# The Bizarre, the Odd, and the Mysterious! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 4, 2009, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bizarre-the-odd-and-the-mysterious/479814 "2009-01-04T15:30:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bizarre-the-odd-and-the-mysterious/479814/41 "2009-01-06T13:47:20Z")
> [@Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](#): > > After moving to the southwest I developed an interest in this as well. Having hiked in these areas (southern Utah mainly but NM and northern AZ as well) extensively here’s my guess. While some of their civilization reached high order such as Mesa Verde for example, the biggest part of the culture lived in 5 to 10 family groupings. A city the size of Mesa Verde could burn (or cut) up all of the wood in the surrounding area rather rapidly (I’ve heard estimates of 15 years or so). > Hiking in the desert wilderness, I’ve come across hundreds of smaller ‘cities’, none larger than 20 or so units. I feel that they were just hanging on in the best of times. It wouldn’t have taken much to tip the scales. It’s not very sexy, but a few years drought could have done it. That’s pretty much what Jared Diamond (Author of _Guns, Germs, and Steel_ and _Collapse_ reckons happened too. I’m interested in the failed Norse colonies in Greenland and Vinland. I know there’s a fairly logical explanation for what happened to them (It was fucking cold, they didn’t get on with the locals, and they were trying to subsist on farm animals and crops patently unsuitable for the area). But it interests me to wonder what the Colonists were thinking, wondering why they hadn’t seen their annual Supply Boat this year, and hands up everyone who feels like taking the boats we have left and heading for Markland/Iceland? The thing is, as much as I enjoy a good mystery, I tend to find myself thinking that _most_ stuff has a rational explanation. Not all of it though, and that’s the fun stuff. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bizarre-the-odd-and-the-mysterious/479814/42 "2009-01-06T16:37:39Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > Holy crud, I had no idea Cracked was so funny these days. > > Not mysterious, but [this one](http://www.cracked.com/article_16133_5-historical-figures-who-died-weirdest-deaths.html) had me snorting at work–especially the last two entries. My favorite is “The 5 Most Horrifying Insects in the World”. Don’t read it before going to bed. ANd then there is this wonderful description of Golaith Bird Eating Spider: > [@](#): > > It’s frequently described as “larger than a dinner plate,” presumably because spider-scientists don’t want to freak people out with the significantly more relevant “big enough to fit over your face.” It’s a foot across and, when it’s in the mood, brings down entire birds and eats them. It doesn’t make webs, or leap great distances–it just slowly sneaks up behind things and jumps on them. Yes, just like in your nightmares. Go ahead and check behind you. We’ll wait. > > As if a giant spider that can bring down a moderate-sized flying animal wasn’t bad enough, it’s one of the “hissing bastard spiders” (that’s actually its full scientific name), the creepiest creature to exist outside of a horror novel. At this point, evolution clearly just started piling in everything nasty that could possibly fit: Its spit can dissolve flesh down to the bone AND it can shoot invisible hairs that cut your eyes and mouth. While the “intelligent designer” theory has lost steam of late, the “sadistic bastard creator” theory is single-handedly supported by the existence of this creature. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bizarre-the-odd-and-the-mysterious/479814/43 "2009-01-06T17:01:28Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > That’s pretty much what Jared Diamond (Author of _Guns, Germs, and Steel_ and _Collapse_ reckons happened too. > > I’m interested in the failed Norse colonies in Greenland and Vinland. I know there’s a fairly logical explanation for what happened to them (It was fucking cold, they didn’t get on with the locals, and they were trying to subsist on farm animals and crops patently unsuitable for the area). But it interests me to wonder what the Colonists were thinking, wondering why they hadn’t seen their annual Supply Boat this year, and hands up everyone who feels like taking the boats we have left and heading for Markland/Iceland? > > The thing is, as much as I enjoy a good mystery, I tend to find myself thinking that _most_ stuff has a rational explanation. Not all of it though, and that’s the fun stuff. 🙂 I too am interested in this. i find it hard to belive that a colony that had existed for longer than 10 generations would not be able to adapt. I think they simply moved away, when things got impossibly harsh. Of course, Greenland in AD 1100 was a pretyty nice place0-there were trees and people could grow barley. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bizarre-the-odd-and-the-mysterious/479814/44 "2009-01-06T19:45:54Z")
