New technologies and innovations linked to old ones are unlocking scientific mysteries in ways never thought possible. These revolutionary new techniques are allowing unprecedented insight into the natural world.

Whether they reveal an obscure and unseen galaxy billions of light-years away or a cryptic message from millennia ago, these pioneering methods are game changers in their fields.

10 Photographing Hidden Spaces With Wi-Fi

Researchers wanted to see the world “through Wi-Fi eyes,” so they placed a cross made of aluminum foil, a Wi-Fi emitter, and two receivers (one stationary, one mobile) in a closed room. They recorded the Wi-Fi waves as they reflected off the cross to encode its image in 3-D within a hologram.^[1]

This technique could eventually reveal the interiors of closed structures even if the receivers are placed outside, with lifesaving consequences for victims trapped under snow or in collapsed buildings. Alternatively, in 5–10 years, Wi-Fi surveillance may be used to organize and supervise factories full of robot workers.

9 Revealing Hidden Space Scenes 10 Million Times Faster With AI

Large enough objects like galaxy clusters can bend light around them, revealing and magnifying the objects behind them.

“Reading” a single lens can take months of work and many tedious comparisons between actual images and numerous computer simulations. But neural networks, or artificial brains based on biology, can decode these lenses 10 million times faster—in a few seconds instead of months.

Scientists fed the aforementioned AI half a million simulated images and tested it against Hubble images. The AI proved itself as accurate as traditional analysis but in a fraction of the time. This tech will open up the universe like never before, with an unprecedented amount of data set to flood in from the next generation of observatories and telescopes.^[2]

8 Peering Through Solid Objects With Neutron Beams

A brand-new imaging technique peers through solid objects by hitting them with a focused beam of neutrons.

Instead of a conventional lens, the new technology uses silicon wafers to split and redirect a neutron beam. The waves strike the object and ricochet into each other, producing an interference pattern.

Unlike other methods, this revolutionary type of neutron interferometry can zoom in and out to detect very small and very, very small objects alike, ranging from 1 nanometer to 10 micrometers. Neutron interferometry was previously a supplement to other imaging efforts, but this advance may turn it into a unique “main course” option.^[3]

7 Turning (Dead) Animals Transparent To Glimpse Hidden Biology

An imaging technique named uDISCO (ultimate 3-D imaging of solvent-cleared organs) turns dead animals transparent to unveil biology’s inner workings.

Scientists dunk the animal into a dehydrating solvent that removes water and fat, which shrinks the specimen up to 65 percent and effectively turns it into a translucent mummy.

It doesn’t damage fluorescent proteins engineered into the rodents’ bodies like previous techniques did, so scientists can observe these markers once the animal has been transpar-ified. They hope to use this to one day map the human brain, a feat that would take 1,000 years with conventional methods.^[4]

6 Mapping An Entire Country Using Lasers

The entirety of England is being mapped by aerial lasers, or LiDAR, a technique that has already scanned 75 percent of the country. From above, researchers pelt the landscape with a million light wave pulses per second, building a 3-D topographical map based on the waves’ return time.

It began as an effort to map changing coastlines. But as an added bonus, it has revealed four Roman roads that snake invisibly beneath the modern terrain.

As a double bonus, it could disrupt the £1 billion a year illegal dumping racket by quickly detecting changes in landscape and allowing the authorities to apprehend dumpers.^[5]

5 New X-Ray Methods Illuminating Invisible Art

Researchers can peer through layers of paint and reveal secrets beneath some of the world’s most famous masterpieces.

It started with Picasso’s 1902 oil painting La Misereuse accroupie, or The Crouching Beggar. Curious colors and textures peeking out from between cracks in the oil didn’t match the surface layers. So scientists shot different wavelengths of light at it because oil is transparent to some wavelengths. They confirmed a 1992 study that found another artist’s landscape beneath Picasso’s beggar.^[6]

X-ray analysis then revealed an entirely new feature, that the women’s hand (obscured by the robe) is clutching a piece of bread. More revelations will undoubtedly follow now that scientists can use this method in situ at museums and such.

4 Detecting CTE And Brain Damage In The Living

For the first time ever, researchers have confirmed the detection of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in a living patient.

The patient, along with 13 other ex-NFL athletes, underwent brain scans. They revealed a protein called tau which smothers damaged cells and migrates across the brain, killing neurons.

In 2015, one of the retired players in the study, identified as former Minnesota Vikings linebacker Fred McNeill, died. The autopsy confirmed that McNeill was suffering from CTE as well as ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease.^[7]

If validated, such technology would be good for more people than just ex-athletes. It would also benefit the military by detecting brain irregularities in soldiers exposed to the concussive forces of an explosion, for example.

3 Exposing Cancerous Cells With A Pen

One of the trickiest parts of treating cancer is making sure that every unwanted cell is removed during surgery. Now, a new pen-like device can scan potentially infected areas 150 times faster than current methods.

In proof-of-concept testing on 253 patients, the “MasSpec pen” detected cancerous tissues with 96 percent accuracy and it did so in only 10 seconds.

The pen releases a drop of water onto suspect tissues and then drives it into a mass spectrometer to detect the telltale waste products produced by cancerous cells, even specifying their subtype.

If approved for widespread use, the MasSpec Pen will offer faster, more precise, and safer surgery.^[8]

2 Peeking Inside Mummies With A Particle Accelerator

Researchers can now look inside mummies without damaging them, thanks to the Argonne National Laboratory’s Advanced Photon Source, a particle accelerator.

For the first time ever, scientists trained the high-energy X-rays on the Hibbard mummy, a five-year-old Egyptian girl, which dated to the end of the first century AD.^[9]

The Hibbard mummy was chosen because of its intact “mummy portrait,” a wooden face panel with a painting of the child’s likeness. Without disturbing the brittle material, researchers saw through its shroud and found unexplained objects therein, like wires in the girl’s teeth, a weird bowl-shaped object in her skull, and some kind of small stonelike item wrapped to the girl’s abdomen.

1 Unrolling Ancient Scrolls With Novel X-Ray Tech

Pompeii wasn’t the only town buried by Vesuvius’s famous outburst: Little Herculaneum was also smothered by hot ash and lava.

As were its legendary scrolls of Herculaneum, part of the world’s oldest surviving classical library. Unfortunately, they were crisped by temperatures exceeding 260 degrees Celsius (500 °F). Recently, scientists were able to read the letters on one of these scrolls despite its 2,000-year interment and volcanic ash bath.

Scientists analyzed the distortion of X-rays as they passed through different materials. Like the letters on the scroll, which didn’t penetrate into the papyrus and remained in relief by an amazingly tiny tenth of a millimeter, just enough to allow detection.^[10]

Ivan writes cool things for the Internet. He’ll write cool things for you, too, if you contact him at [email protected] and pay him in food or money.

People often say, “A picture paints a thousand words.” While that holds true for most pictures, Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa has for centuries continued to evade the understanding of art critics, historians, and the public.

On display in the Louvre, the tiny portrait is often touted as “the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, the most parodied work of art in the world.” As such, a deeper investigation into the mysterious smiling woman on the canvas reveals much more than meets the eye.

10 Who Is She?

The true identity of the portrait sitter remains a mysterious aspect. The majority of thinkers believe the woman to be 24-year-old Lisa Maria de Gherardini (aka Lisa del Giocondo), an Italian noblewoman born in Florence in 1479.

Her portrait was commissioned by her husband, Francesco di Bartolomeo di Zanobi del Giocondo. She lived a middle-class life with her husband working as a silk and cloth merchant. She conceived five children: Piero, Andrea, Camilla, Giocondo, and Marietta.

Other hypotheses suggest that the woman in the painting matches the face of Caterina Sforza, the countess of Forli, and a most formidable foe in military operations. Another theory proposes the young lady to be a mistress of Giuliano de’ Medici, the ruler of Florence, or Isabella d’Este, the marquise of Mantua. Others have thought the woman to be a portrait of da Vinci’s mother or da Vinci himself due to the similarity of facial structures.^[1]

9 The Mona Lisa Smile

Mona Lisa’s enigmatic, intriguing, and profoundly perplexing smile is perhaps one of the most mysterious elements of da Vinci’s oil painting.

For five centuries, it has been argued whether she is smiling at all, whether she’s happy, or whether she’s sad. Professor Margaret Livingstone of Harvard University suggests that the “low spatial frequencies” at which the portrait is painted creates a striking smile when viewers look into her eyes.

With the development of “emotion recognition” computer programs in 2005 by Dutch researchers, the painting was revealed to be 83 percent happy, 9 percent disgusted, 6 percent fearful, 2 percent angry, less than 1 percent neutral, and 0 percent surprised.

However, many have said that her smile changes depending on where you look and at which angle and distance. In a close-up viewing, the fine detail gives the impression of a demure expression. But from far away, she appears to be smiling cheerfully.^[2]

8 Secret Codes

Through the microscope’s magnification of high-resolution images of the painting, Italy’s National Committee for Cultural Heritage has revealed the presence of a series of letters and numbers painted on numerous features of the canvas.

In Mona Lisa’s right eye, art historian Silvano Vinceti states that the letters “LV” appear, which is theorized to represent the artist’s own name, Leonardo da Vinci. In the left eye, the unclear outlines of the letters “CE” or possibly a “B” can be viewed. The bridge in the background features the number “72” or the letter “L” followed by a “2” painted onto its arch.

One may wonder what the artist intended when he mysteriously painted these letters and numbers in a form invisible to the naked eye.^[3]

7 The Unknown Bridge

The dreamlike vista behind Mona Lisa’s head is often overshadowed by the allure of her face. But the three-arched bridge in the background begs the question about the exact location of the hazy, mysterious landscape.

Italian historian Carla Glori suggests that the bridge featured over the left shoulder of the woman is known as the Ponte Gobbo or Ponte Vecchio (“Old Bridge”). It is situated in Bobbio, a small village in a hilly country south of Piacenza in northern Italy.

Glori’s theory follows Vinceti’s finding of the number “72” secretly hidden in the stone bridge. She proposes that the number is a reference to the year 1472. In 1472, a disastrous flood occurred. The River Trebbia burst its banks and destroyed the bridge of Bobbio.

In her book The Leonardo Enigma, Glori theorizes that “Leonardo added in the number 72 beneath the bridge to record the devastating flood of the River Trebbia and to allow it to be identified.”^[4]

6 An Unsettling Gaze

How is it possible that her gaze seems to extend beyond the confines of the painting, but simultaneously, it is directly held at the viewer? No matter where you move, she continues to meet you eye to eye. In our three-dimensional world, shadows and light on surfaces should shift according to our vantage point. But this does not correlate to a two-dimensional surface.

This optical phenomenon can be explained by a scientific understanding described by the University of Ohio which shows that an image may appear exactly the same no matter the angle at which it is viewed. Unknown to Leonardo da Vinci, his masterful manipulation of chiaroscuro on the canvas creates an intensely realistic sense of depth in the interplay of shadow and light.

Indeed, this phenomenon creates perspective and gives the Mona Lisa her unsettling gaze.^[5]

5 A Hidden Painting Behind The Portrait

Using infrared and laser imaging on the Mona Lisa in 2006, scientists in Canada revealed da Vinci’s rudimentary sketches, including a change of position in the index and middle fingers of the left hand. Through this, numerous discoveries emerged, such as the lace drawn on Mona Lisa’s dress and the blanket on her knees extending to cover her stomach.

In 2015, French engineer Pascal Cotte used similar techniques of projecting light beams at varying wavelengths onto the work and measuring the quantities of light reflected back. Curiously, his discovery presented a secret portrait behind the Mona Lisa we see today.^[6]

In what Cotte terms the “layer amplification method,” he states, “We can analyze exactly what happens inside the layers of the painting’s creation, and we can peel them like an onion.” Cotte found four images beneath the uppermost painted surface, including a painting of a younger woman with petite facial features and no smile.

Different theories have surfaced surrounding the real identity of the woman in the painting, but perhaps her true face will always remain a mystery.

4 The Pregnant Mona Lisa

The art historians who think that the woman is Lisa del Giocondo also believe that she was with child when da Vinci painted her. Her arms crossed over her rounded stomach as well as historical evidence that suggests del Giocondo was pregnant for the second time when the painting was done perpetuate the idea that Mona Lisa was expecting.

Furthermore, the infrared scans indicate evidence of a guarnello (“veil”) draped across her shoulders. A guarnello is an overgarment made of linen and worn by a pregnant woman.^[7]

It has been speculated that this veil could simply be a scarf or piece of fabric hung over her shoulders. However, the Mona Lisa’s hands over her stomach, the historically accurate timing of her pregnancy with that of del Giocondo’s, and the similar use of a guarnello on the pregnant Smeralda Brandini in Sandro Botticelli’s portrait suggest that Mona Lisa was mysteriously hiding a baby bump.

