Mysteries That Experts Think They Might Have Solved But The Jury Is Still Out On

There are plenty of mysteries that are still a mystery to many of us. They can be small things that affect us minimally, like knowing where we left the keys to the house the night before. But, there also are types of mysteries that are far more intricate. Some of them simply go unsolved for decades, and in some cases, for hundreds of years. Luckily, in some situations, many of these happenings do get solved. Still, after countless hours of investigation from many amateur bounty hunters, mystery solvers, theorists, scientists, and more, we can know more about ancient mysteries. Thankfully, with the aid of modern science and technology, we can remove the veil from the confusion-ridden riddles that surround us all. Here we are going to review diverse well-known and not-so-well-known enigmas that have taken place throughout history. Many of these have also received extensive amounts of media coverage. We hope that you enjoy our following selection of mysteries that have been claimed to have been solved or almost solved with the aid of science and investigation. Grab a cup of coffee, have a seat, and start traveling down history’s mysterious past.

Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is based on expert theory and research conducted by scientists, anthropologists in the field who think that they can finally explain some of the mysteries that have had people wondering for years… Please note that some of these cases have not been proved as solved.

Disappeared man (David Lee Niles)

The story of David Lee Niles is a rather strange one. He was a man that had to deal with cancer and depression. Eventually, he went amiss, and no one could find him. Later, he was presumed dead since nobody had found him thereafter.

What’s stranger is that his car could be seen on Google Maps. It was known that it was actually him, after having been able to recognize his identity thanks to his wallet containing his ID, and also after having his car discovered by a nearby crane operator.

Rust-resisting pillar

Alien conspiracy theories are a commonplace recurrent theme. They usually spread virally due to the Internet and how fast news travels on it nowadays. You can tell that most of the theories are not even close to the truth. This rust-resisting pillar is one of them.

As tempting and convincing as alien theories can be, the reality is that the pillar was coated with a specific material, which helps to “repel” rust in a way. It still is a breakthrough achievement given the time when it was created, around 450 CE.

Bosham head enigma

Bosham is a location in West Sussex, in England. The town holds around 2722 people, according to a 2016 census. These are trivial details that are just an introduction to something not so trivial that happened many years ago.

The notorious Bosham head enigma remained unresolved for two centuries, and it was later discovered that it was Trajan’s head, an Ancient Roman emperor. That head weighs around 350 pounds or 159 kilograms. All that is left is the remains of the eye sockets.

Paul Fronczak

Paul Fronczak is a person who was kidnapped as a child. His replacement child didn’t realize until later on in his life that he did not look quite like his “parents.” Something didn’t add up. Apparently, Fronczak got kidnapped by a woman.

He is the man that appears in the picture above. Now, we can breathe a sigh of relief knowing the mystery has been solved, and there are many updates written by “Paul Fronczak” himself, so the whole situation has come to a halt. It’s still a crazy story nonetheless.

Corpse candles

You may ask yourself: “What is a corpse candle?” Corpse candles are lights that follow deceased people that are being carried through marshes and other similar places. There have been numerous stories about them, but here are the actual cold, hard facts. 

What creates the illusion of luminescence is the methane gas or fungus created by the “rotting corpses” moving through the night. This creates a cool, visual effect that makes it seem as if candlelight is following the corpse.

Roswell UFO

This next one raises many conspiracy theories. The mother of conspiracy theories is the 1947 Roswell incident, where a UFO allegedly crashed in Roswell, New Mexico. What really happened is going to surprise you since it isn’t what you’d expect.

What really happened in Roswell in 1947, or we should say what experts believe, is that an oddly shaped balloon actually crashed in that site since the object was used to spy on the Soviets during their atomic bomb tests that befell during those times.

Terra-Cotta Army

The Terra-Cotta Army is a set of soldier statues discovered somewhere around 210 BCE. It is one of the world’s most known forms of burial art, and it’s a part of the UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites located in China.

One of the many mysteries surrounding these sculptures is why there were remnants of paint all over them. Due to extensive investigation, theorists arrived at the conclusion that it happened as a result of a strong type of lacquer that was common during ancient times.

