Unsolved Mysteries
Nine hikers dead in the snow, a book no one can read, a vanished expedition, a prison escape with no ending: history's cases that never closed.
- mysteries
- unsolved
- history
Some of the stories included
The History of Forensic ScienceHow forensic science learned to identify criminals, from the first reliable arsenic test and Bertillon's body measurements to fingerprinting, blood typing and Alec Jeffreys' discovery of DNA profiling.
The Alcatraz EscapeThe June 1962 escape from Alcatraz by Frank Morris and John and Clarence Anglin, who left dummy heads in their beds, paddled off on a raincoat raft, and were never found.
Flight MH370: The Plane That VanishedFlight MH370 carried 239 people toward Beijing, then turned back and slipped off military radar at 2:22 AM.
The Mona Lisa HeistIn 1911 a handyman in a white smock took the Mona Lisa from the Louvre, and it stayed missing for 28 months.
Jack the RipperIn 1888, a killer terrorized London's East End, exposing the city's deep social divides and creating an enduring mystery.
Satoshi Nakamoto: Who Invented Bitcoin?Satoshi Nakamoto's 2008 paper introduced Bitcoin, then he vanished in 2011, leaving an estimated 1.1 million coins untouched.
Jeanne Calment and the Bet on Her DeathA notary paid a 90-year-old widow 2,500 francs a month for her flat in 1965. She lived to 122 and he died first.
The Legend of El DoradoThe story of the mythical city of gold, which began with a Muisca ritual where a leader offered gold dust as a sacrifice to the gods.
TunguskaThe 1908 explosion over Siberia that flattened 80 million trees and left no crater, inspiring modern planetary defense.
The Templar KnightsThe Knights Templar, a crusading order founded around 1119 to protect pilgrims, which grew rich handling money for Europe's rulers until Philip IV of France had its members arrested and the Pope dissolved it.
Michael Rockefeller Vanishes in New GuineaMichael Rockefeller tied two red jerry cans to his belt on Nov. 19, 1961, and swam for shore. He was never seen again.
The Tanganyika Laughter EpidemicIn 1962, three schoolgirls in Kashasha began laughing uncontrollably, and 95 of 159 pupils were affected before the school closed.
The Dancing Plague of 1518The Dancing Plague of 1518: hundreds of people in Strasbourg danced for weeks, the city's strange cure, and how historians explain it today.
The Voynich Manuscript: History's Most Baffling BookThe Voynich Manuscript, a 15th-century book written in an unknown script and illustrated with unidentified plants, which no one has ever read.
Le Prince: The Inventor of Film Who VanishedLe Prince filmed a Leeds garden in 1888, then vanished from a Paris-bound train on September 16, 1890.
The Gardner Museum HeistTwo men dressed as police stole 13 works worth over $500 million from a Boston museum in 81 minutes, and none has come back.
The Franklin ExpeditionSir John Franklin's 1845 Arctic expedition to find the Northwest Passage: how both ships and all 129 men were lost, what searchers and Inuit testimony revealed, and the wrecks found in 2014 and 2016.
The Galápagos Affair: Murder on FloreanaIn November 1934, a tuna boat found two bodies on Marchena. Four days later, Floreana lost Friedrich Ritter.
The Mary CelesteIn 1872 the Mary Celeste was found sailing the Atlantic with 3.5 feet of water in her hold and none of her ten people aboard.- The Dyatlov Pass IncidentThe 1959 deaths of nine Soviet student hikers in the northern Urals, the strange evidence that fuelled decades of theories, and the 2021 study showing a delayed slab avalanche could explain it.
The Lost Colony of RoanokeIn 1587, 115 settlers landed on Roanoke. When their governor returned in 1590, he found the word CROATOAN on a post.
The Mystery of the Sea PeoplesThey helped topple the Bronze Age world, and a 2019 DNA study finally proved their European origins.
To view the rest of the story pack, download the Chunks Microlearning app and start learning
Or get it straight away:
Download on iOS
Download on Android