Humans have an advanced ability to recognise patterns, one of the uniquely tuned and honed abilities that has allowed us to become the most dominant species on Earth. When we encounter the unknown, we freak out a bit. From unidentified killers, unknown victims to pseudonymous artists and elusive hackers, there are plenty of people who affect the world that we simply don’t know who they are. We are conversely reviled and intrigued by this, hungering to solve the mystery, to accurately map the landscape of reality. Here are ten people that are currently little more than a conundrum to us, begging to be solved.

Top 10 Mysterious People

10 Shotgun Man

Secrecy used to be a guiding principle in US organized crime circles, as opposed to an ideal to aim for as it has become since the FBI got their act together. The principle of ‘omerta’, the oath of silence held by members of ‘la Cosa Nostra’, has proven to be a useful weapon in staving off capture and conviction for their members. Nowhere is this more evident than the jealous guarding of the identity of a shotgun wielding assassin who preyed on Italian immigrants in 1910s Chicago. The ‘Shotgun Man’ was the very embodiment of the Grim Reaper; he was in the employ of so-called ‘Black Hand’ Mafiosi, a group of extortionists who exerted their influence over the city until one Al ‘Scarface’ Capone consolidated power a decade or so later.

Between January 1910 and March of 1911, this mysterious gunman killed 15 people around ‘Death Corner’ (the intersection of Oak street and Milton street), putting away 4 victims in a 72-hour period towards the end of the spree. Due to the political, judicial and obvious criminal influence the Black Hand gangs held in Chicago’s Little Italy, nobody talked, despite there being multiple witnesses for each murder. Rumours have swirled for over a century, many people suggesting the man was specifically brought over from Sicily due to his use of a shotgun (the weapon of choice for Mafiosi in the old country). We’ll probably never know who the Shotgun Man was, but many people did.^[1]

9 The Bolney Torso

Modern humans have become very sheltered from death, only encountering it infrequently and often with a loved one or an acquaintance who is very advanced in age. Thus, discovering a dead body is going to be a traumatic event. Discovering part of a dead body could arguably be even more horrifying.

Colin Oliver was trudging along the road between Cuckfield to Burgess Hill, England, a 4.5 mile schlep, on Friday 11 October, 1991. He was a hard-working warehouseman and, being in his 60’s, Oliver had to make a quick diversion into a woodland near Bolney to take a whizz. There, in the undergrowth, wrapped in some carpet, Oliver found a bloody torso. The deceased was assumed to have been a man in his 60’s, his head and hands were removed (one arm was cut 2 inches below the elbow with an axe or some bolt cutters, probably to remove an identifiable tattoo). Subsequent work on the case in 2011 has revealed that the torso was probably a man in his mid 30’s/early 40’s, was between 5’6 and 5’8 and was probably from southern Germany but had been in England for the last year of his life.^[2]

8 John Twelve Hawks

Right, let’s lighten the mood with some kick-ass, rip-roaring, uplifting…dystopian science fiction. Ok so, let’s marginally lightened the mood.

This iconoclastic author has written 4 novels, 3 within the ‘Fourth Realm Trilogy’, and 1 non-fiction eBook called ‘Against Authority’ which charts and critiques the rise of the surveillance state in the post 9/11 USA and elsewhere. His recent novel ‘Spark’ has had the rights bought by DreamWorks. So why all the ‘peek’ and no ‘boo’? Well, Mr. Twelve Hawks goes some way to explain this in his interview with ‘Stargate SG-1’ producer Joseph Mallozzi: “My mother and the rest of my family don’t know that I have written the novels. Those people I know who aren’t close friends see me as a failure by the American standards of success. Being a failure in such a way has been a continual lesson. It’s helped me realize that we make quick judgments of others based on little real information. We assume so much – but don’t know the secrets held within the heart”…God I hope he’s Shia LaBeouf.^[3]

7 Driff Field

There’s a lot of AKA’s here: ‘Xavier Driffield’, ‘Dryfeld’, ‘Drif’ amongst more names attributed to this enigmatic English book dealer. His job was to procure rare, antique tomes for private clients. He wrote and published a guidebook, widely distributed in the industry, that was noted as being excellent if a little sarcastic in some places. ‘Drif’ also managed to occasionally publish a magazine which only lasted 22 issues. The man became a legend in publishing and the antique book scene in Britain, appearing in a 1992 documentary for Channel 4 and appeared as a character in a novel by Welsh psychogeographer and author Iain Sinclair.

