# Your favorite historical mystery, legend, conspiracy theory... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 26, 2004, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-historical-mystery-legend-conspiracy-theory/252341 "2004-06-26T18:47:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2004, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-historical-mystery-legend-conspiracy-theory/252341/41 "2004-06-28T04:28:32Z")
> [@Lissa](#): > > Many historians now think that Amy’s spine spontaneously snapped due to breast cancer 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2004, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-historical-mystery-legend-conspiracy-theory/252341/42 "2004-06-28T05:01:36Z")
> [@Lissa](#): > > My favorite has always been the death of Amy Dudley. > > For those of you unfamiliar with this, Robert Dudley was a favorite of Elizabeth I. They were so close that folks believed that if he weren’t already married to Amy, Elizabeth would have married him. It’s not really a mystery, but the question of who _exactly_ QEI would have made the most advantageous marriage with is a really interesting one. Factor into there all the supposed loves of the Virgin Queen and it becomes even crazier. Robert Dudley, for all the romantic connections, was a bad political choice – it would upset the balance of power among the nobles, which held the potential for civil war. Additionally, his father and grandfather had been traitors to the crown. Bringing in a foreign prince or king would undermine England’s sovereignty. Politics 500 years after the fact are so much _fun_. Seriously. Best of all, **sofia** , your daughter can watch _Elizabeth_ and discover what a load of historical hooey that movie was. There’s always the question of what disease or circumstances it was that caused Elizabeth’s father to go under as severe a personality change as he did. As a young man he was described as very personable and charming – and hot to boot. The older he got, the more irrational his thinking became. I’m in favor of the diabetes theory – Henry’s surviving siblings all died of a wasting disease similar to diabetic ketoacidosis. Henry’s later mental deterioration points to untreated diabetes as well. Gah. I’m so excited for Bristol Faire now. On preview, **racinchikki** , when breast cancer becomes very advanced, i.e.: goes without treatment as in the 16th century, tumors can form on the spine and make it very delicate, so that the slightest tumble can cause necks to break. ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2004, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-historical-mystery-legend-conspiracy-theory/252341/43 "2004-06-28T05:41:32Z")
Mine certainly would be the Oak Island Money Pit… anytime I hear something about it I read it or I watch it. The most recent being a show sometime last year that I caught. Some of the notables who were interested in Oak Island were Franklin D. Roosevelt whose company went searching in 1909, Errol Flynn wanted to search but found that John Wayne owned the search rights… I wonder if we’ll _ever_ find anything there. I mean substantial, not the bits and pieces and the strange inscription. I also used to read a lot of ghost ships and the like, but forget most of what I read (the Marie Celeste jogs something loose) Atlantis… just about anything about Atlantis I’m willing to listen to. I even have a novel written by a woman from the perspective of one of the royal family there (and she claims to have been that woman in a former life) _That_ I got more for the sake of an interesting story, but I did enjoy it. Don’t ask me what it’s called though as I don’t have it handy. I’m going to have to do some reading up on the ones mentioned myself. These look interesting! ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2004, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-historical-mystery-legend-conspiracy-theory/252341/44 "2004-06-28T13:10:47Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#): > > \*\*My name is Shirley Ujest and I endorse this post and it’s contents. \*\* My favorite mystery is how that extra apostrophe got in **Shirley** ’s sig line (quick, hon, dive in and edit!). Oh, and **Guin** , did you read that new book (within the last year or so) that came out on the Hope Diamond? ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2004, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-historical-mystery-legend-conspiracy-theory/252341/45 "2004-06-28T13:26:45Z")
[A public service.](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_441.html) For those not up on the Oak Island thing. Gotta admit…that’s a weird one. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2004, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-historical-mystery-legend-conspiracy-theory/252341/46 "2004-06-28T15:24:05Z")
He was the author of “THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE”-which became a great Bogat movie. Suposedly, this guy disappeared shortly after the film was shot…and nobdoy knew his real name. Any clues? ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2004, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-historical-mystery-legend-conspiracy-theory/252341/47 "2004-06-28T15:34:46Z")
Prester John, the mysterious priest who wrote letters to western leaders in the Middle Ages – over a period of about 300 years – describing his paradisical kingdom ‘far to the east.’ Expeditions were sent East to find him; he supplied them with maps and directions and tantylising descriptions of the fountain of youth and genstones lying scattered about on the ground as common as gravel. As a child, I hoped liked mad to be able to research as an adult what I think is the greatest Rag Week/Frat Boy prank of all time… 🆒 No idea how you could research this, but I’ve always felt a pang when I read about someone who was well known in his lifetime, who falls right out of the history books: Catullus just disappears from history at a young age despite his contemporary fame as a poet. And no one knows what happened to poet and criminal Francois Villon. I can’t remember if he was acquitted or escaped after his last conviction, but he vanishes from history afterwards, still a fairly young man… ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2004, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-historical-mystery-legend-conspiracy-theory/252341/48 "2004-06-28T17:05:07Z")
