25 Unexplained Mysteries That Continue To Puzzle The World

The world is full of strange occurrences that continue to baffle experts and ordinary people alike. From eerie disappearances to unexplained phenomena, some mysteries remain unsolved despite years—or even centuries—of investigation. Here are some perplexing cases that still have people scratching their heads.

#1

Image source: wikipedia.org, wikipedia.org

On the evening of March 31, 1922, six people from a small farmstead in Bavaria, located around 70 kilometers (43 miles) north of Munich, were found deceased under mysterious circumstances. The victims included Andreas Gruber (63), his wife Cäzilia Gruber (72), their widowed daughter Viktoria Gabriel (35), Viktoria’s two children, Cazilia (7) and Josef (2), and their maid, Maria Baumgartner (44). They had all been fatally struck with a mattock. Strangely, the person or people responsible seemed to remain at the house for several days afterward, eating food, caring for the animals, and even starting fires in the fireplace. The case remains one of the most perplexing and unsettling unsolved crimes in German history.

#2

Image source: Xikkiwikk, Mark of Kalt

What Pope Leo said to Attila the Hun. Attila was taking over the world and made it to Rome and the Vatican. Leo rode out alone and spoke to Attila and convinced Attila to not destroy Rome and the Vatican. What was said, only the archives of the Vatican has any idea.

#3

Image source: heyrainyday, Possibly Honore Pellegrin

The Mary Celeste. The merchant ship found abandoned and adrift in 1872. The crew’s belongings had not been disturbed. There were ample provisions for the sail. The cargo was not disturbed. However, the life boat was gone. The crew just… disappeared.

#4

Image source: Hysterymystery, Unpredictable

So it’s this Australian family who owned a Berry farm. Somehow Mr and Mrs Tromp and their three grown kids developed the belief that they weren’t safe and they needed to flee their farm without cell phones or anything traceable (credit cards, etc). It sounds like the oldest son wasn’t sold on whatever it was that led them to flee. He brought his phone, but eventually it got tossed from the car. He ended up bailing first and taking a train home. From there the rest of the family slowly separated and suffered various degrees of emotional breaks. The two girls stole a car. Somehow they got separated and one made it home, but the other was found on the floor in the backseat of some guys car in a catatonic state. (he spotted her after he started down the road). Eventually the parents were found wandering around aimlessly. Fortunately they were all ok physically but wtf happened? Was someone actually after them? Were they delusional? As far as I know the family hasn’t released any updates.

#5

Image source: TheFerryman47, Hour House Photography

El Fausto.
Disappeared THREE TIMES during a trip that should have only taken hours and was missing for months. People talked to the crew when it reappeared before it vanished again. And when it was found for the last time, the crew was dead, one practically mummified. He kept a journal that didn’t make much sense either. Amazing to read.

#6

Image source: Catlenfell, New York Navy Yard

The U.S.S. Cyclops. A coal ship. Disappeared with 306 men. The largest U.S. Navy loss of life that didn’t involve combat.

#7

Image source: Nosey_Canus, Scientology Media

The wife of Scientology leader David Miscavige has not been seen in 11 years. The church insists that she’s just too busy to make public appearances, but former member Leah Remini has filed a missing person report for her. Some say she’s straight up dead.

#8

Image source: unhealthyshoe, Marc Calhoun

3 lighthouse workers with impeccable mustaches traveled to a remote island on December 7th, 1900 for a lighthouse shift that should have lasted for two weeks. When a boat arrived to pick them up, they were gone. No trace of the bodies, and the lighthouse was strangely locked. Not only was the setting normal (meal ready to be served), but there was no fire in the fireplace, and the clock stopped. One of the men kept a log in a diary, and he said that the seas were rough one day, but when monitored, it was actually calm. No one knows what happened to them.
Edit: The mustaches have nothing to do with the story at all. I just really liked them.

#9

Image source: CommonTaytor, Arz

Bermuda triangle. As a kid, that phenomenon was everywhere. TV, Sun Classic Films (just dated myself (IYKYK), magazines. Now it’s as if no ships or planes disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle.
What gives? Was all the hype fake. Was that real? I need to know!

#10

Image source: reddit.com, Laurent ERRERA

What ever happened to that missing Malaysian flight? It just took a couple of crazy turns and then completely disappeared from the radar.

#11

Image source: BeardedAxiom, Schwiki

Roopkund lake. A small lake up in some mountains in India with a lot of human skeletons in it. Not only that, but the skeletons seems to have come from at least two different incidents hundreds of years apart.

#12

Image source: SpicyPirate13, Internet Archive

The Voynich Manuscript. Nobody knows if it’s legit or just an elaborate joke.

#13

Image source: ineedanewaccountpls, Wikimedia

Ball lightning is accepted as a real phenomenon, but is largely a mystery.

I first became fascinated with “ball lighting” as a kid after my grandpa freaked out when a ball of light came in through our back door and followed him to the living room then disappeared. He told that story again and again until he passed. I was a big fan of the Little House on the Prairie series at the time and his description sounded similar to what I read.

A few years later, my mom was taking a meteorology class and that reignited my interest in the weather, especially lightning. I loved having her teach me all the stuff she was learning and we’d watch her required documentaries together.

Fast forward to middle school when we finally got a computer, and my interest flared back up. That was about the first time I ran into the concept of ball lightning and it reminded me of when I was a kid. My mom confirmed my memory of my grandpa’s story and even how eager I was to read him the passages from the book.

I check in time to time to see what new breakthroughs have been made in the area, but it’s still really sparse even today.