3 Why We Find Her Beautiful

Throughout history, the portrait of Mona Lisa has been cited as an example of timeless beauty. It would be very limiting to suggest that the Mona Lisa’s beauty and intrigue is restricted only to her gaze and her smile as it seems to extend beyond these two features into a transcendental and ineffable beauty that is felt.

The golden ratio is derived from the length to width dimensional relationship of rectangles and is supposedly the most aesthetically pleasing proportion to the human eye. Present in natural structures such as the spiraled center of sunflowers and the man-made columns of the Parthenon, the golden ratio was termed the “divine proportion” by Leonardo da Vinci himself.^[8]

When a rectangle is formed around Mona Lisa’s face as per the ratio, her chin, the top of her head, and her nose are exactly aligned. The prevalence of this golden ratio in the artwork perhaps explains the mysterious intrigue felt by those who behold the portrait. Her proportions are deemed the most pleasing to the eye, producing a sense of natural balance and beauty.

Who knew that mathematics could explain this long-held sense of allure?

2 Stolen Painting

The Mona Lisa was stolen in 1911 by an Italian employee at the Louvre named Vincenzo Perugia. (Some spell his last name “Peruggia.”) He believed that the painting had been stolen from Florence by Napoleon Bonaparte and wished to see it returned to its “true home.”

For two years, the location of the painting remained a complete mystery as media coverage worldwide speculated on possible reasons for its absence and its location. Then, in 1913, Perugia came into contact with Italian art dealer Alfredo Geri. Perugia requested a monetary reimbursement from the Italian government in exchange for transporting the Mona Lisa back to Florence.

Upon the painting’s return, speculation continued. Perugia’s offer to return the painting to Italy had seen him request a rather modest amount of money. The public began questioning whether the incident of the stolen painting was all a ruse created to increase interest in the painting and the gallery.

When it was revealed that the thief behind the stolen painting—who had collaborated with Perugia—was none other than the well-known art forger Eduardo de Valfierno, people began theorizing that the Mona Lisa was stolen to make a copy of the painting and sell the forged copies to unaware art collectors for vast amounts of money.^[9]

1 The Ill Mona Lisa

The mystery behind Mona Lisa’s lopsided smirk has perhaps finally been cracked by a Boston physician standing in line and waiting to view the tiny painting. Dr. Mandeep R. Mehra diagnosed Mona Lisa with a glandular condition as he noticed the odd details of her appearance—her sallow complexion, thinning hair, and misaligned smile.

Mehra works as the medical director of the Heart and Vascular Center at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He stated his difficulty of appreciating art in competition with his keen eye for clinical diagnoses.

Mehra observed the presence of a small, fleshy bump in the inner corner of her left eye, her thin and receding hairline, her lack of eyebrow hair, and a bulge next to her index finger. Coupled with her yellow skin and the bump on her neck as an indicator of an enlarged thyroid gland, he suggested that her odd smile may be caused by muscle weakness.^[10]

Thus, he came to the conclusion that Mona Lisa was suffering from a condition called hypothyroidism, in which her swollen hands, thin and lank hair, and lump on her neck all feature prominently in da Vinci’s portrait.

Mehra furthered his investigation into the historical conditions surrounding the woman’s diet and discovered that iodine-deficient food was commonly eaten in the early 16th century. As iodine is an essential nutrient with the role of maintaining thyroid health, the mystery of Mona Lisa’s curious smile might finally be put to rest.

I am a writer passionate about art, books and films and am currently undertaking a degree in international studies.

The Bermuda Triangle is famous for strange happenings and disappearances in the ocean nestled between Florida and Bermuda. That famous area has a smaller cousin further north, centered around Glastenbury Mountain in the southwestern part of Vermont. This mysterious area is known as the Bennington Triangle.

The Bennington Triangle has a history that predates the colonization of North America and persists to this day. It has inspired books and movies, as well as supernatural reports of Bigfoot, UFOs, and interdimensional portals. The truth of the Bennington Triangle remains unknown, but the area has mysteriously swallowed as many as 40 intrepid hikers and residents.^[1]

10 Native American Warnings

It’s stated in Joseph A. Citro’s 1996 book, Passing Strange: True Tales of New England Hauntings and Horrors, that Native Americans refused to set foot on Glastenbury Mountain unless they were burying their dead.^[2] They believed that the whole mountain was cursed land because the “four winds” met there in an eternal struggle. While most refer to this as a myth, there is some truth to it. The wind pattern on Glastenbury Mountain is so erratic that weather changes suddenly, and plants grow at odd angles.

Another myth attributed to the native people of Vermont is that they believed an enchanted stone among the cairns on top of the mountain could swallow a man whole. As reported by Davy Russell in X-Project Paranormal Magazine, a person would stand on the rock to survey the area from the highest point and find themselves suddenly swallowed whole. That person would never be heard from again.

9 A Ghost Town

Glastenbury seems to have been slated to be a ghost town since its very first day. In 1761, Benning Wentworth drew the boundaries of the town on a map without ever stepping foot there.^[3] The area had rough terrain and a very short growing season, so settling was an uphill battle all the way to the 1800s. Literally. There were technically two towns, Fayville and South Glastenbury, on either side of the mountain, but they were never connected due to the impossible incline between them.

Glastenbury was first established as a logging and mining town. Workers were brought up to log and mine coal by a railroad that climbed 14 kilometers (9 mi) at a ridiculous 76 meters (250 ft) per mile. Logs and coal were sent down the Bolles Brook, which forked near the town and flowed down the mountain. Both industries relied on finite resources that quickly dried up. In 1894, a final push was made to reinvigorate the town of Glastenbury by making it into a tourist hot spot. The simple buildings of the town were reinvented as hotels and casinos. The railroad was fitted with fashionable trolley cars. No expense was spared.

Unfortunately, the extreme logging of the past left the mountainside unprotected from soil erosion. In 1897, a massive flood destroyed much of the railway into Glastenbury. No more attempts were made to reinvent the town. People left the area to start over, leaving the town with a rapidly dwindling population. Ripley’s Believe it or Not! documented the Mattinson family in 1930. The three members of the family made up the entire town by themselves and held every office available between them. In 1937, the town was officially unincorporated. As of the 2010 census, a mere eight people lived there.

8 Strange Occurrences Since The 1800s

Reports of strange lights in the sky, sounds with no explanation, and odd odors on the mountain predate colonial settlements. These reports, combined with the many strange disappearances, have led to speculation about UFOs and wormholes in the area. Still, the strangest report may be the Bennington Monster. Thought to be an early Bigfoot or Sasquatch, the monster has been described as well over 1.8 meters (6 ft) tall, with hair from its head to its toes. The first sighting of the monster was reported in the early 19th century, when it rushed a stagecoach on a washed-out road. The beast knocked the stagecoach onto its side and fled into the dark with a roar. Luckily, no one was harmed.

In 1967, a somehow less pleasant monster began to appear on the mountain.^[4] The wild man of Glastenbury lived in a cave near Somerset. Unfortunately for everyone, he didn’t stay there. Reports say that he would descend into nearby Glastenbury and other settlements in the Bennington Triangle to harass women. He accomplished this by pulling open his ratty coat to reveal his nude body while waving around a pistol to scare off anyone who might want to stop him. Luckily, that seems to be all he did before fleeing off back to his cave.

There were strange happenings in the Bennington Triangle that were less fantastic than a massive ape man or gun-wielding nudist as well. The conversion to a tourist town was hard on the loggers and miners of Glastenbury and Fayville. In 1892, a sawmill worker, Henry McDowell, drunkenly bludgeoned a coworker to death with a rock after he heard voices telling him to attack. He was committed to an asylum but managed to escape and vanish. Only five years after that murder, another strange one followed nearby. John Harbour was a prominent Woodford citizen who went into Bickford Hollow, just south of Glastenbury, to hunt. He was shot by persons unknown but was found with his fully loaded gun just next to him and seemed to have been dragged several yards. Those who investigated his death were left wondering why he was so easily shot with a fully loaded gun and why his assailant would bother to put the gun next to him after dragging him. This murder has gone unsolved and will likely stay that way.

7 The Disappearances

The Bennington Triangle’s most enduring unsolved mysteries are the disappearances that plagued the area from 1945 to 1950. In that five-year span, several people went missing on or near Glastenbury Mountain. The first was a 75-year-old man named Middie Rivers, who often served as a mountain guide.^[5] He was leading a group back to their camp in November 1945 when he got ahead of them just enough to be out of sight. In that short time, he completely vanished. It’s unlikely that he became lost because he was highly experienced at navigating the mountain. Nonetheless, he was never seen again.

Paula Welden (pictured above), an 18-year-old college student who had recently taken up hiking, went to explore the mountain in 1946. Welden was spotted on her way by several people, including drivers who gave her rides and fellow hikers who warned her that she wasn’t dressed warmly enough to hike the mountain. Welden’s red coat made her easy to spot, but baffled searchers later couldn’t find any sign of her or her brightly colored clothes. Her case became the most famous disappearance, mostly due to the fact that it caused Vermont to found its own state police force. With no police of their own, Vermont had only one state investigator to put on the case. Police from New York and Connecticut were eventually called in by Welden’s father, but she was never recovered.

In 1949, three hunters went missing on the mountain. That same year, James E. Tetford went missing while on a bus trip from St. Albans to the town of Bennington. In 1950, eight-year-old Paul Jepson went missing from his Bennington home. Police dogs were able to trace his scent to the highway but no further. He was, coincidentally, wearing a red jacket similar to Paula Welden’s coat. That year would see the last of the disappearances with Frieda Langer. She disappeared while hiking with her cousin and friends. Her clothes had gotten wet during a hike and she went back to camp to change. When the group realized that she had never arrived, a massive search was launched. Volunteers, police, firefighters, and the military all joined together to search, but she was never found alive.

6 Remains Lost And Found

Only one body was ever recovered from the disappearances on the mountain. Frieda Langer’s body was found the following May. Search parties had previously heavily combed the field she was found in, leading authorities to speculate that there was foul play. Unfortunately, her body was too decomposed to give any insight into her cause of death.^[6] The advanced decomposition only made someone’s decision to move her there more mysterious, though. The process would have likely been messy and conspicuous.

Far more odd than the discovery of Langer’s body are those that were never found at all. There is dangerous wildlife on Glastenbury Mountain, but their attacks leave behind tons of evidence. Bears don’t usually swallow a person whole. Search parties were frustrated to find no signs of the missing people whatsoever. Both Welden and Jepson were wearing bright red coats that should have been easy to spot on their own. Rivers and Langer seemed to disappear suddenly without being too far from their companions. Tetford’s case is odder still, since he disappeared from a bus. He was surrounded by witnesses but still vanished between stops.

5 A Serial Killer

The pattern of the disappearances has led some to suggest a serial killer was responsible. All of the people who vanished did so within the winter, which suggested something other than chance was at play. The first disappearances left no trace at all, and Langer’s body was discovered in a place that had already been searched. Perhaps someone was extremely successful in abducting and killing people near the highway or on the mountainside. And, like many other killers, maybe that person succumbed to the desire to show off when they moved Langer’s body into the open. It would explain why no traces have been found of the other victims and why Paul Jepson’s trail went cold on the highway. It would even make sense in Welden’s case, since she hitchhiked to the mountain and may have accepted a ride home as well.

As appealing as this explanation is, there are a few problems. The first is that Langer and Rivers went missing on the mountain near friends. It would be extremely risky for a serial killer to abduct someone with their friends within earshot. The second problem is that the victims don’t follow a pattern. Serial killers tend to have a type. It would be extremely rare for one to pick up two elderly men, an 18-year-old woman, an eight-year-old boy, and a 53-year-old woman.^[7] An opportunity killer who is fine with a wide range of victims wouldn’t fit the same profile as one who would be willing to risk grabbing Rivers or Langer near their parties.

4 Supernatural Explanations

Without the serial killer theory, the next most interesting explanations are the supernatural ones. Each has its own flavor of strangeness, and it’s hard to judge which is the wildest. High on that side of the spectrum is the man-swallowing boulder hidden among the cairns at the mountain’s peak. No one knows how the cairns were assembled there or when, but they probably don’t actually eat people. Probably.^[8] However, this description of people being swallowed whole into a rock may have sparked the cross-dimensional wormhole idea. And disappearances coupled with odd lights, sounds, and odors may have led to UFO conspiracy theories in the area.

