Is it important to know the past? The most mysterious events of the 20th century.

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 XXXV to the X century BC, was the heyday of several European and Middle Eastern civilizations - Greek, Cretan, 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.

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Mysterious murders at the Hinterkaifeck farm

In 1922, the mysterious murder of six people committed in the small village of Hinterkaifeck shocked the whole of Germany. And not only because the murders were committed with horrific cruelty.

All the circumstances surrounding this crime were very strange, even mystical, and to this day it remains unsolved.

More than 100 people were questioned during the investigation, but no one was ever arrested. Not a single motive that could somehow explain what happened was identified either.

The maid who worked in the house ran away six months ago, claiming that there were ghosts there. The new girl arrived just a few hours before the murder.

Apparently, the intruder had been on the farm for at least several days - someone was feeding the cows and eating in the kitchen. In addition, neighbors saw smoke coming from the chimney over the weekend. The photo shows the body of one of the dead, found in a barn.

Phoenix Lights

The so-called “Phoenix Lights” are several flying objects that were observed by more than 1,000 people on the night of Thursday, March 13, 1997: in the skies over the states of Arizona and Nevada in the United States and over the state of Sonora in Mexico.

Actually, two strange events happened that night: a triangular formation of luminous objects that moved across the sky, and several motionless lights hovering over the city of Phoenix. However, the latest US Air Force recognized the lights from the A-10 Warthog aircraft - it turned out that at that time military exercises were taking place in southwest Arizona.

Astronaut from Solway Firth

In 1964, the family of Briton Jim Templeton was walking near the Solway Firth. The head of the family decided to take a Kodak photograph of his five-year-old daughter. The Templetons assured that there was no one else in these swampy places except them. And when the photographs were developed, one of them revealed a strange figure peeking out from behind the girl’s back. The analysis showed that the photograph had not been subject to any changes.

Falling body

The Cooper family just moved into their new home in Texas. In honor of the housewarming, a festive table was set, and at the same time they decided to take several family photos. And when the photographs were developed, a strange figure was revealed on them - it seemed that someone’s body was either hanging or falling from the ceiling. Of course, the Coopers didn’t see anything like this during filming.

Too many hands

Four guys were fooling around, taking pictures in the yard. When the film was developed, it turned out that out of nowhere one extra hand appeared on it (peeking out from behind the back of a guy in a black T-shirt).

"Battle of Los Angeles"

This photograph was published in the Los Angeles Times on February 26, 1942. To this day, conspiracy theorists and ufologists refer to it as evidence of extraterrestrial civilizations visiting Earth. They claim that the photo clearly shows that the beams of the searchlights are falling on the alien flying ship. However, as it turned out, the photo for publication was heavily retouched - this is a standard procedure that almost all published black and white photographs were subjected to for greater effect.

The incident itself, captured in the photo, was called a “misunderstanding” by authorities. The Americans had just survived the Japanese attack, and in general the tension was incredible. Therefore, the military got excited and opened fire on the object, which, most likely, was a harmless weather balloon.

Lights of Hessdalen

In 1907, a group of teachers, students and scientists set up a scientific camp in Norway to study a mysterious phenomenon called the Hessdalen Lights.

Björn Hauge took this photo one clear night using a shutter speed of 30 seconds. Spectral analysis showed that the object should consist of silicon, iron and scandium. This is the most informative, but far from the only photo of the “Lights of Hessdalen”. Scientists are still scratching their heads as to what it could be.

Time Traveler

This photo was taken in 1941 during the opening ceremony of the South Forks Bridge. The public's attention was attracted by a young man whom many considered a "time traveler" - due to his modern hairstyle, zip-up sweater, printed T-shirt, fashionable glasses and point-and-shoot camera. The whole outfit is clearly not from the 40s. On the left, highlighted in red is a camera that was actually in use at that time.

9/11 attack - South Tower woman

In these two photographs, a woman can be seen standing on the edge of the hole left in the South Tower after a plane crashed into the building. Her name is Edna Clinton and, not surprisingly, she ended up on the list of survivors. How she managed this is beyond comprehension, considering everything that happened in that part of the building.