> [@Queen\_Bruin](#): > > Eh? I wouldn’t say we know “nothing” about the Minoans. Sure, we don’t know a whole lot. But it’s not nothing, not by a long shot. We have lots of Minoan artifacts and the Phaistos Disk wouldn’t stand out if it was just an example of their writing. I’ve been led to assume from what I’ve read that the Phasitos Disk does not resemble anything else we know about the Minoans and is believed to be an artifact imported from somewhere else or found by the Minoans, and not Minoan at all, but from some other culture we have no other artifact from. Unless, of course, it’s the work of a lone genius. Is that understanding not true? ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bizarre-the-odd-and-the-mysterious/479814/45 "2009-01-06T21:42:05Z")
> [@](#): > > The Fountain of Lions, the Alhambra’s alabaster basin flanked by 12 white marble lions, which signify strength and courage. In the 15th century, each lion spit a stream of water every hour — a clock far more advanced than any sundial at the time. > > During the Reconquest of Spain in 1492, Christians disassembled the clock to see how it functioned. Since then, no one has been able to get it to work. I suspect this is less a case of a mystery requiring explanation, than one where it’s not obvious that there was a puzzle in the first place. While I’ve only read a tiny fraction of the whole literature on the building, a visit to Granada last year meant that I read a stack of books on the Alhambra. And I don’t think I’ve come across this story before, which is surprising since it’s one that would likely have stuck in my memory. For instance, I don’t think it’s in Washington Irving’s _Tales of the Alahambra_; hardly a reliable source, but this would have been exactly the sort of neat story to appeal to Irving, so its omission is suspicious. Furthermore, Google suggests that all the online versions of the story only trace back to [a 2006 news story](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14412387/) about the American Institute of Mathematics plans to build a (somewhat silly) Alhambra-inspired [conference centre](http://www.aimath.org/about/morganhill.html) in California. Then there’s the snag that what’s believed to be the original plumbing for the fountain survives. The central pillar is in the Alhambra Museum and has exactly the simple arrangement you’d naively expect: a vertical pipe which the water comes up and then radial ones to the lions. Now there might have been some additional mechanism that’s now missing, but I see no evidence of that. Granted, there are a couple of complications. Thus there is the suggestion that the fountain isn’t original to the building, but derives from a hypothetical older Jewish palace in the city. And there’s the oft-repeated suggestion that the lions represent the signs of the Zodiac, though this appears to me to be based on nothing more the, otherwise not wildly unlikely, fact that there are twelve of them. In summary, I suspect the story of the fountain having been a clock was probably made up by a tour guide at some point and then has only been circulating more widely since 2006. ---
**Author:** ![Influential\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Influential\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Influential_Panda)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bizarre-the-odd-and-the-mysterious/479814/46 "2009-01-06T22:29:44Z")
I hear tell about out of body experiences. Oh, if only there were some soul on the Dope that could tell me more… MWAHAHAHAHA ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bizarre-the-odd-and-the-mysterious/479814/47 "2009-01-07T01:07:28Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > I too am interested in this. i find it hard to belive that a colony that had existed for longer than 10 generations would not be able to adapt. I think they simply moved away, when things got impossibly harsh. That’s what I’d like to think too, and that’s the logical, sensible explanation. But everything I’ve read on the subject either suggests or says outright that there was surprisingly little sea traffic to/from Greenland and that the King of Norway held the trade monopoly at the time. I just would have figured that when 5,000 Norse settlers from Greenland showed up in Iceland or Norway, someone would have made note of it, or if they went to North America, we would have found more evidence of it than L’anse aux Meadows. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bizarre-the-odd-and-the-mysterious/479814/48 "2009-01-07T02:43:52Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#): > > Then, there’s [Pedro, the mystery mummy](http://www.anomalies-unlimited.com/Pedro.html), mummified remains allegedly found in a ‘sealed off’ cave in the San Pedro mountains. It’s 40cm small, yet had closed fontanelles indicating a mature being. I have nothing to add to this thread except to say that I want to change my user name to Pedro the Mystery Mummy. That’s the greatest name ever. ---