But the supernatural explanations tend to lack substance. Worse still, they’ve changed drastically over the years. Writer Joe Durwin has covered the strange folklore in his column “These Mysterious Hills” and explains how the mythos of the Triangle has changed with the times. When newspapers first reported on the Bennington Triangle phenomena, the explanation was tied into Native American legends. In the 1990s, the explanations shifted to UFOs and other ideas popularized by The X-Files. In the early 2000s, the myths circled back to Bigfoot and the Bennington Monster. Durwin isn’t overly critical of the supernatural, though. The stories are important to him. They keep the memories of those who disappeared alive and inspire people to think critically.

3 Practical Explanations

In all the research that has been done to answer the maddening questions of the Bennington Triangle, some practical answers have been found. They make sense, even if they aren’t entirely satisfying. One explanation is hypothermia. Temperatures on the mountain can drop very low, and the disappearances did all happen in the winter. When experiencing hypothermia, people might engage in terminal burrowing.^[9] This is a survival behavior that drives people to find someplace small and remote to huddle. It gets people out of the wind and may provide enough warmth to help slow the process of freezing to death, but it usually kicks in too late and just makes it hard for the person to be found.

Another explanation has to do with the area’s history as a mining town. The mountainside is littered with unmarked mine shafts that may cause hikers who go off-trail to plummet to their deaths. Both of these can explain why the missing people were never found. One more complicating factor is the odd wind pattern on the mountain. Most places have a wind pattern that influences how plants grow. We don’t consciously acknowledge it, but this pattern of growth is one of the ways we orient ourselves when outdoors. Glastenbury Mountain has no consistent wind pattern, so plants grow in odd ways. Many modern hikers have had difficulty navigating the mountain for this reason, and it is the basis for the Native American myth about the four winds.

Some of these help to explain why the missing people were never found, but there are still loose ends. If the people perished from hypothermia or a fall, why was Langer moved back into the open months later, and why did Jepson’s trail end at the highway? Maybe the most practical answer is that not all five of the Bennington cluster died in the same way. Some may have met with a killer, while others burrowed or fell. But, if so, why did the disappearances span only five years and stop so abruptly?

2 Modern Reports

Some adventurous souls who’ve heard the rumors have set out to explore the trail infamous for the five-year period of disappearances. One such adventurer is Chad Abramovich of the website Obscure Vermont. He reported on a trip taken to the mountain, saying, “Myself and a few friends departed in his pickup truck and drove up the bumpy forest road into a strange clearing in the middle of the hills. Here, underneath summer humidity, we found old cellar holes almost entirelly [sic] hidden by tall grasses, beneath the shade of gnarled apple trees.”

Shortly after this, Abramovich and his group experienced a sudden, drastic change in the weather. It was a sunny July afternoon when they started, but a torrential thunderstorm quickly appeared. The group was stranded for some time but finally managed to make it back to the flats. When they escaped the downpour, they found that the surrounding area was bone-dry. Locals later confirmed that no thunderstorm had passed through their area.

Robert Singley, a music composition teacher at Bennington College and an experienced hiker, became lost on the mountain in 2008.^[10] He took a trail he knew well to nearby Bald Mountain and then used the same trail to go back. However, the well-known trail didn’t lead where it should have. According to Singley, he walked 8 kilometers (5 mi) before realizing that he should have reached his car already. Just as he became concerned, a heavy fog rolled in, and the whole trail became hopelessly dark. He went to a maple tree that he felt called to him from the fog and tried to start a fire. Every stick he reached for turned out to be an animal bone. This would have distressed most people, but Singley was only upset about his fiancee. He imagined she was worried sick. He finally managed to light a fire and huddled by it through the night. In the morning, he found that he had somehow ended up on the other side of the ridge from his car. Luckily, he made it back to tell the tale.

1 A Popular Trail For Unwitting Hikers

Dedicated hikers tend to seek out challenging trails, like the Long Trail that spans 439 kilometers (273 mi) through Vermont and ends at the edge of Canada. If taken in one go, the Long Trail lives up to its name. It takes from two to four weeks to complete the entire trek. This practice is known as thru-hiking. Hikers tend to plan their trips ahead of time, marking out places to stay and refuel on their maps. They tend to pick their time of year carefully, avoiding the snow of winter and the mudslides of summer. One thing that hikers usually don’t know about at all is the Bennington Triangle, which overlaps the Long Trail.

The Green Mountain Club finished expanding the trail in 1930, and it still maintains the trail and mentors hikers who aim to thru-hike there. Many guides exist for the Long Trail. Advice is abundant. Trail mentors advise bug netting to avoid black fly bites, carrying as little gear as possible, and making sure to bring a water filter. The advice is good and is specific to this trail, which has plenty of water sources and access to nearby towns if needed.

However, there is no mention of monsters or UFOs. There aren’t even mentions of the more realistic threats of mine shafts and hidden cellars. One guide even encourages hitchhiking from the trail into towns for supplies.^[11] It seems like the infamous five years of disappearances have been all but forgotten by the very people who have the most to fear on Glastenbury Mountain. With people unaware of the terrain’s dangers and happily hopping into strangers’ cars, the disappearances may not be over after all.

Renee is an Atlanta-based graphic designer who enjoys writing articles.

The medical world evolves almost daily. New vaccines and treatments are developed at an unbelievable rate, and millions have been successfully treated worldwide for all types of ailments. However, a medical mystery sometimes presents itself to doctors and completely baffles them.

10 The Woman Who Can Hear Her Eyes Move
Lancashire, England

Julie Redfern from Lancashire was playing the popular computer game Tetris eight years ago when she heard a funny squeaking sound. She couldn’t figure out where it was coming from, until she realized the sound occurred every time she moved her eyes from side to side. Julie was hearing the sound of her own eyeballs.

In the years that followed, Julie became aware that she could also hear her blood coursing through her veins. Her own chewing was so loud to her that she missed out on the conversation around the dinner table. Perhaps the worst of it all came when her condition became so bad that her eyes would literally shake in their sockets when her office phone rang.

Julie was diagnosed with SCDS (superior canal dehiscence syndrome). This is a very rare medical condition that causes the bones in the inner ear to lose density, resulting in very sensitive hearing.

Doctors only became aware of this medical condition during the ’90s. A pioneer surgery was performed on Julie. Her doctors successfully restored normal hearing to one of her ears, which has given her hope that the other ear can be cured as well.

9 The Boy Who Doesn’t Feel Hunger
Cedar Falls, Iowa

Twelve-year-old Landon Jones woke up one morning in 2013 without his usual appetite. He felt very faint and couldn’t stop coughing because thick phlegm blocked his chest. His parents rushed him to hospital where doctors discovered an infection in the boy’s left lung. They wasted no time in treating Landon and the infection was soon handled.

However, his appetite didn’t return when he got back home. Because of the lack of will to eat or drink anything, Landon rapidly lost weight. Before his family knew what hit them, Landon lost 16 kilograms (36 lb).

Doctors are at a loss as to what is causing Landon to lack hunger and thirst. In the year since Landon’s infection, his parents have taken him to medical experts in five different cities with no success. All they know is that Landon might well be the only person on the planet with this condition.

Landon now has to be reminded on a constant basis to eat and drink. Even his teachers have gotten into the habit of making sure he ingests food and water during school hours. Doctors are currently working to figure out whether Landon might have a dysfunctional hypothalamus, which is the part of the brain that controls hunger and thirst. They are also looking into the medication that Landon is on that controls what doctors call absence seizures. The exact cause of Landon’s illness remains unclear at this stage.

8 The Girl Who Was Mysteriously Paralyzed
Tampa, Florida

About a month and a half before Christmas 2013, nine-year-old Marysue Grivna’s mother took her to hospital to get a flu shot. This year, the little girl will be celebrating Christmas confined to a wheelchair and unable to express herself as vocally as she could last year.

Just three days after receiving the flu shot, Marysue struggled to get up in the morning and was unable to speak. Terrified, her parents rushed her to hospital. They were shocked when doctors diagnosed their daughter with acute disseminated encephalomyelitis. Known as ADEM, the disease begins when the immune system attacks myelin, which encases nerves in the brain and spinal cord. The white matter inside the brain and spine become extremely vulnerable without the myelin. Once this covering is broken through, paralysis and blindness can occur.

Doctors cannot confirm or deny the parents’ accusation that the flu shot Marysue received is the cause of her illness. Carla and Steven Grivna have done extensive research and refuse to believe the vaccine isn’t to blame. Medical experts confirmed that the exact cause of ADEM is unknown and that the results of several tests done on Marysue are all inconclusive when it comes to determining the manner in which the girl contracted the disease.

The future looks bleak for Marysue, even though doctors believe there is a slight chance her symptoms might be reversible. Her father has taken to carrying his daughter everywhere, unable to help her in any other way.

7 The Girls Who Cry Stones
Yemen

At the beginning of this year, Yemeni father Mohammad Saleh Al Jaharani was astonished when his eight-year-old daughter Saadia started crying tiny stones instead of tears.

Saadia is one of 12 children born to Mohammed from two wives. She is the only one of her siblings with this strange condition. No one has been able to give Saadia a diagnosis, nor can doctors find anything out of the ordinary with her eyes.

Another girl in the same region is the only other confirmed case of crying stones. Fifteen-year-old Saboura Hassan Al Fagiah experienced the same tiny stone tears. She also suffered from a distended abdomen and would become unconscious for hours at a time. Saboura was treated in Jordan and seems to have recovered.

The same is unfortunately not true for Saadia. All the doctors she has seen are unable to help her. The locals in her village whisper that the girl might be possessed or under a spell.

Her father confirmed during an interview that Saadia also cries normal tears at times and that the stones mostly appear during the late afternoon and at night. Luckily, she is in no pain even though up to 100 little stones sometimes appear in one day.

6 12 Girls With The Same Mysterious Symptoms
Le Roy, New York

In what many people would dismiss as an incident of mass hysteria, 12 girls from a high school in New York shared an experience that left medical doctors searching for an explanation.

After taking a nap one day in 2011, one of the students, Thera Sanchez, woke up with uncontrollable limbs and vocal tics. Something like this had never happened to her before, especially not the strange verbal outbursts that made her seem like she was suffering from Tourette’s syndrome.

Stranger than this was the fact that 11 other girls from Sanchez’s high school developed the same symptoms. A neurologist diagnosed all the girls with a conversion disorder. In other words, he believed the incident to be a case of mass hysteria. Others doctors believed that stress was the main factor causing these strange symptoms. Two mothers, including Thera’s mother, have challenged the doctors’ findings. Even though health officials made sure nothing at the school itself was making the girls sick, the two mothers were not given proof of the investigations conducted by these officials and are unsatisfied with their findings.

Thera was still twitching, stuttering, and suffering from uncontrollable verbal outbursts weeks later during a media interview. To date, no satisfactory explanation has been given for the incident.

5 The Girl Who Didn’t Age
Reisterstown, Maryland

By the time Brooke Greenberg passed away at the age of 20, she had never learned to speak and had to be pushed around in a stroller. Even though she was getting older, her body refused to age. At the time of her death, Brooke’s mental capacity was that of a toddler. She was still the size of a baby.

Scientists and doctors are still unable to come up with an explanation for Brooke’s medical condition. Brooke was a “miracle” baby since birth. She survived several stomach ulcers and a stroke. She also made it through a brain tumor that caused her to sleep for two weeks. When she finally woke up, the tumor was gone. Doctors were mystified.

The way Brooke’s body developed over the years was also very strange. At the age of 16, she still hadn’t lost her baby teeth, but her bones were thought to be the same as those of a 10-year-old (except in size, of course). Her hair and fingernails continued growing normally. She was able to recognize her siblings and express happiness.

A retired medical expert from the University Of Florida Medical School, Richard F. Walker, has made it his life’s mission to find out what causes this medical mystery known as Syndrome X. He is also studying similar cases including a young girl of eight who weighs only 5 kilograms (11 lb) and a 29-year-old whose body resembles that of a preadolescent boy.

4 The Woman Who Regained Her Sight
Auckland, New Zealand

New Zealand native Lisa Reid had no hope of ever regaining her sight after she lost it at age 11. Then, at the age of 24, she accidentally bumped her head and woke up the next morning with her sight restored.

As a child, Lisa was diagnosed with a tumor that pressed down so severely on her optic nerve that she lost her sight. Doctors could do nothing for Lisa, who learned to deal with her condition and got herself a guide dog.

