Italy. A month after her departure, the ship was found floating in the Strait of Gibraltar, but its crew was missing along with the lifeboats. There were no signs of struggle, nor was its store of alcohol disturbed. The captain’s log was also left behind but shed no light on the matter.

The Voynich Manuscript

This medieval manuscript is written in an unknown script and language. Attempts to comprehend it continue to prove futile, but judging by the illustrations, the manuscript seems composed around six themes: herbs, biology, astronomy, pharmacy, cosmology, and recipes. Carbon dating puts this manuscript between 1404-38, so if it’s a hoax, it’s an old one.

The Taos Hum

The Taos Hum is a low-pitched sound frequently heard in Taos, New Mexico, but has also been heard in other places in the USA, U.K., and northern Europe. It requires a quiet environment to be heard, and has often been described as a diesel engine. The odd thing is that microphones or VLF antennae cannot detect it.

The Zodiac Killer

“I like killing people because it is so much fun,” wrote the Zodiac killer in one of his letters. Over a period of 10 months during 1969, this serial killer terrorized Bay Area residents, shooting and stabbing various people. He sent letters to different newspapers along with cryptograms that he claimed held his true identity. Only one was ever solved. The investigation went on for years, but he was never caught.

The Pollock Twins

In 1957 two sisters died in a car accident in England. About a year later, the mother gave birth to a pair of twins. The younger twin had birthmarks in the same spots as the younger sister of the deceased. The twins would also request certain toys that belonged to the deceased sisters, and they would often ask to visit a park they had no prior knowledge of.

The Green Children

A brother and sister showed up in Woolpit of Suffolk, U.K, in the 12th century. They had green skin, spoke an unrecognizable language, and would eat only pitch from bean pods. The boy grew sickly and died shortly after he was baptized, but the girl survived and eventually learned English. She claimed they had come from the “land of St. Martin,” a place where the sun never rose vey high.

The Dighton Rock

This rock is covered with petroglyphs and was originally found by the Taunton River in Massachusetts nearly 300 years ago by an English colonist. Efforts to decode the glyphs continue to prove futile.

Cicada 3301

This one is still fresh. For the last few years, a group calling itself the “3301” hosts an online and nearly impossible puzzle game. It comprises elements from mathematics, data security, literature, philosophy, and cryptography. Actual physical clues have shown up all over the world. The 3301 claims it’s looking for intelligent people, but hasn’t revealed why.

The Babushka Lady

In the footage of the JFK assassination, a lady wearing a brown overcoat and babushka (a type of scarf) appears repeatedly. Often she is seen to be using a camera, and she lingers around after most people have left. The FBI publicly requested that this lady come forward, but she never did.

The Aluminum Wedge of Aiud

In 1974, an object resembling the head of a hammer was found next to mastodon bones, which would indicate it to be around 11,000 years old. But this object is made of an alloy of aluminum and encased in oxide—and aluminum wasn’t discovered until 1808. What’s even more confusing is that the object was confirmed to be nearly 400 years old.