The Greatest Unsolved Enigmas of All Time (21 Pics)
Everyone is familiar with Stonehenge. This circular, prehistoric stone formation stands in Wiltshire, England on the Salisbury Plain and is protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. However, the origins for this Bronze Age megalith monument remain unclear. Carbon-dating and related methods point to construction somewhere between 3000 and 2000 BC. With each block weighing several tons, it is unclear how and why people moved these boulders, especially the bluestones of the inner circle. Unlike the sandstone slabs of the outer ring, which come from local quarries, the bluestones came 200 miles from Wales.
At the same time, it is unclear why it was built. While 12th-century legends point to the legendary wizard Merlin, however, archaeologists point to the formation's alignment to the sunset of the winter solstice as evidence of astronomical applications. Other clues include signs of potential worship, nearby evidence of warm water springs, and a burial mound at the center with bones dating from 3000 BC. Even the acoustic qualities of the bluestones may point to their use in healing. Without written records, it is difficult to know for sure.
In 1968, an underwater rock formation was found near North Bimini Island in the Bahamas. It is considered by many to be naturally made, but because of the unusual arrangement of the stones, many believe it to be part of the lost city of Atlantis.
Another curious element of this mystery is a prediction made in 1938 by Edgar Cayce: "A portion of the temples may yet to be discovered under the slime of ages and seawater near Bimini...expect it in '68 or '69, not so far away."
In a more recent expedition, amateur archaeologist Dr Greg Little discovered another row of rocks in the same formation directly below the first, leading him to believe that the road is actually the top of a wall or water dock.
One possible natural explanation is that the Bimini Road is an example of tessellated pavement, a natural phenomenon. Concretions of shell and sand form hard sedimentary rock which over time fractures in straight lines and then at a 90 degree angles.
So, could it be actually the mythical lost city of Atlantis? Or an ancient dock? Or the work of nature?
Man, this looks like a boring piece of metal...perhaps.
Romanian workers at a construction site in the city of Aiud in 1974 made an incredible discovery. Around 35 feet down into a sand trench, they found a pair of mastodon bones dating back around 11,000 years. They also found an even odder object: a 4-pound wedge-shaped piece of aluminium that could not have been crafted before 1825. That was the year metallic aluminium was basically discovered, and yet there sat an aluminium wedge beside ancient mastodon bones from much farther back.
Many people assumed the metal was part of alien landing gear or the remnant of a time traveler's hasty retreat. Although there is room for speculation, the Aiud wedge sees far more likely to be a piece of a modern excavator bucket or similar tool that was lost in the sand in recent times.
This important map of the world was accidentally discovered in 1929 inside of a bundle of disregarded materials at a Turkish museum. The Ottoman admiral and cartographer Piri Reis had crafted the map in 1513 based on military intelligence, charts, and other world maps. These remarkably included Columbus' otherwise lost maps and various sources from the Library of Alexandria. Only around one-third of this gazelle skin parchment survives today, with portions of Europe, North Africa, Brazil, Antarctica, and various island countries.
Wait, Antarctica?
There are numerous legends about the peculiar precision of the Piri Reis Map, in particular, the inclusion of the continental coastline of Antarctica which only added fuel to the mystery. Antarctica wasn't officially discovered until 1820...and under the ice. How could these early map makers have known about the continent in 1513? Mysteries asides this fascinating world map demonstrates the exploration of the New World at the time, and you can view it today at the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, Turkey.
Jesus Christ! Well, really.
Despite decades of intense scrutiny, the Holy Shroud remains an unsolved mystery. This rectangular linen cloth measures 14 feet 5 inches by 3 feet 7 inches, and it bears the imprint of a bearded adult male with hands over his groin. The fabric itself is a flax weave of 3-to-1 herringbone, which would have been elaborate for the time period. However, there are signs of crucifixion wounds, with an upward gouge in the man's side, punctures on his forehead, and other wounds that match those of Christ on the Cross.