Indirectly, Ami the guide dog helped Lisa regain her sight. One night in 2000, Lisa knelt down on the floor so she could kiss her beloved dog goodnight. She struck her head on a coffee table while attempting to reach Ami.

Nothing happened right away except perhaps a slight headache, but when Lisa woke the next morning, it was no longer dark. She could see as clearly as she could before she lost her sight. Fourteen years later, Lisa still has her sight.

3 The Boy Who Can’t Open His Mouth
Ottawa, Canada

Lockjaw is common in dogs, but a similar case in a newborn baby perplexed doctors at an Ottawa hospital earlier this year.

Little Wyatt couldn’t open his mouth to cry when he was born in June 2013, and he spent the first three months of his life in hospital while doctors tried to figure out how to help him. Unable to assist the little boy in unlocking his jaw, doctors finally sent him home and confirmed to the baby’s parents that there was no glaring reason for their son’s condition.

During the following months, Wyatt nearly lost his life on six occasions due to choking and the inability to gulp air through his closed mouth. His saliva builds up in his mouth and blocks his airway because he is unable to drool like most babies.

In a controversial move, medical experts have implemented the use of Botox to try and relax Wyatt’s jaw and this helped the little boy to open his mouth slightly. However, the problem still needs resolving as the dangers associated with this condition are likely to increase as he grows older.

This June, Wyatt had to eat his birthday dinner through a feeding tube directly into his stomach. His parents have also recently noticed that their baby doesn’t blink both his eyes at the same time. Ongoing tests are currently the only hope his parents have to find a solution.

2 The Woman With A New Accent
Ontario, Canada

A funny feeling of confusion and weakness prompted Rosemarie Dore to head to the nearest hospital back in 2006. She was suffering a stroke on the left side of her brain.

Before she was admitted to the hospital, everyone was used to Dore speaking in her native southern Ontario accent. Everyone was amazed when one day she suddenly started speaking with an eastern Canadian accent. As hard as she tried to speak normally, she couldn’t stop the accent from coming out. Doctors determined that on top of the stroke she suffered, Rosemarie Dore also had foreign accent syndrome, which most likely resulted from the brain trauma.

Further investigation into her condition revealed that Dore’s speech actually slowed down and started to change just before she had the stroke. Doctors believe that she still has the ability to speak in her normal accent, but the process of instructions from her brain to her mouth is not working the same way it used to and it therefore feels more natural to speak in the new accent.

Experts who have done extensive research on this medical condition noted that there were about 60 confirmed cases of foreign accent syndrome worldwide. One of the first was a woman from Norway who was injured by a bomb fragment that struck her on the head during the Second World War. Just after the injury, she suddenly started speaking with a German accent.

1 The Girl Who Feels No Pain
Big Lake, Minnesota

When she was very little, Gabby Gingras constantly stuck her fingers in her own eyes. One of her eyeballs eventually had to be removed. She also maimed three of her fingers by chewing on them.

Gabby suffers from an extremely rare medical condition that causes her to feel absolutely no pain. By the age of seven, she was required to wear a helmet and protective glasses to keep herself safe. In a documentary made when she was four, video footage shows the little girl banging her head into the sharp edges of a table without showing any signs of discomfort.

There is no cure for hereditary sensory autonomic neuropathy, the genetic disorder Gabby suffers from. In 2005, Gabby and her family were invited by Oprah to appear on her talk show. Here her parents spoke of the fear they experienced daily. They mentioned one incident when Gabby had broken her jaw and because she couldn’t feel it, no one noticed it for a month.

On top of all this, Gabby’s body doesn’t have the ability to regulate temperature the way a normal person’s body does. Gabby is now 14 and living a relatively normal life. Her parents are still keeping a close eye on her, and Gabby herself makes sure to stay within her limitations.

Estelle lives in JHB, South Africa. She hopes that someday answers will be found for all the medical mysteries out there.

Some biologists adore spiders. It’s why they visit the same arachnid for 40 years and why the world recently saw the first trained spider. This spider love has yielded quite a bit of knowledge, but there’s still so much more to learn.

These creatures have more mysteries than they have legs. Inexplicable fossilization, producing milk more nutritious than a cow’s, and spinning graphene-laced silk are just some of the things spiders do that confound scientists. Then there was the spider that received death threats, causing the cops to show up.

10 They Eat More Than Humans

The human race consumes an average of 400 million metric tons of fish and meat every year.^[1] Sometimes, whales take the lead with an annual intake of up to 500 million metric tons. In 2017, scientists calculated the total weight of spider prey, and it was astonishing. Beating both humans and whales, the tiny predators eat as much as 800 million metric tons per year.

To arrive at that number, the team first had to know the biomass of the global spider population. They determined that the planet has 25 million metric tons of spiders. After calculating how much food was required per body unit, the total consumption was something between 400 and 800 million metric tons.

Considering that the arachnid menu is 95-percent insects, the study proved that spiders are very useful. They keep insect populations in check, including species that count as pests. The smorgasbord of insects fosters a large population of spiders which, in turn, provide plenty of food for arachnid-eating animals.

9 Spider Bondage

Unlike other spiders, the nursery web spider (Pisaurina mira) does not use its silk to catch prey.^[2] Suggestive of their name, the females use their spinning ability to make nests. The males use it for something else entirely—to tie females up during mating. No other spider species use webbing as a restraint. This seemingly kinky behavior was proven in the laboratory as a smart survival move.

In 2016, researchers divided male nursery web spiders into two groups. One half retained their spinning ability, while the other had theirs blocked. Enter the females. After mating, all the males who could not spin were dead. Those who managed to tie up their mates got out alive. Apparently, the females start out with fertilization on the brain. Once the female is fertilized, her mate now looks more like baby food for her developing eggs. Unsurprisingly, the males evolved longer legs and an instinct for bedroom bondage.

8 The Glittering Fossils

As a rule, spiders do not make good fossils.^[3] Their soft bodies decay and disappear quickly after death. On rare occasions, amber holds well-preserved specimens. In 2019, however, paleontologists released news of a remarkable find. While working in South Korea, they came across 11 spiders fossilized in shale. The number of arachnids was reason enough to celebrate, but something else made this batch special. Despite being 110 to 113 million years old, the eyes of two specimens still glittered.

Inside the eyes of nighttime animals, spiders included, are structures called tapetums. They act like mirrors, reflecting light from the back of the eye through the retina. This kicks night vision up a notch. The Korean eyeballs marked the first time tapetums were found in the fossil record. Their shape, resembling tiny canoes, might help scientists to place the valuable fossils on the spider family tree. But another mystery remains. Nobody knows how the spiders, let alone their tapentums, became preserved in the shale.

7 Spider Death Threats

On New Year’s Day in 2019, a passerby heard something disturbing.^[4] Walking by a house in Perth, Australia, the person heard a toddler screaming. Then a man’s voice yelled repeatedly, “Why don’t you die?” Concerned over the child’s safety, the witness placed an emergency call to the police. The cops arrived, expecting to find domestic violence. Instead, they found a very scared man.

Apparently, the homeowner, who has an intense fear of arachnids, had encountered a spider. The “Why don’t you die?” death threats were directed at the spider, which the police reported was the only one at the scene that suffered any injuries. Although the species wasn’t revealed, the man wasn’t behaving entirely outside of reason. Some of the most venomous spiders in the world crawl around in Australia. This is not the most encouraging fact for somebody suffering from arachnophobia.

6 Epic Sea Voyage

The Australian trapdoor spider (Moggridgea rainbowi ) only lives on Kangaroo Island.^[5] When a study found that it belonged to the same family as South African trapdoor spiders, it was thought that their lines separated when Africa broke off from the supercontinent Gondwana 95 million years ago. However, tests showed that the two cousins diverged around two to 16 million years ago. This also ruled out the possibility that humans brought them to Australia. The only remaining theory suggested that the trapdoors floated to Australia.

At first, it seemed unlikely. After all, a massive stretch of ocean sits between Kangaroo Island and South Africa. A strong clue supported the epic journey, however. Related trapdoors were found on the Comoros islands, a few hundred miles away from South Africa. These arachnids probably made a shorter journey in the same way—on a raft. Had a colony been washed out to sea on a piece of floating land, their lifestyle could not have been more perfect. Trapdoor spiders do not need a lot of habitat. They make a burrow near their mother’s nest, seal it with a protective “door,” and live there their whole lives.

5 The Electric Highway

Sometimes, spiders make silk parachutes and fly away.^[6] Although this ballooning had been well-studied, it was not until 2018 that it became clear that electric fields both prompt the behavior and provide the lift even without wind. Long suspected to play a part was the atmospheric potential gradient (APG). This electric circuit exists between Earth and the ionosphere.

To confirm its effects, experiments in the laboratory exposed spiders to electric fields. When the artificial field was switched on, the spiders went ballooning. Remarkably, electrostatic forces were sufficient to push the tiny travelers on their way. This is the same stuff that makes hairs stand up after a balloon rubs somebody’s head. When the field was switched off, the spiders landed.

It is believed that the spiders sense electricity in the air with hairs called trichobothria. This could explain why they fly more during thunderstorms, which act as a booster for the APG. Indeed, the arachnids have been recorded drifting 4 kilometers (2.5 mi) high and traveling for hundreds more.

4 First Trained Spider

She may not be an obedience champion, but Kim the spider is the first arachnid to leap when scientists demand it.^[7] Teaching her where and when to leap was hard, and the rest of her four-member class failed to grasp what the humans wanted. Graduating in 2018, Kim’s hopping between platforms taught researchers more about what happened when a group called jumping spiders, well, jumped. In particular, the team was curious about how leaps differed depending on the distance, direction, and reason for the jump.

Kim was a regal jumping spider, known for long-distance jumps used to catch dinner, travel, or to escape danger. She was filmed performing 15 jumping tasks and then studied in slow motion. The footage also enhanced a 3-D version of Kim, created to better understand the physical processes involved. The most surprising find was that takeoff burdened the spider’s legs with a force of up to five times her own body weight. Kim also anticipated her destination and adjusted her leg positions accordingly, leaping high for long distances and low for nearby platforms.

3 Number 16

It is hard to imagine, but in 2016, one spider turned 43 years old.^[8] Known as Number 16, she was a trapdoor spider that lived in the wild. (The picture above shows an example of her species.) In 1974, researchers found her as a baby in Australia’s North Bungulla Reserve. For decades, they visited her nest as part of a long-term research project. Number 16 lived through Watergate, the first IBM personal computer, and the advent of the World Wide Web. She also died as the world’s oldest known spider.

Her corpse was never found, but when scientists arrived at her underground nest in 2016, they did not need to find it. The gruesome signs were there. Her burrow’s protective lid had been pierced by a wasp. This type of wasp was known to be parasitic, depositing eggs inside a spider, which is then eaten alive by the insect’s larvae. Despite her violent end, Number 16’s life was not for nothing. Her decades-long contribution to the behavioral study of trapdoor spiders was significant.

2 Mysterious Spider Milk

Spider silk is old news, but what about spider milk? Scientists observed something odd in 2018.^[9] They noticed three odd behaviors while observing a jumping spider called Toxeus magnus. The species was not known to form colonies, but the researchers found nests stuffed with grown juveniles. Also, newly hatched babies never left the nest, and the mother never brought them food. By all logic, they should have starved. After mysteriously surviving for 20 days, the kids began foraging outside of the nest.

The third behavior was most unusual. Every now and again, one juvenile would attach itself to the mother. The female did not seem to mind and was downright tender with them. A closer look revealed that the mother provided her offspring with milk and continued to suckle them long after they began finding food for themselves. The milk’s content was also surprising. Apart from containing fat and sugar, it was also four times richer in protein than cow’s milk. Given as an excretion, the exact nature of the fluid remains unknown, since it is not milk in the “mammal” sense.

1 Graphene Silk

When it comes to tensile strength, spider silk is as strong as alloy steel.^[10] This makes it stronger than most artificial materials. Recently, scientists from Italy made it even tougher. They found a way to get spiders to spin graphene-containing silk. The process was so simple that a child could do it. A group of spiders from the Pholcidae family were spritzed with water containing graphene flakes or carbon nanotubes. The next time the critters started to weave, their silk was analyzed. Incredibly, it passed the tests as the toughest fibers ever recorded.

This “carbon-fiber” was a mixture of silk and graphene or nanotubes. Beyond confirming the inner structures, scientists remain stumped about how the whole thing works. It was unlikely that the silk was somehow coated with the substances. As a coating, neither could have enhanced the silk’s strength so significantly. The spiders probably ingested the laced water and somehow incorporated it into their silk. That way, the graphene/nanotubes ended up near the middle of the fibers, an arrangement that made the fibers super strong.

