Many believe that humanity is suffering from a strange species amnesia. We have certain facts about our past that tell us how long our species has been around, when we emerged from caves, acquired speech, created the first tools, and when the species with which we shared this planet became extinct. And we accept these facts as an immutable truth, despite the fact that some of them began as stories, which were later confirmed.

However, various native tribes still have beliefs that run counter to official science. And although scientists claim that these legends are only artistic works of folk craftsmen, every day we see how various myths are embodied in reality. For example, what do you say about stories about " big white bear"living in the highlands of China?" Fiction", people said, until a French missionary brought his skin. Bam! - the mystical animal became the familiar big panda. Then scientists say that they have records that state with one hundred percent certainty which species have become extinct, and - bam! - in 1938 they caught coelacanth in the ocean, which, according to them, disappeared from the face of the Earth as much as 66 million years ago.

15. Indus civilization

At first, the existence of an unknown ancient civilization on the territory of modern Pakistan was not taken seriously - rumors and rumors. And then in 1842 some archaeologist reported that he had found some ruins. This discovery was not paid attention to until 1856, when, during the construction of a railway, the remains of a hitherto unprecedented civilization were unearthed. Now, after multiple archaeological expeditions, we have learned quite a lot about the Indus civilization. The artifacts found indicate a high level of development of those who lived here in 3300 BC. society.

The main difficulty faced by scientists is the impossibility of deciphering their language. Although the Harrapan writings are incomplete, scholars unanimously believe that the Harrapans had a language, and based on the available evidence, it was written. However, this is a controversial point, because it would mean that the Hindus mastered writing before anyone else who lived in this area. Also, some artifacts hint at the possible use of printing, and if this is confirmed, then the Indian civilization will be 1500 years ahead of the Chinese in terms of development.

14. History of the Olmecs

The mysterious Olmec people are said to have lived somewhere in what is now Mexico in 1100 BC, making them the oldest Central American civilization. Until the early 1990s, little was known about them, until a group of local residents from the city of Veracruz unearthed well-preserved stone slabs covered with ancient writing - far more ancient than anything found before. It became the greatest archaeological find. Scientists studied the inscriptions on the stone and made some amazing discoveries. Firstly, the artifact belonged to the mysterious Olmec civilization. Further, the experts concluded that the text was so well structured that it had all the hallmarks of meaningful sentences, error corrections, and even poetic lines. Moreover, the nature of the marks suggests that this tile is private." copy"of the specified text. If this is true, then there must be more different" documentation", records, trade routes or even ancient literature waiting for Columbus!

The only negative is the inability to decipher the Olmec language. It is unlike any previously discovered American writing system. Without a document like the Rosetta Stone from Egypt, it is almost impossible to understand this ancient people. For researchers, this task is similar to the study of the Indus civilization, only worse. And although the found tablet is so far the first and only document on the North American continent, experts are confident that the Olmecs could write complex stories, detailed reports and even a religious calendar with detailed descriptions of traditions. We have yet to find out what happened to this civilization after 300 BC, and this may be one of the greatest historical discoveries of the near future. It is worth noting that the Olmecs are included in the ranking of 10 mystically vanished civilizations.

Probably almost everyone has heard the legend of King Arthur - the knight who pulled a sword from a stone that no one else could lift. Some desperate romantics believe that Arthur is a real person, and based on knowledge, we cannot completely deny this. It is known for certain that in life there really is a sword in the stone - maybe it became the source of inspiration for the legend?

The real sword was found in the chapel of Monte Siepi in the Abbey of San Galgaro, located in Tuscany, Italy. The story goes that Saint Galgano Guidotti began his life as an evil and cruel knight. In 1180 he met the Archangel Michael, who told Guidotti to give up his sinful life and follow the path of God. At first he refused, but then he passed through Monte Siepi - then just a rocky hill. A voice from heaven called to him, saying that now is the time to change. The knight replied that it was the same as " cut the rock with a sword".

And to show the impossibility of the request, he plunged his sword into the stone. And instead of breaking, the blade entered the cobblestone. Not believing what had happened, he fell to his knees and began to pray at this very stone as at the altar from now on. About a year later, Galgano died and was canonized in 1185 by Pope Lucius III. The church was built around that very sword in stone. True, it is now covered with a durable plastic case so that no one would try to become the king of England.

One of the most controversial artifacts is the Sealand skull. It was found in 2007 in Elstykke, Denmark, while replacing pipes. At first, no one paid much attention to it, but later, in 2010, it was examined at the Veterinary College of Denmark and... Researchers could not determine whose it was, since it did not match any species known to science. This skull has raised many questions that scientists cannot answer, but some of them are trying to get complete information about the artifact. Paleontologists believe that this is the skull of some kind of mammal, possibly a horse, however, a more detailed study showed that the owner of the skull does not fit the Linnaean taxonomy. Radiocarbon dating carried out at Niels Bohr University in Copenhagen showed that the unknown specimen lived sometime between 1200 and 1280 BC.

Further excavations at the site of the find, unfortunately, did not yield anything interesting. It's a pity, because the skull is quite an interesting looking one: Compared to the human skull, it has many noticeable differences. For example, the eye sockets of the Sealand specimen are much larger, deep and rounded and extend more to the sides. In humans, the eyes are set in the center. His nostrils, like his chin, are narrow, but overall the skull is larger than the average human. The surface of the skull is smooth, which scientists see as an adaptation for survival in low temperatures. Based on the size of the eyeballs, scientists believe that the Sealand specimen was nocturnal. But what kind of creature is this? Alien? Or some previously unknown subspecies of people? We must hope for the results of future studies.

11. The German submarine UB-85 was sunk by a sea monster

During the First World War, there was a story about a German submarine, which, according to legend, was attacked by a sea monster, which is why it could no longer go to depth. We are talking about the submarine UB-85 and its commander Günter Krech. In April 1918, a British patrol ship approached a submarine that was on the surface. The Germans immediately surrendered. The ship's captain, Günther Krech, was interrogated and spoke about this strange incident.

