# "Mysteries" that really arent **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 23, 2020, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-that-really-arent/916159 "2020-07-23T21:12:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2020, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-that-really-arent/916159/21 "2020-07-24T22:03:23Z")
“Fish are friends, not food.” ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2020, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-that-really-arent/916159/22 "2020-07-24T22:14:13Z")
Lots of planes and ships are lost at sea. Bermuda triangle does not have a lot more than typical losses for that size of ocean parcel. Guy who fell or jumped on 9/11 from the towers has never been 100% identified. He is called the falling man because there were pictures of him on the way down. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2020, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-that-really-arent/916159/23 "2020-07-24T23:35:48Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Is the mystery where exactly she ditched, or whether she had to lived stranded on an island for a long time, or her manner of death? All three: Where, when, and how. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2020, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-that-really-arent/916159/24 "2020-07-25T00:11:25Z")
More or less, where she ditched. Of course there is the fringe who say she was 'captured by the Japs" but that’s pretty doubtful. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2020, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-that-really-arent/916159/25 "2020-07-25T11:15:49Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#): > > Whenever you see a headline that asks a question, the answer will always be No. 😀 [Counter example:](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-42717163) Quiz: Could you pass Donald Trump’s cognitive test? Answer: Yes. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2020, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-that-really-arent/916159/26 "2020-07-25T13:38:22Z")
Probably because the victim was not only never identified, but it appeared as though efforts were made to conceal his identity. The time at which it happened made such a murder scream “espionage,” especially since there was some reason to believe he had been dressed in clothes from the US. It gave a “tip of the iceberg” feel to the case. But I do agree that since no more events even vaguely connected to it ever occurred other than the identification of a woman who was somehow personally connected to the victim, and recalcitrant, it seems like the situation was domestic after all. If the victim concealed his own identity, it was probably something mundanely sordid, like leading a double life, and not wanting people from his two lives to connect after his death. It did give Josephine Tey the idea for the novel _The Singing Sands_, which is a really good book. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2020, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-that-really-arent/916159/27 "2020-07-25T13:43:23Z")
I’d like to see the Kennedy “conspiracies” put to bed. A great man was taken down by a broke, little weirdo with a mail-order rifle. It doesn’t seem fair, or logical, but it’s what happened. Make your peace with it. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2020, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-that-really-arent/916159/28 "2020-07-25T15:17:16Z")
Stephen King did a short story based on it as well ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2020, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-that-really-arent/916159/29 "2020-07-25T15:18:49Z")
Really? What’s it called? ---
**Author:** ![SharltoCopley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sharltocopley/32/12309_2.png) [@SharltoCopley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SharltoCopley)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2020, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-that-really-arent/916159/30 "2020-07-25T15:19:54Z")
11/22/63 ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2020, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-that-really-arent/916159/31 "2020-07-25T15:21:46Z")
Wait, did Stephen King base a short story on the Kennedy conspiracies, or on Taman Shud? ---
**Author:** ![SharltoCopley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sharltocopley/32/12309_2.png) [@SharltoCopley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SharltoCopley)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2020, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-that-really-arent/916159/32 "2020-07-25T15:29:02Z")
The Kennedy assassination. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2020, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-that-really-arent/916159/33 "2020-07-25T15:29:42Z")
Oh, I’d also be very happy if I never read one more wacko Royal/famous artist/Lewis Carroll/Masonic conspiracy theory regarding Jack the Ripper. I’m happy to entertain real ideas, such as this: the first two victims, and maybe other earlier victims, were killed by a sailor [one victim was last seen with a sailor] who had victims in other ports, the third (the one who was not mutilated at all) was killed by her boyfriend, and the last two were killed by the same person, but he didn’t have other victims in Whitechapel; we need to look elsewhere. Or this: James Kelly, an _actual convicted knife murderer_, who escaped Broadmoor to be at-large in the Autumn of 1888, should be considered a suspect. But I’m really sick of the acid-trip theories. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2020, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-that-really-arent/916159/34 "2020-07-25T15:33:09Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Wait, did Stephen King base a short story on the Kennedy conspiracies, or on Taman Shud? Well, both, but I was referring to the Taman Shud event. _The Colorado Kid_ - it was a novel, not a short story (I experienced it as an audiobook, not a written copy). I don’t remember all the details, but I read the story before hearing about the case, and when I heard about Taman Shud, I recognized it immediately. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2020, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-that-really-arent/916159/35 "2020-07-25T16:21:39Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > On this topic…which part of the Amelia Earhart mystery is the mystery, exactly? Maybe we’ve all seen enough movies to think “If you haven’t seen a body, chances are they’re not really dead.” ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2020, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-that-really-arent/916159/36 "2020-07-25T16:37:55Z")
There are a lot of mysteries which are nothing but events no one was around to witness. Whatever happened to Amelia Earhart in 1937 you can be pretty sure she’s dead now. Maybe she was actually beamed out of her plane by aliens or future humans in a Starship traveling back in time but there’s not the least shred of evidence to indicate that so it’s only that kind of mystery to imaginative or gullible people who fail to exercise common sense. There are other mysteries like the Bermuda Triangle which are a question of why something unusual has occurred. Most often, as with the Bermuda Triangle, there is not actually anything unusual happening, it is a somewhat treacherous area of the ocean which has about the same number of accidents as other similar regions, and the mystery has been enhanced by including incidents that didn’t occur in the triangle and others that never happened. The true mysteries are fewer in number, things that defy explanation. Why does cheese taste great on Italian food but is disgusting on Chinese food? Why does William Shatner keep getting married without a prenup requiring him to keep working for 17 years after he dies to pay off his former wives? Why don’t the bad guys that capture James Bond just shoot him instead of telling him the details of their evil plan and showing him where the big red button labeled SELF DESTRUCT is? These are the true mysteries of life. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2020, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-that-really-arent/916159/37 "2020-07-25T19:09:21Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > Lots of planes and ships are lost at sea. Bermuda triangle does not have a lot more than typical losses for that size of ocean parcel. If one maps all the losses attributed to the Bermuda Triangle, it becomes the Bermuda Quadrilateral. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2020, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-that-really-arent/916159/38 "2020-07-25T19:34:21Z")
> [@slash2k](#): > > lots of people were touting that the plane had been flown to Diego Garcia WTF, Diego Garcia? That is a US military base _only_, unless it was part of soem US super secret spy shit, they wouldn’t let a civilian plane land there unless there was a serious emergency. > [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > The Wife and I watch _Expedition Unknown_ I remember that show, the last episode mrAru and I watched was the one on the Great Wall of China, and we were laying bets on how soon it was before someone fell off the edge running around in the dark. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2020, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-that-really-arent/916159/39 "2020-07-25T19:48:41Z")
It is possible that Lee Harvey Oswald had backing or support we dont know about, but yes, he pulled the trigger, he was the sole assassin. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2020, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-that-really-arent/916159/40 "2020-07-25T19:51:06Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > … Why don’t the bad guys that capture James Bond just shoot him instead of telling him the details of their evil plan and showing him where the big red button labeled SELF DESTRUCT is? These are the true mysteries of life. I have two answers to that one: 1. It makes for a short and unsatisfying book/film. 2. In gaming the Evil dude has bought himself a disadvantage to pay for all that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-that-really-arent/916159.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysteries-that-really-arent/916159.md?page=3)