creepy real-life unsolved mysteries?

Cyningablod · #1 10-28-2011, 09:04 AM

What are some of the best, most spine-tingling real-life unsolved mysteries?

I'm not talking about ghosts or alien abductions or crop circles or any woo-woo supernatural nonsense like that. I'm talking about real, verifiable mysterious events with creepy elements that have simply never been solved or explained and probably never will be, or whose actual facts are difficult to ascertain, lending them an air of spookiness.

Some examples of the sort of thing I'm talking about: The "Lost Cosmonauts" story (which Cecil addressed in a column) and the ones listed in this great Cracked.com article (which includes the case of the many severed feet washing up onshore around Vancouver).

So whatcha got? Freak me out!

Ellen Cherry · #2 10-28-2011, 09:27 AM

For my money, you can't beat the Dyatlov Pass incident. Experienced hikers found dead outside their tent, one with her tongue missing, in sub-zero temperatures, dressed in only underwear. No footprints in the snow except for the adventurers.

Meatros · #3 10-28-2011, 09:35 AM

I have a whole bunch of wikipedia pages bookmarked at home about this...

Here's an interesting one: Unexplained disappearances
Another one: Unexplained Deaths (Moar here)

This one is weird....

The Taman Shud Case is another one that is fascinating and mysterious...

Cyningablod · #4 10-28-2011, 11:29 AM

That Lead Masks case has always creeped me right the hell out. I mean, wtf were those guys up to?? How and why did they die??

The Dyatlov Pass incident, IIRC, is much easier to explain: avalanche. That would account for the deaths, destroyed tents, and lack of others' footprints. As far as the partial nudity of the victims, the missing tongue, and the discoloration of the corpses, three plausible secondary explanations have been proffered, respectively:

1. Paradoxical undressing (a weird thing that some hypothermia victims do in their confusion)
2. Post-mortem predation of soft tissues by animals (but why were the other victims untouched?

)
3. Post-mortem sunburning.

River Hippie · #5 10-31-2011, 02:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ellen Cherry

For my money, you can't beat the Dyatlov Pass incident. Experienced hikers found dead outside their tent, one with her tongue missing, in sub-zero temperatures, dressed in only underwear. No footprints in the snow except for the adventurers.

Came here to mention that one.

Duke · #6 10-31-2011, 02:27 PM

The "Monster With 21 Faces" case from the Cracked.com article is one of my favorites. How some guy (and it probably was just one guy) got away with threatening, poisoning, firebombing, and generally terrorizing some of Japan's biggest companies for years and years without getting caught is a mystery in itself...then, just to end it all by shooting off a letter essentially saying "Eh, I'm bored with all this." Mind-boggling!

Meatros · #7 11-01-2011, 08:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duke

The "Monster With 21 Faces" case from the Cracked.com article is one of my favorites. How some guy (and it probably was just one guy) got away with threatening, poisoning, firebombing, and generally terrorizing some of Japan's biggest companies for years and years without getting caught is a mystery in itself...then, just to end it all by shooting off a letter essentially saying "Eh, I'm bored with all this." Mind-boggling!

I think I remember that - interesting stuff.

Cracked has many articles that are relevant to this thread, including their true urban legends pages (of which I think there are three or four).