At night, the submarine surfaced to charge its batteries. And suddenly she was attacked by a strange creature, which, according to Krekh, had a small head and fangs that glistened in the moonlight. The huge monster tried to tilt the ship, but the crew managed to scare it off with rifle and machine-gun fire and prevent further damage. Actually, this is why the Germans were unable to go deeper and escape from the patrol vessel. As a result, various reports stated that the submarine either sank or was destroyed by a British patrol.

The submarine and its history have become part of sea legends. It was believed that such a ship did not exist until a Scottish cable-laying contractor found something similar to the legendary UB-85 in the North Sea in October this year while laying a power cable. Acoustics showed that the ship did not suffer serious damage. It is planned to conduct further research to find out what happened to the submarine. Could she really have been attacked by a sea monster?

Another controversial artifact is the Manx penny. This coin was found on August 18, 1957 in an archaeological quarry while researching American Indian culture near Brooklyn, Maine. As many as 30,000 magnificent artifacts have been discovered, but especially notable among them is one that does not belong to Native American culture - the Manx penny. Some researchers consider it a fake, others - evidence that Europeans came to this continent in pre-Columbian times.

Scientists argue about the origin of this coin. It was definitely not made by the American Indians, and some even believed that it was brought over from England in the 12th century. Later studies claim that the artifact is of Scandinavian origin and was made in the 11th century. The University of Oslo confirmed that similar coins were in circulation in Norway in 1060-1080 BC. Now the Manx penny has ended up in the National Museum of Maine, whose authorities remain silent and cannot officially confirm either the origin or even the authenticity of the artifact. This unusual find will torture the minds of scientists for a long time - how many are there still and how did they get here?

Historians claim that the first human civilizations began building villages, farming and temples only in 8000 BC, but is this really true? This surprising discovery challenges established views on anthropogenesis. The discovery took place in 1994 in the rural area of ​​Göbekli Tepe in Turkey. At the top of the mountain range there are more than 200 large stone pillars up to 18 meters high and weighing about 20 tons each. They are arranged in a series of twelve rings with images of various animals. The find is dated 12,000 BC. Yes, this Turkish altar is thousands of years older than Stonehenge! It may even be the oldest place of worship in the world.

Various evidence indicates that the site was built by ancient nomadic hunter-gatherers who had not yet mastered agriculture. Modern science believes that at this level of development, people still knew nothing about the complex symbolic systems, social hierarchy and division of labor - necessary prerequisites for the construction of this gigantic temple of 89,000 m2. Religion would have been expected to emerge after humans transitioned from hunting and gathering to agriculture and animal husbandry, but this find may suggest otherwise.

Thus, the question arises - maybe the need for construction was the reason why people settled down, began to build communities and began to look for a constant source of food, which is how they invented agriculture? If so, how did the ancient nomads do it? How did they manage to do this thousands of years before anyone else? And finally, what kind of people are these and where have they gone? Archaeologists cannot yet give an answer.

8. Did people live side by side with dinosaurs?

Dinosaurs went extinct about 65 million years ago, millions of years before humans first appeared. And in this case, it is very strange that scientists find artifacts with amazingly accurate images of dinosaurs, as if painted from life. Example? Built in the 12th century, the Angkor Wat temple in Cambodia. On one of the walls is carved a detailed image of a stegosaurus, despite the fact that the first recorded fossil remains of these reptiles were found only in the early 19th century. And how did ancient artists manage to depict extinct lizards so reliably?

Another example that baffles archaeologists is the stones from the city of Ica. According to the documents, they were found in Peru, in a cave near the above-mentioned town. Peruvian archaeologist Professor Javier Cabrera received these mysterious artifacts in 1961 as a gift. Taking a closer look at the stone, he discovered an image of an ancient fish that had gone extinct millions of years ago, according to official sources. The discovery amazed the professor so much that he decided to find out more about it. The drawing was made on a piece of andesite - a dark gray/black volcanic rock, very durable and difficult to work, especially with primitive tools of antiquity.

Fossils found in the same area confirm that the recovered artifacts are millions of years old. Professor Carbera collected several hundred stones from caves in Ica and found on some of them images of living brachiosaurs, tyrannosaurs and triceratops, and on another - a predatory dinosaur devouring an ancient aborigine. Radiocarbon dating is not the most accurate method, because sometimes dinosaur fossils are too old to extract any information from them... So maybe people really found ancient dinosaurs, as these artifacts say?

Many different publications rang about the Crimean pyramids found in 1999 by Vitaly Gokh, who retired from the Soviet Army thirty years ago. Having retired to the reserve, he began research activities that led him to the Crimean Peninsula, where an amazing discovery occurred. Goh suggested that if there are flooded villages in the Black Sea, then there must be other ancient buildings. But the region is simply a storehouse of archaeological treasures of various cultures - ancient Greek, Roman, Ottoman and others.

Being an engineer by profession, he knew how to use instruments operating on the principle of magnetic resonance, and decided to test his hypothesis. And it was confirmed. Goh found an area of ​​seven limestone-built pyramids located along the southern shore of the peninsula. The largest of them was 45 meters high with a base length of 72 meters and had a truncated top, like the Mayan pyramids. And all seven buildings form a straight line running from northwest to southeast. Goh claims that there may be as many as 39 pyramids underwater.

In his opinion, these are the most ancient structures on Earth, built back in the era of dinosaurs. However, before rewriting history, many more excavations and studies of various documents will have to be done - most scientists believe that Goh’s hypothesis has nothing to do with reality, and his find may be much younger. Fortunately, a Russian researcher is already looking for funding for further development of the pyramids found.