In 2014 ‘Driff Field’ found himself in a spot of hot water; he was on trial for rape and indecency with a child. It seems he had written a novel which included the abuse of a young girl and had sent the manuscript to the family of the alleged victim. ‘Xavier Driffield’ (the name he used at trial) was cleared of all charges. In the run-up to the trial, some sources state that his name was ‘B.C.M. Driffield’ and ‘David Richard Ian Frederick Field’. Who the hell is this guy?^[4]

6 Jane Martin

Staying with the literary theme, our second unidentified writer is a Pulitzer Prize nominated playwright. She, or maybe he, or maybe…that’s the point? You see, Jane Martin’s work is often described as possessing a ‘feminine voice’, eagerly lavished with industry awards which all get accepted on his/her/its behalf by their representative, retired artistic director Jon Jory.

Since 1981 Martin has produced dark comedies and satires, many focussing on the more mockable aspects of the theatrical world and the culture. Experts suggest that the person who has written these plays must be an industry insider, given how pointed and accurate their observations are. So…probably Jon Jory then. Or Shia LaBeouf.^[5]

Top 10 Mysterious People Who Should Have Movies Made About Them

5 The Hidden King

Here’s one from the distant past. This tale has all the trappings of an awesome historical mystery novel à la ‘The Name of the Rose’ by Umberto Eco. During the 1519-1523 uprising known as ‘the Revolt of the Brotherhood’, the forces of the Aragonese dominated Kingdom of Valencia were on the brink of quelling the rebel forces. One man, a messianic leader referred to as ‘El Rei Encobert’ (‘The Hidden King’ in Catalan) or simply l’Encobert (‘The Hidden’) gathered the faltering rebel forces and rallied against the tyrannical royalists.

Claiming a divine mandate, this mysterious man led many guerrilla raids and oversaw skirmishes between the rebel forces and the Royal armies. A hefty reward was offered to any man who could kill l’Encobert. During a recruitment drive on the outskirts of the city of Valencia—a place l’Encobert hoped his forces would soon capture—several riders galloped towards the man and, without stopping or dismounting, cut off his head to retrieve the bounty. There is so much more to write about this incredible figure. If you want more detail and are happy with falling down a rabbit hole, a quick Google search will get you there.^[6]

4 ‘Dolly’ Gray

To play in the NFL is right up there with signing for Manchester United, starring in a Hollywood movie or going triple platinum with your first hit song. Now, despite what many people will try and tell you, not everyone can become famous or excel in whichever field of endeavour they think they are best suited to, least of all the physically strenuous, short-lived, hyper competitive world of pro sports. “Fuck you” is what Jack ‘Dolly’ Gray, the ballsiest imposter ever, would say to that!

NFL legend, player-coach and owner of the St. Louis All-Stars Ollie Kraehe was in a bind during the 1923 season. His team was struggling financially when he was approached by a real hot prospect of a player; the All-American tight end from the unbeaten Princeton University team of 1922, ‘Dolly’ Gray. Kraehe signed the young man and stuck him straight in the team. He sucked. To help plug the holes in the leaking fiscal septic tank that was the St. Louis All-Stars, Kraehe traded Dolly to the Green Bay Packers. He sucked again. This time, Dolly disappeared. Nobody knows who he was, where he came from or even if he had ever played football before. All I know is Jack ‘Dolly’ Gray adds new meaning to “fake it ’til you make it, then run away”.^[7]

3 Stoneman

There are many serial killers that are still at large, their identity hidden, known only by their press generated or self appointed nickname. Many have probably since died, taking their secrets to the grave. California has the Zodiac. New York has the Long Island serial killer. London has Jack the Ripper. Calcutta, India has the Stoneman.

Compared to many serial killers’ twisted, often complicated, modus operandi, the Stoneman kept things simple. He’d find a sleeping homeless person, check around for witnesses and, when the coast was clear, crush his victim’s skull with a large stone. Stoneman claimed around 13 victims in Calcutta in 1989. The same man is possibly responsible for 12 similar killings in Mumbai between 1985 -1988. Since 2009, there has been a spate of eerily similar killings in the city of Guwahati. Copy cat killer? Or the continuation of a long career in killing?^[8]

2 Jim Browning

The pseudonym used by this Northern Irish hacker is, quite fittingly, reminiscent of a hard-nosed sheriff, rifle in hand, ready to break up a marauding gang that threatens his town. That’s pretty much what ‘Jim Browning’ does, albeit in a very 21st century way, of course.