Woman in a slanted house

Some phenomena make people doubt physics. This is the perception of the lack of gravity in certain buildings or houses. People are seriously enticed (and so are we, not gonna lie) to the whole idea of zero gravity on Earth.

Well, that, my friend, is not possible. We don’t want to bring you down (sorry for the pun,) but most of the houses where there seems to be no gravity present are built on slants that reinforce this optical illusion.

Anastasia Romanova

Anastasia Romanova was one of the children of Nicholas II, the last emperor of Imperial Russia. Much folklore was formed around the whereabouts of this young lady who perished somewhere around the beginning of the 20th century. Here’s what experts believe…

She did not assume any other identity, nor did she disappear. She died in 1918, but her remains were found in 1979, and the test to prove her identity was done in 1991. Another myth laid to rest due to technology.

Woolly mammoth

Sometimes, weird unexplainable things happen in the science world. Scientists never really quite understood why many woolly mammoth fossils that were discovered are female instead of male. Now, this reason will be a little more clear for you.

You may feel tempted to throw a bad joke in the air about why there are only male fossils, but the explanation is straightforward. In female-led herds, some male mammoths were dismissed from them, making them engage in risky behavior for survival.

Florida Sinkhole

If you ask yourself, “What is a sinkhole?” Here, we have the answer for you. It is a kind of geological depression where deep holes in the Earth are created. For many obvious reasons that are not going to be stated, these are dangerous.

As wonderful as this place sounds and looks, this river called the Aucilla River is home to a massive sinkhole that holds loads of human history, as mastodon tusks were found in the depths of this sinkhole. Most of the fossils that can be found here are from the Pleistocene era.

Carlina White

The case of Carlina White’s kidnapping is the first documented case of a non-parent kidnapping in the City of New York. The case raised a lot of attention. She was born in 1987, and she ended up meeting her biological parents 23 years after.

For those who are wondering, the woman who raised her, Annugetta “Ann” Pettway, pleaded guilty to allegedly having kidnapped her as a child. Nowadays, Carlina White is a mother herself. Few details are known about her current life, but her case still resonates.

Kerala colored rain

Kerala is an area in India located in the West. This state became famous worldwide for an uncanny reason; it rained red (literally) for a period of two months. People didn’t understand what was happening. It looked quite like this image:

As crazy as it sounds, there is a reason for it, and it is surprisingly simple. It happened because of a strong presence of spores in the air, released by a surplus of environmental green algae. It happened in 1818 as well.

Shroud of Turin

The Shroud of Turin is one of the most controversial cases that exist today, mostly because it combines two age-old rivals: Science and Catholicism. It was believed that the Shroud was created by an imprint from Jesus. But, is it?

This linen cloth continues to attract tourists from all over the world. Experts and theories are still not one-hundred percent positive that this was an ancient relic of Jesus. However, when scientists tested it back in 1988, radioactive carbon revealed that the cloth originated from 1260-1390AD.

Circular marks on the fields

If you’ve ever watched Signs, a film starring Mel Gibson, you are most certainly baffled whenever you see pictures of suspiciously perfect and symmetrical marks left on fields. If you want to find out more about these weird circles, keep reading.

Many theorists and UFO experts believe that these are created by UFOs either on purpose or perhaps from them landing in the fields. No one really knows for sure why this happens, but they are way bigger than they look in the picture!

Bermuda Triangle

The Bermuda Triangle is an infamous area in the ocean recognized for numerous disappearances of ships and planes, to the point where no one even dares to enter or fly over the area. It’s encompassed by Florida, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico. Hence, the triangular shape is formed.

It is very tempting to blame it on some sort of paranormal entity that makes everything that comes into contact with it go amiss, but the numbers do not lie. Vanishing and accidents happen here often, almost more than any other place in the world.

Loch Ness monster

The Loch Ness monster, or “Nessie,” as inhabitants like to call it, is a creature that supposedly exists and that many have claimed to have seen somewhere along their journey. Does it exist, though? We are about to find out.

It is believed that the aforementioned was an abnormally large eel that surfaced for a short period of time. The thing is, for the locals in the United Kingdom, the legend has provided for a considerable amount of local tourism, which is also beneficial.