Well... Strictly speaking, the Salzburg Cube is not a cube at all, which is why it is sometimes called the Wolfsegg Iron Nugget. This interesting artifact was found in 1885 near Wolfsegg am Hausruck in Austria. They say that this interesting egg-shaped object was found by a miner while extracting coal for a steel foundry. The find was covered with potholes and a deep groove surrounding it, had sharp edges and weighed about 800 grams with dimensions of 6.6 x 6.6 x 4.7 cm. Chemical analysis showed that " egg"consists of alloy steel with the addition of nickel and carbon, and the absence of sulfur showed that it is not pyrite. By all indications, it was a man-made product, machined from a single piece of iron. And everything would have been fine, but the artifact was found in coal deposits 20 years old -60 million years. That's the problem!

And how could such an intricately decorated piece of iron appear millions of years before the official appearance of people? Scientists have been struggling with this mystery for more than a hundred years. Some scientists believe that the artifact is a fake, others that it is a gift from guests from outer space, and others claim that it is a meteorite. For many years, the Salzburg Cube moved from one research center to another, but now this mysterious object is located in Austria, in the Regional Museum of the city of Voecklabruck.

5. Who is this “Abominable Snowman”?

"Abominable Snowman", or Yeti, is Bigfoot's colder brother. He is also the most unsolvable cryptozoological mystery. Many witnesses, large footprints and blurry video footage have led people to think that something is going on in the Himalayas. And, it seems, one British geneticist even knows What. The researcher's name is Dr. Brian Sykes, and he is a professor of genetics at the University of Oxford. In 2013, he completed the decoding of DNA samples believed to belong to the Yeti. In particular, one of the hairs was found in the western Himalayan region called Ladakh, and the other - from the state of Bhutan, which is approximately 860 km from there.

The Ladakh sample was taken from the mummified remains of an unknown creature killed forty years ago by a local hunter. The second hair is a single hair found 10 years ago in a Bhutanese bamboo forest during the filming of a documentary. Professor Sykes compared the DNA samples with those stored in a worldwide repository of genetic samples from various creatures - including extinct ones - GenBank. The researcher thought that here he could find similar samples. And the result amazed and greatly puzzled him.

The scans showed that both samples matched the DNA of an ancient polar bear whose jawbone was found in Norway. The age of the bone is approximately 40-120 thousand years. Sykes says this is precisely the period when polar and brown bears became two different species. Perhaps the Yeti is a subspecies of brown bears descended from a polar ancestor! Really" abominable snowman"Finally identified? Dr. Sykes is confident that both hair samples from different parts of the Himalayas belong to the same animal. Additional research and expeditions will be needed to confirm that it is the source of the legends about Bigfoot.

4. Where did the Egyptians get cocaine from?

Not wanting to risk my reputation because of " cocaine discoveries", the scientists commissioned an independent laboratory to conduct the same tests on several mummies. The results were confirmed: the mummies were simply stuffed with cocaine and tobacco. And German scientists began to study more and more mummies, and found traces of tobacco in almost a third of them, and inside the mummy of Ramses II (the same one known from the biblical story " Exodus", about Moses and the Ten Commandments) there were tobacco leaves and a petrified tobacco beetle! And this is not a joke. It seems that Ramses II was a heavy smoker. But where did the ancient Egyptians get such substances? After all, there are no records of the Egyptians traveling to unknown distances, and There is also evidence of the use of these drugs, and it seems that scientists will not solve this puzzle any time soon.

3. "Giant Code"

Codex Gigas, which is translated from Latin as " Giant book" - no more - the largest ancient manuscript in the world. According to historians, the book was written in the 13th century in a Benedictine monastery in the Czech city of Podlazice, then during the Thirty Years' War in 1648 it was captured by the Swedish army and is now in the National Library of Sweden in Stockholm This tome was made from more than 160 animal skins and can be lifted by two people.

The book contains the complete text of the Vulgate - the generally accepted Latin translation of the Bible by Blessed Jerome of Stridon - as well as many other works in Latin, including " Jewish antiquities"Josephus, a collection of works of Hippocrates on medicine, " Czech Chronicle"Kozma of Prague," Beginnings"Isidore of Seville. In addition, there were texts for exorcism rituals, magical formulas and descriptions of the Kingdom of the Lord. And of course, a full-size image of Satan, because of which the book was called" Devil's Bible".

Legend has it that the monk who wrote this book made a deal with the Devil after he was sentenced to be embedded in a wall alive. Thanks to Satan, who left his portrait on the pages of the Bible, the monk managed to finish the book in one night. Researchers who examined the book concluded that the writing in the book was quite uniform and clear, as if the book had actually been written in a very short time. However, this is impossible, because you would have to write continuously for five whole years in a row. Scientists generally believe that this code required over thirty years of work on it. However, we must remember that some monks could receive punishment in the form of copying sacred texts. The skill and perseverance with which this was accomplished cannot be seen now... Or maybe there really is evil spirits involved here?

2. Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun

The discovery of pyramids in Bosnia could become the greatest archaeological discovery in Europe. According to the statements of Dr. Semir Osmanagic, head. Department of Anthropology at the American University in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the discovered pyramid may be the oldest man-made object on Earth (however, this title may also go to the Crimean pyramids). Dr. Osmanagic discovered it back in 2005, when he was passing through the city of Visoko. The mysterious hill stood out from the surrounding landscape, which attracted the attention of the anthropologist.

The structure is called the Pyramid of the Sun and Moon and its height is 220 meters, which is much higher than the Pyramid of Cheops in Giza. And the most amazing thing about the Bosnian pyramid is that it is directed north with an error of only 12 arc seconds. Too precise to be a mere coincidence, since the Great Pyramid of Giza has exactly the same exact location. The Cheops Pyramid is located at the intersection of the longest parallel and the longest meridian, that is, exactly above the center of mass of the Earth. Moreover, the edges of its base are located exactly along the cardinal points. The location is too precise to go unnoticed. And then suddenly there is a similar pyramid. How did this happen? Was there really a connection between two ancient civilizations? It will take years to answer a question that may change official science forever.