He lives somewhere in Britain or Ireland, works a 9 to 5 probably in IT and hates scammers, pretty much like everyone else, but this crusading latter-day knight has taken it upon himself to expose and disrupt scam operations. In 2019 he managed to hack the CCTV system of an Indian scam farm in Delhi and was able to watch and hear the appalling callousness of the staff as they conned and cheated people. Some victims, Browning tells us, have lost their homes and even taken their own lives. Many are elderly and vulnerable people. Contrary to the usual advice regarding scam callers, Jim suggests that, when seeing an unknown number on your caller ID, you should “keep them talking as long as possible because when they’re not scamming you they’re scamming someone else like your grandparents”. A humble hero for the cyber age.^[9]

1 Valentine Sally

We’ll close this list with an appeal for info. Some of the previous entries are entertaining mysteries that may lead you to dig deeper, wonder aloud and concoct fantastical hypotheses. Maybe the entertainment we derive from guessing the identity of these enigmatic strangers suggests we may want them to remain unidentified. This is not one of those cases. The as of yet unidentified murder victim known as ‘Valentine Sally’ was found 25 yards off interstate 40 in Arizona, US, on February 14, 1982. She deserves to have her name known, her loved ones deserve closure and her killers deserve to be brought to justice.

It is very likely that this unidentified young woman was killed, dragged away from the highway and dumped next to a tree, laying there long enough for insects and other scavenging animals to render her face unrecognisable. Some witness statements mention that the girl had been at a few places along the highway in the days running up to her discovery—a waitress at the Monte Carlo truck stop near Ashfork, Arizona served a woman matching Valentine Sally’s description, providing her with aspirin for toothache. Valentine Sally had a drilled tooth that suggests she was being prepped for a root canal. The same waitress also mentioned that the girl was with an older man, possibly a trucker. For more info on the case, please check out her NamUs page and follow the directions if you have any tips.^[10]

10 People Who Vanished Only To Mysteriously Reappear

About The Author: CJ Phillips is a storyteller, actor and writer living in rural West Wales. He is a little obsessed with lists.

Rationalizations of the “real” nature of paranormal encounters have become more prominent in the public consciousness than straight-up belief. Past trauma, suspected meteorological phenomenon, or visual hallucinations brought on by ingesting two fistfuls of weird mushrooms found growing on the side of the interstate are far easier statements for us moderns to take in than “well…I guess demons are real then.” But every once in a wonderful while, we get an example of the absolutely wild, hilarious, and even (dare we say it) plausible examples of encounters with unexplainable beings. Strap in, folks. This one’s a blast.

Related: 10 Mythological Creatures That Really Existed (Sort Of)

10 The Malawi Terror Beast

Panic is not just a natural human emotion; it is an event that can ruin a community. Many cases of mass hysteria have innocuous or even unidentifiable origins. A brief bout of brain fog due to a cold can send a classroom of impressionable youths into a full-blown fit of sympathetic (and escalating) symptoms, often accompanied by a spurious conspiratorial/supernatural explanation. This isn’t one of those cases. Well, sort of.

The main difference in the case of the “Malawi Terror Beast Attacks” is that the cause of the panic was quite real. Throughout 2003, 4,000 villagers from Malawi’s central Dowa district fled their homes after a spate of animal attacks that maimed and disfigured many and killed at least three. The monster tore our eyes and removed facial features and even limbs. Many locals claimed the beast had an array of magical powers that allowed it into people’s homes to prey upon them. It was probably a rabid hyena.^[1]

Probably.

9 The Escaped Prisoner of War and the Abominable Snowman

Slawomir Rawicz was a Polish soldier and a prisoner of war in Russia in 1941. Not a good place to be, those Soviet gulags. So, he decided to flee. Alongside six other prisoners, Rawicz trudged his way across Siberia, the Gobi Desert, and over the Himalayas in Tibet into British India. This year-long march was punctuated by moments of great hardship and peril. Most notably, a period in the mountains where he and his comrades took a moment to view a pair of Yeti as they also journeyed across the frozen wastes.