Skunk monkey

In 2000, a woman who wished to remain anonymous took two photographs of a mysterious creature and sent it to the Sarasota County (Florida) Sheriff. The photographs were accompanied by a letter in which the woman claimed that she had photographed a strange creature in the backyard of her house. The creature came to her house three nights in a row and stole the apples left on the terrace.

UFO in the painting “Madonna with Saint Giovannino”

The painting “Madonna with Saint Giovannino” belongs to the brush of Domenico Ghirlandai (1449-1494) and is currently in the collection of Palazzo Vecchio, Florence. A mysterious flying object and a man watching it are clearly visible above Mary's right shoulder.

Incident at Lake Falcon

Another meeting with an alleged extraterrestrial civilization occurred at Lake Falcon on May 20, 1967.

A certain Stefan Michalak was relaxing in these places and at some point noticed two descending cigar-shaped objects, one of which landed very close. Michalak claims he saw the door open and heard voices coming from inside.

He tried to speak to the aliens in English, but there was no response. Then he tried to get closer, but came across “invisible glass”, which apparently served as protection for the object.

Suddenly, Michalak was surrounded by a cloud of air so hot that his clothes caught fire. The man received serious burns.

Bonus:

This story happened on the evening of February 11, 1988 in the city of Vsevolozhsk. There was a light knock on the window of the house where a woman who was fond of spiritualism lived with her teenage daughter. Looking out, the woman saw no one. I went out onto the porch - no one. And there were no footprints in the snow under the window either.

The woman was surprised, but didn’t think much of it. And half an hour later there was a bang and part of the glass in the window where the invisible guest was knocking collapsed, forming an almost perfectly round hole.

The next day, at the woman’s request, her Leningrad acquaintance, candidate of technical sciences S.P. Kuzionov, arrived. He examined everything carefully and took several photographs.

When the photograph was developed, the face of a woman appeared on it, peering into the lens. This face seemed unfamiliar to both the housewife and Kuzionov himself.

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 no such ship existed until a Scottish cable-laying contractor found something similar to the legendary UB-85 in the North Sea while laying a power cable in October this year. 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.

Mysterious finds of archaeologists, which may indicate the life of disappeared highly developed civilizations. The level of technology available to them is simply amazing.

The history of human civilization reliably holds many secrets, many of which will never be solved. But the last two centuries have presented the world with many mysteries that researchers are puzzling over. The most mysterious incidents in the world of the XX-XXI centuries - today we’ll talk about ten secrets of modern human history.

Crop Circles

The most mysterious incidents in the world include mysterious ones. These are various geometric shapes formed by crushed plants in agricultural fields. The drawings are created perfectly smoothly and can form complex pictograms. Their size varies: they can be small or huge, fully visible only from an airplane. They began to attract a lot of attention in the 1970s in England. In 1972, in the south of the country, two eyewitnesses, watching the sky on a moonlit night in the hope of seeing a UFO, noticed how the grass in the field lay down, forming a circle. The peak of interest in the mysterious phenomenon occurred in the 1990s. The earliest mentions of the appearance of such pictograms (drawings) in the margins date back to the 17th century.

The most varied hypotheses for the origin of crop circles are put forward: the activities of an alien civilization, micro-tornadoes, ball lightning and hoaxes of interested parties. Thus, the Englishmen David Chorley and Douglas Bauer admitted in 1991 that the appearance of the first circles was their doing. They claim that they have created about 250 pictograms since 1978. But many continue to believe that the mysterious phenomenon of amazing drawings in the fields is not a hoax, but unsolved messages from mysterious forces. Crop circles are in 10th place among the most mysterious incidents on Earth.

The fall of the Tunguska meteorite

On June 30, 1908, at 7 o’clock in the morning, in the Podkamennaya Tunguska region (the right tributary of the Yenisei, Central Siberia), local residents witnessed the flight of a celestial body, which left a trail behind it, like a falling meteorite. The sound of the fall was heard at a distance of more than a thousand kilometers from the crash site. A powerful shock wave knocked down trees within a radius of 30 kilometers. This mysterious incident became known to the world as. But what kind of object exploded in the Podkamennaya Tunguska area, and whether it was really a meteorite, is still unknown. Thousands of researchers have been working on the solution to this phenomenon for over years. Many hypotheses have been put forward, none of which have received documented confirmation. The famous Tunguska meteorite, the mystery of which has never been solved, is in 9th place on the list of the most mysterious incidents in the world.