1. "Big Bowl"

Fuente Magna, a large stone vessel similar to a tub or bowl, was found in 1958 by an unknown farmer near Lake Titicaca in Bolivia. The artifact was subsequently sent to the La Paz Museum of Precious Metals, where it remained for almost forty years until two researchers tried to study it. The vessel has beautiful engravings of animals and inscriptions in Sumerian cuneiform. And this raised many questions. How could an artifact with Sumerian cuneiform writing end up in the Andes, since there are thousands of kilometers between them? Archaeologists are trying to decipher ancient writings, but they have no idea what type of cuneiform was used.

Ancient cuneiform specialist, Dr. Clyde Winters, argues that the bowl may be of ancient Sumerian origin and is similar to artifacts found in Mesopotamia. He also notes that a similar cuneiform script was used 5,000 years ago by the ancient peoples of the Sahara: the Dravidians, Elamites, and even the early Sumerians. All of these civilizations formed in Central Africa before desertification began in 3500 BC. Dr. Winters translated some of the writings, and their meaning surprised many.

The bowl was a ritual libation vessel in the name of Ni-Ash, the Sumerian goddess of fertility. Niya is a Sumerian transcription of the name of the Egyptian goddess Neith, who was worshiped by many peoples who formed in Libya and parts of Central Africa. The found vessel allows us to build new hypotheses about the previously undiscussed connection between the Sumerians and Bolivians.

When it comes to strange, seemingly inexplicable things, ghostly anomalies that have no scientific or other sound explanation, we attribute mysterious and even magical qualities to these things. I would like to present to you a list of 10 strange, unsolved cases from life, for which no one has found an explanation.

10th place. Coal poltergeist

January 1921

When purchasing coal for his fireplace in winter, Mr. Frost from Hornsey (London) had no idea how dangerous this purchase was and how much trouble coal, which seemed ordinary at first glance, could bring. After the first portion of solid fuel was sent into the fireplace, it immediately became obvious that it was somehow “wrong”. Hot coal pebbles exploded in the furnace, thereby destroying the protective grate and rolling out onto the floor, after which they disappeared from sight and appeared only in the form of bright sparks in another room. The matter did not end there. The Frost family began to notice strange things in their house; knives and forks were floating through the air, as if they were in outer space. The unusual and frightening phenomenon was witnessed by Reverend Al Gardiner and Dr. Herbert Lemerle.

There were several versions regarding the devilry happening in the Frost house. Skeptics attributed all the blame to the sons, who allegedly decided to play a prank on their parents. Others were sure that these were the tricks of miners who mixed dynamite with coal (this version was later verified and refuted). Still others believed that the raging spirit of the dead miners, resting in the coal and disturbed by the Frosts, was to blame.

The latest news available about the Frosts is disappointing. On April 1 of the same year, five-year-old Muriel Frost died, allegedly from fright at seeing a poltergeist. Her brother Gordon was so shocked by his sister's death that he was hospitalized with a nervous breakdown. The further fate of the family is shrouded in mystery...

9th place. Rain of seeds

February 1979

The coal incident is not the only curiosity in England. For example, in 1979 it rained seeds in Southampton. Seeds of watercress, mustard, corn, peas and beans fell straight from the sky, covered with an incomprehensible jelly-like shell. Amazed by what he saw, Roland Moody, who was in his home mini-conservatory with a glass roof, ran out into the street to get a better look at what was happening. There he met his neighbor Mrs. Stockley, who said that this was not the first time that something like this had happened last year. As a result of the seed rain, Moody's entire garden, as well as the gardens of his three neighbors, were covered with seeds. The police were unable to find out what was causing the strange atmospheric phenomenon.

The unusual rain repeated several more times, after which it did not occur again. Mr. Moody alone collected 8 buckets of watercress on his property, not counting the seeds of other plants. He later grew them into watercress and claimed that it tasted excellent.

One of the episodes of the series “The Mysterious World” by Arthur C. Clarke, aired in 1980, is dedicated to this incident. There is still no adequate opinion regarding the strange rain.

8th place. The mysterious death of Netta Fornario

November 1929

The main character of the next strange story is Nora Emily Edita "Netta" Fornario, a writer who considered herself a healer, a resident of London. In August or September 1929, she left London and went to Iona, an island off the west coast of Scotland, where she died under mysterious circumstances. Among the versions of her death are mental murder, heart failure, and the action of hostile spirits.

Arriving on Iona, Netta began exploring the island. She traveled during the day, and at night she looked for traces of the spirits of the island, with whom she tried in every possible way to contact. Her search lasted for several weeks, after which, from November 17, her behavior changed dramatically. Netta hastily packed her things and intended to head back to London. She told her friend, Mrs. McRae, that she had been telepathically wounded after receiving messages from other worlds. It happened at night, so Mrs. McRae, apparently looking at the healer’s luxurious silver jewelry and fearing for her health, persuaded her to hit the road in the morning.

The next day Netta went missing. Her body was later found on a “fairy mound” near Loch Staonaig. The corpse lay on a cross made of turf, was completely naked under a black cloak, covered with scratches and abrasions. There was a knife nearby. The legs were beaten and bloody as a result of running over rough terrain. It is unknown whether Netta was killed by a maniac, died from hypothermia or by an absurd accident. Discussions on this matter have not yet ended.

7th place. Fireman poltergeist

April 1941

After finishing breakfast, farmer William Hackler, a resident of Indiana (USA), went outside to get some fresh air. After leaving the house, he felt that his clothes smelled of smoke. Without paying much attention to this, he went to the barn. A few minutes later he returned back to the house, where we discovered a fire in the bedroom (the house was without electricity) - the walls were burning. The local fire brigade quickly arrived on the scene and put out the fire. But this was only the beginning of a difficult day for the Hacklers...

Immediately after the fire truck left, a mattress in the guest room caught fire. The source of the fire was located directly inside the mattress. Fires occurred in various places (including under the cover of the book) and rooms throughout the day. By evening, the number of fires extinguished reached 28. Having played enough, the fiery poltergeist no longer bothered Mr. Hackler and his family. They, in turn, demolished the old wooden house and built a new one in its place, made of non-combustible lumber.