> [@Flutterby](#): > > Atlantis… just about anything about Atlantis I’m willing to listen to. I even have a novel written by a woman from the perspective of one of the royal family there (and she claims to have been that woman in a former life) _That_ I got more for the sake of an interesting story, but I did enjoy it. Don’t ask me what it’s called though as I don’t have it handy. > > I’m going to have to do some reading up on the ones mentioned myself. These look interesting! Would it be ROMANCE OF ATLANTIS by Taylor Caldwell & Jess Stearn? ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2004, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-historical-mystery-legend-conspiracy-theory/252341/49 "2004-06-28T17:07:40Z")
**its** Nuts. We have a poster with this name and I will be damned if I can remember it, but it is a guy that has popped up for centuries, kinda like Dread Pirate Roberts. What in the heck is his name? ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2004, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-historical-mystery-legend-conspiracy-theory/252341/50 "2004-06-28T17:14:08Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#): > > We have a poster with this name and I will be damned if I can remember it, but it is a guy that has popped up for centuries, kinda like Dread Pirate Roberts. What in the heck is his name? The count of St-Germain ? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2004, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-historical-mystery-legend-conspiracy-theory/252341/51 "2004-06-28T18:11:50Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#): > > We have a poster with this name and I will be damned if I can remember it, but it is a guy that has popped up for centuries, kinda like Dread Pirate Roberts. What in the heck is his name? Cecil Adams? ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2004, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-historical-mystery-legend-conspiracy-theory/252341/52 "2004-06-28T19:14:09Z")
I love this genre which is why I read the [world’s best magazine](http://www.weirdnj.com) . Guess if you’re from somewhere else you might not be that interested so they have started to [expand](http://www.weirdnj.com/__weirdus/index.html) . ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2004, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-historical-mystery-legend-conspiracy-theory/252341/53 "2004-06-28T19:26:05Z")
My favorites have been mentioned – the identity of **King Arthur** (I have four books that purport to tell the _true_ identity of King Arthur. Each one has a section shredding the theories of the preceding books. Me, I’m amazed that we actually have that many candidates from the period.) The **Oak Island** (Nova Scotia) Money Pit. It’s almost certainly a hoax, and the details we have are probably incorrect or romanticized. But I’d like to know the truth. The guys who wrote **The Relic** wrote a fictional potboiler about a thinly-disguised Oak Island pit in the book **Riptide**. The _correct_ interpretation of the symbolism of the works of Hieronymous Bosch. Most of it, I’m convinced, is way off the mark, especially Fraenger’s flighty theories. Who carved his initials and the 1865 date into the steps of the library in my home town, and why? And what was Greek Fire, really? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2004, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-historical-mystery-legend-conspiracy-theory/252341/54 "2004-06-28T23:01:53Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > My favorite mystery is how that extra apostrophe got in **Shirley** ’s sig line (quick, hon, dive in and edit!). > > Oh, and **Guin** , did you read that new book (within the last year or so) that came out on the Hope Diamond? I didn’t know there was one-what’s the name of it? Isn’t there also a legend about Blackbeard’s treasure being buried somewhere in the Outer Banks-but the owners of the property won’t allow anyone to search? ---
**Author:** ![Rodd\_Hill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3ab097/32.png) [@Rodd\_Hill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodd_Hill)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2004, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-historical-mystery-legend-conspiracy-theory/252341/55 "2004-06-28T23:13:43Z")
Who killed Harry Oakes? ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-historical-mystery-legend-conspiracy-theory/252341/56 "2004-06-29T01:05:24Z")
> [@racinchikki](#): > > 😕 [about Amy Dudley’s spine spontaneously snapping] Yeah, I know . . . it sounds a bit far fetched. Basically, the theory goes that Amy’s advanced breast cancer made her bones ultra-brittle. (Apparently such a condition has been witnessed in modern times.) When Amy went down the stairs, the jarring motion of her step caused the weakened vertebre to crumble or snap, sending her sprawling. ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-historical-mystery-legend-conspiracy-theory/252341/57 "2004-06-29T04:27:12Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > Would it be ROMANCE OF ATLANTIS by Taylor Caldwell & Jess Stearn? That sounds about right. I think I picked it up at the grocery store with a book exchange thing (you drop off books that no one else would take and take some others that no one else would take lol) ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-historical-mystery-legend-conspiracy-theory/252341/58 "2004-06-29T04:30:34Z")
On October 30th, 1938 aliens invaded America, hynotized Orson Wells who was ‘broadcasting’ the invasion into admitting it was all a hoax. The next day Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems was formed with it’s leader John Worphin and his henchmen, John BigBoote, John Smallberries and John Yaya, to name a few, who are all looking to get back to the dimension from whence they came. God, I love that movie. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-historical-mystery-legend-conspiracy-theory/252341/59 "2004-06-29T11:40:37Z")
> [@detop](#): > > The count of St-Germain ? aka Count St-Germain or Comte de St-Germain the Messiah of Elizabeth Claire Prophet’s Church Universal & Triumphant ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-historical-mystery-legend-conspiracy-theory/252341/60 "2004-06-29T14:13:44Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > I didn’t know there was one-what’s the name of it? [Blue Mystery: The Story of the Hope Diamond](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0810927977/qid=1088518330/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-6648965-1571205?v=glance&s=books), by Susanne Patch (1999). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-historical-mystery-legend-conspiracy-theory/252341.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-historical-mystery-legend-conspiracy-theory/252341.md?page=4)