Through most of the known history of ancient Egypt, the population worshiped multiple gods, with private citizens free to worship whatever gods they saw fit within the privacy of their own home. Nevertheless, the comparatively brief period during which the country suddenly turned to monotheism in the form of Atenism is perhaps one of the most intriguing, and mysterious.

Just where did this strange and apparently alien religion come from? Why did it take hold with so little resistance? Why did it vanish so suddenly afterward? And why is it that arguably the most well-known pharaoh of ancient Egypt in our contemporary times, Tutankhamun, is seemingly at the middle of this strange time in one of the most glorious and far-reaching civilizations in all of known history? Here are ten intriguing facts about Aten, Atenism, and why its place in history is quite possibly very important.

10 It (Seemingly) Came Out Of Nowhere

Although we will come back to an intriguing aspect of just where such focus on Aten and Atenism came from later, it would appear that after over almost 2,000 years of steady, entrenched polytheism, such practices were simply wiped away when, in the fifth year of his reign, Pharaoh Amenhotep IV changed his name to Akhenaten and introduced Atenism.^[1]

In his ninth year, instead of worshiping multiple gods, Akhenaten proclaimed Aten the one and only god. Furthermore, no image was to be made of this god, as it didn’t manifest and could not be “seen.” The only representation of Aten was the flat solar disk—essentially, the Sun.

What is even more interesting is the fact that despite some sparing mentions of Aten in old (even to the ancient Egyptians) writings confirm that it was a solar deity, it was not, as the ancient Egyptians would have understood it, a god. As we will examine later, the origins of this ideology were seemingly always underlying ancient Egyptian culture, although it very likely was only found in certain mystery schools of Heliopolis, whose far-reaching connections are as intriguing as they are entangling.

9 There Was No Apparent Resistance To The Change

Furthermore, as opposed to an expected resistance, such as an attempt to overthrow the pharaoh and his new religion, it would appear, at least from the historical records that remain of the period, that the entire population simply accepted the sweeping changes.^[2]

Despite ancient Egypt having a strong and well-trained army, there were seemingly no attempts whatsoever to overthrow Akhenaten. This was despite Akhenaten moving to a new capital, from Thebes to what is now called Amarna.

What maybe makes this even stranger is that Atenism disappeared so quickly after a period of around two decades. And, equally as suddenly, it was one of the successors to Akhenaten, perhaps one of the most famous pharaohs, who would restore the old ways of Amun-Ra. We will examine that particular pharaoh shortly.

8 The Similarities To Early Abrahamic Religions, Secret Societies, And The Freemasons

While this point could take up entire volumes in its own right, many of the apparent practices of Atenism, particularly as seemingly taught in the mystery schools at Heliopolis, seem to have been a precursor to the three main Abrahamic religions that would follow after, particularly very early Judaism and, in turn, Christianity.^[3]

These claims are perhaps even more convincing when we factor in the mysterious figure of Aper-El (also spelled Aperel), who served as Akhenaten’s chief minister and was, according to discoveries made in his tomb, very likely of early Hebrew/Israelite origin. In fact, the connections to early religions and more specific writings of the Old Testament are as intriguing as they are many.

In a similar vein, especially when we take the studies and investigations of numerous authors into account, much can be said for various secret societies and their customs and origins, perhaps not least the Knights Templar and, in turn, Freemasonry. And even within the teachings of Christianity and the Roman Church throughout Europe, during the thousands of years that followed the events we are discussing here, these secret teachings and discreet connections have continued.

7 The Attempts To Erase Atenism From Ancient Egyptian History

Following its disappearance from the collective psyche of ancient Egypt, there came an apparent attempt to erase all records of Atenism from history. Indeed, much of what we know of the period is from what little remains of it in Egyptian records (essentially what was overlooked or too inaccessible to destroy) or from surrounding civilizations’ records.

As mentioned in the introduction, perhaps the most famous, well-known, and easily recognizable of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs is a mystery himself. Of all the pharaohs during this period, despite being erased from history, his mummy was well-preserved and guarded as opposed to the desecration that was dished out upon the others.

Indeed, it appears that the pharaohs who followed went to great lengths to not only distance themselves from Atenism but, beginning with Horemheb, actively pursued anyone practicing or preaching such ideology, destroyed monuments, and erased inscriptions.^[4]

There has been much speculation as to the reason for this apparently delayed reaction, and it ranges from mundane claims of simple revolution to crazily outlandish assertions of extraterrestrial intervention. As we move into the second half of our list, we’ll see that the answer could have been somewhere in the middle, between those two extremes.

6 The Tutankhamun Connection

Before we get into the potential reasons for this intriguing but bizarre period in ancient Egyptian history, we should perhaps turn our attention back to the famous pharaoh whose reign came during the era but was nevertheless responsible for returning the religious focus back to the way it was before Akhenaten: Tutankhamun.^[5] He is arguably the most well-known of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs, certainly to us in the modern age.

Indeed, he would change his name from Tutankhaten to Tutankhamun as a public display of his casting off Atenism. Even so, his name was still removed from official royal records along with the other rulers during this time. Of even further interest is the tomb which sits directly across from that Tutankhamun, only meters away: Tomb 55, also known as KV55.

5 The Mysterious Tomb 55

Quite possibly the most intriguing and mysterious aspect of Atenism is the discovery of the contents of what became known as Tomb 55.^[6] What is particularly strange about it is that it reportedly originally bore the seal of Tutankhamun. (This claim remains unverified.) Tut, of course, was buried nearby, and his tomb wasn’t discovered until a number of years later.

What is even more interesting about Tomb 55 is the notion that it was actually sealed to keep the mummy inside as opposed to keeping rogue thieves and robbers out. Given what we know of the beliefs of the time in curses and the vengeance of the gods, this is an interesting, if ominous detail. Furthermore, the body of the mummy had been purposely desecrated as well as appearing and being displayed as female, despite the fact it was discovered to be male.

4 Statues Of Sekhmet Suddenly Appear Everywhere

During his reign, Amonhotep III erected 600 statues of Sekhmet at the Temple of Mut.^[7] He around 730 statues constructed in total. Why was this?

What is perhaps interesting here is that this particular deity was associated with, among other things, disaster. This, according to some researchers, suggests that something very grave was taking place in ancient Egypt.

Incidentally, according to ancient Egyptian mythology, Sekhmet, the daughter of Ra, had attempted to destroy the world and had to be kept at bay by Ra. This might be very important. Our final points, which we collectively owe to the research and investigative skills of author Graham Phillips, may just provide the missing answers to what is surely the most mysterious period in “known” ancient Egyptian history.

3 A Coincidental Cataclysmic Disaster?

In his book Act Of God, author, researcher, and investigator Graham Phillips argues that the reason for these statues, and indeed the apparent submission of the entire nation in the face of this drastic change, was down to a cataclysmic disaster striking the nation, specifically a huge, and deadly, volcanic eruption from Mount Thera (aka Santorini), the effects of which would have been more than felt in the lands of Egypt.^[8]

Might this have been the reason for accepting such drastic change? Might the skies have darkened as a result of a massive volcanic explosion? Might this prove to be the reason why Akhenaten made the decision to worship Aten—the sun disc?

What is also interesting here is that many of the apparent plagues which hit ancient Egypt, at least according to legends and Biblical writings, could be satisfactorily explained as a consequence of such a natural disaster, including, but certainly not limited to, the darkening of the skies (or the Sun). As these plagues continued, and with the nation coming to the realization that worshiping Aten was not stopping such disasters, a quick conversion back to the old gods was seen as the only way to end the horror.

In short, and given what we know of ancient Egyptian ideology, culture, and thought, there was an unintentional manipulation of a naturally occurring but cataclysmic event that not only ushered in Atenism but then ushered it out again. Our last points, though, are perhaps most spine-tingling of all.

2 The Hyksos And The Exodus

As an intriguing aside to the equally intriguing affair is the presence of a mysterious group of people in the region, the Hyksos. This mysterious group, according to some researchers, were the early Hebrews of the Old Testament and, in turn, part of the apparent bloodline of Jesus. Indeed, some researchers even claim that Jesus may well have been, by family ties and bloodlines, a pharaoh in exile in Jerusalem by the time of His birth, whose wealthy family were very likely from the Heliopolis region. When coming of age, He was likely taught the same teachings as were taught in the mystery schools of the regions thousands of years before His own existence.

Coming back to ancient Egypt, however, it would appear that the Hyksos were also part of the Exodus, which, while historically believed to be a myth, could well have taken place off the back of the outlawing of Atenism. Much of the Old Testament has obvious connections to ancient Egyptian writings. And while history, the Bible, and even the movies claim that the Exodus led by Moses took place during the reign of Ramses II, there is evidence to suggest, much of which we have examined above, that it, in fact, took place a century previously, during the reign of Akhenaten.^[9]

To understand this, we return once again to Graham Phillips.

1 Was Thutmose The Real Moses?

Indeed, Phillips notes that Crown Prince Thutmose should, by rights, have been the next in line for the throne following Amenhotep III.^[10] However, instead, Akhenaten takes charge, and Thutmose seemingly disappears from the picture. (Most historians assume he died.) When we know that an inscription on a wine jar for Akhenaten describes him as the “the true King’s son,” this now begins to sound like the Moses and Ramses II story. Now note that the word “son” in ancient Egyptian is mose. The Greek version of this word, incidentally, is mosis.

If we also believe, then, that Thutmose had to go into exile due to Akhenaten perhaps conspiring to kill him for his rightful place on the throne as the “king’s true son,” and if we also accept that Thutmose had abandoned the “Thut” (“god”) part of his name, then the connections between Mose and Moses are strong.

Might it be, as speculative as this all is, that the three main Abrahamic religions of our contemporary age are directly connected to the religious ideology from the mystery schools of ancient Egypt, preserving, in a bizarre way, the thought process and spirituality of one of the greatest civilizations to ever grace the Earth?

Great Britain’s rich and colorful history has been a host to some of the best-known mysteries across the world. Just looking at England alone—the cases of Stonehenge, The Princes in the Tower, and Jack the Ripper have been endlessly analyzed and debated over the years.

As interesting as these classic cases are, however, there are plenty of other historical British mysteries that deserve a second look—from the strange death of a medieval king to a handful of unsolved Victorian murders.

10 The Assassination Of Robert Pakington

Robert Pakington has the unfortunate distinction of possibly being the earliest victim killed by a handgun in London. Pakington was a merchant with political ambitions, becoming a member of Parliament in 1533 and again in 1536. Politically, Pakington represented the interests of his fellow merchants, and he was also a critic of the Catholic clergy.

On a misty morning on November 13, 1536, Pakington woke up at 4:00 AM to go to church. The church was somewhere across from Pakington’s house. While the merchant was crossing the street, he was shot and killed. Neighbors confirmed hearing the gun, but nobody actually saw the murder or its perpetrator.^[1]

Pakington’s murder shocked the city, all the more so due to the weapon used in the crime. Despite the mayor’s offer of a hefty reward, nobody was ever captured or charged. Later historical chroniclers, such as the Protestant John Foxe, tended to pin the murder on Catholic elements, with Foxe claiming that Pakington was assassinated on the orders of a priest.

9 The Murder Of Janet Rogers

When Janet Rogers agreed to help her brother William Henderson on his farm near Perth, Scotland, it was only supposed to be a temporary job. Henderson had just fired a domestic servant, and Rogers would fill her place until another worker could be found. In March 1866, only three days after her arrival, Rogers was murdered in Henderson’s kitchen with an axe.

Henderson was the first person to find his sister’s body. Police considered the farmer a suspect, and they arrested him with one of his workers, a plowman named James Crichton. However, the possibility that Henderson was the killer was weak because he’d been at a farmer’s market in Perth at the time of the murder. Both men were eventually released, yet Crichton was later arrested again.^[2]

With a lack of physical evidence, the case against Crichton was flimsy. His trial ended in an acquittal, but William Henderson never stopped believing that Crichton was the culprit. One plausible theory suggests that Crichton tried burglarizing the farmhouse, but when he stumbled on Rogers in the house, he struck her with an axe and fled.

8 The Disappearance Of Francis Lovell

As one of King Richard III’s closest friends, the nobleman Francis Lovell was a dedicated ally during the final years of the Wars of the Roses when Richard III and his Yorkist supporters fought for the English throne with Henry Tudor and the Lancastrians. In August 1485, the civil war took a decisive turn when Richard III died during the Battle of Bosworth Field, making his rival Henry Tudor the new king, Henry VII.