6th place. Third Eye

November 1949

Students from one of the universities of South Carolina in the city of Columbia (USA) were returning from the theater on Longstreet late at night. At one point, they froze in place, colliding with a strange man in a silver suit, who then moved the cover of the nearest hatch and disappeared into the sewer. From that moment on, the strange man received the nickname “sewer man.” A little later, this “character” again made his existence known, but in a more terrible incident. In April 1950, in one of the alleys, a policeman noticed a man near a pile of mutilated chicken carcasses. It happened in the dark, the policeman pointed a flashlight in the direction of an incomprehensible object, and was stunned when he saw a man with three eyes. The third eye was located right in the center of the forehead. While the policeman came to his senses and called for reinforcements on the radio, the mysterious creature disappeared from sight.

The third meeting with the “sewer man” took place in the 60s in the tunnels under one of the universities. Afterwards, the tunnels were carefully examined, but no clear evidence of the existence of a three-eyed man was found. Who or what is he? Human? Ghost? Alien? Nobody knows, but random meetings continued until the early 90s.

5th place. Connecticut stiletto

February 1925

For months, women in Bridgeport, Connecticut, have been terrorized by a "phantom stiletto" that strikes the chest and buttocks before disappearing in an unknown direction. The victims of an unknown, but very real criminal, were 26 individuals, whose bodies felt all the pain and torment from the powerful blows of a sharp weapon.

The attacker did not adhere to a specific type of victim; women were chosen spontaneously and by chance. While the victim screamed in pain and came to, the criminal quickly ran away, not allowing himself to be identified. Police investigations led nowhere; the identity of the “stiletto torturer” was never identified. In the summer of 1928, the attacks changed dramatically and were never repeated. Who knows, maybe the maniac got old and began to suffer from artosis...

4th place. Electric girl

January 1846

Do you think people "X" are a fiction? You're wrong, some of the characters are very real. At least one. A fourteen-year-old resident of La Perriere in Normandy began to frighten her comrades with unusual abilities: when people approached her, they received an electric shock, chairs moved away when she tried to sit down, some objects flew into the air as if they were light and weightless floats. Angelina later received the nickname "electric girl."

Not only those around her, but also the girl herself suffered from the unusual abilities of her body. She was often tormented by convulsions. In addition, by attracting various objects to herself, Angelina received painful injuries. The parents considered their daughter possessed by the devil and took her to church, but the priest convinced the unfortunate people that the reason for their child’s abnormality lay not in spirituality, but in physical characteristics.

After listening to the abbot, the parents took their daughter to the scientists in Paris. After examination, the famous physicist Francois Arago concluded that the girl’s unusual qualities are associated with electromagnetism. Scientists offered Angie participation in research and tests that were supposed to make her normal. In April 1846, a few months after the start of the program, the “electric girl” said goodbye to her amazing abilities forever.

3rd place. Another fire poltergeist

January 1932

Housewife Mrs. Charlie Williamson from Blandenboro (North Carolina, USA) was terrified when her calico dress burst into flames for inexplicable reasons. At this point, she was not standing near a fireplace, stove or other heat source, and she was not smoking or using any flammable substances. Luckily, her husband and teenage daughter were at home and ripped off her flaming dress before it caused burns to the unfortunate woman.

Mrs. Williamson's adventures did not end there. That same day, the trousers in her closet burned to the ground. The ordeal by fire continued the next day, when in the presence of witnesses, for unknown reasons, the bed and curtains in another room caught fire. The spontaneous combustion continued for three days, after which the Williamsons surrendered to the unknown elements and left the house. The home was inspected by firefighters and police, but no cause was identified. On the fifth day, the fires stopped on their own and no longer disturbed the owners of the house. Fortunately, no one was hurt by the fire.

2nd place. Blind reading

January 1960

Let us immediately note that we are not talking about blind people who learned to read special books by moving their fingers along the bulges on paper, but about a completely ordinary girl, sighted and healthy. Margaret Fus's uniqueness was that she could read ordinary books blindfolded. Her father called this phenomenon psychic vision through the skin. He himself taught his daughter this incredible skill and hastened to prove the uniqueness of the method to scientists.

In 1960, Mr. Foos arrived with his daughter in Washington DC to participate in scientific research. During the experiment, psychiatrists put “foolproof protection” over Margaret’s eyes—a tight bandage. For the purity of the experience, the father was taken to the next room. Blindfolded, using only her fingers, the girl was able to read the pages of the Bible, kindly provided by scientists. After that, she was asked to play checkers and recognize different pictures, which Margaret successfully completed.

Despite the fact that the girl managed to pass all the tests, psychiatrists could not explain how she managed to do this. They insisted on their own, arguing that it was impossible to see without eyes, that what was happening was a deception.

1st place. Ghost Sniper

1927-1928

For two years, a mysterious "ghost sniper" terrorized the residents of Camden, New Jersey. The first incident occurred in November 1927, when Albert Woodruff's car was fired upon. The car windows were riddled with bullets, but the investigation did not yield any results - not a single cartridge case was found at the scene. Later, two city buses, house windows and storefronts were damaged by mysterious shelling. As in the first case, the perpetrators and the shell casings were not found. The good news is that no one was harmed by the actions of a ghost or a real criminal.

The mysterious sniper was active not only in Camden; residents of the cities of Lindenwood and Collingswood in New Jersey, as well as Philadelphia and Pennsylvania suffered from his tricks. Most often, the victims were private cars and urban transport (buses, trolleybuses), and residential buildings. In only one of many cases, the witness heard shots, but saw nothing and no one.

The attacks stopped abruptly in 1928. Later, people suffered only from abnormal imitators who wanted to act as the famous "ghost sniper."

A huge network of 36 caves that appeared more than 2000 years ago. So we can safely exclude the ancient Chinese Batman from the guesswork.

The entertainment portal site would like to tell more about the ancient Chinese caves, but nothing more is known about them. No documents, no artifacts - nothing that would shed the light of truth on the underground structures. 900,000 cubic meters of cut rock and not a drop of information. This is especially strange considering that the ancient Chinese meticulously recorded absolutely everything. If we immediately rejected the theory about Batman, then only one explanation remains - this is a place for the Predator to hunt.