The beasts stood 2.5 meters (8 feet) tall and, according to the author: “Their faces I could not see in detail, but the heads were squarish, and the ears must lie close to the skull because there was no projection from the silhouette against the snow. The shoulders sloped sharply down to a powerful chest. The arms were long, and the wrists reached the level of the knees. Seen in profile, the back of the head was a straight line from the crown into the shoulders.” They had shaggy, “brownish-red, grey, and a rust-like” hair all over their massive frames.

That’s quite the account, especially given all the other amazing details of this mammoth journey from bondage to freedom.^[2]

Yeah, probably didn’t happen. A BBC investigation in 2006 revealed that Rawicz had been transferred to a refugee camp in Iran in 1942, not the subject of a film-worthy escape across the harsh wilds of the East. Still, cool story.

8 The “Real” Location of the “Well to Hell”

In 2020, YouTuber TechRax traveled to a thermal hot spring called “Diana’s Punchbowl,” found in the desert of Nye County, Nevada. There, he lowered an iPhone 11 into the boiling waters in the pit with the aid of a drone and a fishing line. He wanted to test whether it’d keep recording while submerged in the steaming waters. The first test was successful—the phone was undamaged, letting the viewer get a good look at the rocky landscape beneath the boiling water.

The second test (which is what every good scientist will do—replicate their experiment) revealed something horrific. The rocky landscape was accompanied by the sounds of pained screams and mournful yelling. From inside a hot spring… Did this humble tech YouTuber just encounter a host of damned souls? Or do iPhones really suck at audio capture?^[3]

BTW, “Diana’s Punchbowl” is also known as “The Devil’s Cauldron.” Just sayin’…

7 The (Not So) Missing Link to a Tiny Past

Claims of ape-like people living a solitary existence in the more extreme and remote environments are a human universal. There isn’t anywhere in the world where some group or another won’t claim that there’s a tribe of monstrous hominids hiding away. In the islands of Southeast Asia, the hidden tribes of ape-men are called the Orang Pendeck. These critters are unlike the giants that supposedly stalk the Siberian Taiga, the Pacific Northwest, or the foothills of the Himalayas: they’re teensy.

Versus the slew of Bigfoot videos to be found online, it seems that the few Orang Pendeck videos are of a more convincing nature. It’s apparently harder to get a convincing shot of a tiny person (a child, maybe?) to move around like a human-like being in a small costume than renting a King Kong costume for a pal and film them wandering through thick brush (with added whispered exclamations and shaky camera work, of course). The rich folklore surrounding the Orang Pendeck, coupled with the existence of the hominid sub-species Homo floresiensis many millennia ago, will leave even the most ardent cynic/skeptic with a long, drawn-out “maaaayyyyyyybe” on their lips.^[4]

6 Witches in Our Airspace

Now, both the videos found in this entry are weird. They seem to show flying/levitating humans. The immediate thought from those who wish the preternatural to be real is, “Aaaargh, witches are real. Hide the kids!” But, even if these were humans with the ability to fly, why would they be evil? Isn’t it kind of cool?

In the video from Monterrey, Mexico shot back in 2006, a humanoid figure gently floats alongside a mountain range, seemingly in a seated position, like an old lady riding an invisible stairlift. The second video, shot in a forested area in (probably) Russia, seems to show the discovery of a mother training her daughter (or child she has kidnapped) to remain static in mid-air. When they hear the video taker’s dog (named “Tarzan,” which is cute) barking at them, the girl descends quickly and runs off into the brush.

Given that both these videos may as well have been shot using a potato (thus making wires and such aids invisible amid the graininess), there is no proof that the footage shows humans with supernatural abilities. What motivates those who wish it were so, however, is equally mysterious—a will for the fantastical…or fear of the unknown?^[5]

5 The South African Sea Monster

Back to Africa now, but not to regard a “real” monster. It seems to be quite the opposite—just a dead animal. “Globsters,” as they are wonderfully/grossly termed, are the putrid, festering carcasses of large marine animals that have washed ashore. The ocean is a weird, alien place to us land-dwellers; even the corpses of deep-sea denizens look strange to us. How would you react to a large, woolly white mass if you saw it on the beach? You’d probably assume that this was the body of some titanic polar Bear-God who lost a fight with the Whale-God if you didn’t know better.

What if it seemingly had a trunk?