Still, the Shroud of Turin is predated by a long tradition of similar religious items, and one of its first records is of a bishop in Italy proclaiming the work a forgery based on an artist's confession. Even the Vatican will not affirm its authenticity, especially after several radioactive carbon dating tests in 1988 found the cloth to date only to the Middle Ages. However, many of the faithful still believe in the Shroud of Turin. They point to the resemblance between its seams and those found in a shroud from a 1st-century tomb in Jerusalem, along with matching dust particles from ancient tombs there.
The Shroud of Turin remains protected under bulletproof glass, just in case.
A little village called Zhangbu in South China, has hidden one of the country's best kept secrets, and one of the most intriguing.
A stone, analyzed to be about 270 million years old, displays modern simplified Chinese characters "ä¸å›½å…±äº§å…šäº¡", meaning "Communist Party of China Perish". 270 million years ago!
Every geologist that visited the site has concluded that the characters on the stone were genuine, and that there is no trace of the characters being made by man.
So...perhaps the dinosaurs actually spoke Chinese and predicted the fall of the Chinese Communist Party?
That night, the Imperial Iranian Air Force based in Tehran started receiving calls from civilians reporting the unusual activity of an object in the sky much brighter than a star.
Two F-4 Phantom II fighter aircraft were dispatched to take a closer look and use force, if necessary.
En route, Captain Azizkhani noted that its light was so intense that it could be seen from 70 miles (110 kilometres) away.
As they approached, the pilots had a better idea of its seemingly changing shape-they described it as a cylindrical object with white lights on both ends, displaying colourful lights of blue, green, red, and orange on the sides, arranged in a square pattern flashing in sequence so rapidly that all colours could be seen at once.
At a distance of 27 miles (17 kilometres), both pilots lost control of their planes, which they regained control when they tried to turn away. All further attempts to get closer resulted in the same phenomenon, even affecting a civilian airliner passing nearby.
The incident ended after a smaller object detached from the large UFO and circled a pilot, blocking his weapons and ejection.
It was recorded in a 4-page US defence file, and it remains one of the most well-documented military encounters with a UFO.
The Yonaguni Monument is an amazing formation found in 1987, off the coast of the island of Yonaguni, Japan.
The colossal structure abruptly arises from a submarine plain, lying at a depth of 100 feet (30 metres). The controversial discovery is believed by many to be a natural formation, though it seems unusual for it to stand alone in the region. It is then believed to be a natural rock formation but has been modified by humans.
Some also claimed to have identified drawings and carvings on walls, that could belong to an unknown language.
Crashed Millennium Falcon? Downed UFO? Secret Nazi underwater base?
One of the most enigmatic discoveries in ancient years, the Baltic Sea Anomaly is a massive disc-shaped object lying on the seabed at a depth of 295 feet (90 metres) at the end of a 980 feet (300 metres) 'runway'.
Spotted by a team of Swedish divers in 2011, the 200 feet (60 metres) -wide object was later revealed to rest on a large pillar, but the muddy water and other harsh conditions in the area made it difficult for exploration missions to investigate the anomaly.
Hypothesised to be a rock formation, WWII relic, or a crashed UFO, this mysterious object is displaying perplexing features, like a sort of staircase leading to a dark hole as well as strange boxes and construction lines that cover it.
However, in recent times, the Baltic Sea Anomaly has been determined to be a remnant of a glacier that slowly slid into the sea into its current resting place. But it is not 100% confirmed, so we may never know...
Located in the state of Kerala, India, Padmanabhaswamy Temple is by far the wealthiest place of worship of any kind in the recorded history of the world, but it has also been a fascinating building for many years because of the enigmatic features it contains.
The most mysterious is undoubtedly the 6th Door, a gigantic iron door displaying two enormous cobras as warnings, and guarding the entrance of Vault B, the only chamber in the temple where it is said that no one has ever entered.
Though legends has it that anyone who opens the vault "will be met with disastrous results", some claimed that it has been secretly opened 7 times since 1990. The experts who dared to penetrate the cursed room under special authorization reported the existence of a hidden inner chamber that would be beyond Vault B, that was said to be a room with walls made out of solid gold, containing the largest undiscovered treasure find in history. Holy shit!