Drill marks, ladders, support columns - all this cannot be the result of tectonic shifts. But the true reason for the appearance of these caves, as well as their purpose, is still unknown to anyone.

4. We can't read one of the most important languages ​​in history. If we asked you to name the most important and influential civilization of the ancient world, you would probably point to the Romans or the Greeks. Simply because they had written language, architecture, philosophy and other crap. And only the most colorful botanists said “Etruscans”. Still, they weren't the most powerful guys either.

Anyway, the Etruscans were a small civilization in what is now Tuscany that developed aqueducts, urban planning, sewers, bridges, and metallurgy. Basically, everything that we mistakenly attribute to . But no matter how much scientists understand the Etruscan civilization, we are still not able to decipher their language.

The problem with decoding an ancient language is that no one speaks it anymore. Moreover, famous modern researchers were able to translate Egyptian hieroglyphs only thanks to the discovery of the Rosetta Stone, a convenient Egyptian-Greek traveler's dictionary that was created by King Ptolemy V. The reason for the appearance of this stone was the king's desire to issue his decrees simultaneously in three languages.

We were unlucky with the Etruscans. By the way, they wrote a lot, and not a single one of these works was ever translated into the language of any other civilization known to us. As a result, we have several thousand inscriptions in the Etruscan language, but to this day only about a hundred words have been deciphered. At the same time, a lot of people know the Dothraki language - the language of a non-existent civilization from the series "".

5. "Peoples of the Sea". They destroyed almost every major city of the Ancient World... And we have no idea who they are.

1200 BC was a terrible period for the people living around the Mediterranean Sea. The main empires of the time - the Hittites, Mycenae and the Egyptians - all experienced a severe decline after the golden age. Adding salt to the wound were huge armies of bloodthirsty barbarians who appeared out of nowhere, burning, looting and destroying everything. We called these barbarians the "Sea Peoples", but this is only a tentative name, because we have no fucking idea who they really are. Here's how they were depicted by ancient peoples:

The Sea People were so strong and aggressive that their invasion was akin to Hitler's attack. The only ones who were able to contain them were the ancient Egyptians. Before that, they destroyed most of the ancient world. Scientists believe that the Sea Peoples could have come from Europe, or from the Balkan Islands, or Asia Minor, or who knows where. The problem is that the people were too busy dying to ask the Sea Peoples where they came from.

All this seems painfully reminiscent of Lovecraft's story about an underwater civilization of lizard people who demolished the most powerful city in the world on the eve of its 1000th anniversary.

In the era of the Internet, people’s reluctance to strive for new knowledge looks a little strange, because when it was difficult to get a book, we tried to learn a lot, while trying to apply our knowledge in practice. Now, when you can find out about everything in the world without raising your ass, no one wants to know anything. Not to mention the desire of the governments of some countries to focus on the self-development of their people. We have become lazy, allowing progress to act only to make our existence easier. Our bodies produce fewer and fewer actions, and our brains cope with tasks less and less. Have a useful stump!

The myths of Ancient Greece tell a legend about lustful forest nymphs-temptresses who lured travelers into the thickets and arranged a real sexual feast, after which, upon returning home, these men were no longer able to have fun with an ordinary woman. No wonder Herodotus exclaimed: “Whoever has tasted the love of a nymph will never be able to forget her caresses.”

It is believed that it was the forest libertines who taught people the art of sexual poses, and this legend became the reason why hypersexuality in women was called nymphomania. It is quite unfair that polygamy and sexual activity in men have long been almost no surprise, but for some reason it is still not possible to explain such behavior in women.

Who are nymphomaniacs

The famous researcher of sexual relationships Alfred Kinsey, for example, gave the following definition of a nymphomaniac: “one who wants more sex than you.” Since ancient times, humanity has known cases of increased sexual desire in men and women. However, the term nymphomania (from the Greek nymph - bride, mania - passion) refers to a type of hypersexuality only in women, and in men it is satyriasm (from the Greek satyr - a lustful goat-legged demon of the forest).

Interestingly, the scientific literature describes a case of a nymphomaniac who had sexual intercourse with men 10-15 times in a row and continued to experience the need and desire for further intercourse. A nymphomaniac is always haunted by an uncontrollable desire to have sex with everyone, while she is completely indiscriminate in choosing her partners.

This is explained by the fact that in the blood of nymphomaniacs the concentration of sex hormones is restored quite quickly - reaching that critical point when sexual intercourse becomes extremely desirable. The very attempts to get at least some pleasure are reduced to absolute zero, since true nymphomania does not entail sexual pleasure.

Statistics show that for every 2.5 thousand women there is always one true nymphomaniac, who should be distinguished from temperamental women with a free attitude towards sex. Nymphomania can be divided into two types: the desire to have as many orgasms as possible or the desire to have as many partners as possible.

Nymphomania can develop against the background of severe stress caused by severe punishment in childhood and violence. Interestingly, it can also be triggered by diseases that seem far from sex, such as encephalitis, meningitis, tumors and vascular lesions of the brain, drug intoxication, and hyperfunction of the adrenal cortex. Often, nymphomania is preceded by difficult childbirth, abortion with complications, abuse of oral contraceptives, and menopause.

Carol Groneman, a history professor, in her book entitled Nymphomania, makes a connection between the developed occipital region, the cerebellum and excessive sexual activity in women. However, this fact has not been scientifically confirmed, and thus it is impossible to determine a nymphomaniac “by eye”.

It is interesting that the most tireless nymphomaniacs are not crazy older ladies, but girls aged 14-16 years. At this age, a woman’s personality has not yet been fully formed, and youthful maximalism and infantilism do not allow her to resist increased sexual desire.

The most famous nymphomaniacs

The names of the most famous nymphomaniacs in history have become household names. What made these women famous throughout the world was not their beauty or their great deeds, but their unbridled passion.