Well, check out the monstrous pile of goop that washed ashore at Margate in 1924. Locals claimed to have witnessed the creature fighting with two killer whales off the coast a few hours before washing ashore. And, on looking at the mess of furry, stinking flesh on the beach, it seemed to be plausible—a long, unidentifiable creature with a protuberance that resembled a trunk could easily inspire tales of an aquatic mammoth-like beast wrestling whales. Or, as stated before, it was a globster.^[6]

4 The Monster with an Untranslatable Name

“Almasty,” what does this mean?

We don’t really know. A scientist at the Soviet Academy of Sciences suggested back in 1964 that the “Almas” (Russian Bigfoot) may be a population of Neanderthals surviving in the Taiga. Maybe it’s a word from their language?

Yeah, probably not.

Supposed interactions with humans are rarely recounted. One prominent story is the “case” (fabricated story, perhaps) of Major General Mikhail Topolski of the Red Army from 1925. On leading his men through the densely forested Russian interior, hunting for rebel fighters, Topolski’s scouts attacked some of the rebels as they made their base in an ice cave. They threw grenades at the entrenched rebels, sealing the entrance to the cave with dislodged rock and ice. One of the men emerged to sue for peace. While they made ready to tentatively engage with their captives, the Red Army soldiers became shocked at hearing gunfire and howls emanate from the partially sealed cave. Rebels began to rush out of the collapsing cave, easy pickings for Red Army marksmen. One survived.

The rebel prisoner claimed that they had been attacked by a tribe of Almasty inside the cave. The monsters began clubbing the rebels with long sticks, prompting the rebels to flee. Only he had made it out unscathed. Topolski’s men claimed then to have identified the body of an Alamsty amid the rubble. They buried the body near the cave, leaving the bodies of the rebels and remaining monsters inside the collapsed cave. Another swashbuckling tale, but probably just that. Russia is a big place, though…^[7]

3 Gnomes? Seriously?

There are plenty of people who will watch a “first-hand account” of a paranormal experience and believe it hook, line, and sinker. To most people, however, they tend to see them as either obviously the work of opportunistic liars or the ramblings of a broken mind trying to concoct a fantasy that either deflects from some real-life trauma or a plea for attention.

But gnomes?

Well, there are quite a few videos that show encounters with tiny beings, usually sporting the same sort of garb as the gnomes from European folklore. The idea of there being a “hidden folk,” mischievous creatures that hide away from our perception, has long been a feature of folk traditions ranging from South America to Asia.

But gnomes? C’mon. Even leprechauns are scarier than these pot plant-guarding, bearded little old men.^[8]

2 Loneliness Is the Real Monster…or Weed?

Like all good love stories, the story of Nancy Hoggert and her lover John begins with some stolen cannabis buds getting consumed and a shotgun aimed at someone’s head.

Stick with it, folks. This is going to get weirder.

Despite the quirky nature of this story on the surface, it isn’t exactly newsworthy. Then the details emerge. “John,” the weed-stealing paramour that Nancy fell in love with, is a sasquatch. Given the obvious outcome of revealing his exact location (government tests and turning poor John into a super-soldier), Nancy keeps most of the details about her supernatural sweetheart under wraps. The sex is pretty good, though, she claims.^[9]

1 The Territorial Ghost

Every “psychic” will inform their punters that the spirits that remain, restless beyond the veil of our temporal existence and the hereafter, are just bursting to tell us all about the way they died. Sometimes, if the ghost is known to the asker, they want to tell you nice things and truisms. But, you never hear tell of a spectral incarnation that wants to explain to you how they pee in the in-between realm. Or where some lost treasure is to be found.

One recent story from England seems a good deal more plausible by dint of the fact that the legendary spirit which haunts a creepy part of Somerset’s Quantock Hills, known as “Dead Woman’s Ditch,” has a very simple message to passers-by:

“F*ck off!”

How charming! Given that this lady is said to have been dragged to the ditch by her husband and had her throat cut open, one should be a tad more forgiving when hearing the foul-mouthed epithets thrown about by this gobbly ghoul.

Also, if any reader here has any experience of rural Somerset, this sort of angry response to carless ramblers wandering goofily onto someone else’s land is the exact sort of thing a long-dead local would say. They should count themselves lucky that they aren’t getting peppered by some ectoplasmic birdshot fired from an otherworldly over-and-under.

That, or some local miscreants are swearing at gullible ghost-hunters using Bluetooth speakers.^[10]