Also known as the Wolfsegg Iron, this strange artifact of worked appearance was found by a miner in Austria in 1885, embedded in a 20 million year old coal seam.
Showing four equally large and roughly flat sides with two other convex sides separated by a groove, the origins of the Salzburg Cube are still unclear and still intrigue historians as well as scientists.
It is named after the Antikythera shipwreck, which is also named after the Greek island of Antikythera. In 1901, scientists went locating the shipwreck and recovered the Mechanism.
It is believed to date back to around 100 BC, during Roman times. At first, it was passed over as a lump of corroded copper. But after a while, scientists took notice of it and things start to get interesting...
The Antikythera Mechanism is believed to be the world's first analog computer!
Built and designed to calculate astronomical figures, astronomical positions, and Olympiads (Olympic Games cycles), it is truly an impressive machine of that time.
However, the Antikythera Mechanism's sheer complexity in terms of design and craftsmanship was unheard of during those times, as the same set of skills only reappeared during the 14th century development of European astronomical clocks. Interesting, eh?
Mary Celeste was an American merchant brigantine, discovered adrift and deserted in the Atlantic Ocean, off the Azores Islands, on December 5, 1872.
The Canadian brigantine Dei Gratia found her in a dishevelled but seaworthy condition, under partial sail, and with her lifeboat missing. The last entry in her log was dated ten days earlier. She had left New York City for Genoa on November 7, and on discovery was still amply provisioned.
Her cargo of denatured alcohol was intact, and the captain's and crew's personal belongings were undisturbed. None of those who had been on board were ever seen or heard from again. It was described as if the crew has simply 'vanished into thin air'.
The ship was eventually towed by the Dei Gratia to New York and sold to new owners.
The inconclusive nature of the hearings helped to foster continued speculation as to the nature of the mystery, and the story has repeatedly been complicated by false detail and fantasy. Hypotheses that have been advanced include the effects on the crew of alcohol fumes rising from the cargo, submarine earthquakes (seaquakes), waterspouts, attacks by giant squid, and paranormal intervention.
Published in 1885 by James B. Ward with a cover that instantly captured public interest at that time, this pamphlet, originally written by a man named Thomas Jefferson Beale, contains a set of 3 ciphertexts.
The second ciphertext which describes a sort of buried treasure was deciphered using an old edition of the United States Declaration of Independence as the key, but the final part of the code telling the exact location of the treasure in the Bedford Country hillsides still remains unsolved, leading to many vain expeditions to find what is described as one of the greatest buried treasures in US history.
The treasure is said to contain hundreds of pounds of gold, silver, and jewels estimated to be worth over $63 million today.
Shugborough Hall is an ancestral mansion located in England that became famous in 1982, when a book made public the existence of the Shepherd's Monument standing in a corner of its park, bearing a mysterious inscription which Darwin, Dickens, and the world's most famous codebreakers failed to decipher.
Estimated to have been carved about 250 years ago, the identity of the author of this curious sequence of letters remains a mystery.
Some have suggested that the figure above the code depicting two shepherds giving each other a 'thumbs up' may actually give a hint on the method required to decipher the message.
The message appearing on this rustic arch which looks like an entrance to a secret cave has always raised great interest, even leading some to speculate that the message could indicate the whereabouts of the Holy Grail.
Caught on tape for nearly 5 minutes by an oil rig remotely operated camera operating near the United Kingdom at a depth of about 5000 feet (1500 metres), this strange jellyfish-like creature was estimated to be around 20 feet (6 metres) wide, but displayed several features that were uncommon to jellyfish, such as weird external organs and appendices.
It was proposed to be a whale placenta, although the video shows it to be quite lively and with unusual hexagonal markings.
It has since been loosely identified as Deepstaria Enigmatica, a rarely seen jellyfish that is usually found in Antarctic and near-Antarctic seas, and isn't known to show any of such features
D.B. Cooper (aka "Dan Cooper") is a pseudonym given to a notorious aircraft hijacker who, on November 24 1971, after receiving a ransom payout of $200,000, leapt from the back of a Boeing 727 as it was flying over the Pacific Northwest somewhere over the Southern Cascades.