Cleopatra

Cleopatra was distinguished not only by her obstinate disposition, but also by her violent temperament. To satisfy her sexual desires, Cleopatra had a whole harem of handsome young men. Interestingly, according to legend, after a night with the queen, the young lover faced inevitable death. Perhaps this was just a ploy to make men fall in love “like the last time.”

Valeria Messalina

Valeria was the wife of Caesar Claudius. It is known that she slept with the entire legion of guards and had fun with clients in a brothel, pretending to be a prostitute. There is a term “Messalina complex”, which is synonymous with nymphomania.

Known for changing favorites like gloves. There are rumors that her insatiability is due to the fact that even in her early youth, Catherine played with artificial phalluses, constantly increasing their size: up to 9 cm in diameter. Perhaps that is why no man could satisfy her.

Each of these mysterious stories could be called a detective story. But in detective stories, as you know, all the secrets are revealed by the last page. And in these stories, the solution is still far away, although humanity has been puzzling over some of them for decades. Perhaps we are not destined to find answers for them at all? Or will the veil of secrecy ever be lifted? And what do you think?

43 missing Mexican students

In 2014, 43 students from the College of Education from Ayotzinapa went to demonstrate in Iguala, where the mayor's wife was scheduled to speak to residents. The corrupt mayor ordered the police to rid him of this problem. On his orders, the police detained the students, and as a result of the harsh detention, two students and three bystanders died. The remaining students, as we found out, were handed over to the local crime syndicate Guerreros Unidos. The next day, the body of one of the students was found on the street with the skin torn off his face. Later, the remains of two more students were found. Relatives and friends of the students organized mass demonstrations, triggering a full-blown political crisis in the country. The corrupt mayor, his friends and the chief of police tried to escape, but were detained a few weeks later. The provincial governor resigned, and several dozen police officers and officials were arrested. And only one thing remains a mystery - the fate of almost four dozen students is still unknown.

Oak Island Money Pit

Off the coast of Nova Scotia, on Canadian territory, there is a small island - Oak Island, or Oak Island. There is the famous “money pit”. According to legend, local residents found it back in 1795. This is a very deep and complex mine, in which, according to legend, countless treasures are hidden. Many have tried to get into it - but the design is treacherous, and after the treasure hunter has dug to a certain depth, the mine begins to be intensively filled with water. They say that brave souls found at a depth of 40 meters a stone tablet with the scrawled inscription: “Two million pounds are buried 15 meters deeper.” More than one generation has tried to get the promised treasure out of the hole. Even the future President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, during his student years at Harvard, came to Oak Island with a group of friends to try his luck. But the treasure is not given to anyone. And is he there?..

Who was Benjamin Kyle?

In 2004, an unknown man woke up outside a Burger King in Georgia. He had no clothes on, there were no documents with him, but the worst thing was that he didn’t remember anything about himself. That is, absolutely nothing! The police conducted a thorough investigation, but were unable to find any traces: neither missing people with such characteristics, nor relatives who could identify him from a photo. He was soon given the name Benjamin Kyle, under which he continues to live to this day. Without documents or certificates of any education, he could not find a job, but one local businessman, having learned about him from a television program, out of pity, gave him a job as a dishwasher. He still works there now. The efforts of doctors to awaken his memory, and the police to find his previous traces, did not yield results.

Shore of Severed Legs

"Severed Legs Coast" is the name given to a beach on the Pacific Northwest coast of British Columbia. It received this terrible name because local residents several times found severed human legs here, shod in sneakers or trainers. From 2007 to the present, 17 of them have been found, with the majority being right-wing. There are several theories to explain why legs wash up on this beach - natural disasters, the work of a serial killer... some even claim that the mafia destroys the bodies of its victims on this remote beach. But none of these theories looks convincing, and no one knows where the truth is.

"Dancing Death" 1518

One day in the summer of 1518 in Strasbourg, a woman suddenly began dancing in the middle of the street. She danced wildly until she fell from exhaustion. The strangest thing is that gradually others joined her. A week later, 34 people were dancing in the city, and a month later - 400. Many dancers died from overwork and heart attacks. The doctors did not know what to think, and the churchmen also could not exorcise the demons possessing the dancers. In the end, it was decided to leave the dancers alone. The fever gradually subsided, but no one ever knew what caused it. They talked about some special type of epilepsy, about poisoning, and even about a secret, pre-coordinated religious ceremony. But scientists of that time did not find an exact answer.

Signal from aliens

On August 15, 1977, Jerry Eman, who was monitoring signals from space at the volunteer Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Civilizations, picked up a signal at a random radio frequency, clearly coming from deep space, from the direction of the constellation Sagittarius. This signal was much stronger than the cosmic noise that Eman was used to hearing on the air. It lasted only 72 seconds and consisted of a completely definite, in the eye of the observer, completely random list of letters and numbers, which, however, was accurately reproduced several times in a row. Eman disciplinedly recorded the sequence and reported it to his colleagues in the search for aliens. However, further listening to this frequency did not yield anything, as did any attempts to catch at least some signal from the constellation Sagittarius. What it was - a prank by completely earthly jokers or an attempt by an extraterrestrial civilization to contact us - no one still knows.

Unknown from Somerton Beach

Here's another perfect murder, the mystery of which has still not been solved. On December 1, 1948, in Australia, on Somerton Beach in southern Adelaide, the body of an unknown man was discovered. There were no documents with him, only a note with two words: “Taman Shud” was found in one of his pockets. This was a line from Omar Khayyam's rubaiyat, meaning "the end." The cause of death of the unknown man could not be determined. The forensic investigator believed that it was a case of poisoning, but could not prove it. Others believed it was a suicide, but this claim was also unsubstantiated. The mysterious case has alarmed not only Australia, but the whole world. They tried to establish the identity of the unknown person in almost all countries of Europe and America, but the efforts of the police were in vain, and the history of Taman Shud remained shrouded in secrecy.