**Author:** ![gnagtcha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@gnagtcha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnagtcha)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bizarre-the-odd-and-the-mysterious/479814/49 "2009-01-07T04:41:20Z")
> [@3acresandatruck](#): > > Here’s one I find interesting: > > Quote: > Originally Posted by Wikipedia > The sailing stones, also referred to as sliding rocks or moving rocks, are a geological phenomenon found in Racetrack Playa, Death Valley. The stones are assumed to slowly move across the surface of the playa, inferred from the long tracks behind them, without human or animal intervention. They have neither been seen nor filmed in motion and are not unique to The Racetrack. Similar rock travel patterns have been recorded in several other playas in the region but the number and length of travel grooves on The Racetrack are notable. Wikipedia Went there about 3 years ago and there were 3 things that made me scratch my head. 1. The playa is about 1 mile wide, 2 miles long ( to the best of my recollection ), but the majority of all the rocks are scattered out in the middle. On the west side are some steep hills where the rocks could have rolled down, but not a single trail leading out to where the rocks are located. How the heck did they get out in the middle with no signs of movement along the playa’s edge. These rocks range in size from a little smaller than a fist to maybe 2-3 ft. wide. hundreds of them. 1. None of the trails were consistent with any of the other trails. One of the bigger rocks had a trail that went about a hundred straight feet then took a sudden sharp angle to the left and went another fifteen feet and around it were other rocks going off in different directions. All straight lines. And any turns were sharp angled turns. Very strange 1. And the most mind-boggling thing was I didn’t have to get my truck’s front end re-aligned after the 52 mile round trip journey on the worst, hard core, washboard dirt road I’ve ever been on. But it was worth it ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bizarre-the-odd-and-the-mysterious/479814/50 "2009-01-07T06:03:04Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > Is that understanding not true? That seems to have been the predominant opinion in the 1920s, when the field was new. However I believe general consensus now is that the Disk is indeed Minoan in provenance, or at least Cretan. Certainly that was how it was presented to me in my Minoan archaeology course in 2007. I’m sure there are opinions aplenty either way. ---
**Author:** ![grey\_ideas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/dfb087/32.png) [@grey\_ideas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grey_ideas)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bizarre-the-odd-and-the-mysterious/479814/51 "2009-01-07T09:32:24Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#): > > I’ll start with the [Voynich manuscript](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voynich_Manuscript). It’s a book supposedly written in the 15th century, (originally) consisting of 272 pages filled with strange illustrations and text that has so far withstood any attempts at deciphering it; there is strong evidence that it is a real language, yet the alphabet is completely unknown and bears only superficial resemblance to any known script. One of my PhD supervisor’s was interested in this, he’s actually listed on the Wikipedia references list and quite a few other places to do with Voynich. I never got too heavily into it since I had enough on my plate at the time. Perhaps I should have a look and see if he’s still working on it these days. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bizarre-the-odd-and-the-mysterious/479814/52 "2009-01-07T10:47:28Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > That’s what I’d like to think too, and that’s the logical, sensible explanation. But everything I’ve read on the subject either suggests or says outright that there was surprisingly little sea traffic to/from Greenland and that the King of Norway held the trade monopoly at the time. I just would have figured that when 5,000 Norse settlers from Greenland showed up in Iceland or Norway, someone would have made note of it, or if they went to North America, we would have found more evidence of it than L’anse aux Meadows. There is some evidence for a Norse presence in North America somewhere between the 11th and 14th centuries other than L’anse aux Meadows, like the [Kensington](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kensington_Runestone), [Heavener](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavener_Runestone), and [Spirit Pond](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_Pond_runestones) runestones, or the [Maine penny](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maine_Penny). However, each of those is disputed at best, carrying certain inconsistent traits, as I understand it. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bizarre-the-odd-and-the-mysterious/479814/53 "2009-01-07T13:27:59Z")
> [@](#): > > The Fountain of Lions, the Alhambra’s alabaster basin flanked by 12 white marble lions, which signify strength and courage. In the 15th century, each lion spit a stream of water every hour — a clock far more advanced than any sundial at the time. > > During the Reconquest of Spain in 1492, Christians disassembled the clock to see how it functioned. Since then, no one has been able to get it to work. I’m also not seeing the mystery here. There were tons of clocks around by the late 15th Century. > [@Stauderhorse](#): > > How about that prickly feeling you sometimes get that tells you to turn around, and then someone’s watching or staring at you? What causes that? Is it a real phenomenon or just a confirmation bias thing? Probably confirmation bias. In _Skeptical Inquirer_ magazine a few years ago, I read about a study to try and find if people could really tell when they were being stared at. Results: same as predicted by chance. Just one study, but the basic idea is silly enough, and the likely explanation (confirmation bias) so reasonable, that I wouldn’t bother putting much more work into it. Has anyone mentioned the “Baghdad Battery”? Maybe it really was a Galvanic cell 2000 years ago, or maybe something else entirely. Definitely an amazing world. I’m in favor of that. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bizarre-the-odd-and-the-mysterious/479814/54 "2009-01-07T16:10:02Z")
> [@Baldwin](#): > > Has anyone mentioned the “Baghdad Battery”? Maybe it really was a Galvanic cell 2000 years ago, or maybe something else entirely. I don’t know if there’s any conclusive evidence about the specific archeological find, but Mythbusters tested the concept of an ancient-tech battery and found it [plausible](http://kwc.org/mythbusters/2005/03/mythbusters_cooling_a_sixpack.html). ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bizarre-the-odd-and-the-mysterious/479814/55 "2009-01-07T16:42:48Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > I don’t know if there’s any conclusive evidence about the specific archeological find, but Mythbusters tested the concept of an ancient-tech battery and found it [plausible](http://kwc.org/mythbusters/2005/03/mythbusters_cooling_a_sixpack.html). But they didn’t adress the obvious question : if they really were batteries… what were they used for ? What did they power ? For some reason I don’t buy the idea that they were used to shock church goers into beliving in Og (or Bahamut or whatever god they had in Baghdad at the time). ---
**Author:** ![Litoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9f8e36/32.png) [@Litoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Litoris)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bizarre-the-odd-and-the-mysterious/479814/56 "2009-01-07T19:15:35Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > But they didn’t adress the obvious question : if they really were batteries… what were they used for ? What did they power ? For some reason I don’t buy the idea that they were used to shock church goers into beliving in Og (or Bahamut or whatever god they had in Baghdad at the time). Well, actually (having just watched this episode again a few days ago), they did prove that it could be used for electroplating, which is one of the most common hypotheses set forward. As a side note, I point out that Adam’s comment (paraphrased) “even if you could cause a slight tingling, it would be scary and make you believe in something” is pretty much how I see it. These were simple people, if you figured out when the next full solar eclipse was going to be and told them that you were going to blot out the sun on such-and-such day – they’d give you god status. I’ve always been fascinated both with science and para-science, so most of these things that have been posted are things I have read about already. I hadn’t seen the sailing stones, though, that is cool. And Pedro the Mystery Mummy. Totally cool. ---
**Author:** ![Leiko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Leiko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leiko)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bizarre-the-odd-and-the-mysterious/479814/57 "2009-01-07T21:34:01Z")
Adam and Jamie aren’t the only ones who showed the ancient batteries could be used for electroplating: I vaguely remember watching a tv show about the Baghdad battery and other mysterious devices when I was 7 or so\*. The theory presented then was that the battery could be used to electroplate jewelry or other items with gold. I swear I remember them setting up their own, in a kind-of-Bill-Nye/kind-of-infomercial style, and seeing if it would work. I don’t remember what they dipped in to try out, but it was so much like the anti-silver-tarnish commercials that I’m probably getting it mixed up. \*13 to 14 years ago ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bizarre-the-odd-and-the-mysterious/479814/58 "2009-01-07T21:40:22Z")
I believe one of Arthur C. Clarke’s shows covered the Baghdad battery. That’s where I first heard of it. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bizarre-the-odd-and-the-mysterious/479814/59 "2009-01-07T22:24:46Z")
Saw this on a documentary yesterday. [Margate’s Shell Temple](http://www.shellgrotto.co.uk/pages/welcome.html) ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bizarre-the-odd-and-the-mysterious/479814/60 "2009-01-07T22:30:54Z")
I have often thought that the disappearance of one-half of a pair of socks in my laundry on a regular basis deserves an explanation. Then Eerie, Indiana came along and solved that mystery, so never mind. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bizarre-the-odd-and-the-mysterious/479814.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bizarre-the-odd-and-the-mysterious/479814.md?page=4)