Cooper has not been seen since and it is not known whether he survived the jump. In 1980, an 8-year-old boy found $5,800 of soggy $20 bills washed up on the banks of the Columbia River. The serial numbers matched those of the ransom money which had been noted to make it easier to track Cooper later.
Cooper escaped from the plane by jumping off the rear airstair with a parachute leading aviation authorities to add stricter measures about the design of planes to prevent it from happening again. In addition, this event caused airports to install metal detectors for the first time.
One of the most enduring treasure mysteries of all time comes from a tiny island off the coast of Nova Scotia in eastern Canada.
Oak Island is the home of what is informally known as the “Money Pit,” an incredibly deep hole of incredibly elaborate construction discovered in 1795.
Over two centuries of excavation have unearthed no treasure thus far, but what has been discovered is arguably just as fascinating. Underneath the surface of the pit are a series of wooden platforms, and even deeper, flooding mechanisms formed from multiple underground canals leading to water.
The first time someone managed to dig deep enough, the entire pit was immediately flooded, and due to the construction of the mechanism, it would fill back up with water as fast as you could remove it. At the 90-foot mark, an inscribed, encoded stone tablet was found that was revealed to say “forty feet below, two million pounds lie beneath.”
In search for whatever the island is hiding, the money pit has attracted the attention of hundreds of search parties, including former president Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who in his youth spent a summer with fellow Harvard grads in search of the treasure. It’s truly a historical oddity, but considering that we’re no closer to finding out who dug the pit and why, after 200 years of searching, one must wonder if we ever will.
On a summer night in 1977, Jerry Ehman, a volunteer for SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, recorded the strongest hard evidence of extraterrestrial life in human history.
Ehman was scanning radio waves from deep space, as his volunteer position entailed, hoping to come across a signal that bore the hallmarks of one sent by intelligent aliens.
And on that night, he saw his measurements spike, in a big way. The signal lasted for 72 seconds, the longest period of time it could possibly be measured by the array that Ehman was using. It was unmistakable, and appeared to have originated from within the Sagittarius constellation near a star called Tau Sagittarii, 120 light years away.
Ehman wrote the words “Wow!” on the original printout of the signal, thus its being known as the “Wow! Signal.”
If you’re wondering what the fuss is about the signal, think of it this way — the signal that was received was at precisely the right frequency that wouldn’t be interpreted as noise, and wouldn’t be intercepted along its journey.
In other words, if we were going to send a signal out into the universe to try to communicate with an alien race, that’s exactly the frequency we would use.
Despite the incredible occurrence however, all attempts to locate the signal again have failed, leading to much controversy and confusion about its origins and its meaning.
"Two possibilities exist: we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying." -Arthur C. Clarke
So...where are all the aliens? Why haven't we found them yet? Or why they haven't found us? Are we the first civilization or are we simply insignificant to our nearby galaxy conquerors?
In the Milky Way alone, there exists a gargantuan number of stars, with an even gargantuan number of orbiting exoplanets, and we have estimates that there are more than 100 billion hospitable planets right here in our galaxy. And that's not even accounting for the entire observable Universe!
Many theories exist-we are the first civilization to survive cataclysms and mass extinctions which other civilizations failed to make it, creating the Great Filter theory. We aren't the first, but we are simply too primitive by our intergalactic neighbours' standards. We are a computer program created to study our evolution. Our signals sent into space are too weak to be heard by others' superior technologies. Or in fact, we are the only ones that did not choose to remain silent, for there could be a predatory civilization
going around annihilating entire stars and planets which is unknown to only us, so it may not be so wise to keep sending signals into space to reveal our location after all.
The Greatest Unsolved Enigmas of All Time (21 Pics)
Reviewed by Your Destination
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December 09, 2017
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Reviewed by Your Destination
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December 09, 2017
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