Confederate Treasures

This legend still haunts American treasure hunters - and not only them. According to legend, when the northerners were already close to victory in the Civil War, the treasurer of the Confederate government, George Trenholm, in desperation, decided to deprive the victors of their rightful spoils - the treasury of the southerners. Confederate President Jefferson Davis personally took on this mission. He and his guards left Richmond with a huge cargo of gold, silver and jewelry. No one knows where they went, but when the northerners took Davis prisoner, he had no jewelry with him, and 4 tons of Mexican gold dollars also disappeared without a trace. Davis never revealed the secret of the gold. Some believe that he distributed it to the planters of the South so that they could bury it until better times, others believe that it is buried somewhere in the vicinity of Danville, Virginia. Some believe that the secret society “Knights of the Golden Circle”, who were secretly preparing revenge in the Civil War, laid their paws on him. Some even say that the treasure is hidden at the bottom of the lake. Dozens of treasure hunters are still looking for him, but none of them can get to the bottom of either the money or the truth.

Voynich manuscript

The mysterious book, known as the Voynich manuscript, is named after the Polish-born American bookseller Wilfred Voynich, who bought it from an unknown person in 1912. In 1915, having taken a closer look at the find, he told the whole world about it - and since then many have not known peace. According to scientists, the manuscript was written in the 15th-16th centuries in central Europe. The book contains a lot of text, written in neat handwriting, and hundreds of drawings depicting plants, most of which are unknown to modern science. The signs of the zodiac and medicinal herbs are also drawn here, accompanied by text, apparently, of recipes for their use. However, the contents of the text are just speculations of scientists who have not been able to understand it. The reason is simple: the book is written in a language still unknown on Earth, which is also practically indecipherable. Who wrote the Voynich manuscript and why, we may not know even in centuries.

Karst wells of Yamal

In July 2014, an inexplicable explosion was heard in Yamal, as a result of which a huge well appeared in the ground, the width and height of which reached 40 meters! Yamal is not the most populated place on the planet, so no one was injured from the explosion and the appearance of a sinkhole. However, such a strange and potentially dangerous phenomenon required an explanation, and a scientific expedition went to Yamal. It included everyone who could be useful in studying the strange phenomenon - from geographers to experienced mountain climbers. However, upon arrival, they were unable to understand the reasons and nature of what had happened. Moreover, while the expedition was working, two more similar failures appeared in Yamal in exactly the same way! Until now, scientists have been able to come up with only one version - about periodic explosions of natural gas coming to the surface from underground. However, experts consider it unconvincing. The Yamal failures remain a mystery.

Antikythera Mechanism

Discovered by treasure hunters on a sunken ancient Greek ship at the beginning of the twentieth century, this device, which at first seemed like just another artifact, turned out to be, no less, the first analog computer in history! A complex system of bronze disks, made with precision and accuracy unimaginable in those distant times, made it possible to calculate the position of stars and luminaries in the sky, time in accordance with different calendars and the dates of the Olympic Games. According to the results of the analyses, the device was made at the turn of the millennium - about a century before the birth of Christ, 1600 years before the discoveries of Galileo and 1700 before the birth of Isaac Newton. This device was more than a thousand years ahead of its time and still amazes scientists.

Sea people

The Bronze Age, which lasted approximately from the 35th to the 10th centuries BC, was the heyday of several European and Middle Eastern civilizations - Greek, Cretan, and Cananese. People developed metallurgy, created impressive architectural monuments, and tools became more complex. It seemed that humanity was moving by leaps and bounds towards prosperity. But everything collapsed within a few years. The civilized peoples of Europe and Asia were attacked by a horde of “people of the sea” - barbarians on countless ships. They burned and destroyed cities and villages, burned food, killed and took people into slavery. After their invasion, ruins remained everywhere. Civilization was thrown back at least a thousand years ago. In once powerful and educated countries, writing disappeared, and many secrets of construction and working with metals were lost. The most mysterious thing is that after the invasion, the “sea people” disappeared as mysteriously as they appeared. Scientists are still wondering who and where this people came from and what their future fate was. But there is no clear answer to this question yet.

Murder of the Black Dahlia

Books were written and films were made about this legendary murder, but it was never solved. On January 15, 1947, 22-year-old aspiring actress Elizabeth Short was found brutally murdered in Los Angeles. Her naked body was subjected to cruel abuse: it was practically cut in half and bore traces of many injuries. At the same time, the body was washed clean and completely devoid of blood. This story of one of the oldest unsolved murders was widely circulated by journalists, giving Short the nickname “black dahlia.” Despite an active search, the police were unable to find the killer. The Black Dahlia case is considered one of the oldest unsolved murders in Los Angeles.

Motor ship "Ourang Medan"

In early 1948, the Dutch ship Ourang Medan sent an SOS signal while in the Strait of Mallaka off the coast of Sumatra and Malaysia. According to eyewitnesses, the radio message said that the captain and the entire crew were dead, and it ended with the chilling words: “And I am dying.” The captain of the Silver Star, having heard the distress signal, went in search of the Ourang Medan. Having discovered the ship in the Strait of Malacca, the sailors from the Silver Star boarded and saw that it was indeed full of corpses, and the cause of death was not visible on the bodies. Soon the rescuers noticed suspicious smoke coming from the hold and, just in case, chose to return to their ship. And they did the right thing, because soon the Ourang Medan spontaneously exploded and sank. Of course, because of this, the possibility of an investigation became zero. Why the crew died and the ship exploded is still a mystery.

Baghdad battery

Until recently, it was believed that humanity mastered the production and use of electric current only at the end of the 18th century. However, an artifact found by archaeologists in the region of ancient Mesopotamia in 1936 casts doubt on this conclusion. The device consists of a clay pot in which the battery itself is hidden: an iron core wrapped in copper, which is believed to have been filled with some kind of acid, after which it began to generate electricity. For many years, archaeologists debated whether the devices were actually related to the generation of electricity. In the end, they collected the same primitive products - and managed to generate electric current with their help! So, did they really know how to install electric lighting in ancient Mesopotamia? Since written sources from that era have not survived, this mystery will now probably forever excite scientists.