Even after Richard III’s death, Lovell stayed loyal to his old friend’s cause. In 1486, Lovell came out of hiding to take part in a rebellion against Henry VII.

When that revolt failed, Lovell took up the cause of the pretender Lambert Simnel, a boy pushed by the Yorkists as King Edward VI, the “true” new king of England. During the Battle of Stoke Field, the Yorkists and their boy king were soundly defeated, and it is here that Francis Lovell disappears from history.^[3]

While it’s known that Lovell escaped the battle, his whereabouts have remained a mystery. It was said that he might have retreated into a cave or perhaps fled abroad. On the other hand, he might never have left England. As a matter of fact, in 1708, a skeleton never identified was uncovered in a hidden part of Lovell’s house.

7 The Murder Of Fred Atkins

In the early hours of September 22, 1881, police officer Fred Atkins was assigned to patrol the district of Kingston Hill in London, a neighborhood then plagued by burglars. While walking his beat, Atkins was suddenly shot multiple times, taking wounds in his chest, abdomen, and left thigh. The gunshots attracted the attention of a mansion’s resident and housekeeper, who discovered Atkins lying on their front steps.

Atkins was hurt badly. But he was still able to talk, stating that he hadn’t seen or heard anybody on his beat. Unfortunately, Atkins was too fragile to move to a hospital, and the young policeman died soon after his attack. A lantern and chisel were found outside the mansion where Atkins had collapsed, and a window on the building was also missing its iron bars.

Investigators believed that Atkins must have been ambushed by a burglar while conducting his patrol. With few leads to follow, authorities were never able to bring Atkins’s murderer to justice. Since 2012, a plaque honoring the memory of the murdered officer has stood outside a pub in Kingston Hill.^[4]

6 The Murder Of Georgina Moore

Georgina Moore was only seven years old when she vanished in London on December 20, 1881. The little girl had eaten lunch at a family friend’s house and was last seen heading back to school. When Georgina didn’t come home afterward, her parents organized a search effort. Despite looking all night, Georgina’s father, Stephen, couldn’t find a trace of her.

A boy at Georgina’s school reported seeing her with a woman whom the police believed was Esther Pay, an acquaintance of the Moores. Pay denied any involvement. But as the weeks passed by, she often asked Georgina’s parents whether there’d been any updates on the case. Nearly six weeks after Georgina’s disappearance, the girl’s body was found in a river.

An autopsy determined that Georgina had died on December 20 as a result of being strangled. Suspicions mounted against Esther Pay, especially when it was revealed that Stephen Moore once had an affair with her and that Esther still seemed bitter that Moore broke it off.

While Pay was brought to trial for Georgina’s murder, she was ultimately acquitted. It still hasn’t been established whether Pay might have murdered Georgina or whether an accomplice or somebody else was responsible.^[5]

5 The Death Of King William II

On August 2, 1100, the English king William II went hunting in southern England’s royal New Forest. Among his party was Walter Tirel, a courtier, and the king’s brother Henry. Soon after the hunt began, the news spread that William had been shot and killed by an arrow in the heart.

At the time, hunting was a dangerous activity, and few people doubted that William’s sudden death was unintentional. Tirel swore that it was an accident. But afraid that he might be held accountable, he ended up leaving England for France. Meanwhile, William’s brother declared himself King Henry I.

While modern historians believe that William was killed accidentally, others have speculated that something more sinister was afoot. There have been numerous theories about William’s death—from the bizarre accusation that William was murdered by a pagan fertility cult to the more grounded suggestion that the hostile king of France had masterminded everything.

Whatever the reason, it was very convenient for the ambitious Henry I, who just happened to be with his brother that fatal day.^[6]

4 The Innocence Of Elizabeth Fenning

Until 1861, an act of attempted murder could warrant the death penalty in England. This was the charge on which Elizabeth Fenning, a servant convicted of trying to murder her employer and his family, was hanged in July 1815. Fenning’s execution provoked a scandal, and many people believed that she had been wrongly accused.

Fenning lived in London, where she worked as a cook for a man named Orlibar Turner. On March 21, 1815, Fenning, Turner, and two other members of the household became terribly sick after eating some dumplings that Fenning had made. Although everybody recovered and the cook became the sickest of the bunch, Fenning was accused of trying to poison the Turners.

An analysis of the dough in the dumplings found arsenic in the mix, a sign taken that Fenning must have been the poisoner. While Fenning repeatedly maintained her innocence and there was only circumstantial evidence, the law determined that she was guilty anyway.

Years later, a man on his deathbed in Essex is said to have confessed to the crime. The details are vague, but the supposed culprit claimed that he resented his uncle, “Mr. Turner,” and had slipped poison into some dough when Fenning wasn’t in the kitchen.^[7]

3 The Disappearance Of Urban Napoleon Stanger

The German-born Urban Napoleon Stanger was a baker who set up business in London in 1870. Stanger’s shop did well and was popular among other Germans. On November 13, 1881, the baker never showed up to work. After his disappearance, Stanger’s employee Felix Stumm hastily took over the bakery.

When Scotland Yard was called in, officers searched Stanger’s house to no avail. They dug up his backyard, checked under his floorboards, and inspected his ovens. While the officers did recover some bones, these were shown to have belonged to a small animal.

Stanger was untraceable. His worker Stumm seemed awfully suspicious, especially considering that he’d gone drinking with Stanger and some friends the night before his boss vanished.

Stumm was never proven to have been involved with Stanger’s disappearance, but he was caught using Stanger’s name on securities. The law found Stumm guilty of fraud and sentenced him to 10 years in prison. His boss, Stanger, was never seen or heard from again.^[8]

2 The Death Of Owain Glyndwr

England had conquered Wales in the late 13th century, putting an end to the country’s independence. While there were some minor rebellions afterward, the strongest threat to English rule erupted in 1400 when the Welsh nobleman Owain Glyndwr declared himself the Prince of Wales.

Welsh laborers, students, and soldiers all flocked to Glyndwr’s army, launching a rebellion that would last over a decade. Even though Glyndwr was ultimately defeated, he still had many sympathizers.

Living as an outlaw after 1410, Glyndwr went into hiding and disappeared. Sightings of him continued for years. But according to the medieval Welsh historian Adam of Usk, the great rebel leader died in 1415.^[9]

The circumstances of Glyndwr’s final years are murky, and the locations of his death and burial have been debated for centuries. After his disappearance, Glyndwr became a national symbol, a mythical king that legend said would someday return to lead Wales to independence.

1 The Murder Of George Burrington

The English official George Burrington served two terms as governor of North Carolina. The first was from 1724 to 1725, and the second from 1731 to 1734. During his oversight of the colony, the hot-tempered Burrington made a number of enemies. In fact, his first term ended in a dismissal after a judge reported to the British government that Burrington had tried to break into his house.

Following his dismissal, Burrington demanded a duel with his successor, Sir Richard Everard. When Burrington came back into office in 1731, it wasn’t long before he alienated and insulted many of his fellow officials with his crude and unruly behavior.

This second term also ended in a dismissal, with the result that Burrington returned to England. In 1736, the retired official claimed that an assassination plot had been hatched against him during the last stretch of his governorship.

Burrington’s retirement was a comfortable one, but his life ended violently and mysteriously. On February 22, 1759, the former governor’s body was found in a canal in Westminster.

As his pockets were turned inside out and there wasn’t money on him, it was thought that Burrington had been robbed and murdered. His walking stick was also damaged, indicating that Burrington didn’t go down without a final fight.^[10]

Tristan Shaw is an American writer who enjoys folklore, literature, and history. You can follow him on Twitter.

Ancient Greece is often seen as the birthplace of Western civilization. It’s also credited with founding some of the earliest institutions devoted to acquiring knowledge, and if that wasn’t enough, Athens is commonly regarded as the birthplace of democracy.

But the length of time between this era and the modern world means that not everything about this period of antiquity is actually known to us today. Records are lost, stories become embellished, and so on. Here are ten mysteries about ancient Greece which still remain unresolved.

10 The Secrets Of The Eleusinian Mysteries

One of the most intriguing mysteries of ancient Greece concerns a secret organization whose name also helped to define the concept of “mystery” as we understand it today.^[1] The Eleusinian Mysteries were a religious cult which revolved around a series of clandestine rituals and ceremonies, many of which still remain unknown today. (Note that the term “Eleusinian Mysteries” is also used to refer to the rituals themselves.)

One of the reasons for our current lack of knowledge is that the Mysteries were designed to be kept secret, and followers were forbidden to divulge the details of the cult’s inner workings. It has even been claimed that anyone who did reveal the truth risked being killed. The limited number of sources discussing the nature of the rites involved makes it even more unlikely that the whole story behind this cult will ever be known in its entirety.

9 The Life Of Thespis

Thespis is the name attributed to the sixth-century-BC Athenian who was believed to have been the first individual to perform a role as if he were another person and is therefore regarded by some as being the world’s first actor. The impact of this figure in cultural history is such that the term “thespian” was derived from his name as a way to refer to actors. Yet relatively little is known for certain about him, his life, and his career. Was Thespis his real name? Was he really from Athens? And most importantly, did he really exist in the first place?

It has been noted that all the sources which refer to him, including an account by the poet Horace, were written at a much later point in time than he was said to have performed, and there are no contemporary accounts of the person in question.^[2] It has therefore been suggested that Thespis himself could be considered a myth and more of a symbol of the beginning of acting in the Greek theatrical tradition, rather than a specific person who could be definitively identified.

8 The Art And Architecture Of The Parthenon

The Parthenon in Athens is one of the most iconic images of ancient Greece. Its endurance over the past 2,500 years is all the more remarkable, given that it was built in an unusually short period of time, and seemingly without a detailed construction plan.^[3] Mystery also surrounds other aspects of its architecture and art, with much remaining undetermined about both the creation and purpose of certain details of the building.

There has been ongoing debate over the content of the frieze which decorates the interior of the Parthenon and what the figures within the frieze are intended to convey: One of the possibilities raised has been that they may have been intended as representations of the people who helped to build it. The temple also contains two interior chambers, the smaller of which has never had its purpose identified.

7 The Creators Of The Two Constitutions Of The Athenians

The Constitution of the Athenians is a title attributed to two different documents of ancient Greece, one originally associated with the philosopher Xenophon, the other with Aristotle. However, in both cases, the authorship has been disputed and continues to be debated to this day. While the older of the two texts was originally credited to Xenophon, it is now regarded as not actually his own work, partly due to the likely date of its composition having predated the mature years of his writing career.^[4] Its author is now often described as “Pseudo-Xenophon,” but the identity of the person who actually wrote the work has never been conclusively established.

The later document was regarded by most as having been written by Aristotle, but there has been some disagreement on this, due to the fact that it is very different in style to his other works. However, this has been countered by the suggestion that such differences could be attributed to the fact that the constitution was a form of writing very different from the rest of his accomplishments.

6 The Work Of Pythagoras

The mathematician Pythagoras is famous today for his association with the theory that the square of the longest side of a right triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of the remaining two shorter sides. One of the most famous of all mathematical theorems, it has become known as the Pythagorean Theorem, yet the life and work of the man so closely associated with it is actually much more unclear.

This is partly due to the fact that the philosophical school he worked within operated under very secretive conditions, and it is therefore unclear in some cases which work can be attributed to him and which may have been done by another member of the organization.^[5] It has also been proven that the most famous theory associated with him was already known in ancient Babylon and that it cannot be considered to be his original discovery.

5 The Destruction Of The Statue Of Zeus

The Statue of Zeus was one of the legendary Seven Wonders of the World, a list compiled by notable scholars during antiquity of the most impressive structures created by human beings in ancient times. Of the seven wonders, only the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt survives today, the six others having been lost over the course of time. The Statue of Zeus was created by Phidias, one of the most renowned sculptors of ancient Greece, and its eventual destruction remains one of the most mysterious losses of the wonders.

The statue was housed within the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, which was eventually destroyed by fire, and it is often assumed that the statue was lost in this blaze, but it has also been argued that the statue may have been removed from the temple at an earlier stage and taken to the city of Constantinople, known today as Istanbul, where it may have been lost in a fire there instead.^[6]

4 Aristotle’s Lost Theory Of Comedy

Aristotle’s Poetics is a major text in the history of literary criticism, the earliest known work to analyze the art of writing itself. However, one part of this key work of ancient Greek literature seems likely to remain a mystery: the legend of the existence of a second book, which was said to have focused on Aristotle’s theory of comedy, accompanying the theory of tragedy discussed in the first book of the Poetics.