It is also associated with space, causing a huge resonance in the world. In 1947, a catastrophe allegedly occurred near the city of Roswell - the fall of a cosmic body of artificial origin. This incident became one of the most mysterious incidents in the world. There is still fierce debate over the nature of the fallen object. The authorities, represented by the country's air force, claim that a weather balloon crashed, which local residents mistook for the wreckage of a UFO. The Roswell incident is number eight on our list.

The mysterious disappearance of the ship's crew is in seventh place among the most mysterious incidents in the world. In 1872, the sailing ship was found by an English brig. From the trajectory of its movement it was clear that no one was controlling it. Not a single crew member or passenger was found on board. Things were untouched, as were the supply of water and provisions. From the entry in the logbook it followed that the ship reached almost the point where it was found. What happened to the crew is still unknown. The commission that investigated the case suggested that the crew for some reason abandoned the ship, leaving behind all their belongings and provisions. There was simply no other explanation for what happened.

Many mysterious incidents are associated with crimes. The most famous story is the Jack the Ripper case, which was never solved. The 20th century made its contribution to the history of serial killers. From 1918 to 1919, a criminal nicknamed "The Woodman" operated in New Orleans. The murder weapon was an ax, with which the maniac broke open the doors of the victims' houses. Like Jack the Ripper, the Woodcutter wrote letters to newspapers reporting future murders. The crimes suddenly stopped, and the Woodcutter's identity was never established. The New Orleans murder mystery ranks sixth on the list of the most mysterious incidents in the world.

One of the most mysterious stories in the world is the criminal case of the discovery in 1948 of the body of an unidentified man on the beach of Adelaide (Australia). The case received a great public outcry for a number of reasons: it was not possible to establish either the identity of the unknown person or the cause of death. In addition, a piece of paper with a strange inscription “Taman Shud” was found in a secret trouser pocket. As it turned out, the paper was torn from a rare edition of the works of Omar Khayyam. The mysterious story that happened on the beach in Somerton is in fifth place as the most mysterious incidents in the world. This incident inspired Stephen King to write "The Colorado Boy".

In fourth place among the most mysterious incidents in the world is history "Kyshtym dwarf". In 1996, an elderly woman in a village near Kyshtym discovered a living creature of an unknown biological species. Outwardly, it looked like a small humanoid - about 30 centimeters in length. The woman named him Alyoshenka and nursed him for about a month. Then the creature died. His mummified remains were later discovered by the police. Then the body of the “Kyshtym Dwarf” mysteriously disappeared.

- in third place on the list of the most amazing and mysterious incidents in the world. Since the 1970s, a program to search for extraterrestrial civilizations began in the United States. For this, a radio telescope was used to scan different parts of the sky. With its help, scientists were able to detect signals from other civilizations. In 1977, at a frequency at which no earthly transmitter operates, a signal was received from the constellation Sagittarius. It lasted 37 seconds. Its origin is still unknown.

Ship "Marlboro"

History - the new "Flying Dutchman" ranks second among the most mysterious incidents in the world. The ship left a port in New Zealand in 1890 with a cargo of frozen lamb. He did not reach his destination, disappearing in the area of ​​Cape Horn. There were 23 crew members and several passengers on board. It was decided that the sailboat sank during a storm. But 23 years later he appeared off the coast of Tierra del Fuego. It was well preserved, and skeletons in rotting clothes were found on board. True, there were ten fewer of them than were listed in the logbook. What happened to the crew, why people died and where ten people disappeared from the sailing ship is unknown. Due to bad weather, the ship could not be brought to port. The Marlboro still plows the seas.

The most mysterious incident in the world is the mystery of the death of the Dyatlov group. This tragic story is known to everyone and haunts those who want to reveal the truth about what happened more than 50 years ago. In 1959, a tourist group led by Igor Dyatlov died mysteriously in the mountains of the Northern Urals. The causes of the terrible death of nine people have not yet been established.