Flying dutchman

The “Flying Dutchman” is an integral part of the sea lore, as it is about a ship that supposedly went amiss and was never able to find its port, having to suffer its fate for the remainder of its existence.

Once again, reality strikes us cold. The most likely reason for the reflection created by the ship is a common mirage that happens from light and diverse variations of densities. This phenomenon is called “Fata Morgana.” Cool name it has, doesn’t it?

Ancient pyramids

Aliens get quite a rap for many of the unresolved mysteries that take place around us. They are accused of being the quintessential culprits for the appearance of the complex pyramids. As for everything, there seems to be a coherent reason.

People usually say that it was impossible for the Egyptians to drag all those heavy rocks around, let alone drag them up a period during construction. And, to some extent, they are right. The scientists at the University of Amsterdam realized that some form of lubricant was used for that.

Ancient Indus (no river)

While there is no register of any formal legend of these people, the Indus is the earliest-known civilization that could be considered urban on the Indian subcontinent about 5,000 years ago. What strikes surprisingly is that they survived without having water nearby.

How could such a thing ever happen? Well, you are asking all the right questions. They actually DID rely on water. But, they collected it in a different way, as they used monsoon water to fulfill their urgent hydration needs.

Tsavo lions

We don’t know if you are anything like us, but being eaten alive by felines, such as lions, is one of the things that scare us the most. If you are somewhat sensible, you should be at least a bit frightened by this, too.

Once upon a time, around 1898, a couple of lions rose to prominence because they started eating humans for no apparent reason. Why would this ever happen? Because they were hungry? Not really. Because of jaw pain. That is crazy!

Starchild skull

According to the paranormalist Lloyd Pye, Starchild Skull is a skull that was believed to have belonged to an alien child. Yes, he thought this child was extraordinary because his skull was unlike any other. However, he was unfortunately proven wrong.

This skull did not belong to an alien but to a 5-year-old with a condition called, Hydrocephalus, which is congenital. That is the explanation why it has quite an abnormal shape. A DNA test helped bury this unlikely notion.

Richard III

While this character effectively existed in his time, his body remains were a riddle for many years to come. Somewhere in Leicester, United Kingdom, the remains were found. But the findings were not as glamorous as you would think since he was found in a parking lot.

Richard III was born in 1452 and used to be the King of England. He remained a king until his demise in the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. He was the last king of the House of York, after a long dynasty, and of the Plantagenet dynasty. Researchers stumbled upon his remains in a parking lot in 2012.

Mary Ingalls’s blindness

Mary Ingalls was the daughter of Charles Ingalls and Caroline Ingalls. She is very well-known for being Laura Ingalls’s sister. Many people believe that her blindness was caused by scarlet fever, yet that is not true, and we’re here to tell you why.

What caused Mary Ingalls to go blind was viral meningoencephalitis, which has severe side effects, like brain and spinal cord swelling, which caused many other troubles for her as well, like face paralysis and constant headaches throughout her life.

Blood Falls

The “Blood Falls” are a glacier fall found in the Taylor Valley in Antarctica. Strange, spooky, and out of this world. As eerie and graphic as it can seem, the bloody resemblance has a substantial reason as to why it happens.

Again, science comes to save the day, unveiling another mystery. The reason for that strong red color is because iron oxide gets mixed with the water, which creates that shocking and albeit beautiful color—one of the many wonders of nature.

Will-O’-The-Wisps

“Will-O’-The-Wisps” are basically sightings of emanated gas from places like swamps and marshes that were once believed to be ghosts, according to witnesses. We can see why they thought this way. What’s cool is that they create different visual effects, adding to the lore and mystery.

Nerd fact: The “Will-O’-The-Wisps” is composed of different gases, which occur due to the oxidation of substances such as methane, phosphane, and diphosphate. This creates a luminescent effect. Therefore, it creates an effect known as “bioluminescence.” Once again, chemistry debunks another myth.

Easter Island heads

“Easter Island” is considered to be a part of Chile, a South American country. It lies in the Pacific Ocean. The island is the host of the very well-known carved heads that bode there. They are a sighting of their own because they are grand structures.