There has been debate as to whether or not this is a genuine lost work, as, despite being mentioned in a list of Aristotle’s works in an early biography, there is little other evidence for its existence.^[7] Nevertheless, the possibility of such a lost text has been an enduring source of speculation and even plays a role in Umberto Eco’s novel The Name of the Rose, in which the supposed rediscovery of this book becomes an important plot point.

3 The Labyrinth Which Inspired The Minotaur Myth

One of the most famous Greek myths centers on the story of the Minotaur, the terrifying individual who was half a bull and half a human and was kept imprisoned within a labyrinthine maze by King Minos. This labyrinth has subsequently been speculated as a structure that may have genuinely existed and served as the inspiration for the myth in question.

The palace at the ancient city of Knossos, located on the Greek island of Crete, has sometimes been argued as a location for the labyrinth that may have inspired this myth, although excavations at the site have not yet revealed a structure which matches the idea. However, recent research has also proposed a stone quarry near the town of Gortyn, 32 kilometers (20 mi) away from Knossos, as an alternative possible location.^[8] The debate continues, and a definitive location remains to be identified.

2 Plato’s Unfinished Trilogy

The myth of Atlantis originated in the work of Plato, where it is mentioned in his dialogues, Timaeus and Critias, as an example of a civilization in counterpoint to that of Athens, one which eventually falls into ruin and sinks beneath the waves of the Atlantic. But the mystery remains why these works, which were projected to form a trilogy upon completion, were ultimately abandoned.

Plato did not complete the Critias, the second dialogue, and no record can be found of him having embarked upon the intended third work, which was to have been entitled Hermocrates.^[9] It remains unknown why Plato did not complete this intended trilogy. The result of this is that the work which generated so much speculation on the subject of Atlantis has now become a source of mystery in its own right, due to the fact that the philosopher himself never completed it, without any definitive answer as to why he did not.

1 The Authorship Of Homer’s Poems

Homer, the poet credited as the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, is believed to be the earliest known Greek author. But he remains a mysterious figure in many respects, including the question of whether or not he was the sole author of either of the works most closely associated with him. It has been suggested that Homer may not have been the creator of both the Iliad and the Odyssey, due to stylistic differences between the two works, which some believe indicate different authors.

It has also been argued that, even if Homer did originate both works in some form himself, it is still appropriate to view the poems as collective endeavors, due to the fact that they would have been initially composed through speech rather than writing and communicated through a number of subsequent speakers, with likely elaborations during this process.^[10]

Jane Alexander is a freelance writer.

There is just something about an unsolved mystery, isn’t there? Sure, it’s great when you eventually find out why something happened the way it did. Still, man, the idea of an event taking place without an immediate plausible explanation just sends those debating skills into overdrive and makes the conspiracy theories pile up. Below are just some examples of mysteries that will probably be debated for a long time to come.

10 The Mummy That Wasn’t

Back in 2000, Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan battled for ownership of what they believed to be the mummified remains of a 2,600-year-old Persian princess. Police found the mummy during a raid of a Baluchistan chieftain home in Kharan, Pakistan and was to be sold on the black market for millions. When she was discovered, the mummy’s head was adorned with a golden crown, and there were gold ornaments in her coffin, which truly made it seem that an archaeological wonder had been found. However, not everyone was convinced that the mummy was the real deal. Professor Ahmad Dani, director of the Institute of Asian Civilizations in Islamabad, claimed to have known from the beginning that the mummy was not all it was cracked up to be.^[1]

He was not wrong. After a detailed study of the remains, it was soon discovered that the body was not 2,600 years old and not a Persian princess. It was revealed that the coffin she rested in was not as old as her remains were believed to be and that the mat she was laid on was possibly a mere five years old. The Persian mummy was now believed to be the body of a 21-year-old female murder victim—her neck, jaw, and back broken. Finally, it was confirmed, with the help of radiocarbon testing, that the victim had died in 1996. The “mummy” was buried in 2005 without the victim ever being identified.

9 Dutch Students’ Deaths

On 1 April 2014, two Dutch students, Lisanne Froon and Kris Kremers, waved goodbye to the family hosting them during their long-planned trip to Panama and walked off with the family dog for a hike along the Baru volcano. They posted on Facebook that they were going to walk around Boquete before tackling the hiking trail.

That evening, the host family noticed the dog traipsing back into the house, but there was no sign of the two young women. Assuming they may have decided to stay overnight on the trail, the family waited until morning. However, when they discovered that Kris and Lisanne never showed up for their private walking tour of Boquete, the family immediately contacted the police. Kris and Lisanne’s parents arrived in Panama five days later and waited anxiously for news of their children as police and detectives scoured the forest for ten days.^[2]

It took 10 weeks for a break in the case. A local woman turned up at the police station with a blue backpack she had found on a riverbank in the Boco del Toros region. Inside the backpack were Lisanne’s passport, sunglasses, two pairs of bras, a water bottle, and some cash. Police also found a camera and both girls’ cell phones in the backpack. When they scrolled through the phones, they found that there had been 77 attempts to call the police and emergency services in both Panama and the Netherlands. Due to the lack of signal in the area, these calls did not go through. On one of the phones, they found several photos of the trail and surrounding forest. There were also photos taken on 8 April of the girls’ belongings scattered over some rocks and a disturbing photo of the back of Kris’ head showing blood streaming from her temple.

Two months later, bones were found in the forest. DNA tests confirmed that the bones belonged to the two missing girls. Later in 2014, they were publicly declared dead of a hiking accident. Police never found out how they died or if someone was responsible for their deaths.

8 Leatherman

Historian Dan DeLuca spent most of his life researching a deceased homeless man’s life. Ever since he stumbled upon his grave in the Sparta Cemetery in Ossining, New York, DeLuca had been fascinated with the man known as Leatherman. He learned that the inscription on Leatherman’s gravestone incorrectly referred to the deceased as Jules Bourglay of Lyons, France. He also knew that Leatherman had been a source of mystery for people in Westchester County and western Connecticut since the 1850s.^[3]

Leatherman was said to have had a strange ritual that contributed to much of the speculation surrounding him. Once a month, he would walk 360 miles between the Hudson and Connecticut rivers. Being homeless, he was dressed very modestly in patchwork garments and wooden shoes and very rarely spoke to anyone. He slept in the forest and sometimes in caves, but he would never stay inside a building for more than a couple of minutes. He often asked for food as he passed by a farmhouse, and the occupants were amazed at his appetite. He could eat a staggering amount while remaining standing at the front door.

The press began following Leatherman’s movements and chronicled his travels for over 30 years. In modern times the research into this mysterious man continues. Pearl Jam got caught up in the mystery and wrote a song about him. Leatherman’s real name and age at that time remain unknown, as does his place of birth and where he grew up.

7 Nina Craigmiles’s Blood-Stained Crypt

Nina Craigmiles was born to Myra Adelia Thompson Craigmiles and John Henderson Craigmiles on August 5, 1864. As she grew, Nina learned to love riding in a horse-drawn buggy. During one such outing with her grandfather on St. Luke’s Day in 1871, the buggy they were riding in was hit full-on by an oncoming train as they were crossing the railroad tracks. Seven-year-old Nina was killed on impact.

While her family grieved, Nina’s father changed his will to include a clause that stated he wished to be buried inside the mausoleum where Nina’s ashes rested. John Craigmiles also ensured that an Episcopal church was built in Nina’s memory, which included the marble mausoleum in the churchyard to keep Nina’s ashes in. The church was named St. Luke’s Memorial Episcopal Church and was consecrated in 1872.^[4]

John died in 1899 and was buried, as requested, inside Nina’s mausoleum. Sometime later, red stains started appearing on the outside of the mausoleum. Efforts to clean the stains failed, and when the marble blocks were replaced, the stains simply reappeared. In modern times, sightings have been reported of a little ghost girl in 1800s clothing, playing outside the mausoleum. The red stains, whom many believe to be blood, are still visible on the Craigmiles Mausoleum in Cleveland and tourists love relating the story. However, the cause of the stains remains a mystery.

6 The Circleville Letters

In 1976, several Circleville, Ohio residents began receiving strange letters detailing personal information about their lives. The letters contained threats of violence and personal information that, in some cases, only the recipient was aware of. Many of these letters were hatefully written with vulgarisms and lewd artwork. None of the Circleville letters had any return address, and all appeared to come from somewhere within Columbus. Every single letter was written in the same distinct style—block letters—and might have been an attempt to cover up the author’s personal handwriting.

Bus driver Mary Gillispie was accused of a supposedly non-existent affair with the superintendent of schools. The writer told Mary that they had been observing her house and knew she had children. It was postmarked in Columbus, Ohio, but had no return address. Within eight days, Mary received a similar letter. She kept the letters to herself, until her husband, Ron, received one as well. The letter stated that if Ron did not stop his wife’s affair, his life would be in danger. The couple believed that the letter writer was Ron’s brother-in-law, Paul Freshour, and the letters stopped after they sent accusatory letters to Freshour—at least for a time.

Ron Gillispie died a few weeks later in a suspicious car accident as the letters continued, now being sent to more residents ordering a more thorough investigation into the crash. After a botched attempt on Mary Gillispie’’s life six years later, police arrested Freshour for attempted murder. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison as his gun was used in the boob-trap device meant to kill Mary. While in prison, the letters continued, still postmarked from Columbus, even though Freshour was nowhere near there, nor were any letters sent from the prison. The writer of the letters is still unknown, although there have not been any letters received since 1994.

While Unsolved Mysteries was filming this story, they received a postcard, apparently from the letter writer. It read “Forget Circleville Ohio: Do Nothing to Hurt Sheriff Radcliff: If You Come to Ohio You El Sickos Will Pay: The Circleville Writer.”^[5]

5 Mysterious Vatican Disappearance

When 15-year-old Emanuela Orlandi finished her second year of high school in Rome in 1983, she chose to continue with flute lessons at the Tommaso Ludovico da Victoria School. On 22 June 1983, Emanuela asked her brother, Pietro, to accompany her on the bus to the music school, but he had prior commitments. She arrived late to class that day and later telephoned her sister to inform her that she had been given a job opportunity to become a representative of Avon Cosmetics. The rep who had presented her with the opportunity spoke to her before her music lesson, causing Emanuela to run late. Later that day, Emanuela told a friend of hers about the job, before getting into a BMW and riding off.^[6] Emanuela Orlandi was never seen again.

Many false leads materialized over the years, as did an abundance of theories on what may have happened to the young girl. Some believe that a Bulgarian neo-fascist youth group abducted her. Others claim that she is living in a Muslim community in Paris. Even more outrageous theories include that her kidnapping was part of a plot to kill St. John Paul II or could even be linked to the seedy underbelly of Rome.

In 2017, an Italian journalist claimed to have stolen a document from the Vatican which suggested that the Holy See arranged Emanuela’s disappearance. The Vatican immediately claimed, “fake news.”

In July 2019, the Vatican excavated the tombs of two 19th century German princesses in the Pontifical Teutonic College cemetery after an anonymous tip was received that Emanuela’s remains were buried inside them. Instead, they found completely empty tombs, meaning the remains of the princesses are in question as well. During these excavations, two sets of bones were found under a stone slab and were inspected and determined to be too old to be the remains of Emanuela Orlandi. The Vatican closed its investigation, but the mystery still remains—what happened to Emanuela?

4 Kathy Hobbs Premonition

When Katherine Marie Hobbs was eight years old, her parents divorced. As if this wasn’t bad enough for the young girl, her best friend died while they were both in middle school. Soon after, Katherine or Kathy as her family called her, started having disturbing premonitions that she would not live past 16 years of age.^[7]

Kathy and her sister Theresa moved to a Las Vegas suburb with their mother where Kathy made new friends and eventually woke up on her sixteenth birthday on 20 April 1987 feeling greatly relieved that nothing terrible had happened to her. As the days passed after her birthday, Kathy grew confident that her premonitions were nothing more than a figment of her imagination.

On July 23, 1987, Kathy left her house to buy a novel at the local supermarket a block and a half away. Her mom kissed her goodbye in case she fell asleep before Kathy returned.

The next morning, Kathy’s mom knocked on her bedroom door only to discover it was empty. Kathy never made it back home. Her mother filed a missing person’s report immediately. Nine days later, a hiker found Kathy’s body near Lake Mead. When police were called, they discovered rocks at the murder scene with Kathy’s blood on them, indicating that the teenager had been hit in the head repeatedly. The news devastated Kathy’s mother and sister. Later, while cleaning out her bedroom, they found letters written by Kathy to each family member. The letters were dated a month before Kathy’s sixteenth birthday. In them, she wrote that she loved them dearly and that they shouldn’t be upset or dwell over her death.