Ice woman

Iron pillar in Delhi

Iron, the king of all metals, is used in almost everything from the foundation of a house to the chain on a bicycle. Unfortunately, iron cannot escape its fate, slowly turning into rust. Besides this phenomenal structure: The Iron Column from Delhi. 7 meters high and weighing more than 6 tons, this iron giant was able to resist corrosion for 1600 years! How did something made of 98% iron last so long? Scientists have found the answer to this question, but how ancient blacksmiths discovered this fact so many years ago still baffles archaeologists.

Carroll A. Dearing

Fifty years after the mysterious disappearance of the crew of the ship Maria Celeste, a similar event occurred when the schooner Carroll A. Deering was discovered off the coast of North Carolina on January 31, 1921. When the rescue ships finally reached the ship, they saw to their horror that there was no crew on board. Although it was noted that food had been prepared for the next day, nothing else was found to indicate the presence of a crew. No personal belongings, no ship's log, no traces, just like in the case of Maria Celeste. Theories about paranormal phenomena were put forward due to the fact that the ship was located in the Bermuda Triangle area. Others believed it was the work of pirates or Russians.

Hutchison effect

The Hutchison Effect refers to a series of eerie phenomena that occurred when inventor John Hutchison attempted to recreate several of Nicolas Tesla's experiments. Some cases include levitation, the merging of things of different textures (wood and metal), and the disappearance of small objects. Even stranger, after his experiment, Hutchison was unable to repeat it with the same result. This experiment became so popular that it even aroused the interest of NASA and the military, but they were not able to succeed.

Belmes faces

Vanishing Lake

In May 2007, a lake in Patagonia, Chile, literally disappeared, leaving behind a 30-meter hole, icy mountains and dry land. This was not some small lake. The lake was 5 miles long! When geologists last examined the lake in March 2007, they found nothing strange. However, something happened during these 2 months that not only made the lake disappear, but also turned the river flowing from it into a small stream. Geologists wonder how such a large lake simply disappeared. This could have been due to an earthquake, although no tremors were observed in the region. Ufologists claim that it was a spaceship that dried up the lake. This mystery has never been solved.

Sticky rain

On August 7, 1994, residents of Oakville, Washington, were in for a surprise. Instead of the usual rain, people saw jelly falling from the sky. When this rain passed, almost everyone developed severe flu-like symptoms that lasted anywhere from 7 weeks to 3 months. Finally, after the mother of one of the city's residents fell ill after touching the substance, he sent a sample of it for testing. The results shocked all scientists. The drops contained human white blood cells. The substance was then taken to the State Department of Health in Washington for further testing. Here they discovered that the gelatin drops contained two types of bacteria, one of which was also present in the human digestive system. However, no one was able to identify the substance and how it was connected to the mysterious illness that was sweeping the city.

Black helicopter

On May 7, 1994, in Harahan, Louisiana, a black helicopter chased a teenager for 45 minutes. The frightened child explained that people had descended from a helicopter and pointed guns at him. To this day, the boy does not know why he was pursued and why they later released him. A week later, a similar thing happened to people driving past Washington. Unable to escape, they saw men in black uniforms with guns descending a rope ladder. However, to their dismay, the travelers were released. Black helicopters appear in UFO reports, and while some sightings have a simple explanation, other cases (see above) remain unsolved.

Animals in stone

There are several documented cases where frogs, toads and other small animals were found alive in solid stone. The strange thing is that people have found animals not only in natural formations such as stone or trees, but also in artificial ones. In 1976, Texas workers found a living green turtle in concrete in an air sac shaped like the small reptile. If somehow she got there a year ago when the concrete was being poured, then how could the turtle survive so long? After all, there were no holes or cracks in the concrete for a turtle to crawl through.

Donnie Decker

He was nicknamed Rain Boy in 1983. Donnie was visiting his friend when suddenly he went into a trance. Immediately, water began to flow from the ceiling and fog filled the room. His friends called the owner, who was disturbed by what he saw. Some time later, Donnie was sitting in a restaurant with his friends when the rain started pouring down on their heads. The restaurant owner immediately kicked him out onto the street. Years later, a minor infraction landed Donnie in jail, where he too caused chaos when it rained in his cell. After complaints from his fellow inmates, Donnie explained that he could make it rain at will, and promptly demonstrated this by dousing the guard on duty. Finally, he was released and found work as a cook at a local restaurant. Donnie's real whereabouts are unknown, as is the cause of the mysterious rain[c]