What is even cooler is that these heads were carved with autochthonous tools somewhere between 1250 and 1500 AD. Not only do they all have enormous heads, but attached they have gigantic bodies that accompany them too! Talk about great mysteries, huh?

Plane chemtrails

While these are certainly no mystery, some people like to believe that governments use jet engines to contaminate people and the environment in order to succumb them to their power. These trails are thought to be the proof of this.

The reality is that these chemtrails, or really “contrails,” are created by hot water vapor that freezes upon contact with the cold atmosphere. In case you didn’t know, the temperatures can get quite low up there, hence the awesome-looking visual effect.

Santa María ship

Most people learned about Christopher Columbus by going to school. And many of us learned that he arrived in the United States in 1492 with the aid of three vessels: Santa María, La Niña, and La Pinta. But let’s get to the bottom of it.

One of his vessels, Santa María, disappeared without ever leaving a trace of evidence behind it. But, thanks to a discovery in 2014, one scientist “strongly suggests” that he found the remains of this ship off the north coast of Haiti.

Strange foot tracks (Yeti)

This creature goes by many names. Yeti, Bigfoot, Sasquatch, just to name a few. From all of the existing theories about crazy-looking creatures, this is the one that by far stands out the most. Maybe it is because it is related to snow or something that sounds remotely viable.

Honestly, let us be real. This is most likely an extra-large bear. That doesn’t sound as fly as a gigantic bear-human creature of abnormal size, but it is what it is. Testing has been done where it has allegedly been sighted, and that is the conclusion.

The Potato Famine

Even though millions of conspiracy theories are going around, and most are just noise, as there are no (or almost any) documented cases of such deaths. It’s probably for the best. But some of them are true, like the Potato Famine in Ireland that began in 1845.

As we already said, this famine caused over one million deaths and resulted in the exile of many Irish citizens between the years 1845 to 1852. The cause of this? An organism closely related to a fungus called Phytophthora infestans infected the crops, ruining three-quarters of them.

The “Bloop”

For those of you who aren’t familiar with what “The Bloop” is, it is a sound that can be heard underwater. This particular sound somewhat resembles the scream of a monster. Is it actually a monster? Let us figure this one out.

Occam’s razor states that sometimes the simplest answer is most likely the correct one. Here, we can vouch for that since “The Bloop” is nothing more than an ice-quake underwater caused by a broken iceberg detected through submarine radars.

Egyptian helicopter

Egyptian hieroglyphics should have a whole category of their own. A plethora of confusing signs, lack of information, and visuals that tell a story. All you need is a vast imagination, and you have a full supply of water for conspiracists.

A very familiar conspiracy theory for those who are up to date with them is that the Egyptians predicted the creation of the helicopter, as one of the hieroglyphics looks quite like one. Scientists, later on, discovered that it most likely meant something else related to the repulsion of enemies.

Crystal skulls

This one is going to be a stinger for those of you who are fans of Indiana Jones. We feel as if we were telling a child that Santa Claus does not exist. Okay, here it goes: Crystal skulls did not solely belong to ancient Aztec civilizations.

How dare we make such a bold statement? Very easy. Most of the evidence pointed out by experts highlights that both the materials and the techniques used for the creation of the skulls are anachronistic regarding that civilization (they were produced later on).

Exploding Hindenburg

Once again, this is not a conspiracy or mystery in itself, but there have been conspiracies surrounding the causes for the Hindenburg Zeppelin wreck that took place on May 6th, 1936. Now we are going to reveal to you what the experts believe.

What really happened is that a thunderstorm created static electricity, therefore electrically charging the Zeppelin, creating a spark, and causing an explosion because of the hydrogen levels present. Unfortunately, almost one-third of the crew died in that horrible accident.

Tunguska Blast

In Tunguska, located in Russia, an explosion took place in 1908. Once again, theorists managed to fabricate diverse causes of their own, resulting in many different possibilities fueled by hearsay. With a bit of research, the truth can be conceived.

What happened in the Tunguska blast of 1908 was that a meteor crashed in that area, resulting in an explosion that burnt hundreds of miles of cold Siberian forests. This event is considered the largest asteroid impact ever recorded.