#14

Image source: cannibalisticapple, Shvets Anna/pexels (not an actual photo)

Here’s one I learned about recently: in 2000, a mummy was found around Pakistan with an inscription on the sarcophagus claiming her to be the unknown daughter of the Persian king Xerxes, Rhodugune. It caused a big hubbub, since it was the first apparent Persian mummy. It was fascinating because it had been mummified in traditional Egyptian fashion, complete with all the organs extracted including the brain, and I even recall something about golden resin being found inside the body.

But deeper examinations revealed a lot of smaller details that didn’t add up. One archaeologist remembered being contacted by a middleman about a mummy that resembled the photos, and when he’d had a piece of the sarcophagus carbon dated he found it was only 250 years old. The inscription also used a Greek form of the name instead of Persian, the bandages dated to the wrong period, and the stone pad was found to be five years old. And a lot of other experts noticed that the heart had been removed, which Egyptians absolutely did NOT do.

They quickly decided she wasn’t a Persian princess.But here’s the freaky part: further examination on the “mummy” revealed her to be a woman between 21-25 who died around 1996 from some sort of blunt impact, like being hit by a car.

There have been a trail of suspects from it, since it was found in possession of some Pakistani and Irani dealers who were trying to sell it on the black market. But no one knows the victim’s identity, and we probably never will.

#15

Image source: nfsa.gov.au, RCoxxie

On the afternoon of 17 December 1967, Prime Minister Harold Holt entered the surf at Cheviot Beach in Victoria. He was never seen again.
Despite an exhaustive search, no body or other evidence was found. In their place rose allegations, rumours and conspiracy theories that continue to this day.

#16

Image source: IllRaindrop, Michal Maňas

The Codex Gigas. Supposedly the Devil’s bible. It’s been mysteriously saved multiple times from burning buildings. For example it was chucked out of burning building from the 4 floor or something, but the catch is that a single person can’t carry it. It weighs several hundred pounds and no one was in the building. Nobody knows where it’s been originated. Also, it’s reported that there’s evidence in the hand writing and ink that the entire book was written within a very short period of time, (like a week or something) but the book is huge, should’ve taken years to write. Really interesting stuff.

Edit: Also as someone mentioned according to analysis, it seams as though the entire book was written by one monk.

#17

Image source: wikipedia.org, Reinhardheydt

The Isdal Woman refers to an unidentified woman found deceased in Isdalen (“The Ice Valley”) in Bergen, Norway, on November 29, 1970.
While authorities at the time concluded that the death was likely self-inflicted, the unusual circumstances of the case sparked continued speculation and investigation over the years. Even after more than fifty years, it remains one of Norway’s most perplexing unsolved cases.

#18

Image source: reddit.com, https://www.youtube.com/@fbi

Asha Degree. Girl leaves her house in the middle of the night during a storm and disappeared. The only problem is that she was terrified of thunder and lightning and had no motive for leaving because her home life was fine. Then her clothes and backpack were found a year later in an abandoned construction site.

#19

Image source: HunchyTheHuncher, Carl Kreul

The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser. I find the story of Kaspar Hauser, an anonymous teenager found wandering the streets of Nuremberg in in the early 19th century, fascinating. He appeared out of nowhere with no family, friends or anyone who could confirm his identity. He claimed to have been kept in almost total isolation for his whole life up until that point. His linguistic skills were severely limited, consistent with someone who had grown up with very little human contact. Rumours began to circulate that he was actually a German prince who had been swapped at birth with a dead baby to prevent his succession to the throne by scheming relatives. Rather than k**l him, they locked him up in complete isolation and left there to be forgotten, until somehow he was freed or managed to escape. He attracted several wealthy sponsors over the course of his short life, but none were successful at solving the mystery of his origins. He died under suspicious circumstances (stabbed by an unknown assailant) 5 years after being found. Of course he may have just been a deranged fantasist or attention seeker – who knows!

#20

Image source: CombatBetty, Gordon F. Smith

Where is Tera Smith? She disappeared from her Northern California hometown when she was a teenager in the late 1990s. I lived in Redding and was just a couple years younger than Tera at the time of her disappearance, so her disappearance has always stuck with me.

#21

Image source: SilverDragonDreams, Internet Archive Book Images

Roanoke Colony, early Virginia. Somewhere between 110 and 120 people disappeared without a trace between 1585 and 1590. It’s been suggested that they left and joined with the Croatian tribe on their island, but no proof of any of the many theories has ever been found.

#22

Image source: drinkslinger1974, George Stock

Whether or not we’re alone in the universe. I think everyone is onboard with knowing for sure that we’re not, but there’s still no public proof.

#23

Image source: erinkjean, TheXuitts

The boy in the box. A deceased little boy, found beaten, recently shaved of his hair and abandoned in the box for a bassinet that he was way too old for. The photos and reconstructions of him released to the public in the desperate hope of identifying him are haunting.

#24

Image source: erinkjean, Furkan Işık/pexels (not an actual photo)

The West Memphis Three case. All of the Satanic Panic mess obscured so much that will probably go unanswered now. A bloody man covered in mud stumbled into a Bojangles the night those little boys went missing. Cops barely investigated that incident and lost the blood evidence they did collect regarding it. WHAT was going on with John Mark Byers and Terry Hobbs, two dads of two of those kids, both turning up with evidence and acting at different points like they may have been involved?

#25

Image source: RaccoonKing1234, Federal Bureau of Investigation

The identity of and what happened to D.B Cooper. A man on a plane called himself D.B Cooper and claimed to have a b**b in use suitcase. He took the flight crew hostage and when he got the money he asked for he had the flight crew start flying again. Eventually he jumped out of the plane with a couple of parachutes and the money. No one knows where he went or if he even survived.