Kathy Hobbs’ murder remains unsolved, even though a serial killer named Michael Lee Lockhart was a prime suspect and eventually executed for another murder.

3 Titanic Poisoning

On the last day of filming the movie, Titanic, in Nova Scotia, James Cameron suddenly felt inexplicably ill and disoriented. When he started vomiting, he realized something was very wrong. Once he got back to the set, he found he wasn’t the only one feeling strange as some of the cast and crew were vomiting or crying and some even laughing.

At Dartmouth General Hospital, things took an even weirder turn when a crew member stabbed Cameron in the face with a pen. At the same time, others started stealing unoccupied wheelchairs and wheeling themselves up and down the hospital corridors. Cameron, who was bleeding from the pen stab wound, couldn’t stop laughing.

Once the hospital staff ruled out food poisoning, they realized that chowder consumed by more than 60 people on set had been laced with PCP.^[8]

Theories abounded, one of which had it that a dismissed crew member tried to take revenge by poisoning the food. Officially the mystery remains long after the case was closed in 1999 due to a lack of suspects.

2 Miniature Coffins

In 1836 a group of boys set off for Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh, Scotland to hunt rabbits. Intrigued by a concealed cave, the boys decided to peek inside. After pulling away the stones covering the entrance, they stumbled upon 17 miniature coffins, each with a wooden doll inside. The dolls had big eyes and were dressed in cotton clothing.^[9]

When the discovery was reported in the Scotsman newspaper, the article mentioned that the coffins were decorated with funeral trappings. It seemed that they had been placed inside the cave recently.

As is always the case with unexplained discoveries, multiple theories were presented to try and explain the coffins. Some people thought it might be children playing a trick, while others mused that witches might have used the coffins for rituals. Yet another theory said that the coffins may have been part of an ancient custom to give sailors who died at sea a Christian burial. A dark theory suggested that the coffins may have been set up in tribute of killers William Burke and William Hare who murdered 17 people.

The true purpose of the coffins and who placed them in the cave remains a mystery.

1 The Handless Monk

In 2017, archaeologists made the startling discovery of a medieval dolphin skeleton on an islet off the coast of Guernsey. The following year, they made an even more baffling discovery: that of a male skeleton with no hands. Following an investigation, it was found that the skeleton of the man, believed to be a monk, was buried at a much later time than the dolphin, and the two incidents were not related.^[10]

Archaeologists initially believed the islet, Chapelle Dom Hue, used to be much larger and home to a few Christian monks during the Middle Ages. One of the theories surrounding the mystery of the skeleton has it that the monk may have suffered from leprosy and had his hands cut off because of it. However, some experts feel this is unlikely and don’t believe that the man was a monk. The details on the skeleton’s clothing indicate the body may have been buried in the 17th century, long after monks would have inhabited the islet.

The skeleton discovery remains shrouded in mystery for the time being, as experts are still in the process of examining the remains and investigating a different theory which states that the man may have been a sailor who died at sea and was thrown overboard before washing up on the islet.

Mysteries are woven into the fabric of civilizations around the world. The creepy ones are spoken about in hushed tones. The funny ones are laughed over around the dinner table. Lengthy articles are written about them and heated discussions arise because of them. And perhaps the best of all mysteries are the historic ones that remain unsolved. Those that occurred when built-in cameras in smart phones and instant posts on social media were still years, if not decades, in the making…

SEE ALSO: 10 Mysteries Resolved By Unbelievable Surprise Twists.

8 The Houston gargoyle

In 1986, NASA employee Frank Shaw, left his office late one evening and walked briskly to his car. He had worked a long shift and was anxious to get home. But all thoughts of home flew from his mind when he looked up at the NASA buildings and saw a black figure perching on one of its corners. Afterwards Shaw recalled the figure resembling a humanoid creature with a something like a cape wrapped over its shoulders. In his shocked state, Shaw thought it may have been a gargoyle. He also claimed to have seen two massive wings protruding from the its sides.^[1]

Eventually arriving home, Shaw told his family what he had seen and that the ‘gargoyle’ had stared directly at him. When the winged creature took flight, Shaw had run to his vehicle and drove off in terror.

Naturally most were sceptic of Shaw’s tale, but his family rallied behind him. However, they did warn him to keep his sighting a secret from his bosses so as to not be labelled ‘insane’. As time went by, Shaw kept pondering over what he had seen and eventually built up enough courage to tell his supervisor, despite his family’s advice. To Shaw’s great surprise, his supervisor proceeded to tell him that other employees had experienced similar sightings. A file on the creature had also been opened after the corpses of two resident NASA German Shepherds were found mutilated in the same location the ‘gargoyle’ had been spotted.

Over the years, no new sightings of the creature have made the headlines. What exactly did Frank Shaw and those before him see at the NASA buildings? That remains a mystery.

7 The Kaimanawa Wall

In the Kaimanawa State Forest stands a mysterious structure known simply as the Kaimanawa Wall. Alternative historian, Barry Brailsford, caused an uproar in 1996 when he claimed the wall pre-dates Maori colonization by around 1200 years. He also claimed the wall was man-made, because it consists of ignimbrite and its sculpted surfaces seem to have been shaped by human hands. Had these claims been accepted as truth, it would have meant serious financial and political implications for Maori tribes in New Zealand.^[2]

If the wall is indeed as old as 2000 years, an old claim from the Waitaha would be proved as true. The Waitaha have long claimed that their people settled in NZ before the Maori tribes got there. This theory goes directly against the long-standing belief that archaeological evidence shows the first Maori people arrived between 1250 and 1300 followed by more. Local tribes in the Kaimanawa region believe that the wall is no more than a natural formation eroded by weather over many years.

Another theory about the wall has it that the wall is probably not even a hundred years old and is the last standing reminder of what used to be a sawmill. Geologist, Dr Peter Wood, stomped on this theory by stating that he believed the wall was formed by an ignimbrite sheeting cooling process and that the stones were more than 300,000 years old. The government instituted a ban to the site after these findings, effectively prohibiting any further assessments. While theories remain, any conclusive proof of the wall’s age and origin remains elusive.

6 Swissair Flight 111 valuables

On 2 September 1998, Swissair Flight 111 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean roughly 8 kilometres from Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia. The accident killed all 229 passengers and crew onboard the McDonnell Douglas MD-11. It took four years to complete the search and rescue, recovery and investigation which ultimately led to the conclusion that flammable material in the plane’s structure allowed an onboard fire to spread beyond control.^[3]

Sometime after the crash, it emerged that the plane was carrying a Picasso painting, almost 50kg in cash as well as 5kg of jewels including a diamond from the American Museum of Natural History in New York. None of these were ever recovered. For 1 year after the accident an exclusion zone extending 2 kilometres was set up around the crash site. When this zone was suspended, people would have been ‘free to search the area’ for the lost valuables. While it is possible that none of the valuable items may have survived the plane crash, their eventual destination and whether someone may have already located them, remains a mystery.

5 Russian plane in Nairobi

On 17 December 2018, a private jet landed at Wilson Airport in Nairobi, Kenya just half an hour before it was due to close for the day. There were five people on board the twin-engine jet which sported a foreign registration. Three days later the plane departed for Jomo Kenyatta International Airport at half past four in the afternoon. A little more than an hour later on the same day the plane set off again to a new destination, Chad, this time with seven people on board.^[4]

Now this in itself does not constitute any mystery. However, it was discovered that the plane is owned by Yevgeny Prigozhin who is a Kremlin insider with ties to Vladimir Putin. Prigozhin had been named one of 13 people of interest in the investigations into the 2016 US election. The immigration department also refused to reveal the identities of the other passengers on the plane.

This caused quite a commotion in Kenya, because while the plane was expected, there was no word from local security agencies on whether Prigozhin was actually aboard the aircraft. Rumors spread that Prigozhin, who is part of Wagner Group, wanted to set up security deals in Kenya where training, weapons and electioneering services would be traded for mining rights. Wagner Group has been linked to the murder of 3 journalists of Russian descent in July 2018.

A month before the plane landed in Nairobi it was reported that Kenya and Russia are working together in developing nuclear power technology. Whether this was the reason for the mission being kept hush hush or whether something shady was being planned, we’ll probably never know.

4 Phantom kangaroos

Earlier in 2019, a photo of kangaroos jumping in the snow in Australia made the rounds on social media. However, that was nowhere near as weird as the phantom kangaroo sightings in the US of all places.^[5]

The very first sighting was reported in 1899 in Wisconsin. Then after several years of no sightings, Reverend W.J. Hancock spotted a phantom kangaroo in Tennessee in January 1934 along with several other witnesses. This particular kangaroo was blamed for the killing of a dog, chickens and sheep. According to several people who claimed to have seen phantom kangaroos, the creatures are up to 5.5 feet tall and have glowing eyes.

Several years later between 1957 and 1967, many reported seeing these kangaroos in Minnesota and in 1974 hundreds witnessed a kangaroo in Chicago. There were even reports of a kangaroo haunting the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco in 1980. Local zoos were contacted during sightings, but no kangaroos were ever reported missing. It is alleged that one of the kangaroos was struck by a car and killed in 1981 but both driver and creature disappeared before any investigation could take place.

3 Mzora stone circle

11 kilometres from Asilah in Morocco, a megalithic stone circle named Mzora stands guard over the hills. The existence of the circle was first realized in 1830 AD. Starting out with 175 stones, the circle now consists of 168 with the tallest being more than 5 metres high. There is a barrow at the centre of the circle and the diameter of the structure is spread over 55 metres.^[6]

In the 1st Century AD, Roman general Quintus Sertorius believed Mzora to be the tomb of Antaeus, a giant killed by Hercules as one of his labors. He noted that the remains of an 85-foot man were found inside the circle and they were immediately covered up again. An excavation of the site in the 30s revealed no remains, neither did further investigations in the 70s.

Assessments have revealed that Mzora was built by the same culture that was responsible for the megaliths in Europe. The circle incorporates a Pythagorean right angle triangle which is the same method used in similar megalithic structures in Britain.

As with other megalithic circles it has been theorized that the stones were used as a calendar and for monitoring the incoming seasons. Others believe that druids worshipped at the stones or that they were landing strips for alien crafts. But the true purpose of Mzora remains unknown.

2 The missing volcano

In 1469, a mini ice age struck Europe. Flora didn’t flourish at all and there were reports of fish being frozen as they swam around in ponds. Four years earlier, crowds attending the wedding of King Alfonso II of Naples gazed up at the sky in awe as the sun turned dark. Following that day, the weather turned grim in Europe. Germany experienced flooding to the extent that coffins were exposed in cemeteries, whole villages were swept away and in Poland, citizens started traveling by boat as the rain poured relentlessly. What no one realized was that a giant volcano thousands of miles away had erupted and caused an ash cloud so big it covered Earth. This led to the coolest decade for many centuries to come.^[7]

In 2009 scientists found a sulphurous layer in the snow layers of 1809 and 1810 while on expedition in Antarctica and Greenland. The finding indicated that a volcanic blast had occurred which would have shot debris almost 50 kilometres up in the air. They had found the aftermath of the volcano that erupted thousands of years ago. The only problem was, they couldn’t find the volcano itself.

In 2012, further investigation revealed that the 15th Century climate disaster wasn’t caused by only one volcanic eruption, but two. However, the volcano remains missing. Some have surmised that the eruptions were so violent it may have torn the volcano apart. But until evidence is found, that remains just a theory.

1 The Hunt for The Golden Owl

In the early 90s, author Max Valentin hid a bronze sculpture of an owl in flight in mainland France. Valentin was the only person who knew the location of the owl. He then published a book called The Hunt for The Golden Owl effectively setting up a treasure hunt with no time limit. The book contained riddles that needed to be solve in order to find the little owl, with the prize being not only the bronze sculpture but a statuette of the original owl in gold and silver to the value of one million francs.

The book also included several rules including prohibiting the winner of the treasure hunt from speaking to the public or media about the location of the owl or the solutions to the riddles in the book.

Max Valentin has since passed away and his publishing company went out of business, but the location of the little bronze owl remains a mystery. The creator of the silver and gold owl, Michel Becker, regained ownership of it via a court ruling in 2009 but tried to auction it in 2014. Luckily the owl’s status was protected, and it had to be removed from the auction. Becker is still in possession of the owl today.^[8]

Max Valentin is said to have produced a book of solutions to the riddles in his original book before he died but his son is holding fast to that document; honoring his father’s wish that the bronze owl be found by someone who could figure out the riddles.