Lost army (Cambyses II)

Around 524 BC, a Persian king called Cambyses II took an army of 50,000 men to an oasis, only to go amiss and never to come back. Where could they all have disappeared? Many theories have been issued, but the following is what most experts believe.

According to experts and anthropologists, what happened was what the ancient stories used to say all along. They disappeared in a sandstorm. This was backed by the finding of bronze weapons and human bones in the region of the Saharan desert.

The Odyssey

“The Odyssey” is a famous poem written by the Greek poet Homer. It is a universal piece of writing that is still read by thousands of readers on a daily basis and is studied in universities across the world, as are many other classic poems.

What is strange among so many things in this list is that the oldest documented copy of the poem thus far dates back only to the 18th century. It had some notes written in a type of writing that was not able to be detected or translated until fairly recently.

Another flying UFO

If we are going to delve into conspiracy theories, you cannot deny that almost half of the theories that exist today revolve around UFOs. Thousand of people have claimed to see one. There are even shows dedicated to these fascinating objects.

This, once again, is our beloved 1947 UFO from Roswell, New Mexico. But, this is another picture of the flying saucer actually levitating in the air. As we already told you so before on this list, many experts believe that this ship was created to spy on the Soviets.

Sailing stones

If there is anything that could always creep us out, and we’ll go ahead and take a guess that it probably scares you too, is the idea of self-moving stones. Lucky for us all, there is a coherent, non-paranormal justification for that…

The thing is that these self-moving stones DO move on their own, but not in the way you’d expect, like levitating off the ground. Their moves are facilitated by thin layers of ground ice and strong currents of wind. Imagine being able to witness it!

Cambyses II (once again, but on a horse)

This takes us back to what we already covered in this list, related to the Persian king Cambyses II and his army of 50,000 men that disappeared from a sandstorm. However, before this, a battle was held between them and the Ethiopians. Check this cool image out:

Nowadays, we know that these soldiers vanished in a sandstorm because of the scientists Angelo Castiglioni and Alfredo Castiglioni from the University of Lecce. Thankfully, scientists like these unveil mysteries on a day-to-day basis.

Bigfoot film 1967

Revisiting one of our favorite subjects with further Bigfoot conspiracies, if you are into these, you have most likely heard about the 1967 film that theoretically shows Bigfoot loitering around California. Dear readers, we have to inform you this is a hoax.

The film was shot by Patterson-Gimlin, and it was stated by Greg Long that a man named Bob Heironimus wore the suit for Patterson to film him, as the latter was sick with cancer, and needed a source of income, so they decided to make this film.

Ourang ghostship

For all the hoax fanatics reading this article out there, we have another one for you. This one is not as well-known as the urban legends that depict the famous Yeti or the Flying Dutchman. This one is about a ship whose crew left a Morse code.

The Morse code read that all of its crew members were dead. This was proven wrong, as there are no existing records of the Ourang ship, and it was also proven that the ship that supposedly helped them, the Silver Star, did not hold any records of this happening.

Nazca lines

The Nazca lines in Peru are an ancient tribe-alien collaboration conspiracy theory. It is even conspicuous nowadays how they managed to draw such symmetrical shapes without helicopters or drones since they didn’t exist back then. The murals they created in the dessert are extravagant. Now you’ll see why:

An experiment was done in order to determine how they were able to handle these drawings on the ground without any airborne help. Hence, a set of scientists tried to use the technology that was available during this time and was able to recreate the drawings with ropes and stakes. 

The Mayans

One of human history’s impending enigmas is why and how did the Mayans disappear. Many alien conspiracies are related to this event, but we have a sufficient explanation for you to read that will make this more clear, as with everything else so far here.

Suffering a similar fate to what we all will probably face in the near and distant future, they went extinct because they chopped down too many trees in order to create more space for crops to grow. As a result, this created environmental degradation.

Fish and frog rain

You would definitely call us crazy if we told you that people used to think that fish rained out of the sky and landed in the Ocean not so long ago. And when we say not so long ago, we mean even after the caveman days.

What actually happens when there is “fish rain” is that some species of fish can “walk,” which explains why such a thing would occur. Some time ago, it was believed that strong storms would “pick” the fish out and drop them on dry land.